Dr Melandri Vlok

BA/BSc(Hons), PhD
Lecturer in Biomedicine

Email: melandri.vlok@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    Dr Melandri Vlok is a bioarchaeologist and palaeopathologist with a research focus in nutritional and infectious disease of prehistoric Asia-Pacific. She has been a National Geographic Explorer since 2018 with extensive field and laboratory experience. She graduated from her PhD in biological anthropology in the Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand in 2020. Following her PhD, she spent a year working with the Ngākahu New Zealand Repatriation Research Network to aid in documenting and repatriating koiwi/koimi (Māori and Moriori ancestral remains) back to iwi and imi (tribes).

    Since 2021, following from a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Sydney, her research has focused on tracing the evolutionary pathways of tropical diseases (including yaws and malaria) from Asia to the Pacific, and the impact prehistoric climate change had on these disease as proxy for our emerging climate crisis. She has documented the earliest evidence for both yaws and malaria in Southeast Asia and continues to expand our knowledge of the antiquity of these diseases and the ancestral relationship human groups had with these diseases, which continue to devastate communities in tropical Asia-Pacific today.

    Melandri also specialises in understanding care and disability in prehistory, taking a combination of anthropological and life history approaches to reconstruct the biosocial context of health care in the past. In 2017, she published the first evidence of advanced prehistoric trauma care in Island Southeast Asia dating to appropriately 2000 years ago. In 2022, she described the earliest evidence of surgical amputation currently documented in prehistory from Borneo dating to 31,000 years ago. This project, published in Nature, was a collaboration with Griffith University and BRIN Indonesia.

  • Teaching Areas

    • Human Anatomy and Physiology
    • The Pathological Basis of Disease
    • Infectious Disease
    • Cellular Biology and Genetics

  • Research Expertise and Supervision

    Melandri currently supervises Honours, Masters, and PhD students in biological anthropology, palaeopathology, palaeoepidemiology, and bioarchaeology of Asia-Pacific. She is open to accepting research students with an interest in individual and population level approaches to disability and disease, as well as students interested in musculoskeletal anatomy of the present and the past.

  • Book Chapters

    Adams A, Halcrow S, King C, Miller MJ, Vlok M, Millard M, Gröcke D, Buckley H, Domett K, Trinh HH, Mai Huong NT, Tran TM and Oxenham M. 2021. We’re all in this together: Accessing the maternal-infant relationship in prehistoric Viet Nam. In: E Kendall and R Kendall (eds.). The Family in Past Perspective: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Familial Relationships Through Time. Oxfordshire UK: Taylor & Francis.

  • Journal Articles and Proceedings

    • Vlok M, McFadden C, Matsumura H, and Buckley HR. In press. Nutritional Disease, Ecological Stress and Resilience in the Middle to Final Western Jomon. Antiquity.
    • Buckley H, Vlok M, Petchey P, and Ritchie N. 2024. ‘A Long Want’” An archival exploration of scurvy in the Otago goldfields of New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
    • Vlok M. 2023. Technical Note: The use and misuse of threshold criteria in paleopathology. American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 181(2): 326-335.
    • Snoddy AM, Vlok M, Ramesh N, Wheeler BJ, Standen VG, Arriaza BT. 2023.  Reply to Mays and Brickley 2023: “Dietary calcium versus vitamin D in rickets: A response to Vlok et al.”. American Journal of Human Biology. 35(4): e23882. *as co-lead author.
    • Walker MM, Oxenham MF, Vlok M, Matsumura H, Mai Huong NT, Trinh HH, Minh TT, and Miszkiewicz JJ. 2023. Human Femur Bone Morphology and Histology Variation with Ancestry and Behaviour in an Ancient Sample from Vietnam.  Annals of Anatomy. 247: 152054
    • Wang, T; Mcfadden, C; Buckley H; …Vlok, M and Oxenham, M. 2023. Paleoepidemiology of cribra orbitalia: Insights from early seventh millennium BP Con Co Ngua, Vietnam. American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 181(2): 250-261.
    • Vlok M, Oxenham MF, Domett K, Hiep TH, Minh TT, Mai Huong NT, Matsumura H, McFadden C, Huu NT, and Buckley H. 2023. Scurvy in the Tropics: Evidence for increasing micronutrient deficiency with the transition to agriculture in northern Vietnam. American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 180(4): 715-732.
    • Vlok M, Maloney, TR, Dilkes-Hall I, et al. 2023. Reply to: Common orthopaedic trauma may explain 31000-year-old remains. Nature. 615: E15-E18.
    • Robbins Schug G, Buikstra JE, DeWitte SN, Baker BJ,… Vlok M, et al. 2023. Perspective: Climate Change, Human Health, and Challenges to Resilience in the Holocene. PNAS [invited for special issue].
    • Vlok M, Snoddy AM, Ramesh N, Wheeler BJ, Standen VG, Arriaza BT. 2023.  The role of dietary calcium in the etiology of childhood rickets in the past and the present. American Journal of Human Biology. 35(2): e23819.
    • Maloney, TR, Dilkes-Hall I, Vlok M, et al. 2022. Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo. Nature. 609:547-551. [As equal-lead author.] *This paper as an Altmetric score of over 4000, the 2nd highest of any tracked archaeology paper of all time.
    • Vlok M, Myagmar E, Batsuren B, and Buckley HR. 2022. Pott’s disease of the spine in a Liao Dynasty (10th-12th Century AD) adult from Mongolia. Bioarchaeology International. 6(3): 149-160.
    • Vlok M. 2022. BOOK REVIEW: Bioarchaeology of care through a population level analysis. Childhood in the Past. 15(1): 79-80.
    • Vlok M, and Buckley HR. 2022. Palaeoepidemiological considerations of mobility and population interaction in the spread of infectious diseases in the prehistoric past. Bioarcheology International 6(1-2): 77-107. [Invited for special issue].
    • Vlok M, Buckley HR, Domett K, Willis A, Tromp M, Trinh HH, Minh TT, Mai Huong NT, Nguyen LC, Matsumura H, Huu NT, and Oxenham MF. 2022. Echinococcus granulosis in a forager community from pre-agricultural northern Vietnam. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 117(1): 100-115.
    • Vlok M. Book Review: Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology. 2022. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 28(2): 687-688.
    • Techataweewan N, Mann, RW, Vlok M, Ruengdit S, Panthongviriyakul C, and Buckley HR. 2021. Thalassemia Major and Anemia in a 49-year-old Thai female: Gross and X-ray Examination of Dry Bone. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. [as corresponding author].
    • Vlok M, Buckley HR, Miszkiewicz JJ, Walker M, Domett K, Matsumura H, Hiep T, Minh T, Mai Huong NT, Huu NT, and Oxenham M. 2021. Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia. Scientific Reports. 11:5667. *This paper has the highest Altmetric Score in this journal (175)
    • Vlok M, Oxenham M, Domett K, Tran M, Mai Huong N, Matsumura H, Trinh H, Higham T, Higham C, Huu N and Buckley H. 2020. Two Probable Cases of Infection with Treponema pallidum during the Neolithic Period in Northern Vietnam (~2000-1500B.C.). Bioarchaeology International. 4(1):15-36.
    • Snoddy AME, Beaumont J, Buckley HR, Colombo A, Halcrow SE, Kinaston RL and Vlok M. 2020. Comment on Charlier et al., 2019: “The Mandible of Saint-Louis (1270 AD): Retrospective Diagnosis and Circumstances of Death”. Journal of Stomatology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. 121(2): 192-194.
    • Snoddy AME, Beaumont J, Buckley HR, Colombo A, Halcrow SE, Kinaston RL and Vlok M. 2020. Sensationalism and speaking to the public: Scientific rigour and interdisciplinary collaborations in paleopathology. International Journal of Paleopathology. 28:88-91.
    • Vlok M, Paz V, Crozier R, Oxenham M. 2017. A New Application of the Bioarchaeology of Care Approach: A Case Study from the Metal Period, Philippines. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. 27 (4): 662-671.
    • Vlok M. 2017. So that their graves overlooked the sea: Student experience of the Philippines International Archaeological Field School. The Human Voyage. 1: 105-111.

  • Conference Papers

    Selected conference papers:

    JULY 2023: Porous Skeletal Lesions: International Meeting. Coimbra, Portugal.
    ‘Two decades of searching for malaria in Asia-Pacific: What we’ve learnt (or rather unlearnt) when it comes to porosity’.

    OCTOBER 2022: 23rd Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Congress. Chiang Mai, Thailand.
    ‘Yaws and malaria: Current synthesis and future directions on the origins and antiquity in Southeast Asia and the Pacific’

    OCTOBER 2021: Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past, Online.
    ‘The Children of Yoshiwara: Childhood and disenfranchisement during the Edo Period of Japan’.

    APRIL 2021: Society of American Archaeology Conference, Online.
    ‘Nutritional and Infectious Diseases in the Bronze and Iron Ages of Mongolia: The Archaeological Significance’.

    APRIL 2021: Meeting of the Paleopathology Association, Online.
    ‘Bone mineralisation disorders in Bronze and Iron Age skeletal assemblages from Mongolia’. [Poster]

    APRIL 2021: Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Online.
    ‘The impact of scurvy mortality during the transition of agriculture in northern Vietnam’.

    APRIL 2020: Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Los Angeles, USA.
    ‘Modelling the Disease Impacts of Migration and Trade in Prehistoric East and Southeast Asia’. [Poster]

    DECEMBER 2019: Australasian Society for Human Biology. Canberra, Australia.
    ‘Climatic cooling, population displacement and nutritional stress in the prehistoric Jomon hunter-gatherers of Japan’.

    MARCH 2019: American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
    ‘The Antiquity of Treponemal Disease in the Asia Pacific Regions: Implications for History’.

    SEPTEMBER 2018: 22nd Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Congress. Hue, Vietnam.
    ‘A Biocultural Approach to Human Interaction and Consequences of Disease in Japan’.

    DECEMBER 2017: Australasian Society for Human Biology. Ballarat, Australia.
    ‘Impact of Human Interaction on Health in Prehistoric Asia’.
    ‘Applying Ethnographic Practice to the Bioarchaeology of Care: A Philippines Pilot Study’. [Poster]

    NOVEMBER 2017: Otago Global Health Institute Conference. Dunedin, New Zealand.
    ‘Health Problems Surrounding Immigration Aren’t New: Disease and Human Interaction in Prehistoric Asia’.

    DECEMBER 2016: Australasian Society for Human Biology. Dunedin, New Zealand.
    ‘A Case of Experienced Disability and Community Healthcare in the Metal Period, Philippines’.

    DECEMBER 2016: Australian Archaeological Association. Terrigal, Australia.
    ‘Community Education on the Indigenous and European Interactions in Canberra’s History: The Springbank Island Project’.

    MAY-JUNE 2016: SEAMEO SPAFA 2nd International Conference for Southeast Asian Archaeology. Bangkok, Thailand.
    ‘Applying the Bioarchaeology of Care in the Metal Period Philippines’.

  • In the Media

    History's Oldest Amputation Discovered. National Geographic History Magazine. January/February 2023. pg. 6-7.
    Child’s foot was removed 31,000 years ago in earliest known amputation. New Scientist. September 2022. Issue 3402.
    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2336768-childs-foot-was-removed-31000-years-ago-in-earliest-known-amputation/

    'Nice Genes' Podcast (S02E05): Germ Spotting!
    https://www.genomebc.ca/home-podcast

    Tracking the Origins of Malaria. Archaeology Magazine.
    https://www.archaeology.org/news/9527-210316-vietnam-origins-malaria

    Malaria Detected Among Hunter-gatherers 7,000 Years Ago. Haaretz.
    https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2021-03-16/ty-article/.premium/malaria-detected-among-hunter-gatherers-in-vietnam-7-000-years-ago/0000017f-f520-d5bd-a17f-f73a9b6e0000

    World’s earliest evidence of a successful surgical amputation found in 2022.
    31,000-year old grave in Borneo. The Conversation.
    https://theconversation.com/worlds-earliest-evidence-of-a-successful-surgical-amputation-found-in-31-000-year-old-grave-in-borneo-189683

    Earliest-known surgical limb amputation found in 31,000-year-old skeleton from Borneo cave. ABC News (Australia).
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-09-08/earliest-amputation-foot-leg-skeleton-borneo-cave-archaeology/101406744

    Scientists find evidence of oldest known surgery, from 31,000 years ago. Washington Post.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/07/oldest-amputation-surgery-borneo-hunter/

    Scientists find evidence of oldest known surgical limb amputation that occurred 31,000 years ago. ABC News (US).
    https://abcnews.go.com/US/scientists-find-evidence-oldest-surgical-limb-amputation-occurred/story?id=89458892

    Earliest Known Amputation Was Performed in Borneo 31,000 Years Ago. Smithsonian Magazine.
    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/earliest-known-amputation-was-performed-in-borneo-31000-years-ago-180980710/

    31,000-year-old skeleton found in famous Borneo rock art caves shows earliest evidence of amputation surgery. Cosmos Magazine.
    https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/earliest-amputation-borneo/

    Borneo skeleton may show 31,000 year old amputation. Al Jazeera.
    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/8/borneo-skeleton-may-show-31000-year-old-amputation

    31,000-year-old skeleton missing lower left leg is earliest known evidence of surgery, experts say. The Guardian.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/07/31000-year-old-skeleton-missing-its-lower-left-leg-is-earliest-known-evidence-of-surgery-experts-say

    Stone Age humans had unexpectedly advanced medical knowledge, new discovery suggests. CNN.
    https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/07/asia/earliest-amputation-borneo-scn/index.html

  • Professional Affiliations

    • Australasian Society of Human Biology
    • Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
    • University of Sydney Sustainability, Climate and Health Collaboration
    • Sydney Southeast Asia Centre
    • Honorary Affiliate of Asian Studies, School of Languages and Culture, The University of Sydney.

  • Awards

    • 2020, Health Sciences Division Exceptional Doctoral Thesis Award- University of Otago
    • 2020, Department of Anatomy Best Postgraduate Paper Prize- University of Otago