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Awardees of The Society for Archaeological Sciences Student Research International Travel Award

The 2020 award cycle was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sean W. Hixon, Anthropology, University of California at Santa Barbara. Feb 2019. Title: Past Species Introductions, Aridification, and Megafaunal Extinction in Madagascar. This project evaluates how past aridification and the subsistence behavior of both colonizing humans and introduced species (e.g. cattle and goats) in SW Madagascar contributed to a period of declining endemic species biodiversity. Archaeological and paleontological excavations and then radiocarbon dating and isotopic analyses of target specimens will test hypotheses regarding the timing of past species introductions, overlap in the diets of past introduced and endemic herbivores, and the drought tolerance of past herbivores.

Ana Franjić, UCL Institute of Archaeology. Feb 2018. My doctoral project, entitled Iron Age Glass Technology in South East Europe, examines glassmaking and glass use on the territory of present-day Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina during the first millennium BCE. The project undertakes a comprehensive scientific study of the technological recipes and styles of glass items occurring in the given period, in order to map the relations between the various communities inhabiting the region as well as patterns of prehistoric trade and exchange networks on a larger scale. Preliminary SEM-EDS and EPMA analyses have indicated a few potential technological groups circulating in the area during the Early (Hallstatt) and Late (La Tène) Iron Age. The SAS award helped me conduct LA-ICP-MS analysis of my samples at the Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University. The powerful detection limits of this instrument allowed me to quantify the sand-related trace elements, which are highly informative of the provenance of the raw materials used in glass production. The high resolution of the newly acquired data should allow me to trace the source of the glass, as it will enable me to link the geochemical fingerprint of the studied glass beads to one of the few primary glass workshops operating in the Mediterranean. Ultimately, the results of this work will contribute to our broader understanding of glass use in Iron Age Europe.

Gertrude B. Kilgore, Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Textas Tech University. Feb 2017. Title: Household Identity and Domestic Activity Areas in Courtyard D-4, Chan Chich, Belize. This study will conduct an intensive study of the functional, social, and cultural meanings of the architectural and non-architectural spaces in Courtyard D-4, a possible Late Classic (AD 600-810) household approximately 550m east/southeast of the Main Plaza. Chemical analysis of soils and plaster surfaces in will be used to delineate different activity areas by studying the levels of phosphate in samples.

Elizabeth Velliky, Department of Archaeology, University of Western Australia / Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, Universität Tübingen. Feb 2016. Title: Identifying anthropogenic modification on archaeological ochre materials by early hominin populations. This project involves the identification of anthropogenically modified ochre pieces from Middle and Upper Paleolithic contexts at Hohle Fels in southwestern Germany. The aim of the project is to observe the behaviors of ochre and pigment use at the site over time, as well as to investigate ochre acquisition, preference, and manipulation by ancient hominin populations. The results of the project will provide information on the symbolic and cultural behaviors of hominins during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic periods in Central Europe.

Kuan-Wen Wang, University of Sheffield. Feb 2015. Title: Scientific Analysis of Early Iron Age Glass Beads from Taiwan. This project involves chemical analysis, through SEM-EDS and EPMA, on 1st millennium AD glass beads from sites in north-eastern, southern and eastern Taiwan. The results will establish chemical groupings in the region to indicate potential social interaction, both regionally and chronologically, and help elucidate prehistoric trade/exchange networks in the South China Sea region in the transitionary period from the late Neolithic Age to the early Iron Age.

Eric Guiry. September 2014. This research will produce a stable isotope baseline for a key North American livestock production center with the aim of: 1) providing critical contextual data for interpreting broader linkages in historical meat-trade routes across the continent; and 2) reconstructing animal husbandry practices during the early industrialization of hog farming.

Michelle Eusebio. Feb 2014. Title: A Sojourn into the Foodways of Prehistoric Southern Vietnam. This research investigates foodways in Neolithic and Metal Age Southeast Asia through the chemical analysis of food residues obtained from earthenware pottery. The objectives are to identify food items prepared and/or served in a variety of ceramics, as well as to establish key biomolecular markers based on a modern comparative reference collection, which is helpful for the identification of different foodstuffs. See the report of this project in SAS Bulletin Fall 2014

Katy Meyers. Feb 2014. This award provided the opportunity to conduct a research trip in England to collect primary data for my PhD dissertation. My research examines the presence of multiple forms of body treatment at death during the Early Anglo-Saxon Period in England. This era that dates from the mid-5th c to the late 7th c CE is characterized by its high levels of variation due to diverse cultural interactions between the Post-Roman Britons and incoming Northern European immigrants.See the report of this project in SAS Bulletin Fall 2014

Nicolás C. Ciarlo, September 2013. Title: Archaeometallurgy of the cargo of an early 19th century British Navy ship lost off Catalonia, Spain. This research is focused on the metallurgical examination, mainly by means of LM and SEM-EDXRS, of the cargo recovered from an early 19th century British Navy ship lost off Catalonia coast (Spain), with the aim to determine the characteristics of manufacturing processes of large quantities of naval artifacts, and thus to shed light on the technical changes related to a period of increasing industrialization in England. See the report of this project in SAS Bulletin Summer 2014.

Robert J. Stark, September 2012. Title: The Skeletons of Isola Sacra and Velia. This research examines Roman migration and group diversity through isotopic and nonmetric trait research. Using the skeletal remains from the cemetery of Portus, known as Isola Sacra, my research will seek to provide a context for identifying group affinities and points of migration into Rome, ca. 1st–3rd c. AD. See the report of this project in SAS Bulletin Winter 2014.

Michele Stillinger, February 2012. Project goal is to clarify the chronology at archaeological sites in the Near East region during the 10th through 8th century BCE by using the recordings of the Earth's magnetic field preserved within Bronze and Iron Age ceramic artifacts to obtain absolute ages for these objects. See the report of this project in SAS Bulletin Winter 2012

Kyle P. Freund, February 2012. This project studies the exchange and use of obsidian in southern Italy during the Neolithic (ca. 6,000-3,500 B.C.) as a means of shedding light on the processes involved in the spread of agriculture into the western Mediterranean around 6,000 B.C. This will be achieved by combining portable X-ray fluorescence (pxrf) sourcing analysis with techno-typological data. See the report of this project in SAS Bulletin Spring 2013