News Archive

Archaeologists work in a hole digging with tools, with one person recording notes, in the background is an archway of a ruined church from the 1500s.
Study Reveals a Maya Town’s Defiant Stand in Early Colonial Era
In the rolling countryside of the northern Yucatán, a team of researchers led by UAlbany anthropologist Marilyn Masson has brought to light the story of Hunacti — a short-lived 16th-century mission town whose stone streets and Spanish-style church mask a deeper narrative of relentless persecution, resilience and a quiet adherence to Maya religious traditions.
A computer keyboard with Mayan letters included on it.
The Mayan Languages Preservation and Digitization Project
Across Mesoamerica, millions of Maya people continue to maintain their ancestral homelands and cultural traditions. Now, an innovative digital project is bringing the diverse spectrum of Mayan languages into the modern technological landscape. UAlbany Professor Walter Little, who has collaborated with Maya communities for decades, offers expert analysis of this transformative initiative, drawing from his extensive fieldwork and deep understanding of the region's linguistic heritage and culture.
A picture of a skull of Australopithecus afarensis from the Museum of Natural History with the name of the skull in the background along with several dotted lines.
New Study Finds Males Much Larger than Females in Early Human Ancestors
A newly published study has found that males of some of our earliest known ancestors were significantly larger than females. The research, led by University at Albany anthropologist Adam D. Gordon, appears in the July issue of the American Journal of Biological Anthropology.
A young woman with long dark hair, wearing a black sweater and dress slacks, smiles as she displays her poster titled "Disparities in Developmental Disorder Care: Socioeconomic Influences on Health Services for U.S. Adolescents with Neurodevelopmental Disorders."
UAlbany Summer: Aspiring Dental Hygienist Explores Community Health Disparities
UAlbany’s Xianna Allen spent the summer conducting health disparities research, focusing on socioeconomic factors affecting health care access and quality among adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders in the U.S.
A large group of people wearing shirts with UAlbany written in all capital letters and a graphic of a Great Dane dog pose together on a basketball court with rows of empty seats behind them.
UAlbany Students, Special Olympics Athletes Share Bond Through Unified Sports
A first-generation college student from the Bronx, Magdalena Martinez learned the importance of compassion and care as a child while watching her mother recovered from a stroke and her brother survive his first days of life as a preemie in the NICU. These experiences were on her mind when she first volunteered to help athletes with disabilities participate in the Unified Sports program at UAlbany.
A man in a suit and tie sits at a table with a name card that reads "University at Albany Jeff Freedman."
Noteworthy: Research grants, awards and publications
The latest developments on University at Albany faculty and staff who are receiving research grants, awards and other noteworthy attention.
A man with short gray hair, a goatee and glasses wears a denim jacket and poses for a portrait against a gray backdrop.
Repatriation to Indigenous groups is more than law, it’s human rights, Wolff writes in ‘The Conversation’
Christopher Wolff, an associate professor in UAlbany’s Department of Anthropology, writes in “The Conversation” about the process of returning ancestral human remains to their rightful cultures and how these efforts can serve as a partial remedy for the historical trauma of Indigenous communities.
A man with short black hair and glasses in a gray blazer is pictured in a classroom.
Noteworthy: Research grants, awards and publications
The latest developments on University at Albany faculty and staff who are receiving research grants, awards and other noteworthy attention.