Jeffrey Meldrum

Last updated
Jeffrey Meldrum
Born (1958-05-24) May 24, 1958 (age 65)
Education Brigham Young University (B.S., M.S.)
Stony Brook University (Ph.D.)
OccupationAnthropologist
Scientific career
Institutions Duke University
Northwestern University
Idaho State University
Thesis Terrestrial adaptations in the feet of African cercopithecines  (1989)
Doctoral advisor John G. Fleagle

Don Jeffrey "Jeff" Meldrum (born May 24, 1958) is a Full Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University. Meldrum is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy and the Department of Anthropology. Meldrum is an expert on foot morphology and locomotion in primates. [1]

Contents

Biography

Meldrum received his B.S. in zoology specializing in vertebrate locomotion at Brigham Young University in 1982, and his M.S. at BYU in 1984. In 1989, he completed a Ph.D. at Stony Brook University in anatomical sciences, with an emphasis in biological anthropology, with John G. Fleagle as his doctoral advisor. [2] He held the position of postdoctoral visiting assistant professor at Duke University Medical Center from 1989 to 1991. Meldrum worked at Northwestern University's Department of Cell, Molecular and Structural Biology for a short while in 1993 before joining the faculty of Idaho State University where he currently teaches.

Meldrum has published numerous academic papers ranging from vertebrate evolutionary morphology, the emergence of bipedal locomotion in modern humans, and the plausibility behind the Sasquatch phenomena, in addition to being a co-editor of a series of books on paleontology. Meldrum also co-edited From Biped to Strider: The Emergence of Modern Human Walking with Charles E. Hilton. [3]

Meldrum, who is an "active member" [4] of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has also studied and commented upon issues of genetics and the Book of Mormon in his book "Who Are the Children of Lehi? Archived 2013-07-01 at the Wayback Machine ", written with Trent D. Stephens.

Cryptozoology

Meldrum has attracted media attention due to his interest in Bigfoot. [1] [5] [6] [7] Meldrum believes that Bigfoot exists and his research on the topic has been criticized by some as pseudoscientific. [1] [8] [9] Meldrum authored Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science in 2006. The book was heavily criticized in a detailed review in the Skeptical Inquirer . [9] Anthropologist David J. Daegling commented that author was "unable or unwilling to distinguish good research from bad, science from pseudoscience" and the book failed to provide a thorough scientific analysis. [9] Matt Cartmill reviewed the book in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology . [10]

Meldrum was present at a 2011 conference in Siberia regarding the Siberian Snowman, which included among other things investigating alleged footprints that had been spotted in a Kemerovo cave. He acknowledged that the results of the Russian field trip to the cave site were most likely fraudulent. He suggested that the supposed evidence found was simply an attempt by local government officials to drum up publicity. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bigfoot</span> Mythical human or ape-like creature in North American folklore

Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a large and hairy human-like mythical creature alleged by some to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Bigfoot is featured in both American and Canadian folklore, and has become an enduring icon in popular culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patterson–Gimlin film</span> Alleged film of Bigfoot

The Patterson–Gimlin film is an American short motion picture of an unidentified subject that the filmmakers have said was a Bigfoot. The footage was shot in 1967 in Northern California, and has since been subjected to many attempts to authenticate or debunk it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeti</span> Alleged ape-like creature from Asia

The Yeti is an ape-like creature purported to inhabit the Himalayan mountain range in Asia. In Western popular culture, the creature is commonly referred to as the Abominable Snowman. Many dubious articles have been offered in an attempt to prove the existence of the Yeti, including anecdotal visual sightings, disputed video recordings, photographs, and plaster casts of large footprints. Some of these are speculated or known to be hoaxes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sariah</span> Wife of the Book of Mormon Prophet Lehi

According to the Book of Mormon, Sariah was the wife of Lehi, and the mother of Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. She traveled with her husband from Jerusalem, into the wilderness, and eventually, across the ocean to the "promised land". She is noted for the story in First Nephi where she complains to Lehi for sending her sons back to Jerusalem thinking that they may have died. Once they return, Sariah testifies that her husband is truly a prophet. In Lehi's vision of the tree of life, Sariah chooses to eat the fruit representing God's love. She has two more sons, Jacob and Joseph, while traveling in the wilderness and almost dies of grief while crossing the ocean when Laman and Lemuel try to kill Nephi.

Grover Sanders Krantz was an American anthropologist and cryptozoologist; he was one of few scientists not only to research Bigfoot, but also to express his belief in the animal's existence. Throughout his professional career, Krantz authored more than 60 academic articles and 10 books on human evolution, and conducted field research in Europe, China, and Java.

The Skookum cast is a plaster cast showing the imprint of what appears to be a large animal. It was discovered in a muddy wallow near Mount Adams in the southern part of Washington state in the year 2000. Enthusiasts have argued that the imprint have been made by the mythical creature, Bigfoot, though scientific analysis says it was most likely an imprint of an elk. Scholars and academics consider Bigfoot, and alleged evidence, to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax rather than a living animal.

Loren Coleman is an American cryptozoologist who has written over 40 books on a number of topics, including the pseudoscience and subculture of cryptozoology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon-Erik Beckjord</span> American paranormal investigator (1939–2008)

Jon-Erik Beckjord was an American paranormal investigator, photographer, and cryptozoologist interested in UFOs, crop circles, the Loch Ness Monster, and Bigfoot. Throughout his life, he owned three separate, small-scale museums that featured displays, mostly photographs, of alleged UFO, Nessie, and Bigfoot sightings. He made guest appearances on national radio and television shows, but was criticized by skeptics and fellow cryptozoologists alike for not providing substantive evidence to back up his claims of the existence of paranormal beings.

John Russell Napier, MRCS, LRCP, D.Sc. was a British primatologist, paleoanthropologist, and physician, who is notable for his work with Homo habilis and OH 7, as well as on human and primate hands/feet. During his life he was widely considered a leading authority on primate taxonomy, but is perhaps most famous to the general public for his research on Bigfoot.

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John Albert Bindernagel was a wildlife biologist who sought evidence for Sasquatch since 1963.

Raymond L. Wallace was an American amateur Bigfoot hoaxer.

<i>Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science</i> TV series or program

Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science is a documentary television film written and directed by Minnesota-based wildlife researcher and film producer Doug Hajicek. The program originally aired on the Discovery Channel on January 9, 2003 and features scientists from various disciplines analyzing evidence for the existence of Bigfoot, including the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film, the 1996 Memorial Day Bigfoot footage, and the 2000 Skookum cast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetics and the Book of Mormon</span>

The Book of Mormon, the founding document of the Latter Day Saint movement and one of the four books of scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is an account of three groups of people. According to the book, two of these groups originated from ancient Israel. There is generally no direct support amongst mainstream historians and archaeologists for the historicity of the Book of Mormon.

Terry Briggs Ball was the dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 2006 until 2013.

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Rick Dyer is an American Bigfoot enthusiast known for perpetrating hoaxes surrounding the subject. Texas Monthly has called Dyer "the world's most infamous Bigfoot hunter."

<i>Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend</i>

Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend is a non-fiction book written by Joshua Blu Buhs and published in 2009 by the University of Chicago Press. It explores the history of the concept of Bigfoot, discusses the exploits of its believers, as well as hoaxers, and examines the cultural influences that give the entity its staying power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Markotic (anthropologist)</span> Croatian American anthropologist (1920–1994)

Vladimir Markotic was a Croatian-American anthropologist, archaeologist and cryptozoologist.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Holloway, Marguerite (December 1, 2007). "Bigfoot Anatomy". Scientific American. 297 (6): 26–7. Bibcode:2007SciAm.297f..50H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1207-50. PMID   18237096.
  2. Meldrum, Jeffrey (1989). Terrestrial adaptations in the feet of African cercopithecines (Ph.D.). Stony Brook University. OCLC   22951190.
  3. Meldrum, Jeffrey; Hilton, Charles (31 March 2004). From Biped to Strider: The Emergence of Modern Human Walking, Running, and Resource Transport. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. ISBN   978-0-306-48000-3.
  4. Meldrum, Jeffrey (2003-01-31). "Who Are the Children of Lehi?". Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. 12: 38–51. doi:10.5406/jbookmormstud.12.1.0038. S2CID   55869292 via BYU Scholars Archive.
  5. "Bigfoot Research Makes Professor A Campus Outcast". CBS San Francisco. 3 November 2006. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
  6. "Meldrum's Evaluation of Sasquatch Footprints". Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
  7. "Bigfoot - Science Vs by Gimlet Media". gimletmedia.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-10. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  8. "Idaho professor’s Bigfoot research criticized". The Seattle Times.
  9. 1 2 3 Radford, Benjamin; Dennett, Michael R; Crowley, Matt; Daegling, David J. (2007). "The Nonsense and Non-science of Sasquatch" (PDF). Skeptical Inquirer . 31 (3): 58–61.
  10. Cartmill, Matt (2008). "Book reviews: Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend. Book reviews: Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science". American Journal of Physical Anthropology . 135 (1): 117–118. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20691.
  11. Speigel, Lee (2011-11-22). "Yeti Evidence Falls Flat: Scientist Says Local Officials Staged Siberian Snowman Hunt For Publicity". HuffPost. Retrieved 2019-03-11.