Saige Kelmelis

Dr. Kelmelis is a biological anthropologist who specializes in bioarchaeology, paleodemography, paleoepidemiology, and forensic anthropology. Her research involves the study of human skeletal remains to reconstruct aspects of life, health, disease, identity, and demography. She integrates methods and theory in osteology, paleodemography, epidemiology, and hazard analyses to explore the interplay between human biocultural behavior and infectious disease. Her recent work has focused on exploring the consequences of demographic transitions, like urbanization and agricultural innovation, on human-pathogen relationships in medieval skeletal assemblages from Denmark. Current and on-going research includes continuing to explore mortality risk and disease in monastic, urban, and rural medieval Denmark, the application of cementochronology to reconstruct human life histories in Bangladesh, and advancing statistical models in paleodemography.

Biological anthropology, forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology, zooarchaeology, past health and epidemics, anthropological demography, and biocultural evolution.

Reconstructing life, health, disease, and demography from skeletal remains (bioarchaeology, paleodemography); hazard analyses and Bayesian statistics in human demography; cementochronology and human life histories in Bangladesh; effects of urbanization, climate change, and agricultural growth on health and disease in medieval Denmark; trauma and health in early modern Denmark.

Citations listed below are presented in a standardized, modified format for display purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the preferred style and conventions of the faculty member or discipline.

Kwiecien, Ola, Braun, Tobias, Brunello, Camilla C., Faulkner, Patrick, Hausmann, Niklas, Helle, Gerhard, Hoggarth, Julie, Ionita, Monica, Jazwa, Christopher C., Kelmelis, Saige, Marwan, Norbert, Nava-Fernandez, Cinthya, Nehme, Carole, Opel, Thomas, Oster, Jessica J., Persoiu, Aurel , Petrie, Cameron, Prufer, Keith, Saarni, Saija S., Wolf, Annabel, and Breitenbach, Sebastian . What we talk about when we talk about seasonality - A transdisciplinary review. Earth-Science Reviews, 2022.
Kelmelis, Saige, and DeWitte, Sharon S.. Urban and rural survivorship in pre- and post-Black Death Denmark. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2021. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103089)
Kelmelis, Saige, Kristensen, Vicki V., Alexandersen, Mette, and Dangvard Pedersen, Dorthe. Markets and Mycobacteria - a Comprehensive Analysis of the Influence of Urbanization on Leprosy and Tuberculosis Prevalence in Denmark (AD 1200-1536 ). In The Bioarchaeology of Urbanization. Springer Nature, 2020.
Alexandersen, M, Bjerregaard, M M., Kelmelis, Saige, and Tarp, P. From the gallows to the grave - investigating the cause of death of seven skeletons from Renaissance Odense., 305-317. Vol. 76, Iss. 4 Anthropologischer Anzeiger; Bericht uber die biologisch-anthropologische Literatur, 2019. (DOI: 10.1127/anthranz/2019/0959)
Kelmelis, Saige, and Pedersen, Dorthe D.. Impact of urbanization on tuberculosis and leprosy prevalence in medieval Denmark, 149-166. Vol. 76, Iss. 2 ANTHROPOLOGISCHER ANZEIGER, 2019. (DOI: 10.1127/anthranz/2019/0962)
Kelmelis, Saige, Price, Michael M., and Wood, Jim. The effect of leprotic infection on the risk of death in medieval rural Denmark, 763-775. Vol. 164, Iss. 4 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 2017. (DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23314)
DeWitte, Sharon S., Wang, Ziyu, and Kelmelis, Saige. Plagues and Pandemics. In Handbook of Paleopathology. Routledge.

Kelmelis, Saige, and Price, Michael H., Age filtration in paleoepidemeological research: a cautionary tale and ways forward. Presented at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA), Denver, CO. (March 23, 2022)
van Doren, Taylor, and Kelmelis, Saige, Respiratory survivorship before, during, and after the 1918 influenza pandemic in Newfoundland: Implications for populations in transition. Presented at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA), Denver, CO. (March 23, 2022)
McManus, Carmella, Wilde, Kira, Hoggarth, Julie, and Kelmelis, Saige, Tales in teeth - dental analyses of childhood health, mortality, and status from the Early and Late Classic Maya Belize (CE 200-900). Presented at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA), Denver, CO. (March 23, 2022)
Kelmelis, Saige, and DeWitte, Sharon N., Mortality risk and survival in pre- and post-Black Death Denmark. Presented at the 90th annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA), Baltimore, MD. (April 2021)
Kelmelis, Saige, Kristensen , Vicki R., Alexandersen, Mette, and Dangvard Pedersen, Dorthe, Markets and Mycobacteria - a Comprehensive Analysis of the Influence of Urbanization on Leprosy and Tuberculosis Prevalence in Denmark (AD 1200-1536). Presented at the 89th American Association of Physical Anthropologists Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA. (April 2020)
Kelmelis, Saige, and Dangvard Pedersen, Dorthe , Impact of urbanization on tuberculosis and leprosy prevalence in medieval Denmark. Presented at the 88th American Association of Physical Anthropologists Annual Meeting, Cleveland, OH. (April 22, 2019)
Kelmelis, Saige, Price, Michael H., and Wood, James W., The effect of leprotic infection on the risk of death in medieval rural Denmark. Presented at the 21st Annual Meeting of the European Anthropological Association, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, DK. (August 25, 2018)
Kelmelis, Saige, Price, Michael H., and Wood, James W., The effect of leprotic infection on the risk of death in medieval rural Denmark. Presented at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Bioarchaeologists' Northeast Regional Dialogue, Quinnipiac University, CT. (October 2017)
Kelmelis, Saige, Price, Michael H., and Wood, James W., The effect of leprotic infection on the risk of death in medieval rural Denmark. Presented at the 86th American Association of Physical Anthropologists Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA. (April 21, 2017)
Kelmelis, Saige, Buried within the abbey walls: paleopathological examination of skeletal remains from a rural, Danish Cistercian monastery. Presented at the 42nd Paleopathology Association Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO. (March 25, 2015)
Kelmelis, Saige, Out of cold storage: inventory and osteological analysis of Hrdlička's back dirt remains from the Chaluka site. Presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Anthropological Association, Franklin Pierce University, NH. (October 2011)

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