Braden Cordivari

29 June 2026

Happy summer! SAS Representative on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Archaeological Science Ester Oras has passed along an exciting new paper for June’s Executive Board Reading Recommendation. Ester writes:

The paper "Four centuries of commercial whaling eroded 11,000 years of population stability in bowhead whales" by Westbury et al. (Lorenzen's group at the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen) stands out as a unique integration of palaeoenvironmental, biological, historical, biomolecular and ecological records. It shows how human induced population decline through commercial whaling has had a direct influence on the demography and genetic diversity of bowhead whales, in fact, even more than the long-term climatic changes throughout the Holocene. An intricate and nuanced insight into human-animal-environment interactions with a serious cautionary tale.

Westbury, M.V., Brown, S.C., Cabrera, A.A., Morales, H.E., Parreira, B., Ma, J., Coll Macià, M., Rey-Iglesia, A., Dyke, A., Scharff-Olsen, C.H., Scott, M.B., Wiig, Ø., Bachmann, L., Kovacs, K.M., Lydersen, C., Ferguson, S.H., Szpak, P., Fordham, D.A., Lorenzen, E.D., 2026. Four centuries of commercial whaling eroded 11,000 years of population stability in bowhead whales. Cell 189, 2040-2053.e19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.02.022

Braden Cordivari

24 June 2026

It is with great pleasure that we share this year’s recipients of the Student and ECR Research Support Award! This year’s awardees are Agustina Vazquez Fiorani (Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame), Madison J. McCartin (University of California, Davis), and Miriam Vílchez-Suárez (University of Valladolid). We look forward to following the progress of their work! Congratulations to Agustina, Madison, and Miriam!

Agustina Vazquez Fiorani (Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame)

The study of ancient foodways—with a focus on the long-term relationships between daily decisions and socio-economic settings—offers a powerful lens for understanding how human groups faced past and present climatic crises. This project investigates the long-term crafting of enduring indigenous foodways in Argentina between 200 and 1476 CE, a period of radical transformations including increasing social differentiation, economic intensification, population aggregation, and climate change. SAS funding will cover my post-doc research at Notre Dame, where I integrate biomolecular (GC-MS), isotopic (GC-C-IRMS, EA-IRMS), and archaeological (ceramic analysis) methods to examine how ingrained food habits shaped human capacity to navigate increasingly complex and shifting circumstances. With SAS’s help, Agustina seek to contribute to worldwide anthropological debates on social complexity and climate change by applying scientifically robust methods that have not been widely employed in South American archaeology.

Agustina’s research broadly explores two enduring questions of anthropological archaeology: how did agropastoral lifestyles emerge, and under what conditions did social inequality take root? Drawing on social theory (relationality, practice, and materiality) alongside molecular, isotopic, experimental, and archaeological methods, she examines the interplay between social change, human-environment relations, and complexity in shaping long-term dietary patterns in the Southern Andes. Working in Argentina, she studies small-scale communities that inhabited the region during 200–1476 CE, a period marked by profound socioeconomic and climatic transformations. By reconstructing what people produced and ate, Agustina bridges methodological and theoretical approaches to reveal how cooking and eating actively shaped Andean communities' long-term resilience and adaptation.

Madison J. McCartin (University of California, Davis)

“Who took the first bite? Investigations of hominin subsistence and paleoecology at Trou Al’Wesse (Belgium) via zooarchaeology and stable isotope analyses""

The Middle-Upper Paleolithic (MP-UP) transition represents a tipping point for biological and cultural evolution, characterized by early human dispersals and Neanderthal extinction. This project focuses on the MP-UP fauna from Trou Al’Wesse, a cave site in central Belgium dated to 54-36 ka cal BP. Zooarchaeological analyses will elucidate hominin subsistence practices, as well as the taphonomic history of the site. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses will establish an environmental baseline and clarify the ecological niche of key taxa, especially large carnivores whose niches overlapped with hominins. By generating new insights on hominin subsistence and paleoecology, this project aims to improve our understanding of the MP-UP transition in northwestern Europe.

Madison’s interests lie in the use of faunal remains to investigate hominin subsistence practices, paleoecology, and human-animal relationships during the Late Pleistocene (~100-10 ka BP), a period characterized by notable changes in hominin demography and global climate systems. Methodologically, she focuses on classic zooarchaeological techniques, namely taxonomic and taphonomic analyses, as well as biomolecular approaches including proteomics and stable isotope analysis. Her dissertation focuses on faunal remains from Middle-Upper Paleolithic sites in Spain, Belgium, and Mongolia to investigate the range and trajectory of subsistence practices at the time of the last Neanderthals and the earliest humans in Eurasia.

Miriam Vílchez-Suárez (University of Valladolid)

“ARGAR-CHILD. Uncovering gender roles of the childhood in the Argaric Bronze Age: Bioarchaeological insights from peptide-based sex analysis”

This research aims to come closer to an emic understanding of the gender system of Argaric Bronze Age societies in southeastern Iberia. The expression of gender identity at El Argar cemetery (Almería, Spain) rites was clearly a concern within the burial community, achieved by placing the body on the gendered side, in the appropriate orientation, and with gender-specific and typical grave goods. A comparison between this gendered funerary treatment with the estimation of biological sex based on the remains of buried non-adult individuals remains allows investigation of gender as the cultural classification and elaboration of sex-based differences.

Miriam’s research focuses on the bioarchaeological study of prehistoric populations from the Iberian Peninsula, particularly those from the Copper and Bronze Ages. Through the integrated analysis of human remains and funerary contexts, she investigates mortuary behaviour, social organization, and cultural practices in prehistoric communities. She is especially interested in the relationship between biological sex, gender identities, and funerary treatment, combining osteological, biomolecular, and archaeological approaches. Miriam’s work also explores childhood, non-masticatory dental wear, and ritual variability in collective burials, with the aim of better understanding social identities and lived experiences in prehistoric Iberia.

Braden Cordivari

23 June 2026

Our next paper spotlight on SAS-supported research comes from 2015 Student and ECR Research Support Award winner Kuan-Wen Wang (Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica). Kuan-Wen’s research on Iron Age glass from Taiwan was published in PLOS ONE in 2022: “The production technology of mineral soda alumina glass: A perspective from microstructural analysis of glass beads in Iron Age Taiwan”

Highlights

• One element, many colours: copper-based colourants dominate the red, orange, blue, and green glass in Iron Age Taiwan, with green achieved by combining cupric copper and lead stannate. The copper-based ingredients could produce strikingly different colours depending on how craftspeople controlled redox conditions and selected among various copper-containing raw materials, revealing a sophisticated pyrotechnological knowledge system.
• Glass and copper were not separate worlds: microstructural evidence shows that bronze scraps, oxidised copper scales, and metallurgical by-products may have been deliberately repurposed as glass colourants. This points to active knowledge exchange and resource sharing between glass and copper-working communities across the Indo-Pacific.
• Hidden in the yellow: two distinct microstructural patterns in yellow glass - one where lead-tin oxide clusters with newly crystallised nepheline and another where it distributes more evenly, point to fundamentally different ways of preparing and introducing the colourant. This subtle difference hints that the story behind these beads may be more complex than it appears: different production pathways, perhaps different workshops, perhaps different traditions entirely.

Mineral soda alumina (m-Na-Al) glass was one of the most widely traded materials in the first millennium CE Indo-Pacific world, yet how it was actually made remains less understood. This study, building on the author's doctoral research at the University of Sheffield and further developed at Academia Sinica, uses SEM-EDS and EPMA microstructural analysis of 63 m-Na-Al glass beads from Iron Age Taiwan to shift the conversation from provenance to production. Craftspeople worked at temperatures around or below 1000°C using poorly refined sand, and copper in various forms could produce red, orange, blue and green glass through skilled control of firing conditions. A self-reduction process is tentatively proposed for red and orange colours. Two distinct microstructural pathways in the yellow glass hint at different colourant preparation strategies and possibly different workshop traditions, pointing to sophisticated craft knowledge and sustained cross-craft interaction between glass and copper-working communities across the Indo-Pacific.

Wang, K.-W., Iizuka, Y., Jackson, C., 2022. The production technology of mineral soda alumina glass: A perspective from microstructural analysis of glass beads in Iron Age Taiwan. PLOS ONE 17, e0263986. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263986

Braden Cordivari

17 June 2026

Congratulations to the winner and honorable mention for the R.E. Taylor Poster Award given at the 45^th International Symposium on Archaeometry, held in Torino, Italy in May. This award acknowledges innovative student contributions to archaeological research through the use of scientific methods, and has enhanced the careers of prominent young scholars and professionals for more than two decades. 

Winner – Adriana Iuliano (Archéosciences Bordeaux, CNRS/Bordeaux Montaigne)

We are pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s award is Adriana Iuliano of the University of Bordeaux. Adriana’s research poster, titled “Tracing painting practices in Roman Gaul: an archaeometric study of wall paintings from Limonum (I-III C. AD)” presents the first archaeometric overview of Gallo-Roman pigments and painting techniques in Poitiers (France), covering eight archaeological sites and twelve decorative schemes across three centuries. Using hyperspectral imaging (VNIR-SWIR-HSI) as a screening tool as well as other non-invasive (DM, XRF, XRD) and micro-invasive (OM, SEM-EDS, FTIR, Raman) techniques, the study characterises pigment palettes, complex painting stratigraphies, and identifies workshop practices, offering new insights into the circulation of materials and decorative traditions in a provincial Roman context.

Adriana’s research focuses on the use of physico-chemical characterisation methods for the study of heritage materials, in particular the study of paintings and polychrome objects. By combining imaging and spectroscopic techniques in multi-analytical protocols, her work aims to reconstruct the materials and practices behind painted surfaces. Congratulations once again!

Honorable Mention – Camila Hernández Murillo (Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Écologie- équipe Écologie, Ecotoxicologie & Chimie Appliquées à l’Agroécologie et à la Restauration, Avignon Université; Centro de Investigación en Ciencia e Ingeniería de Materiales, Universidad de Costa Rica)

We are also pleased to announce that Camila Hernández Murillo (University of Avignon/University of Costa Rica) has earned an Honorable Mention for her project, “Crossing Regions: Geochemical Discrimination of Guatemalan Jade and Its Application to Costa Rican Artifact Provenance.” Jade, a material highly valued by ancient Mesoamerican cultures, appears in several Costa Rican funerary contexts (300 BCE–500 CE) despite the lack of local sources. This study determines the provenance of 25 artifacts from ten archaeological sites in Costa Rica to trace pre-Columbian exchange networks. Primarily based on LA-ICP-MS trace element data, Camila developed a PLS-DA discrimination model for the Guatemalan North and South Motagua Mélanges, achieving 88% accuracy in distinguishing these sources. Its application to Costa Rican artifacts reveals strong geochemical affinities, with the majority matching the North Motagua Mélange. This geochemical and statistical approach suggest long-distance interaction networks of over 800 km between the Maya region and Costa Rica.      

Camila’s research focuses on the study of jade and greenstones in pre-Columbian Costa Rica. It encompasses an exhaustive identification of materials using non-invasive spectroscopic analysis to distinguish between locally available resources and non-local materials, such as jade. These findings guide a subsequent detailed geochemical characterization of selected jadeite-jade samples for provenance studies, coupled with the development of a methodological framework to achieve robust statistical provenance predictions. Ultimately, Camila’s goal is to advance the application of archaeometric techniques to Costa Rica's archaeological heritage, promoting regional scientific expertise while providing critical insights into ancient trade networks and the region's greenstone lapidary traditions. Well done, Camila!

Braden Cordivari

17 June 2026

SAS is excited to announce the winner of the Charles C. Kolb Award for Archaeological Ceramics for 2025. This annual prize honors the best paper published on science-based archaeological research of ceramics, particularly interdisciplinary approaches.

This year’s winner is Sabine Kleiman of Tel Aviv University, for her paper title "Interrelated communities of practice in the Late Bronze Age southern Levant: a ceramic perspective from the Shephelah.”

The article examines how pottery-making knowledge circulated among Late Bronze Age communities in the southern Levant, focusing on bowls from the Judean Shephelah. Using petrography, typology, and techno-stylistic analysis on vessels from Azekah, Tell es-Ṣafi/Gath, Lachish, Beth Shemesh, and Tel Batash, the study identifies both shared and site-specific ceramic practices. All sites used wheel-coiling, but two different base-forming chaînes opératoires were found. The string-cut method at Gath and Lachish suggests Egyptian technological influence, transmitted through close social interaction rather than observation alone, revealing connections between Canaanite potters and Egypt’s imperial system.

Sabine’s research focuses on the history of the southern Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages, through the lens of ceramic analysis. Her primary focus is set on the area of the Judean Lowlands but her research includes sites across the country, like the typological analysis of ceramics from Timna and Jaffa, or petrographic investigations of the pottery from Tel Moza.  Sabine is also the field director of the Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition. Congratulations!

Kleiman, S., 2025. Interrelated communities of practice in the Late Bronze Age southern Levant: a ceramic perspective from the Shephelah. Levant 57, 296–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2025.2584874

Braden Cordivari

03 June 2026

Winner - Sara McGuire

We are very pleased to announce that the Journal of Archaeological Science (JAS) and Society for Archaeological Sciences (SAS) Emerging Investigator Award for 2025 has been awarded to Sara A. McGuire for the paper “Revolution and Resilience: A multianalytical approach to the study of diet, metabolic stress, and life experiences in Revolutionary Philadelphia”. Follow the DOI for more info: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106312

The paper was selected as an excellent example of a combined multy-disciplinary approach integrating extensive datasets from bio- and biomolecular archaeology as well as historical sources. The Award Committee was particularly impressed by the depth and scale of the conducted analysis, as well as the intricate interpretative conclusions synthesising wider historical processes and individual life experiences. 

Author’s comments:

The research presented in this article stems from my first postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum Conservation Institute. I was thrilled at the prospect of learning what life was like during such a historic period at the earliest foundations of the United States, with the interests and concerns of the modern descendant population and community in mind. We found that early Americans in Philadelphia were resilient in the face of significant change, and were able to find unique ways to supplement their diets and survive in the face of the challenges of the period.  

2025 SAS-JAS Emerging Investigator Winner Sara McGuire

Honorouble Mention - Nicolas Bourgon

Due to high number and quality of papers nominated this year, the Award Committee decided to also announce one Honourable Mention for the SAS-JAS Emerging Investigator Award 2025:
Nicolas Bourgon for the paper “Less is more: Limiting semi-invasive sampling for multi-isotope analyses and increasing data output from single aliquot samples”, cf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106308. The paper was highlighted due to its methodological novelty and future potential in trace element and stable isotope analysis, whilst emphasising the ethical considerations of destructive sampling from archaeological skeletal remains.

2025 SAS-JAS Emerging Investigator Honorable Mention Nicolas Bourgon