Past Research Projects
Legion of Honor Cemetery
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During my time at University of California, Santa Barbara Department of Anthropology, I conducted a project (in conjunction with Dr. Phillip Walker, Susan Kerr, and Francine Drayer Verhagen) involving the analysis of skeletal data from the 19th century Legion of Honor cemetery in San Francisco. This paleopathological analysis of poor individuals buried in a forgotten cemetery formed the basis of my data paper (article written to advance to candidacy) and was presented as a poster at the 2000 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in San Antonio. This research has been published as an article in the journal, Historical Archaeology (Vol 39, No 2: 1-15, 2005). |
Jordan
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During the summer of 1999, I participated in a Bioarchaeological Field School supported by University of Arkansas and Yarmouk University. During this field season I participated in the excavation and analysis of human skeletal remains from the Byzantine site of Ya'amun. Data resulting from these analyses was included in papers presented at the 2000 Paleopathology Association meeting in San Antonio and the 1999 American Schools of Oriental Research meeting in Boston. |
Biological Anthropology Laboratory -- Loyola University Chicago
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Prior to starting my MA and PhD at UCSB, I was the Laboratory Manager of the Biological Anthropology at Loyola University of Chicago (where I completed my BS). For two years, I worked with Dr. Anne Grauer curating and maintaining the laboratory collections, coordinating and supervising student osteological lab work and courses, and conducting research. I conducted three main osteological research projects during my time as Laboratory Manager. In my first project, in conjunction with Thomas Krueger, I explored a dental pattern commonly referred to as 'Pipe Smoker's Wear' in the 19th century Dunning Cemetery population from Chicago. This paper was presented at the 1996 Midwest Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology Association meeting in Kalamazoo, MI. My second project entailed the analysis of data collected with Dr. Grauer from the SU Site, a 4th century population from New Mexico, curated at the Field Museum of Natural History. Our goal was to explore how paleopathological techniques could shed light on the subsistence patterns of this population, since the archaeological conclusions were incongruent. Combining the analysis of paleopathological conditions linked with subsistence strategies and the archaeological information on housing and tools we determined that this population was likely in transition between hunting and gathering and agriculture. This work was initially presented at the 1997 American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting in St. Louis and has now been published in the archaeological journal, Kiva (Vol 68, No 2: 5-24, 2002). My third project involved the excavation and analysis of a Native American burial site in Barrington, Illinois. In collaboration with Dr. Grauer, I wrote a report that reconstructed the mortuary practices at the site and examined the demography and pathological conditions of the individuals. The research was presented at the 1998 American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting in Salt Lake City and was published in a report with the archeological material from this site (Midwest Archaeological Research Services, Inc.). |
