IUP anthropologists were busy at the recent (March 29–April 2) Society for American Archaeology annual meeting. All of the archaeology faculty gave talks, as well as several talks and posters by graduate students. The IUP Ethics Bowl team took second in that competition.
The SAA Ethics Bowl pits teams of students against each other in a Lincoln-Douglas-style debate over ethical and professional principles of archaeology. This event helps students develop their professional mindsets and deal with ethical issues in a safe setting. This year’s IUP team was coached by Bill Chadwick and Andrea Palmiotto and included Victoria Albert, Sonja Rossi-Williams, Arthur Townend Elena Frye, Laura Broughton, Emma Lashley, Emily Sykora, and Liz McCreary.
Several Applied Archaeology MA program students presented their research:
Kristopher Montgomery – “A Macroscopic Lithic Analysis of South Mountain Metarhyolite Quarries: A Focus on Intersite and Intrasite Assemblage Comparisons of the Green Cabin Site (36AD0569), South Mountain, Pennsylvania”
Sonja Rossi-Williams – “Changes in Indigenous Occupation Strategies in Eastern Pennsylvania: An Exploration of Changing Land Use at the Red Hole Site”
Arthur Townend – “Barree Forge: A Pennsylvania Forge Town”
Amanda Telep – “An Investigation into the Archaeological Resources of Irishtown Gap Hollow”
Mikala Hardie (with Anya Gruber and Amy Fedchenko) - “Bringing Archaeology to You: Insights from the Roving Exhibit and Archaeology Laboratory”
Andrea Palmiotto and Bill Chadwick attended a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency partner meeting, where they presented “Terrestrial Filed Case: Geophysics, Forensic Archaeology, and Student Opportunities: Lessons from a Partner Field School.” This presentation discussed recent Henry Jackson Foundation-funded research on World War II plane crash sites in Germany.
The remaining archaeology faculty also presented at the conference.
Francis Allard - “Glass beads along the early Maritime Silk Route: A view from southeast China”
Lara Homsey-Messer (with alumni Kristina Gaugler and Kevin Gubbels) – “An Experimental and Ethnographic Approach to the Analysis of Fire-Cracked Rock at Three Monongahela Sites in Southwestern PA: The Case for a Middle Monongahela Stone Boiling Technology”
Ben Ford - “Our Future Is Applied: The Applied Archaeology MA Program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania”
Ford also joined several alumni—Amanda Rasmussen, Casey Campetti, Angela Jaillet-Wentling, Ross Owen, and Kristina Gaugler—in a panel discussion, “Where are All the Archaeologists”: A Forum for Collaborative and Equitable Preparation for a Career in Resource Management.”
In addition to all of these talks and events, it was gratifying to see nearly 20 IUP alumni at the conference.
The Anthropology Department faculty and students would like to acknowledge the support of the University Senate Research Committee and the School of Graduate Studies and Research for supporting to present at the SAA conference.