Current research

My research focus is bioarchaeology -- I excavate and analyze human skeletal remains from archaeological sites in order to address questions related to the biocultural effects of environmental stress and cultural change.

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 publications.

Tombos funerary cone

Tombos

My research has focused on investigating these issues at the site of Tombos. I have explored the biological and cultural consequences of contact between the ancient Nubian and Egyptian populations during the colonial New Kingdom period at Tombos, located in northern Sudan. In collaboration with Stuart Tyson Smith, we have recovered over 100 individuals from the Tombos site dating to this period.

This survey of predominantly unpublished contemporaneous populations from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. The low level of injuries associated with interpersonal violence at Tombos may reflect a change in Egyptian colonial strategies, which appears to shift from military action to more diplomatic methods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am also conducting research with Purdue colleague, Gabriel Bowen and Notre Dame colleague, Antonio Simonetti using oxygen and strontium isotope analysis.  These methods have provided additional means for investigating the population composition at Tombos and have resulted in opportunities to refine these techniques in the Nile Valley region.

Currently, I am spatially and temporally expanding my investigation of Nubian and Egyptian sociopolitical developments, culture contact, identity and health.  Fieldwork plans include additional excavation at the site of Tombos in 2010 and 2011. Burials dating to the Third Intermediate Period and Napatan period will provide important new data concerning the Nubians during their rise to power.

Tombos and Nile Valley publications: