News
Marston and West featured on “Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality and 21st Century Archaeology”
Dr. John Marston and Dr. Catherine West, both of Boston University's Archaeology Department, have been featured on Voice America's latest archaeology podcast "Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality and 21st Century Archaeology". Interviewed by Dr. Schuldenrein, Marston and West discuss how their archaeological research is contributing, not only to questions of the past, but to contemporary and future issues of climate change. Check out the podcast here: Climate Change and Archaeology.
EAL Lab Presents at SAA in Vancouver
Two members of the EALab will be presenting on recent research at the SAA meeting in Vancouver, BC. Anna Goldfield is giving a paper entitled Fat of the Land: An Energetics Approach to Paleolithic Bone Fat Exploitation in the session "Recent Zooarchaeological Research II" on Friday, March 31st, at 4:15 pm. John Marston is a co-organizer of two sessions, "Fryxell" and "E&E", and is a co-author on three papers: Naomi F. Miller and Applied Paleoethnobotany of Southwest Asia and Provisioning and Agricultural Economy at Roman Gordion: Integrating Archaeobotany and Zooarchaeology at the session "2017 Fryxell Awards Symposium: Papers in Honor of Naomi F. Miller" on Thursday, March 30th at 8 am and 10:15 am. He presents Phrygian Cuisine at Kerkenes: A Synthesis of Ceramic and Botanical Evidence for Food Storage and Cooking in the session "Some Like It Hot: Analytical Diversity and Complementarity in the Exploration of Past Cooking and Cuisine" on Thursday, March 30th at 9:30 am.
Spring Break Education Outreach in Marblehead
BU archaeology alumna, Courtney Soule (MA 2016), invited three of our lab's archaeologists to talk to her middle school Latin classes about archaeology, paleoethnobotany, and the difference between studying dinosaurs and studying past humans. On Monday, March 6th, Kathleen Forste, Audrey Tjahjadi, and Kali Wade presented on a range of archaeological topics, fielded questions, and introduced students to hands-on material culture from BU's teaching collections. Thank you to Marblehead Veterans Middle School and the bright young students for giving us such a fun day outside the lab!
New Laboratory Manager
We are happy to welcome Kali Wade as the newest member of the EA Lab and our new Laboratory Manager. Kali holds an MSc in Archaeology from the University of Edinburgh and has previous experience in Near Eastern archaeology and paleoethnobotany through phytolith analysis. Kali will facilitate ongoing research in the lab in addition to carrying out her own projects. Anyone interested in becoming involved with the EA Lab is welcome to send her an email. Welcome Kali!
Marston article on wood charcoal analysis available free online
An article by Marston “Unlocking Ancient Environmental Change with the Help of Living Trees” appeared recently in Arnoldia, the magazine of the Arnold Arboretum. In the article, Marston explains archaeological applications of wood charcoal analysis, as well as the ongoing partnership between the Arnold Arboretum and the Environmental Archaeology Laboratory, and highlights the role this partnership plays in the annual Wood Anatomy Workshop taught by Marston each summer.
Lab Volunteer Mollie Yacano Profiled in BU Today
BU Today has an article on the BU Marine Program course “Scientific Diving”, which lab volunteer Mollie Yacano recently completed. Read about her adventures in cold, murky waters and her harrowing tale of surviving a crab attack here.
Lab alum Kay Ueda now Curator at Stanford University
Kay Ueda, who completed her Ph.D. in Archaeology at BU in 2015, is now Curator of the Japanese Diaspora Initiative at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Congratulations Kay!
Forste recipient of ASOR conference travel
Kathleen Forste was one of 10 students selected to receive ASOR’s student conference travel grant to attend the 2016 annual meeting in San Antonio, TX! She is co-author on a presentation with Professoss Mac Marston of Boston University and Deirdre Fulton of Baylor University. Their talk is titled “The Animal and Plant Economies at Islamic and Crusader Ashkelon,” and will be given Saturday, November 19.
http://www.asor.org/fellowships/annual-meeting/student-travel.html
Marston and Forste to present at ASOR 2016
Professor John M. Marston and Kathleen Forste will be presenting a paper will Professor Deirdre Fulton of Baylor University at the ASOR 2016 Annual meeting in San Antonio, TX. They will present their recent analysis of plant and animal economy at Ashkelon during the Crusader era.
Marston and Forste part of team discovering first Philistine cemetery
John Marston and Kathleen Forste are part of the Ashkelon excavation team, who for the last three years have quietly excavated the first Philistine cemetery every discovered. Read about it in detail on the Harvard Gazette, in shorter pieces in the New York Times and National Geographic, or other news venues worldwide (all linked on the Ashkelon project website, together with exclusive images of the excavation).