Alex Greenwald, an assistant professor of anthropology and curator of ethnography at the Natural History Museum of Utah put together a cross-campus team that will study the biomechanics of ancient runners using prehistoric footwear and experimental work. Volunteers will run on treadmills wearing sandals made of yucca fibers that replicate the footwear housed at the museum of natural history to generate predictions of use wear associated with running and walking.
Greenwald’s team includes Andrew Anderson, from the School of Medicine; David Carrier, from the College of Science; and Andrew Merryweather, from the College of Engineering. They will recreate the biomechanics of ancient human runners, in part, to better understand the prevalence of running among the ancestors of Diné and Puebloan peoples—both Native American populations in the southwestern United States.