Michael Schillaci

Professor, Scarborough Campus (UTSC)
HL 310 (UTSC)
(416) 287-7328
michael.schillaci@utoronto.ca

Campus

  • Scarborough (UTSC)

Fields of Study

  • Evolutionary Anthropology
  • Medical Anthropology
  • North America
  • South Asia

Areas of Interest

Research Keywords: Primate evolution, bioarchaeology, medical primatology, public health

Research Region: American Southwest, Southeast Asia

Biography

Michael Schillaci joined the Department of Anthropology in 2003 after completing his PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of New Mexico, where his doctoral research examined morphological variation and growth and development in hybrid macaques from Sulawesi, Indonesia. More recently Dr. Schillaci’s research has covered a variety of different topics within the subfields of bioarchaeology, archaeology, primate evolution, and medical anthropology.  His current research focuses on the prehistory of the American Southwest, and combining bioarchaeological, archaeological, and historical linguistic data sets to investigate culture history.

Recent Publications

2024    López-Torres S, Bertrand OC, Fostowicz-Frelik Ł, Lang MM, Law CJ, San Martin-Flores G, Schillaci MA, Silcox MT. The allometry of brain size in Euarchontoglires: clade-specific patterns and their impact on encephalization quotients. Journal of Mammalogy (early view) https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyae084

2024    Kendall C, Robinson J, Debortoli G, Nooranikhojasteh A , Christian D, Newman D, Sayers K, Cole S, Parra E, Schillaci M, Viola B. Global and Local Ancestry Estimation in a Captive Baboon Colony PLoS ONE 19(7): e0305157. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305157

2022    Schillaci MA, Schillaci ME. Estimating the population variance, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation: Sample size and accuracy. Journal of Human Evolution 171:103230

2022    Reid MJC, Switzer WM, Alonso SK, Lowenberger CA, Schillaci MA. Evolutionary history of orangutan plasmodia revealed by phylogenetic analysis of complete mtDNA genomes and new biogeographical divergence dating calibration models. American Journal of Primatology 84:e23298

2021    Schillaci MA, Sutton LD, Wichmann S, López-Torres S. Linguistic clues to Kiowa-Tanoan prehistory. Journal of the Southwest 63(2):255-368.

2021    Schillaci MA. Another look at Tewa origins: The biological evidence. Kiva 87(2):190-219.

2021    O’Donnell L, Schillaci MA. Inferring the relationships of the Gallina and Pottery Mound populations using craniometrics and dental morphological biodistance. Kiva 87(1): 97-128.

2020    Evans BJ, Gansauge M-T, Tocheri M, Schillaci MA, Sutikna T, Jatmiko A, E. Saptomo EW, Klegarth A, Tosi AJ, Melnick DJ, Meyer M. Mitogenomics of macaque monkeys (Macaca) across Wallace’s Line in the context of modern humans. Journal of Human Evolution 146(102852):1-14.

2020    Schillaci MA, Lakatos SA, Ferguson J, Wilson D. Analysis of ceramic compositional data from Late Developmental period sites in the Tewa Basin, New Mexico. Kiva 86(1):70-107.

2019    Schillaci MA, Lintlop J, Sumra M, Pizarro M, Jones-Engel L. Hair cortisol and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) from Gibraltar. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 33(9):831-838.

2017    Schillaci MA, Kopris C, Wichmann S, Dewar G. Linguistic clues to Iroquoian prehistory. Journal of Anthropological Research 73(3):448-485.

Teaching

  • Biological Anthropology (undergraduate UTSC, ANT B14)
  • Human Osteology (undergraduate UTSC, ANT C47)
  • Medical Anthropology (undergraduate UTSC, ANT D17, ANT D25)
  • Quantitative Methods (graduate, ANT1099)
  • Evolutionary Perspectives on Growth and Development (graduate, ANT3041)

Graduate Students

Administrative Service

Associate Chair, Graduate (tri-campus)