Vera Tiesler

Tiesler was born in Germany.[1] In 1985, she completed an honours undergraduate degree in one year, at the age of 19, from the Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] Following her degree, Tiesler spent two weeks in Mexico City before returning to Germany to start medical school.[1] While in Mexico, Tiesler fell in love with a young doctor, who died in 1987.[1] This prompted Tiesler to leave Germany, enroll in the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City to complete her medical degree, and later obtain a PhD in anthropology, under the supervision of Manuel Gándara, from the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1999.[1] She then became a professor at UNAM in 2000, where she studies ancient skeletons.[1][2]

Tiesler has been a part of multiple archaeology expeditions, including the 1999-2006 examination of K’inich Janaab’ Pakal of Palenque and his companion, the Red Queen (Tomb of The Red Queen), and the excavation of Ukit Kan Le’k Tok of Ek' Balam.[1][3] From studying 27 skeletons in a graveyard in La Isabela (the first permanent European town founded by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage), Tiesler found that scurvy played a significant role in the collapse and abandonment of La Isabela within four years.[4][5] She directed an excavation in the Mexican port city of Campeche, where upon analysis of strontium isotopes in teeth, researchers identified what may be the earliest African Diaspora individuals in the Americas.[6][7]

Tiesler's publications have been cited over 1,000 times and has an h-index of 22.[8] Her lab has compiled a database of 12,000 burials, where her team has worked on at least 6,000 burials directly.[1]