Deep in the lowlands of Papua New Guinea lies an remote civilization with a reputation for being no more accepting than the malaria-ridden swamps its people inhabit. In 1988, graduate student David Tracer set out to challenge this claim and conduct field research among the Au people of the Anguganak Village.

Twenty years later, Tracer remains the only anthropologist to work among the Au—who have turned out to be a wonderful resource in more ways than one. “They’re people I really value as research subjects and as friends,” Tracer says. Within this hunter-gatherer society, he is discovering clues to human evolution and once again questioning popular notion.

Under a grant from the Center for Faculty Development, Tracer will travel to the island of New Guinea on an endeavor to put the experts to the test. A main theory in anthropology maintains that male hunting has served as the central social activity responsible for the majority of human advancements throughout evolution. Through his years of field research with today’s hunter-gatherer societies, however, Tracer has developed a contradicting theory—that females actually contribute more animal protein to the household than males.

With the help of two graduate students, Tracer plans to test his theory among the Au. “I’m really looking forward to questioning some of the dominant notions in anthropology of the gender division of labor,” Tracer says. “I think that’s really going to make an important contribution.” The team will measure both male and female protein contributions to the household as well as correlating family health.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will allow the students a learning environment that cannot be duplicated in the classroom. “I hope the students gain an appreciation for how different the way of life is, but how fundamentally human people are when you go around the world,” says Tracer. “They’re every bit as funny and challenging as any other person that you would meet on the street in Denver.”

With the current lack of research in anthropology on female hunting, Tracer believes this study will spark the interest of those in and out of the field. He plans to use the data he gathers to prepare a National Science Foundation Grant for 2010. “It’s been people’s preconceived notions that have hindered the research to some degree,” Tracer explains. “But obviously that’s changing.”