Andrea Zurek-Ost

(She/Her)

ostandre@msu.edu

Postdoctoral Scholar

Anthropology

Biography

Andrea M. Zurek-Ost (PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University (MSU) with specializations in forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology. She is the Postdoctoral Scholar for MOSAIC (Principal Investigator: Joseph Hefner, MSU), a National Institute of Justice-funded project aimed at unifying methods of sex, stature, population affinity, and age estimation through computational standardization.

Zurek-Ost’s recent research in forensic anthropology has focused on improving estimations of the biological profile through skeletal morphological as well as mass-spectrometry-based approaches. Zurek-Ost has conducted forensic casework, including crime scene recoveries and skeletal identifications, in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and Puerto Rico.

Her recent bioarchaeological research has explored the applications of isotopic, skeletal morphological, and geospatial analysis to the archaeology of conflict and warfare, and she has conducted bioarchaeological work in Iraqi Kurdistan, Spain, and Costa Rica. She serves as the bioarchaeologist for two projects on the Erbil Plain (Iraqi Kurdistan): the Surezha project (University of Chicago), a Chalcolithic settlement site on the Erbil Plain (Iraqi Kurdistan); and Kurd Qaburstan (University of Central Florida), a Middle Bronze Age city.

Works

RECENT SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Dirkmaat, Dennis; Zurek-Ost, Andrea (Eds.). Forensic Anthropology Case Studies: Applied Approaches to the Outdoor Crime Scene. Edited Volume with Routledge Press, anticipated publication in June 2026.

Zurek-Ost, Andrea; Bonthorne, Emma; Mordant, Angie; Herring, Laura. A Comparison of Osteological and Mass Spectrometry-Based Sex Estimation Methods: Investigations from a Commingled Assemblage in Northern Iberia. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2026 (69): 105568. DOI:10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105568

Zurek-Ost, Andrea; Lynch, Paige. The Scope of Taphonomy in Forensic Anthropological Case Reports. Accepted to Forensic Anthropology.

Cabo, Luis; Dirkmaat, Dennis; Zurek-Ost, Andrea. Taphonomy and Biological Anthropology. In: A Companion to Biological Anthropology (2^nd edition), Clark Spencer Larsen (Ed). Wiley Blackwell, 2023.

Ost, Andrea. Age-at-Death Estimation from the Auricular Surface of the Ilium: A Test of a Sex-Specific Component Method. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2022;00:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556–4029.14983.

Ost, Andrea; Messer, Diana; Dirkmaat, Dennis. The Role of Forensic Anthropologists at the Fatal Fire Recovery: A Retrospective Study of Cases from 1983–2020. Forensic Anthropology, 2022;5(1):46–52.

RECENT SELECT PRESENTATIONS

Zurek-Ost, Andrea. “Embodiment and Ephemerality: Bioarchaeological Analyses from the Silo of Charlemagne Ossuary (Navarre, Spain),” Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop seminar series, University of Chicago. (2026)

Zurek-Ost, Andrea. “Mortality and Burial on the Erbil Plain: Insights from Tell Surezha.” Presentation at the American Society of Overseas Research conference, Boston, MA. (2025)

Zurek-Ost, Andrea. “Applications of Isotope Analysis to Conflict Archaeology: A Case Study from the Northern Iberian Peninsula.” Presentation at the 90^th annual Society for American Archaeology conference, Denver, CO. (2025)

Zurek-Ost, Andrea; Fisher, Michael; Proctor, Lucas; Price, Max; Stein, Gil. “Deaths in the Family: Cycles of Subsistence, Mortality, and Household Occupation at Chalcolithic Gird-i Surezha, Kurdistan.” Presentation at the 14^th annual International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE) meeting in Lyon, France. (2025)

Zurek-Ost, Andrea; Sorensen, Mark. “Innominate Weight Over the Lifespan: A Method for Estimating Age from the Pelvis.” Presentation at the 76^th annual American Academy of Forensic Sciences conference, Denver, CO. (2024)

Zurek-Ost, Andrea; Mordant, Angie; Bonthorne, Emma; Mills, Allie; Webb, Thomas; Barker, Natalie; Sandstrom, Michael; Herring, Laura. “A Comparison of Osteological and Proteomics-Based Sex Estimation Methods: Investigations from a Commingled Assemblage in Northern Iberia.” Presentation at the 10^th annual Southeastern Biological Anthropology Interest Group (SEBIG) conference, Chapel Hill, NC. (2024)

Zurek-Ost, Andrea; Bonthorne, Emma. “Inferring Geographic Origins from Individuals Buried Along the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage Route: Insights from the Silo of Charlemagne Cemetery.” Presentation at the 92^nd annual American Association of Biological Anthropologists conference, Reno, NV. (2023)

ORGANIZED CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA

Organizer of the 2024 Southeastern Biological Anthropology Interest Group (SEBIG) conference at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Session Co-Organizer for the 2025 Society for American Archaeology Session “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Basque Archaeology: Current Research and Future Directions”

RECENT NOTABLE AWARDS AND GRANTS

Deborah L. Nichols Grant, Society for American Archaeology (2025)

Boka W. Hadzija Award for Distinguished Scholarship, Leadership, and University Service at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (nomination) (2025)

American Association of Biological Anthropologists William S. Pollitzer Student Travel Award (2023)

Core Facilities Advocacy Committee Grant for Exploratory Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ($9,345) (2022)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship (2022)