Professor Legge is a biological anthropologist with research interests in human and non-human primate skeletal biology as well as areas of growth and development in both skeletal and living populations. Specifically, he has conducted research into vertebral pathologies in skeletal collections of native Alaskans and pathological conditions of the skeleton in great apes and Old World monkeys. Additionally, his research into the developmental processes of skeletal maturation in subadults resulted in a method for the estimation of the age of puberty in skeletal populations based on epiphyseal fusion of those bones known to fuse at or near the time of puberty. Professor Legge’s background and training are in all four fields of anthropology, with a specialization in biological anthropology. He has academic and research experience in human variation, human population biology, bioarchaeology, and skeletal biology, as well as extensive experience in historic and prehistoric archaeology. Prior to coming to Macalester he taught at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. Professor Legge’s Ph.D. research included the examination of vertebral pathologies in skeletal collections from Golovin Bay and Nunivak Island, Alaska. He examined the patterns of the pathological conditions and analyzed them with regard to traditional subsistence resource strategies for two different geographic regions within Alaska. He also compared the patterns observed with published data from other geographic regions, both within and outside of the Arctic. His teaching interests include: Human Biology and Adaptation, Osteology, Paleopathology, Growth and Development, Bioarchaeology, Nutrition and Disease.
Journal Articles
Dental Morphology and the Phylogenetic “Place” of Australopithecus sediba (with Joel D. Irish, Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg, Darryl J. de Ruiter, and Lee R. Berger), Science (2013)
To characterize further the Australopithecus sediba hypodigm, we describe 22 dental traits in specimens MH1...
Dentoalveolar abscess variation among three groups of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, Pan troglodytes troglodytes, and Pan paniscus), International Journal of Paleopathology (2012)
The prevalence and pattern of periodontal and periapical dental abscess lesions are examined in 399...
Transportation and trauma: Dog-sledding and vertebral compression in Alaskan Eskimos, American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2010)
The dangers of multi-male groupings: trauma and healing in cercopithecoid monkeys from Cameroon (with Tara J. Chapman), American Journal of Primatology (2009)
This study examines the potential linkage between social organization and trauma in a sample of...
Canopy height utilisation and trauma in three species of cercopithecoid monkeys (with Tara J. Chapman and Sarah E. Johns), British Archaeological Reports International Series (2007)
Contributions to Books and Encyclopedias
Physical Anthropology of the Arctic (with G Richard Scott, Robert W. Lane, Susan Steen, and Steven R. Street), The Arctic: Environment, People, Policy (2000)
Presentations and Published Abstracts
Is this yaws? Possible treponemal induced cranial vault lesions in a young chimpanzee (with Claire A. Kirchhoff), Eighty-second Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (2013)
A considerable amount of research in both living and past human populations has been conducted...
Sex-related patterns of dentoalveolar abscesses in the genus Pan., Eighty-first Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (2012)
Dental abscesses may be used as an indicator of dental health in non-human primates. These...
Non-metric trait variability expressed in the deciduous molars of chimpanzees and gorillas. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Vol. 144, Supplement 52:156 (Abstract (with Anna M. Hardin) (2011)
A Bronze Age woman in an Anglo-Saxon village (with Louise C. D. Schoss), Seventy-seventh Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (2008)
During the excavation of a late Anglo-Saxon settlement at Bishopstone, Sussex, UK, a crouched burial...
Falling, fighting or fleeing: Skeletal trauma analysis in eight sympatric cercopithecoids from Cameroon (with Tara J. Chapman), Seventy-Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (2007)
Skeletal trauma is described in a museum collection of eight sympatric monkey species from Cameroon....