Bethany Turner-Livermore
Professor, Graduate Director Anthropology- Education
Ph.D., Emory University, 2008
B.A., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2001
- Specializations
Social Bioarchaeology, Andean South America, Isotope Analysis, Paleopathology, Osteology, Ancient Empires
- Biography
Dr. Turner joined the anthropology department at Georgia State University in 2008 after finishing her Ph.D. in anthropology, where her dissertation research centered on isotopic and osteological analyses of the skeletal population from Machu Picchu, Peru. Her research is focused on the Cuzco region of the southern Peruvian highlands and the Lambayeque region of the Peruvian north coast. She is the director of the GSU Bioarchaeology Laboratory, and her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, The American Philosophical Society, and the Lambda Alpha Anthropology Society.
Dr. Turner's research centers on understanding life in the ancient Andes, especially among those peoples who lived in ancient imperial states such as the Wari, Tiwanaku and Inka, and those who lived under Spanish control during the centuries following European conquest. Long before the arrival of the Spanish, the Central Andes boasted tremendously complex societies. These ancient states administered and controlled their subject populations in different ways, often depending on whom those subject populations were and where they lived. In a larger sense, these Andean states were different in many ways from other well-known civilizations such as Rome or ancient China. But they share a common thread in that empires stand on the shoulders of their people, most of whom passed anonymously into history. Studying the skeletal remains of such people through light and heavy isotope analysis and osteological analysis permits the reconstruction of fundamental aspects of their lives such as diet, geographic movement, trauma, and health. This research opens a window into the past and illuminates key areas of ancient life. It also contributes to a better understanding of ancient political economy and cultural ecology in indigenous states.
In addition to her primary work in the Peruvian Andes, Dr. Turner has also studied skeletal and mummified individuals from Sudanese Nubia, northern Florida, and southern Mongolia. She has also published research centered on ethical practice in bioarchaeology in the US and abroad, and on human diet evolution, particularly problems with the notion of “Paleo” diets and debates about their benefits for modern health. Her graduate students have completed independent research projects centered on analyses of human remains from sites in southern Georgia, coastal Georgia, highland Peru, coastal Peru, medieval Denmark, the Lower Illinois River Valley, and Greece. Her MA students have continued on to highly competitive and well-funded PhD programs at UGA, Tulane, University of Wyoming, University of Kentucky, University of Arkansas, and University of Sheffield (UK), and a variety of careers in museums, libraries, CRM firms, research labs, and other academic and professional settings
Dr. Turner teaches or has taught the following courses at GSU:
- ANTH 1102: Introduction to Anthropology
- ANTH 2010: Introduction to Biological Anthropology
- ANTH 4310/6310: Human Biology
- ANTH 4390/6390: Diet, Demography, and Disease
- ANTH 8020: Graduate Professionalization Seminar
- Publications
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Peer Reviewed Publications
n.d. Turner, Bethany L. For Gods and Kings: Gender, Food, and Work at Saqsaywaman. Book under contract with University of Alabama Press, part of invited series Archaeology of Food; in review. https://www.uapress.ua.edu/search-results/?series=archaeology-of-food.
n.d.[b] Schaefer, Benjamin J.*, Klaus, Haagen D., Turner, Bethany L. Social Hauntings and Sacrifice in the Late Pre-Hispanic Lambayeque Valley Complex, Peru. Invited chapter in Wolf, K.M. and Lee, C. (Eds.) A Bioarchaeological Exploration of Women’s Roles and Life Histories in Ancient Times: The Hidden Lives of Women. Routledge, in review.
2024 Turner, Bethany L. Approaching Identity, Locality, and Community in Isotope Bioarchaeology. Bioarcheology International, invited commentary for special issue. https://doi.org/10.5744/bi.2023.0028
2024 Turner, Bethany L. Isotopes and the Body Politic: Interpreting Residential Origin and Social Class in the Inka Imperial Heartland. In: Rakita, Gordon and Lozada, María Cecilia (Eds.) Exploring Ontologies of the Precontact Americas: From Individual Bodies to Bodies of Social Theory. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, Chapter 9, pp. 193-219. https://upf.com/book.asp?id=9781683404071
2023 Turner, Bethany L. Eating Inka: Diet and Status at Patallaqta, Peru. Bioarchaeology International 7(1): 32-51. https://doi.org/10.5744/bi.2022.0023.
2021 Turner, Bethany L. Residential Mobility in the Inka Sacred Valley: Oxygen, Strontium, and Lead Isotopic Analysis at Patallaqta, Peru. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 37: 102930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102930.
2021 Zechini, Mariana E., Killgrove, Kristina, Schaefer, Benjamin J.*, Melisch, Claudia M., Turner, Bethany L. Diachronic Changes in Diet in Medieval Berlin: Comparison of Dietary Isotopes from Pre- and Post-Black Death Adults. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 38: 103064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103064.
2020 Turner, Bethany L., Klaus, Haagen D. Diet, Nutrition, and Foodways on the North Coast of Peru: Bioarchaeological Perspectives on Adaptive Transitions. Springer. Part of the book series Bioarchaeology and Social Theory. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-42614-9.
2020 Toyne, J. Marla, Turner, Bethany L. Advances in Andean Stable Isotopes: Beyond Diet and Mobility. International Journal of Paleopathology 29 (June; part of special issue): 117-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2019.11.002.
2019 Acosta, Andrea N., Killgrove, Kristina, Moses, Victoria C., Turner, Bethany L. Nourishing Urban Development: A Palaeodietary Study of Archaic Gabii, Italy (6th-5th c BCE). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 27: 101962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101962.
2019 Turner, Bethany L., VanValkenburgh, Parker, Lee, Kristina E., Schaefer, Benjamin J.* Palaeodiet Inferred from Pre‐Hispanic and Early Colonial Human Remains from Carrizales, Zaña Valley, Peru. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 29(4): 560-573. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2752.
2019 Lowman, Shannon A.*, Sharratt, Nicola O., Turner, Bethany L. Bioarchaeology of Social Transition: A Diachronic Study of Pathological Conditions at Tumilaca La Chimba, Peru. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 29(1):62-72. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2713.
2018 Turner, Bethany L., Bélisle, Véronique, Davis, Allison R., Skidmore, Maeve, Juengst, Sara L., Schaefer, Benjamin J. *, Covey, R. Alan, Bauer, Brian S. Diet and Nutrition across Five Millennia in the Cusco Region of Peru. Journal of Archaeological Science 98: 137-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.07.013.
2018 Turner, Bethany L., Hewitt, Barbara R. The Aqlla and Mitmaqkuna: Diet, Ethnicity, and Status. In Alconini, Sonia, Covey, Alan R. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of the Incas. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, Chapter 3.4. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-the-incas-9780190219352?cc=us&lang=en&
2017 Jones, Daniel S.*, Turner, Bethany L., Buikstra, Jane E., Kamenov, George D. Estimating the Identities of Isolated Crania in the Lower Illinois River Valley Through Multi-Isotopic Analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 13: 312-321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.02.030.
2017 Turner, Bethany L., Livengood, Sarah V.* Methods for Reconstructing Diet. In Chrzan, J., Brett, J. (Eds.) Food Research: Nutritional Anthropology and Archaeological Methods. Oxford, UK: Berghahn Books, Chapter 10. https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/ChrzanResearch.
2016 Klaus, Haagen D., Turner, Bethany L., Saldaña, Fausto, Castillo, Samuel, Wester, Carlos. Human Sacrifice at the Chotuna-Chornancap Archaeological Complex: Traditions and Transformations of Ritual Violence Under Chimú and Inka Rule. In Klaus, Haagen D., Toyne, J. Marla (Eds.) Ritual Violence in the Ancient Andes: Reconstructing Sacrifice on the North Coast of Peru. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 178-210. https://doi.org/10.7560/309377-009
2016 Armelagos, George J., Brown, Peter J., Turner, Bethany. Evolutionary, historical and political economic perspectives on health and disease. In Brown, Peter J. and Closser, Svea (Eds.) Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology, 3rd Edition. New York: Routledge, Chapter 11. Reprinted from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.066.
2016 Turner, Bethany L., Klaus, Haagen D. Biocultural Perspectives in Bioarchaeology. In Zuckerman, Molly K., Martin, Debra L. (Eds.) New Directions in Biocultural Anthropology. Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 429-452. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/New+Directions+in+Biocultural+Anthropology-p-9781118962961
2016 Vogel, Melissa, Garren, A., Pacifico, D., Turner, Bethany L. Urban Political Ecology in Late Prehistory: New Evidence from El Purgatorio, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology 41(4): 448-466. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2016.1195231.
2016 Garland, Carey J.*, Turner, Bethany L., Klaus, Haagen D. Biocultural Consequences of Spanish Contact in the Lambayeque Valley Region of Northern Peru: Internal Enamel Microstructures as Indicators of Early Life Stress. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 26(6): 947-958. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2505
2014 Turner, Bethany L., Thompson, Amanda L. Beyond the Paleolithic Prescription: Authors’ Reply to Commentary. Nutrition Reviews 72(4): 287-288. https://doi.org/10.1111/nure.12113.
2014 Armelagos, George J., Sirak, Kendra, Werkema, Taylor, Turner, Bethany L. Analysis of Nutritional Disease in Prehistory: The Search for Scurvy and Other Specific Deficiencies. International Journal of Paleopathology 5:9-17. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259168842_Analysis_of_nutritional_disease_in_prehistory_The_search_for_scurvy_in_Antiquity_and_today.
2013 Turner, Bethany L. Interpreting Oral Pathology at Machu Picchu, Peru. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 25(4): 502-514. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oa.2318.
2013 Turner, Bethany L., Thompson, Amanda L. Lead Article – Beyond the Paleolithic Prescription: Incorporating Diversity and Flexibility in the Study of Human Diet Evolution. Nutrition Reviews 71(8): 501-510. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nure.12039.
2013 Vanderpool, Emily R.*, Turner, Bethany L. Stable Isotopic Reconstruction of Diet and Residential Mobility in a Post-Bellum African American Community in Rural Georgia. Southeastern Archaeology 32(1): 97-110. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/sea.2013.32.1.008.
2013 Turner, Bethany L., Klaus, Haagen D., Livengood, Sarah V.*, Brown, Leslie E.*, Saldaña, Fausto, Wester, Carlos. The Variable Roads to Sacrifice: Isotopic Investigations of Mummified Human Remains from Chotuna-Huaca de Los Sacrificios, Lambayeque, Peru. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 151: 22-37. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.22238.
2013 Harper, Kristin N., Zuckerman, Molly K., Turner, Bethany L., Armelagos, George J. Primates, Pathogens and Evolution: A Context for Understanding Emerging Disease. In Brinkworth, Jessica and Pechenkina, Ekaterina (Eds.) Primates, Pathogens and Evolution. New York: Springer Publications, pp. 389-409. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4614-7181-3.
2012 Turner, Bethany L., Armelagos, George J. Diet, Residential Origin, and Pathology at Machu Picchu, Peru. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 149(1): 71-83. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22096.
2012 Turner, Bethany L., Zuckerman, Molly K,. Kingston, John D., Armelagos, George J., Hunt, David R., Amgalantugs, Tsend, Batchatar, Erdene, Frolich, Bruno. Diet and Death in Times of War: Isotopic and Osteological Analysis of Mummified Human Remains from Southern Mongolia. Journal of Archaeological Science 39: 3125-3140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.04.053.
2012 Zuckerman, Molly K., Turner, Bethany L., Armelagos, George J. Evolutionary Thought In Paleopathology and the Rise of the Biocultural Approach. In Grauer, Anne (Ed.) A Companion to Paleopathology. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., pp. 34-57. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/A+Companion+to+Paleopathology-p-9781444334258.
2010 Turner, Bethany L., Kingston, John D., Armelagos, George J. Variation in Dietary Histories among the Immigrants of Machu Picchu: Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Evidence. Chungara: Revista de Antropología Chilena 42(2): 515-524. https://www.chungara.cl/Vols/2010/Vol42-2/11-TURNER-CHUNGARA-42-2.pdf.
2010 Turner, Bethany L., Andrushko, Valerie A. Partnerships, Pitfalls, and Ethical Concerns in International Bioarchaeology. In Agarwal, Sabrina and Glencross, Bonnie (Eds.) Social Bioarchaeology. Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, pp. 44-67. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Social+Bioarchaeology-p-9781444337679.
2009 Turner, Bethany L., Armelagos, George J., Kamenov, George D., Kingston, John D. Insights into immigration and social class at Machu Picchu, Peru based on oxygen, strontium, and lead isotopic analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 317-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.018.
2008 Turner, Bethany L., Maes, Kenneth, Sweeney, Jennifer L., Armelagos, George J. Human evolution, diet and nutrition: Where the body meets the buffet. In Trevathan, Wenda R., Smith, E.O., McKenna, J.J. (Eds.) Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 55-71. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/evolutionary-medicine-and-health-9780195307061?cc=us&lang=en&#.
2007 Turner, Bethany L., Edwards, Jamie L., Quinn, Elizabeth A., Kingston, John D., Van Gerven, Dennis P. Age-related variation in isotopic indicators of diet at medieval Kulubnarti, Sudanese Nubia. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 17(1): 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.862.
2006 Turner, Bethany L., Toebbe, Diana S., Armelagos, George J. To the science, to the living, to the dead: Ethics and bioarchaeology. In: Ellison, George, Goodman, Alan H. (Eds.) The Nature of Difference: Science, Society and Human Biology. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis/CRC Press, pp.203-224. https://www.routledge.com/The-Nature-of-Difference-Science-Society-and-Human-Biology-PBK/Ellison-Goodman/p/book/9780849327209.
2005 Turner, Bethany L., Kingston, John D., Milanich, Jerald T. Isotopic evidence of immigration linked to status during the Weeden Island and Suwannee Valley Periods in North Florida. Southeastern Archaeology 24(2): 121-136. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40713353?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
2005 Armelagos, George J., Brown, Peter J., Turner, Bethany. Evolutionary, historical and political economic perspectives on health and disease. Social Science and Medicine 61(4): 755-765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.066.
2005 Turner, Bethany L., Shamsid-Deen, Katherine K. Good, Messy, Frothing Fun. Science Scope 28(7): 10-13. https://my.nsta.org/resource/5140/good-messy-frothing-fun.
Other Publications
2023 Turner, Bethany L. Ancient Foodways: Integrative Approaches to Understanding Subsistence and Society. C. Margaret Scarry, Dale L. Hutchinson, and Benjamin S. Arbuckle, eds. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2023, 448 pp. $95.00, cloth. ISBN 9780813069494. Book review. Journal of Anthropological Research 79(4): 528-530. DOI: 10.1086/727089. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/727089.
2014 Turner, Bethany L. Inka Human Sacrifice and Mountain Worship: Strategies for Empire Unification (Thomas Besom, 2013). Book review. American Anthropologist 116(1): 190-191. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.12085_5.
2007 Thompson, Amanda L., Turner, Bethany L. Engaging Undergraduates in Biological Anthropology: Using PBL as a Gateway. Anthropology News 38(4): 34.