Joshua T. Schnell

  • Assistant Professor

Joshua Schnell is a biological anthropologist and anthropological archaeologist specializing in the bio archaeology of the Maya region. His current work emphasizes human agency in the study of health, healing, and medicine in the past, calling attention to people’s efforts to shape their appearance, care for their bodies, and combat and treat illnesses and injuries. Before joining the faculty at Pitt, he was a Pre-Columbian Studies Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, DC and has additionally held fellowships at the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, RI and the National Science Foundation. At Pitt, he runs the Imaging and Microscopy in Anthropology Group Lab (IMAG Lab) and welcomes undergraduate and graduate student research involvement in his lab and field endeavors. His current fieldwork is based in Chiapas, Mexico but he has previously conducted field work across the Maya region - in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico at a variety of Classic and Pre classic sites, including large, dynastic civic-ceremonial urban centers, small frontier and subsidiary sites, and mortuary rock shelters and caves. He is also working on a book project examining dental aesthetics, medical dentistry, and oral care practices among the ancient Maya
 

Degrees and Education

PhD, Brown University

Research Description

In broadest strokes, I am interested in how the body was understood, maintained, and altered - both during life and after death - in the archaeological past. My interests primarily lie in bioarchaeological approaches to the study of medicine and healing in the past, including (1) the treatment of the dis-eased body via medical and therapeutic practices, (2) the maintenance of bodily health via diet, hygienic practices, and routine care, and (3) the upkeep of the aesthetic or “crafted” body and its intersection with health.

My current project examines evidence for oral care, dental hygiene, and aesthetic expression of the mouth in the Maya world. The human dentition provides a unique opportunity to examine both quotidian and self-directed forms of care (such as toothbrushing and other cleansing practices)  and practices reflecting specialized knowledge such as therapeutic and herbal treatments, including oral surgery and tooth extractions. Understanding how people cared for their mouths within their specific cultural context, and how those practices might intersect with broader cultural values such as hygiene, sociality, aesthetics, and even morality can tremendously enhance our study of health and disease in the past. Through this work, I am also working with colleagues in paleoethnobotany, biomolecular anthropology, and dental science to advance a holistic model for the study of the mouth in the archaeological past. My work is fundamentally biocultural and interdisciplinary and I am committed to exploring and developing new, innovative methodologies and approaches for advancing the study of health and disease in the past. I believe this work should always be culturally-grounded, which is why I incorporate iconography, visual culture, ethnohistory, and ethnography in my research.

I have additional research interests in archaeological representation in gaming, collecting practices and research in/of collections,  and the cultural modification of the antemortem and postmortem body, including dress and ornamentation, body modification practices, mortuary practices, and the postmortem lives of human remains (especially objects crafted from human bone).

Courses

  • Human Variation
  • The Decorated Body: Cultural Expression and the Human Body

Publications

Scherer, Andrew K., Ricardo Rodas, Joshua T. Schnell, Mónica Urquizú, and Omar Alcover Firpi. 2024. “The Man of Macabilero: An Osteobiography of Perseverance.” In Mesoamerican Osteobiographies: Revealing the Lives and Deaths of Ancient Individuals, edited by Gabriel Wrobel and Andrea Cucina. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Watson, Sarah E., Joshua T. Schnell, Shanti Morell-Hart, Andrew K. Scherer, and Lydie Dussol. 2023. “Healthcare in the Marketplace: Exploring Maya Medicinal Plants and Practices at Piedras Negras, Guatemala.” Ancient Mesoamerica, 34(2), 383-406. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956536122000037

Scherer, Andrew K., and Joshua T. Schnell. 2022. “Maya Bioarchaeology.” In The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology, edited by Vera Tiesler, pp. 168-180. Routledge, London.

Hernandez-Bolio, Gloria I., Patricia Quintana, Marco Ramírez-Salomon, Elma Vega-Lizama, Michele Morgan, Joshua T. Schnell, Andrew Scherer, and Vera Tiesler. 2022. “Organic Compositional Analysis of Ancient Maya Tooth Sealants and Fillings.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 43, 103435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103435

Scherer, Andrew K., Charles Golden, Stephen Houston, Mallory Matsumoto, Omar A. Alcover Firpi, Whittaker Schroder, Alejandra Roche Recinos, Socorro Jiménez Álvarez, Mónica Urquizú, Griselda Robles Pérez, Joshua T. Schnell, and Zachary X. Hruby. 2022. “Chronology and the Evidence for War in the Classic Maya Kingdom of Piedras Negras.” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 66, 101408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2022.101408

Schnell, Joshua T., and Andrew K. Scherer. 2021. “Classic Maya Dental Interventions: Evidence for Tooth Extractions at Piedras Negras, Guatemala.”  Bioarchaeology International, 5, 47-67. https://doi.org/10.5744/bi.2021.1001

Golden, Charles, Andrew K. Scherer, Whittaker Schroder, Timothy Murtha, Shanti Morell-Hart, Juan Carlos Fernandez Diaz, Socorro del Pilar Jiménez Álvarez, Omar Alcover Firpi, Mark Agostini, Alexandra Bazarsky, Morgan Clark, George Van Kollias III, Mallory Matsumoto, Alejandra Roche Recinos, Joshua Schnell, and Bethany Whitlock. 2021. “Airborne Lidar Survey, Density-Based Clustering, and Ancient Maya Settlement in the Upper Usumacinta River Region of Mexico and Guatemala.” Remote Sensing, 13, 4019. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13204109