My research falls into three broad areas:
1) The use of non-destructive imaging in Bioarchaeology and Archaeology (Paleoimaging) This area of interest involves the use of radiography and other imaging techniques to non-destructively capture and analyze human skeletal remains and archaeological artifacts. Specific methods include plain film x-ray, CT scanning, and micro-CT scanning. Specific subjects of analysis include skeletal remains from many sites and Egyptian and Peruvian mummies, Moche pots, stone and shell beaded pectorals, and medieval prayer beads. The use of paleoradiology and virtual imaging in the analysis and presentation of Egyptian mummies has been a particularly fruitful area of research.
2) Peruvian Bioarchaeology I started going to Peru as a student in 1982, and have been going as a professional bioarchaeologist since 1995. I have worked primarily on the North Coast at sites in the Jequetepeque Valley (San Jose de Moro, Pacatnamu, Farfán) and with material from other sites in Peru (Cajamarquilla, Tucume, Laguna de los Condores). My interests lie in the areas of biocultural change over time, the interactions between culture and biology (cranial modification etc), and patterns of heath and disease.
3) Hominid growth, development and body size My doctoral dissertation focused on hominid body size and how body size could affect traits throughout the skeleton, and subsequent research involved the examination of how body size and its associated characteristics was achieved through ontogeny.

Jon Friedrich is a Professor of Chemistry at Fordham University and a Research Associate of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He earned a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Purdue University and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota. He uses x-ray microtomography to examine meteorites to learn about the impact processing of planetary materials and to place constraints on processes occurring within the early solar system.