Trent Archaeologist

Trent Archaeologist
Annual Report of the Trent University Archaeological Research Centre
2009/10 Academic Years
Vol. 4
2010/11 Academic Year
Celebrating Our First Decade
TUARC hosted an Open House in April to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Founded by Dr.
Paul Healy, the Trent University Archaeological Research Centre was established in May
2001 to support archaeological research, to encourage the study of archaeology at Trent, and
to educate the public about archaeology and cultural heritage. In our first decade, TUARC
has grown from six to 33 members, sponsored public lectures and professional workshops, and
provided research grants to support collaboration among Anthropology graduate students and
TUARC members. This volume of the newsletter celebrates some of our accomplishments.
Contents
Welcome.....................................................................................................................................2
Funding Success..........................................................................................................................2
New Member...............................................................................................................................2
10th Anniversary.......................................................................................................................3-8
Publications
...................................................................................................................9-10
Member Updates...................................................................................................................... .11
Public lectures. ....................................................................................................................12-13
Collaborative Research Grants.............................................................................................14-15
Director: Marit K. Munson
Secretary: Kristine Williams
www.trentu.ca/tuarc
2140 East Bank Dr., Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8
Welcome
TUARC's mission encompasses four overlapping program areas:
Research: TUARC facilitates high-calibre archaeological research, from within Peterborough
to around the world.
Education: TUARC encourages and supports and the study of archaeology and cultural
heritage by Trent students, undergraduate and graduate alike
Outreach: TUARC engages Trent students and the public in archaeological research and
increases appreciation of archaeology and cultural heritage through education and outreach.
Professional Development: TUARC fosters connections among academics, heritage
professionals, and independent researchers
Funding Success
Gyles Iannone
2011-2014, “Socio-Environmental Dynamics in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize: A Long Term
Perspective (Phase III, Part II).” Funding from a private foundation. $215,976 USD
Iannone also holds an additional grant from the same foundation, with co-PI Jamie Awe.
Collaborators on the grant include TUARC members James Conolly and Jocelyn Williams
$343,178 USD.
The project also received funding via an internal SSHRC grant for “Preliminary mapping and
test excavations at the ancient Maya centre of Waybil, Belize,” $3,900.
New Member
Dr. Erin Kennedy Thornton is an environmental archaeologist who specialises in
zooarchaeology and stable isotope analysis. Her research focuses primarily on complex
societies in Latin America, with fieldwork in Guatemala, Belize, and Peru. She has also
worked on collections from
the Caribbean and the
Southeastern US. A recent
PhD graduate, she studied
at the University of Florida
under Dr. Kitty Emery.
Skull of a brocket deer, a
species exploited by the Maya.
10th Anniversary
TUARC’s anniversary and accomplishments were marked by a public display in Bata
Library, on Trent’s campus, followed by an Open House and reception in our new quarters
in the DNA Building.
10th Anniversary
TUARC builds on Trent's
distinguished history of
archaeology programs,
research, and teaching,
including:
• one of Trent's founding
departments, the Department of
Anthropology, created in 1965
through the leadership of
archaeologist Kenneth Kidd
• the M.A program in
Anthropology, which has
trained more than 170 students
since 1974
TUARC’s first home in the Log Cabins.
Paul Healy (far left) with students and colleagues in Belize, 1970s.
• a Tier II Canada
Research Chair in
Archaeological Studies,
awarded to James
Conolly in 2004
• a new undergraduate
degree program in
archaeology (flyer at
left), which provides
students with options in
Anthropological and
Classical Archaeology
10th Anniversary
Paul Healy, Founding Director of TUARC (2001-2005) & Recipient of Trent University
Distinguished Research Award. Shown (above) in Belize c. 1983 (far right, in khakis).
Note vintage Trent logo on door of truck.
James Conolly, Director, 2005-2009 and
Tier II Canada Research Chair in
Archaeological Studies.
Shown (above) on Antikythera, Greece.
Marit Munson, Director from 20092012 & recipient of Trent University
Merit Award for Research.
Shown (right, in blue) in Grand Canyon.
10th Anniversary
TUARC’s membership consists of active researchers
from across the entire spectrum of practicing
archaeologists:
• Trent University faculty, current and emeriti, from the
departments of Anthropology, Ancient History &
Classics, and Biology
• professionals and business owners in Cultural
Heritage Management
• independent researchers
• post-doctoral fellows
Clockwise from upper R:
Jocelyn Williams (Peru); Rob
MacDonald (Scotland); Gyles
Iannone (Belize); Susan
Jamieson (Ontario); Hugh
Elton (Turkey); Rod
Fitzsimons (Greece); Sally
Stewart (Cyprus). Centre:
Anne Keenleyside (Bulgaria)
10th Anniversary
TUARC members conduct innovative, interdisciplinary research projects around the world.
Our work addresses three major themes:
The Archaeology of Complex and
Early Urban Societies
•study of ancient civilizations of the
Mediterranean and Latin America
•comparative study of early state
societies
Serpent Mounds, ON
Carthage
Landscape &
Environmental Archaeology
•analysis of the
organization of past
human societies in their
geographic setting
•settlement pattern
analysis, human mobility
and human-environmental
dynamics
•study of subsistence
practices and human
palaeoecology
•zooarchaeology
•studies of human
diet and health
Left: Jocelyn
Williams takes a
sample in Peru.
New Mexico
Art, Architecture, and Material Culture Studies
•study of the symbolic and technological
aspects of art and artifacts
•architecture of Maya and Classical
Mediterranean
10th Anniversary
The work of TUARC members has been recognized by granting councils, professional
archaeologists, and local communities. In our first decade, TUARC members have:
• been awarded more that $2.5 million in peer-reviewed
research grants
• received funding from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Fund for
Innovation, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the Arts
and Humanities Research Council of the UK, the Ford
Foundation, private philanthropic foundations, and other
sources.
TUARC members have published groundbreaking books with Cambridge University
Press, Oxford University Press, and other
leading academic presses, as well as
publishing research in top journals.
TUARC members have received news coverage in Science
magazine, on CBC radio, and from other media outlets. At left,
coverage of Laure Dubreuil’s work on Natufian ground stone in
Science.
John Topic (far right) and
Theresa Topic (near right,
with friends) were inducted
into the order of Jose Faustino
Sanchez Carrion in Peru.
Publications
Ginter, Jaime K.
2009. A bioarchaeological study of mid-Holocene communities in the Eastern Cape, South
Africa: the interface between foraging and pastoralism, Azania: Archaeological Research in
Africa 44: 3, 355.
Ginter, JK. 2010. Origins of the Odd Fellows Skeletal Collection: Exploring Links to
Early Medical Training. In The "Compleat Archaeologist": Papers in Honour of Michael
W. Spence, Chris J. Ellis, Neal Ferris, Peter Timmins and Christine D. White, eds. London
Chapter Ontario Archaeological Society, Occasional Paper No. 9 (co-published as journal
Ontario Archaeology 85-88).
Dewar, G., Ginter, J.K., Shook, B.A.S., Ferris, N., Henderson, H. 2010. A
Bioarchaeological Study of a Western Basin Tradition Cemetery on the Detroit River.
Journal of Archaeological Science 37(9): 2245-2254.
Kurki, HK, Ginter, JK, Stock, JT, Pfeiffer, S. 2010. Body size estimation of small-bodied
humans: Applicability of current methods. American Journal of Physical Anthropology
141(2): 169-180.
Ginter, JK. 2011. A Bioarchaeological Investigation of the transition from Foraging to
Pastoralism in the Eastern Cape, South Africa during the Late Holocene. In Human
Bioarchaeology of the Transition to Agriculture, Ron Pinhasi and Jay T. Stock, eds, p. 107149. John Wiley & Sons Limited.
Longstaffe, Matthew, and Iannone, Gyles
2011 Households and Social Trajectories: The Site Core Community at Minanha, Belize.
Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 8:45-59.
Macrae, Scott A., and Iannone, Gyles
2011 Investigations of the Agricultural Terracing Surrounding the Ancient Maya Centre of
Minanha, Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 8:183-197.
Iannone, Gyles
2010 Collective Memory in the Frontiers: A Case Study from the Ancient Maya Center of
Minanha, Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(2):353-371.
Schwake, Sonja, and Gyles Iannone
2010 Ritual Remains and Social Memory: Maya Examples from West Central Belize.
Ancient Mesoamerica 21(2):331-339.
Publications
Keenleyside, Anne, and Lazenby, R.
2011, A Human Voyage: Exploring Biological
Anthropology. Nelson Publishers, Toronto.
Munson, Marit K.
2011 The Archaeology of Art in the American
Southwest. Issues in Southwest Archaeology.
AltaMira, Lanham, MD.
Munson, Marit K. and Kelley Hays-Gilpin
2011 Women and men in black and white. In
Mimbres Lives and Landscapes, edited by
Margaret C. Nelson and Michelle Hegmon,
pp.57-63. SAR Press, Santa Fe, NM.
Munson, Marit K.
2011 Gender, art, and ritual hierarchy in the
Ancient Pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley, New
Mexico. In Comparative Archaeologies: The
American Southwest (AD 900-1600) and the
Iberian Peninsula (3000-1500 BC), edited by
Katina T. Lillios, pp.189-208. Oxbow Books,
Oxford, UK.
Munson, Marit K. and Rui Boaventura
2011 Bridging gender. In Comparative
Archaeologies: The American Southwest (AD
900-1600) and the Iberian Peninsula (3000-1500
BC), edited by Katina T. Lillios, pp.175-187.
Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK.
Cath Oberholtzer
2011 Made for Trade: Souvenirs from the
Eastern Subarctic. American Indian Art
Magazine 36(2):56-67.
Member Updates
Hugh Elton
Hugh Elton continued working on the publication of the Avkat and Göksu projects. In
May he visited the UK to consult the Ramsay archive in Oxford and the Gough
Archive in Newcastle. In July he visited Turkey, touring sites in Isauria and, in
collaboration with Professor Eric Ivison, CUNY Staten Island, in Pontus. After this, he
presented a summary of the Avkat Archaeological project to a workshop at the RCAC
in Istanbul, where Peter Bikoulis (Trent MA 2010) also spoke about his work on the
Avkat Project.
Jamie Ginter presented several talks relating to her research, including an exploration of
the origins of pastoralism in South Africa, presented in 2009 to the annual meeting of the
American Association for Physical Anthropologists in Chicago, IL. She also presented
co-authored papers on diet in Ontario at the meetings of the Canadian Association for
Physical Anthropology (Vancouver in 2009; Montreal in 2011).
Gyles Iannone worked on
preliminary mapping and test
excavations at the ancient Maya
centre of Waybil, Belize. The
team has completed the second
season of field research, and
continue with the various data
analyses as part of three years
of archaeological investigations
at the ancient Maya centers of
Ixchel and Waybil
Iannone also presented
numerous papers, including: the
1st annual Maya at the Lago
Conference; the 76th Annual
Meeting of the Society for
American Archaeology);
Resilience 2011; the Maya at
the Playa IV conference.
Right: Gyles Iannone in Cambodia.
Cath Oberholtzer presented a paper titled “Ojibwe? Cree? Métis? Identifying Beadwork”
for the Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures
Research Conference 2011. M’Chigeeng First Nation, Manitoulin Island.
Public Lectures & Outreach
Colleagues in France helped Dubreuil with her experimental usewear studies.
Laure Dubreuil
presented her recent
research on groundstone
from several different
regions, including
analysis of a tool from
Qafzeh, Israel, studies of
bedrock mortars and other
Natufian groundstone,
and experimental studies
aimed at identifying usewear on groundstone used
for grinding bone, grains,
and pigments, or for
smoothing pottery.
Public Lectures & Outreach
Susan Jamieson’s Fieldworks
talk suggested that researchers
need to reconsider Bruce
Trigger’s socio-political model for
the Wendat (Huron). She argued
that focusing on the feasting and
gifting associated with the Feast
of Souls/ Feast of the Dead
provides a more complete
understanding of social obligation
and cultural transformation in the
late 16th and early 17th centuries.
Detail of frontispiece from Sagard’s 1632 Grand Voyage
du pays des Hurons (www.newberry.org).
Excavations at Henry House,
with lab work in Oshawa.
Helen Haines discussed the preliminary
results of her 2010 field school in historic
archaeology. The course, based in Oshawa,
introduced students to excavation at Henry
House, which was built some time between
1835 and 1850. The students followed up
their brief time in the field with laboratory
work during the fall 2010 term. The
project, which gained considerable media
attention, was part of a collaboration with
the Oshawa Community Museum, which
curates the artifacts that were recovered.
Collaborative Research Grants
TUARC provides research grants to Trent Anthropology graduate students working in
collaboration with TUARC members. Two grants were awarded in spring 2011.
Childhood diet and feeding practices at Apollonia: Evidence from deciduous
dental pathology and stable isotope analysis.
Anne Keenleyside and Jodi Schmidt
Patterns in oral health and nutrition in subadults can inform us about a wide variety of factors
influencing childhood health, including the sources of nutrition, childhood feeding practices,
and the timing of weaning. Poor diet and dental health in childhood can lead to an increased
risk of health problems in adulthood. Thus this period of life can be quite informative about
overall health in past populations. This research focuses on an investigation of the relationship
between diet and oral health in infants and children at the Greek colonial site of Apollonia
Pontica (5th to 3rd century BC) on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, through the examination
of deciduous dental pathology and stable isotope analyses. With the help of the TUARC
collaborative research grant, Schmidt was able to travel to Bulgaria during the summer of
2011 to collect dental pathology data and bone samples for isotopic analysis from 22
subadults.
--Jodi Schmidt, Anthropology M.A. candidate
Schmidt analyses human bone in Sozopol, Bulgaria.
Collaborative Research Grants
The Sociopolitical Landscapes of the Ancient Maya:
Archaeological Investigations of the North Group at Pacbitun, Belize.
Paul Healy and Kong Cheong
Investigations of the North Group of the Eastern Court at Pacbitun aim to understand the
construction histories, the function and the status of the inhabitants of the North Group and
the Eastern Court. With TUARC grant support, I successfully catalogued and analyzed a
sample of the material recovered, including faunal remains, human osteological remains,
obsidian, green stones, groundstone, ceramics, carvings of shell and stone, chert and other
lithic materials. The various analyses were conducted in San Ignacio, Cayo District, Belize,
during the month of June.
Ceramics analysis suggested that the North Group spanned the Middle Preclassic period
(900-300 BC) to the Early Classic period (AD 300-550), while the Eastern Court dated from
the Early Classic period (AD 300-550) to the end of the Late Classic period (AD 700-900).
Analyses of the ceramics, burials, musical instruments, and the contents of seven caches are
crucial in the understanding of the North Group of the Eastern Court at Pacbitun, Belize. The
data examined will for the basis of my thesis
--Kong Cheong, Anthropology M.A. candidate
Cheong sorts ceramic sherds in Belize.