Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
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cvansickle.bsky.social
Caroline VanSickle (she/her)
@cvansickle.bsky.social
2.2K followers 570 following 160 posts
Feminist, paleoanthropologist, associate professor of anatomy. Website: carolinevansickle.com. Was once known as @cvans but no longer.
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cvansickle.bsky.social
Look at all these “tools” that aren’t tools! Raymond Dart’s ostedontokeratic tool culture, on display at the Evolutionary Sciences Institute at Wits University.

#paleoanthropology #archaeology
Photo of a wooden display case with a glass top. Inside, the shelf is lined in red fabric. There are multiple broken animal bones and antlers arranged in four rows. In the middle of the display is a white card that reads “Raymond Dart’s Osteodontokeratic Culture of Australopithecus africanus (Makapansgat Grey Breccia)”. There is a second card in the top left of the display that isn’t readable but has black ink like drawings of what an Australopithecus using tools might look like. I don’t recall the exact text, but the card mentions that Dart’s ideas about early tool use inspired the famous hominin scene in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The photo has a warm filter to make up for the harsh overhead fluorescent lights. Taken at the Evolutionary Science Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand.
October 7, 2025 at 11:15 AM
cvansickle.bsky.social
#Paleoanthroplogy #3Dscanning

I am beyond pleased with my new Revopoint Pop 3 scanner. It’s even easier to use than their MINI2 that I bought previously! It’s rare that I can get new equipment to work as expected (or better) immediately, so this is a total success! Plus it’s so portable!
Photo of my 3D scanning setup. A Mac laptop is open on a black topped wooden table. The screen shows an app that is black and red with multiple panels (this is the RevoScan 5 software). Next to it is a manual turn table that is black with silver spots on it. In front of the turn table is a device on a small tripod: the device is rectangular and black and has a single cord connecting it and the laptop. What’s not shown is the front surface that has camera and lights on it. This is the Revopoint Pop 3 scanner.
October 2, 2025 at 1:37 PM
cvansickle.bsky.social
#NewBook alert: A Visual Atlas of Skeletal Growth and Development by Kyra Stull & Heather Garvin. Just look at the number of ages in this image!

www.amazon.com/Visual-Atlas...

#BiologicalAnthropology #Paleoanthropology #ForensicAnthropology #Bioarchaeology #GrowthAndDevelopment #TeamPelvis
A page from the ebook version of "A Visual Atlas of Skeletal Growth and Development" by Kyra Stull and Heather Garvin. This page features an image of acetabular development from newborn to 17.5 years. Each of the 19 acetabulae shown are yellow 3D models based on CT scans and oriented in lateral views such that the image focuses on the acetabulum. The upper part of the ilium is cropped out in hipbones after the age of 1.5 years. The age labels and title of the image ("Acetabular Development") are light blue boxes with black text. The bottom of the page has the caption "Figure 4.1 Acetabular development, newborn to 17.5 yoa. Lateral views presented at each designated age."
September 23, 2025 at 3:54 PM
cvansickle.bsky.social
I visited @dogearedbooksames.bsky.social today and bought @anthrofuentes.bsky.social’s new book, Sex is a Spectrum. Here I am having a dorky moment in the store after realizing I’m listed in the acknowledgments by an author whose work has informed my own ideas about sex and society. Thanks, Agustín!
White woman with short brown hair and wearing a teal T-shirt smiles and looks into the camera while holding open a book and pointing to the text at the bottom of the first page. Zooming in reveals she is pointing to her name, Caroline VanSickle, in the acknowledgments. Background: she is standing in a bookstore with the name of the store, Dog-Eared Books, on the wall behind her.
June 22, 2025 at 12:22 AM
cvansickle.bsky.social
New #OpenAccess article alert!

@paleonicole.bsky.social led this first description of a partial right #Neandertal hipbone from El Sidrón, Spain that expands the range of morphological variation in Neandertals.

Read it here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#Paleoanthropology #TeamPelvis
Manuscript Figure 2: Photographs of the SD-1663 right partial os coxae in different views. A) lateral, B) medial, C) anterolateral focused on the acetabulum, and D) Zoomed in view of the eroded acetabular margin that is also crushed superomedially. The fossil preserves most of the acetabulum, part of the superior pubic ramus, part of the ischial body, and part of the iliac blade. The greater sciatic notch is fully preserved and is a narrow, J-shape.
April 25, 2025 at 2:42 PM
cvansickle.bsky.social
Ok, I’m curious if this stat accounted for body size. If the sample represented typical body size differences between men and women, is it possible the increased risk is actually from being small? Or does alcohol affect female biology differently?

Anyone know? Couldn’t find the answer in the doc.
Infographic from the U.S. Surgeon General, with the title “Higher alcohol consumption increases alcohol-related cancer risk in women and men”. Includes a bar graph for women and men with each showing absolute risk of cancer as a percentage for individuals who have less than one drink a week, one drink a day, or two drinks a day. Both graphs show the risk increases with more frequent drinks. Above the Women graph it says “About 5 more women out of 100 would develop cancer due to the consumption of two drinks a day”. The message above the Men graph is the same, except the stat is 3 men out of 100.
January 7, 2025 at 5:18 AM
cvansickle.bsky.social
Been a minute. I visited some cool fossils and fossil sites in Ethiopia and South Africa over the last month. More importantly, I met with collaborators and we have some very cool fossil-analysis plans for the future!
Photo of me, a white woman with brown hair wearing a black and white blouse and black pants. I’m pointing to the fossilized skeleton of the Australopithecus afarensis known as Lucy. Her skeleton is displayed on a table in four black foam lined wooden boxes. I’m specifically pointing at her very complete pelvis and grinning (because I study hominin pelves and they are usually crushed). Selfie of me, a white woman with brown hair wearing an orange helmet with a head lamp attached to it and a green jumpsuit. I’m in the Dragon’s Back chamber of the Rising Star Cave System in South Africa and so there are brown rock walls visible behind me. Photo of me looking at the MH1 Australopithecus sediba skull that is on display under a glass case. I’m a white woman with brown hair wearing a dark blue long sleeved shirt and looking knowingly at the camera (because this skeleton is so cool and complete, despite being found encased in breccia). There are glass lined shelves and wooden drawers visible behind me.
August 21, 2024 at 12:55 PM
cvansickle.bsky.social
Ever been confused by scientists talking about sex? Our AmSci piece "Biology Is Not Binary" explains it all, à la Clarissa!

Link (paywalled): www.americanscientist.org/article/biol...

Shout-out to my awesome co-authors: @kateclancy.bsky.social, @anthrofuentes.bsky.social, & Catherine Clune-Taylor
Screenshot of the top of an article from American Scientist. The top of the image reads: "Biology Is Not Binary. By Kate Clancy, Agustin Fuentes, Caroline M VanSickle, Catherine Clune-Taylor. How scientists define sex has evolved over the centuries, and the concept is still incredibly difficult to pin down." The article is tagged: anthropology, biology, anatomy and includes links to various social media sites. The first paragraph of the article is visible, which reads, "In the sciences, we talk about sex. The question is, what are we actually talking about when we use that word?". Finally, there is a side bar that includes the following citation info: This article from issue March-April 2024, Volume 112, Number 2, Page 78. There is also a small image of the issue's cover, which features a pink-purple-white DNA model and the headline, "The dynamic world of DNA" under the magazine's title.
February 13, 2024 at 10:49 PM
cvansickle.bsky.social
REALLY important statement from biological anthropologists on sex, gender, reproductive freedom, and trans lives.

Image has full text but it wouldn't all fit in the alt text, so here is the link to the whole thing: bioanth.org/about/positi...
Screenshot of the AABA Statement in Support of Trans Lives. Full text available at https://bioanth.org/about/position-statements/aaba-statement-in-support-of-trans-lives/. It begins, "The American Association of Biological Anthropologists, the American Association of Anthropological Genetics, the Dental Anthropology Association, the Paleopathology Association, The PaleoAnthropology Society, the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association, and the Human Biology Association stand together against the escalating legislation and governance in the United States and across the globe that attacks the existence of transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse peoples. We affirm the power of all persons to make the ultimate decisions over what happens to our/their own bodies. We oppose legislation that is rooted in and maintains rigid binary conceptions of sex and gender which impact reproductive justice and access to care for everyone."
November 27, 2023 at 8:09 PM
cvansickle.bsky.social
Reskeet with the first video game you remember playing.

It was either this or Tank Wars.
Screenshot of the computer game Midnight Rescue by The Learning Company. Depicts a robot and the sleuth character in a brick hallway. Next to them is a pair of double doors that have a sign above them reading "Auditorium". At the bottom of the screen is a blue panel with game information and options.
September 28, 2023 at 11:07 PM