International dental anthropology experts meet at the National Research Center on Human Evolution to advance the DeMoDa project, led by researcher Leslea Hlusko
The Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) hosted this week the advisory board meeting of the Dental Morphology Database project (DeMoDa), aimed at creating an international digital repository of standardized data on dental morphological traits from human populations around the world.
As explained by Leslea Hlusko, the principal investigator of this initiative and recipient of the European ERC Tied2Teeth grant, “with DeMoDa, we aim not only to preserve a valuable scientific legacy but also to foster new research in fields such as human evolution and biological anthropology.”
Over several days, the project team shared its progress with international dental anthropology experts serving on the advisory board. The meeting included working sessions, demonstrations of the repository’s functionality, and discussions of the project’s methodological, structural, and ethical challenges.
The advisory board is composed of nine internationally recognized experts, including Richard Scott and Marin Pilloud (University of Nevada Reno, USA), Miguel Delgado (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina), Joel Irish (Liverpool John Moores University, UK), Hannes Rathmann (Universität Tübingen, Germany), María Martinón-Torres (CENIEH, Spain), Hugo Reyes-Centeno (University of Kentucky, USA), Osamu Kondo (University of Tokyo, Japan), and Kathleen Paul (President of the Dental Anthropological Association, University of Arkansas).
“This meeting has provided a vital boost to consolidate this ambitious scientific project, positioning CENIEH as a reference in the development of innovative tools for studying human diversity through teeth,” says Hlusko.
A capital of human evolution
In addition to the scientific sessions, the advisory board had the opportunity to visit the CENIEH facilities and laboratories, the Museum of Human Evolution, and the Atapuerca archaeological sites. These visits not only allowed experts to explore the center’s scientific infrastructure firsthand but also to engage with the extraordinary cultural, archaeological, and paleontological heritage that makes Burgos a European capital of human evolution.
