Dr. Xenia Paula Kyriakou is a forensic anthropologist and archaeologist specializing in forensic and biological anthropology, forensic archaeology, bioarchaeology, and palaeopathology. She has extensive applied and methodological expertise in field searches; excavation, exhumation, recovery and analysis of human remains (skeletonized and at various degrees of decomposition); human identification; commingling and de-commingling processes; forensic and archaeological taphonomy; burial archaeology and burial anthropology. She is also experienced in the identification of skeletal disease and the reconstruction and interpretation of skeletal trauma. Her research interests are diverse within these areas and lately she has also been exploring various other research themes in the archaeology of disaster, conflict archaeology, the social identity of children in antiquity, causes of mortality and morbidity in ancient times, especially in children.

She has been a forensic anthropology practitioner since 2010, and she is actively engaged in forensic casework for the State of Montana, federal and international law enforcement agencies. Dr. Kyriakou is also active in the field of Humanitarian Forensics, with a focus on the investigation of mass graves and resolution of human rights violations, capacity building, peacebuilding, and transitional justice initiatives. She also serves as a consultant for the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP).

Dr. Kyriakou leads multiple field-based research projects in the U.S., as well as abroad (e.g. Cyprus, Croatia, and Germany), actively involving both graduate and undergraduate students, and fostering hands-on training in forensic and archaeological methodologies, as well as bioarchaeology and palaeopathology.

Research interests:

• Forensic Anthropology
• Human Osteology; Human variation and Developmental Micro and Macro Evolution
• Human Identification Methods
• Forensic Archaeology
• Forensic and Archaeological Taphonomy
• Palaeopathology and Epidemiology: Mortality, Morbidity and Demography; Health Reconstruction; Disease Diagnosis.
• Trauma Analysis and Experimental Approaches
• Human Rights and Investigation of Mass Graves
• Humanitarian Forensics: Applications and Policy (incl. Necropolitics)
• Transitional Justice and Peacebuilding
• Conflict Archaeology
• Children Archaeology: identity and status in antiquity
• Staple Isotopes: Diet and Biodistance
• Funerary and Burial Archaeology
• Anthropology of Death

ANTY 412 Human Osteology

ANT 508 Applied Anthropological Statistics

ANTY 512 Advanced Forensic Anthropology

ANTY 515 Theory and Method in Bioanthropology 

ANTY 591 ST: Forensic Casework 

ANTY 592 Independent Study