Estill Loyd

Areas of Interest

Zooarchaeology, Ceramic Studies, Mediterranean Archaeology 

Research Interests & Fieldwork

I am currently working on UROP funded research, in collaboration with the BU Zooarchaeology Lab and the Alutiiq Museum in Alaska. I am sorting, identifying, and analyzing a zooarchaeological assemblage from an Alutiiq site on Kodiak Island, with the goal of understanding the ritualistic and social relationship between the Alutiiq people and animals. As such, I will read historic, oral history, and ethnographic data from other places along the coast of Alaska to learn about how people in other areas and time periods used animals ritualistically and socially. In addition, archaeological research on Kodiak Island shows that the Alutiiq people have lived on the island for almost 8,000 years, so I will look at other archaeological sites and use a comparative approach to inform my zooarchaeological analysis of the site.

Projects

“The Ritual and Social Use of Animals by the Prehistoric Coastal Alaska”