La Tiza Late Formative-Late Intermediate Period Peru
Cuzco Valley Inca Migration
Bronze Age Caucasus Armenia
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My research focus is bioarchaeology -- I study human skeletal remains from archaeological sites in order to address questions related to the biocultural effects of environmental stress and cultural change. My research investigates how human populations respond to culture contact and changes in the environment. I received my graduate training at the University of California, Santa Barbara under the direction of Dr. Phillip Walker. Click here to peruse the Walkerlab (current and past students) publications. |
Funerary cone from Tombos pyramid
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My Ph.D. research focused on investigating these issues at the site of Tombos (project led by Dr. Stuart Tyson Smith). In my dissertation, A Bioarchaeological Perspective on State Formation in the Nile Valley, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Institute for Bioarchaeology, I explored the biological consequences of contact between the ancient Nubian and Egyptian populations during the colonial New Kingdom period at Tombos, located in northern Sudan. During two seasons of excavations we recovered over 100 individuals from the Tombos site. In order to comparatively assess this population, I also examined 1,082 additional individuals from Nubian and Egyptian populations in the Duckworth Collection at the University of Cambridge (Kerma, Shellal, Qurneh, and Memphis) and the Laboratory for Biological Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen (Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Nubia Collection), as well as data in published reports. This survey of predominantly unpublished contemporaneous populations from a variety of areas in the Nile Valley provided a broad regional basis for comparison with Tombos and offered an opportunity to learn more about an important, but little-studied segment of people, the non-elite, who lived during the New Kingdom. I argue that based on the heterogeneous cranial morphology and varied ethnic identities portrayed through archaeological indications of burial ritual, it is clear Tombos was comprised of a biologically and ethnically mixed group of people who used cultural symbols in advantageous ways. My examination also suggests that people at Tombos appear to have been affected by many of the same stressors as the comparative populations, indicating that resources obtained from the connection with the Egyptian colonial network did not protect them from nutritional and disease stress. I have also analyzed the pattern of traumatic injuries at Tombos (with Rebecca Richman). The low level of injuries associated with interpersonal violence may reflect a change in Egyptian colonial strategies, which appears to shift from military action to more diplomatic methods. |
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Excavations at Tombos (2000, 2002)
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During my postdoctoral fellowship, supported by the Killam Trust, I further addressed the question of identity in the Tombos population. My work, conducted at the University of Alberta with colleagues from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, explored the origin of the colonial administrators and the processes of migration at Tombos through the analysis of strontium isotopes. The geochemical differences between the area of Tombos and Thebes, the area in Egypt from which immigrants likely would have come, are considerable and it is expected that migration would be apparent. This preliminary research suggests that Tombos was comprised of both local and non-local individuals and the feasibility of strontium isotope analysis for the identification of migration in the Nile Valley. I am also working on various other aspects of the Tombos collection. In collaboration with Jennifer Pelletier (an undergraduate student at the University of Alberta) I am exploring diagenetic alteration of human bone from Tombos. Initially, we made thin sections of human bone in order to investigate the possible presence of tetracycline labeling in bone cross-sections from Tombos individuals. Labeling, identical to that created by tetracycline, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, has been found in ancient Nubian and Egyptian bone cross-sections. Although the source of the tetracycline is not completely clear, it has been suggested that the storage of grains would have increased possibilities for growth of antibiotic substances. The ingestion of these spoiled grains may have resulted in the bone labeling. The presence of tetracycline labeling in cross-sections of archaeological human bone is associated with lower frequencies of bone conditions indicative of infection. (Click here for an informative article on tetracycline use in ancient Nubia and Egypt by Dr. George Armelagos, Emory). Interestingly, none of the individuals from Tombos displayed this labeling. However, these finding may have been impacted by diagenetic alteration. Currently, we are working on a study that examines the impact of water exposure on the preservation of bone microstructure. In collaboration with Andrea Bombak (an undergraduate student from the University of Calgary), I am exploring the patterns of dental disease and dental wear in the Tombos collection and other Nile Valley samples. Tombos Publications:
Tombos Conference posters: |
