Dr Ruokuonuo Rose Yhome

Ruokuonuo Rose Yhome is an archaeologist specialising in biological archaeology and the study of past dietary practices. She was a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ungar Lab, Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, University of Arkansas. Her postdoctoral research examined dietary behaviours among Chalcolithic, Harappan, and Iron Age populations through the analysis of dental remains from archaeological sites in India.

She completed her PhD in Archaeology at the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture, and Archaeology, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Pune. Her doctoral research focused on dental microwear analysis of human dentition recovered from ancestral sites in Nagaland, offering valuable insights into the dietary habits and food preparation techniques of ancient Naga populations.

Dr Yhome's academic interests include bioarchaeology, the role of diet in human ecological adaptation, morphological and palaeopathological studies of human remains, and the cultural study of Indigenous communities.

Key areas of work include:

• •Dental texture microwear analysis of past Indian populations
• •Indigenous oral history and knowledge
• •Archaeology of Northeast India
• •Bioarchaeology of Naga ancestral sites
• •Community archaeology

At The Highland Institute, Dr Yhome previously served as Programme Manager for the "Global Health Research Group in Surgical Technologies" project, funded by the UK's National Institute for Health Research and led by doctors, scholars, and global health professionals at the University of Leeds.

She was also Research Associate and Programme Manager for the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK-funded project "Participatory Arts for Health Improvement in North East India", part of the global "Changing the Story" project led by the University of Leeds.

In addition, Dr Yhome was Co-Principal Investigator for "Naga Women's Health Channel: Developing an Online Health Community among Young Women in Northeast India", funded by the Scottish Funding Council in collaboration with The Highland Institute and the University of Edinburgh.

• 2025 — 'Comparing dental microwear in the populations at an Iron Age (c. 4010 BP) and Early Historic (c. 2600 BP) site in South India' in International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Vol. 35, Issue 5, pp. 375–382.
• 2023 — 'An Experimental Case Study: Application of Dental Microwear Analysis (DMA) on Dental Remains from Naga Ancestral Sites (Nagaland)' in Man and Environment, Vol. 48, Issue 2, pp. 94–107.
• 2020 — 'A Preliminary Report on Human Skeletal Remains from Potlap Longkhap (PTL)' in Archaeology of Mimi Caves: Kiphire District, Nagaland, Vol. 1, Heritage Publishing House, Dimapur.
• 2018 — 'An Ethnographic Account of Body Tattoo Art in Hutsü Village, Nagaland' in Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology, Vol. 6, pp. 945–953.
• 2015 — 'An Overview on Development of Paleopathology in the Indian Sub-continent' in Indian Journal of Physical Anthropology and Human Genetics, Vol. 34, pp. 283–300.

Alongside her scholarly work, Rose has been involved in community archaeology at various Naga ancestral sites, conducting archaeological excavations with communities seeking to better understand the context of their material culture. She also contributes to The Highland Institute's summer school by mentoring young aspirants interested in exploring academic pathways.