News
Congratulations to Brown, Duppenthaler, and Hunter, graduates in the class of 2019!
Three members of the Environmental Archaeology Laboratory are graduating from Boston University: Emily Brown, Madeline Duppenthaler, and Sydney Hunter.
Congratulations to Emily Brown, who is graduating with a BA in Biology and Archaeology and is a long-standing member of the EA Lab. Emily conducted two UROP projects in the lab: completing morphometric analysis of cereal phytoliths from a Bronze Age tomb in modern Israel, and wood charcoal analysis of the Anatolian site of Çamlıbel Tarlası, dated to ca. 3590-3470 BCE. Emily has accepted a position at the Boston Children's Hospital applying her data compiling and organization skills in an administrative role. Congrats Emily!
Congratulations to Madeline Duppenthaler, who is graduating with her MA in Archaeology! Madeline is the first BU researcher to work on a project both in the Environmental Archaeology and Zooarchaeology Laboratories, analyzing faunal and botanical assemblages from a precontact site in Alaska. Following convocation, Madeline will continue in her role as Zooarchaeology Laboratory Supervisor.
Congratulations to Sydney Hunter, who is graduating with a BA (summa cum laude) in Archaeology. Sydney received UROP funding for five semesters and completed an honors thesis during her time in the EA Lab. Her honors thesis centered on analyzing phytoliths from the site of Sim-Ata 1, in modern day Karakalpakstan (Uzbekistan), while her UROP projects studied seeds from Sim-Ata 1 and, earlier, phytoliths from enslaved communities at the historic site of Montpelier. Following graduation, Sydney will continue studying paleoethnobotany at the University of Liverpool, under Dr. Eleni Asouti, as a Fulbright Scholar.
We applaud these amazing scholars and wish them the very best of luck in their future endeavors!
Codlin awarded an NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant
Congratulations to Maria Codlin, who was awarded a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant this past semester! Maria will continue her research examining how animals in urban food economies relate to social organization and wealth; in particular, among those communities surrounding ancient Teotihuacan, Mexico. Excellent work Maria!
Forste wins 2019 GRAF Award
Kathleen Forste has been awarded a Short-Term Graduate Research Abroad Fellowship from BU's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences! Kathleen will be using the fellowship to fund her travels, collection, and analysis of archaeobotanical remains from the site of Tel Shimron this upcoming summer. Kathleen's work will inform our understanding of agricultural change in Israel's Islamic coastal and inland communities. Congratulations and safe travels Kathleen!
Hunter wins Alumni Award for Writing Excellence
Congratulations to Sydney Hunter for winning a 2019 Alumni Award for Writing Excellence in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her exemplary honors thesis used microbotanical remains to examine agriculture and environmental change in the ancient city of Kath (Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan) preceding and during the early Islamic period. She was presented with the award last weekend, along with her bachelor's degree with honors. Well done Sydney!! Onwards to the UK on a Fulbright award!
Marston selected as 2020 Fulbright Scholar to Australia
Marston has been selected as the recipient of one of six Fulbright Scholar Awards to Australia in the "All Disciplines" competition. This will allow him to spend the Spring 2020 semester at the School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, to collaborate with Dr. Andrew Fairbairn on a project entitled "Agricultural Sustainability at the Nexus of Empire and Climate Change". Together, Drs. Marston and Fairbairn will combine their datasets on the Late Bronze and Iron Age periods of central Anatolia, drawing on sites including Gordion, Kerkenes, Kaman Kalehöyük, and Büklükale, in order to gain new insights into the Hittite to Phrygian imperial transition.
Marston co-author on new Kerkenes article
Marston is a co-author (with Sarah R. Graff and Scott Branting, director of the Kerkenes Project) on a new article just published in Economic Anthropology, entitled "Production requires water: Material remains of the hydrosocial cycle in an ancient Anatolian city". The article is slated for the June issue and available online in advance of print here.
Hunter receives Undergraduate Ethnobiologist Award
Environmental Archaeology Laboratory undergraduate research Sydney Hunter (CAS 2019) was just awarded the Undergraduate Ethnobiologist Award by the Society of Ethnobiology! Sydney will receive the award at the 2019 Society of Ethnobiology conference in Vancouver, Canada. Congratulations, Sydney!
Wroth and Marston publish in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Environmental Archaeology Laboratory alumna and 2018 BU PhD Kristen Wroth, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tübingen, has published the first article of her dissertation, with co-authors John M. Marston and BU emeritus professor Paul Goldberg. Read "Neanderthal plant use and pyrotechnology: phytolith analysis from Roc de Marsal, France" in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences here. Congratulations Kris!
Marston accepts Wiseman Book Award at 2019 AIA Annual Meeting
Marston accepted the James R. Wiseman Book Award at the Archaeological Institute of America's Conference last week for his 2017 book Agricultural Sustainability and Environmental Change at Ancient Gordion (University of Pennsylvania Museum Press). This book details the interconnected agricultural and environmental histories over nearly 3000 years at the site of Gordion, Turkey, and makes Gordion one of the best published agricultural datasets from the Near East (click here to check it out). Congratulations Mac!
Marston Empire and Environment article published in JAA
The final version of "Archaeologies of Empire and Environment" has just been published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. Co-authored by Melissa S. Rosenzweig (Northwestern University) and John M. Marston, this article frames the December 2018 special issue of JAA with the same name. The article is available for download here.