OU Anthropology Researchers Illuminate Global Cultural Heritage

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NORMAN, OKLA – Two anthropology faculty members at the University of Oklahoma are earning international recognition for recent publications that shed light on critical aspects of cultural heritage and ancient innovation.

Marc Levine, associate professor of anthropology and associate curator at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, co-authored a study that reconstructs an intricate lost-wax casting technique used over 500 years ago in what is now Oaxaca, Mexico. Published in Ethnoarchaeology, the article, Making the Mold: Replicating a Lost-Wax Casting Technique from Late Postclassic Oaxaca, Mexico, details a replication experiment confirming that ceramic molds were likely used to create casting cores at the Mixtec capital of Tututepec. The discovery suggests a level of craftsmanship in gold production previously undocumented in Mesoamerica.

“This isn’t just about metallurgy,” Levine said. “It’s about understanding the decisions made by ancient craftspeople, their innovations and the social or political forces shaping those choices. These molds were part of a larger cultural story.”

Levine's research draws from more than two decades of archaeological excavation and community collaboration in Tututepec, which served as the capital of a powerful Mixtec empire from the 12th to early 16th centuries. Many artifacts remain housed in a community-run museum where Levine continues to support local efforts to preserve and interpret the region’s deep history.

In a separate publication, anthropologist Sean O’Neill explores the global crisis of language loss and the transformative efforts to reclaim endangered Indigenous languages. His article, Extinctions: Language Death, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Early 21st-Century Renewal Efforts, underscores the profound knowledge embedded in oral traditions, from medicine and astronomy to poetry and prayer.

“Every language is a library of human wisdom,” he said. “When a language disappears, we lose entire ways of seeing and relating to the world.”

O’Neill’s research focuses on Native American languages in Oklahoma and California, with comparative insights drawn from global traditions including Irish Gaelic and Sanskrit. His work highlights how Indigenous communities are reviving languages through storytelling, performance and classroom instruction, and it offers powerful counter-narratives to cultural erasure.

“This isn’t just about grammar and vocabulary. When languages are reawakened, so are the songs and stories that carry generations of knowledge,” he said.

Together, these publications reinforce the University of Oklahoma’s prominence in anthropological research that honors both the material and intangible legacies of the past. Whether through reconstructing ancient technologies or amplifying voices nearly lost to history, these OU researchers continue to illuminate the complexity and resilience of human culture.