The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announced that Assistant Professor Ethan Watrall is part of a team that was recently awarded a European Cooperation of Science & Technology grant for the Saving European Archaeology from the Digital Dark Age (SEADDA) Project. The project is based on the premise that while making archaeological data open and freely accessible is a priority across Europe, the domain lacks appropriate, persistent repositories. The result is that, due to the fragility of digital data and non-repeatable nature of most archaeological research, the domain is poised to lose a generation of research to a “digital dark age.”  The key to mitigating this crisis is to bring archaeologists and data management specialists together to share expertise, and create resources that allow them to address problems in the most appropriate way within their own countries. While important international standards exist and should be used, there is no single way to build a repository. To be successful, archaeologists must be at the decision-making heart of how their data is archived to ensure re-use is possible. 

The SEADDA Project, which is based at the University of York (UK) and made up of scholars from 26 countries, will address these challenges by establishing a priority research area in the archiving, dissemination and open access re-use of archaeological data. It will bring together an interdisciplinary network of archaeologists and computer scientists; experts in archaeological data management and open data dissemination and re-use. The project will create publications and materials that will set out the state of the art for archaeological archiving across Europe. The project will also organize meetings and training that will allow archaeologists from countries with archiving expertise to work with archaeologists with few or no available options, so they may share knowledge and create dialogue within their countries, and move forward to address the crisis.

An international research team, including MSU Dept. of Anthropology Assistant Professor Kurt Rademaker and five team members, contributed some of the key ancient human remains that documented population dynamics in the Andean region. The results of this research were revealed in a recent article published in the journal Cell. In 2015 Rademaker’s team excavated several ancient individuals from Cuncaicha rockshelter, in the high-elevation Peruvian Andes. Rademaker hand-carried the three rare, ancient individuals which included a 9000-year-old female and two males dating from 4200 and 3300 years ago from Peru to labs in the US and Germany for radiocarbon dating, CT scanning, stable isotope and paleogenetic analyses and then returned them to Peru. This work lead to the first high quality ancient DNA data from Central and South America, shedding light on a distinctive DNA type associated with the first widespread archaeological culture of North America (Clovis). This work has also been highlighted in the New York Times this past weekend (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/science/prehistoric-migration-americas.html). Rademaker says “As an archaeologist, it is incredibly rewarding to collaborate with physical anthropologists and paleogeneticists to unravel the complex story of early Americans. Interdisciplinary efforts like this are the future of our fields.”

The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that Dr. Stacey Camp, Associate Professor and Director of the Campus Archaeology Program, has published a new article in Historical Archaeology, the flagship journal of the Society for Historical Archaeology.  The article, “Commentary: Excavating the Intimate,” discusses theoretical foci for current and future archaeological research on incarceration and WWII internment.

A pre-print version of the article can be found at http://www.academia.edu/37252864/Commentary_Excavating_the_Intimate

Michigan State University (MSU) Department of Anthropology encourages anthropologists to apply for MSU College of Social Science (CSS) Ph.D. Research Associate positions. The department is particularly interested in applicants specializing in archaeology and medical sub-fields. Research Associates will participate in a CSS Dean’s Research Associate Development Institute, with the goal of possibly transitioning into tenure-system positions at Michigan State University. The Dean’s Research Associate Program was established in 2018, as a major College initiative aimed at promoting an inclusive scholarly environment in which outstanding scholars in the social sciences support the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the academy. The Dean’s Research Associates will have a minimal teaching load, will be mentored and supported, and will participate in a CSS Dean’s Research Associate Development Institute, with the goal of possibly transitioning them into tenure-system positions at Michigan State University. Michigan State University is a R1 institution and applicants with a demonstrated record of peer reviewed publication and competitive funding for research are preferred; an active research program is required. A Ph.D. is required by September 2019, and no earlier than May 2016. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. For more information and to apply visit http://careers.msu.edu and reference job posting #534781. Review of applications begins November 15, 2018. Questions regarding this position can be addressed to the Department of Anthropology Chair, Dr. Jodie O’Gorman, ogorman@msu.edu or Dr. Nwando Achebe, Faculty Excellence Advocate, College of Social Science (achebe@msu.edu). Michigan State University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

The Department of Anthropology is very happy to announce that Jessica Yann, PhD Candidate in the department, has won the the Midwestern Archaeological Conference Student Paper Award for her paper entitled “Trade Relationships of the Ottawa Living along the Grand River, Michigan.” The paper examines the trade relationships between the Ottawa living along the Grand River in Michigan and the local traders, Rix Robinson and Daniel de Marsac during the early nineteenth century. Using a resource dependency framework, the paper examines the material transactions between these groups, giving special emphasis to the observation of power dynamics. The Midwest Archaeology Conference Student Paper Award was created to promote scholarly excellence among students conducting archaeological research in the Midwestern United States.

The Department of Anthropology is pleased to share that Dr. Mindy Morgan, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of Graduate Studies, was invited to give a lecture at Miami University in the Lectures in Contemporary Anthropology & Indigenous Speaker Series.

Entitled “Untangling the Web: Indigenous Linguistic Knowledge and Cultural Knowledge & Americanist Anthropology,” the lecture explored the opportunities and challenges of repatriating intangible cultural property for American Indian communities in the United States.  In particular, the talk considered how Indigenous communities are using resources—especially language materials, gathered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—for linguistic and cultural revitalization and maintenance programs, detailing the steps that are necessary to make these materials relevant for contemporary use.

The Department of Anthropology is very pleased to report that Dr. Najib Hourani was invited to the United Nations Headquarters in NYC, by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations’ Middle East and North Africa section to give a talk on the post-conflict reconstruction of Lebanon and the lessons it holds for the current moment in Syria, and how the international community might positively support efforts toward peace and reconstruction in this delicate moment in the Syrian war. In attendance were staff from the Secretary General’s Office, Security Council Secretariat and the Sanctions Committees, UNDP (UN Development Program), The UN’s Syria negotiating team, Department of Political Affairs, Department of Peacekeeping, UNOCHA (UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) and OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights).

Hourani is a well recognized expert in the Anthropology of civil conflict, “war economies” and post-conflict reconstruction, especially in the Middle East.

The Department of Anthropology is very pleased to announce that Dr. Kurt Rademaker is joining the faculty as an Assistant Professor.  Previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University, Rademaker is an interdisciplinary archaeologist interested in human-environment dynamics, hunter-gatherer colonization of South America, adaptations in extreme environments, and foundations of complex societies. In the past 15 years he has carried out archaeological research primarily in the Peruvian Andes and quaternary studies in Peru and Scotland. He has also worked as an archaeologist in the Eastern Woodlands and Great Basin regions of the U.S., in Mexico, and in Chile. In Peru his team searches for and investigates hunter-gatherer sites from the Pacific coast to the high-elevation Andes. His ongoing collaborations with earth science colleagues are producing high-resolution paleoenvironmental records for comparison with cultural sequences. Other current collaborative research with physical anthropologists and paleogeneticists is focused on understanding how humans have adapted to live in high-elevation mountain regions, some of the most challenging environments on Earth.  In addition to his faculty appointment at MSU, Rademaker is Affiliated Assistant Professor of Prehistory at the University of Tübingen,  Adjunct Research Collaborator at the University of Arizona, and Faculty Associate in the University of Maine Department of Anthropology.

More information on his current project can be found at www.paleoandes.com. More details on his research and publications can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kurt_Rademaker