A little while ago, I received a present that I secretly wanted: an excavation and model kit of Australopithecus afarensis. After a short break to rest the fingers, the next field season continued the amazing discoveries of the first. One surprise from last time was the existence of a hair in… Read more“Pretend-Excavating Australopithecus afarensis, Part 2”
Tag: archaeology
Pretend-Excavating Australopithecus afarensis, Part 1
As December rolled around, I found myself on Amazon browsing for good gifts. I settled on a large Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton for my brother (which looks amazing) and was ready to shut the browser window, when Amazon dangled another model in front of my eyes: an Australopithecus afarensis (e.g. Lucy)… Read more“Pretend-Excavating Australopithecus afarensis, Part 1”
A Poster Child for Academic Posters
Alison Atkin, graduate student of archaeology at the University of Sheffield, made a brilliant poster on the modeling of plagued versus non-plagued cemetery collections. The poster debuted at the British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO) conference, where it won the Bill White prize (Atkin, 2014)! It will also be… Read more“A Poster Child for Academic Posters”
The SAA Meeting in Honolulu!
This post may be a little late but I finally have some free time after returning from Hawaii to write down my thoughts about the event (I’m at the laundromat and I can’t leave due to the Great Clothes Theft of 2012). (May 18: well I may have sat on… Read more“The SAA Meeting in Honolulu!”
The One with Cheerleaders Everywhere
On Saturday, arrival at the convention center was met with the observation that there were a lot of little girls around. As I got closer, I saw teams doing dance routines outside. When I walked in the building I finally realized that we have been invaded by thousands of cheerleaders…. Read more“The One with Cheerleaders Everywhere”
Small Joys
One of my favorite part of dissertation writing is going through the articles I’ve collected and finding little tidbits relevant to my own work. In the past twenty minutes I’ve found something interesting from a review of Inca child sacrifice (they sacrificed the children of elites, probably to cement political… Read more“Small Joys”
SAA, Part 1
Last weekend I had a fantastic time at the SAA meeting in St. Louis. It’s taken me a while to collect my thoughts (also: dissertation) but I’m ready to start spilling. For this first post on the topic, let’s talk about talks. The actual conference was a extremely positive experience…. Read more“SAA, Part 1”
LOLs from the Past
I’m still typing up the data the field school and I collected two summers ago. I’m almost done though! Since I originally wrote these notes a so long ago I smile at some of the things I put in. Some of my notes include: “Biggest. Guy. Ever.”“Cannot do. Oops, NVM!”“Teeth… Read more“LOLs from the Past”
The Chan Hypothesis for the Origin of Agriculture
One of the big debates in archaeology is the origin of agriculture. Agriculture marks an important turning point in human history: it sparked a change from nomadic to settled groups, it enabled population growth, and our modern lives depend on it. So it is natural to wonder about the hows… Read more“The Chan Hypothesis for the Origin of Agriculture”
Too Much of a Good Thing
The Inca religion is based on Sun worship. The Inca leader (also called “the Inca”) is said to be the son of the Sun. Ironically, only the ruler and certain elites are allowed to carry a parasol to protect them from the Sun’s harmful rays.