Looking forward to AN 2014-2015

Greeting Anthro Nerds!
You will soon be reading posts here that detail the amazing adventures the Nerds had in 2013-2014 (already Justine has posted a great piece on her adventures in Hungary);  I wanted to provide you with some (contemporary) food for thought about the on-goings in Nerdland for the upcoming school year.  We have a lot planned. The most exciting news is the Department of Sociology is considering a way to formalize the anthropology curriculum so this option of study will be made available to students. There are wonderful synergies in our department, and great collaborations can be made between anthropology, criminal justice, sociology, gerontology, and social services. Additionally, the AN program is always looking for ways to connect with majors and programs across the university. We hope to have news soon about the ways students can pursue anthropology as part of their studies at Quinnipiac.

As far as classes for Fall, we still have room in AN 300 Forensic Anthropology, taught by Jaime Ullinger, AN 101 Local Cultures, Global Issues, taught by Hillary Haldane (me!), and AN 300 Human Survival and the Environment, taught by Frank Crohn.  In Spring we have a bunch of new classes. AN 300 Human Origins will be taught by Diane Stock, a dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and our resident paleoanthropologist, AN 300 Human Variation, taught by Jaime Ullinger, and AN 300 Practicing Archaeology, taught by Julia Giblin. 

Let us know what you are up to this summer, and share your Nerd Adventures with us. We look forward to seeing you again in the Fall.

Lastly, I want to send our warmest congratulations to all our graduating Nerds.  We have 13 AN minors graduating this year, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors. Keep us informed about your whereabouts as you go out in the world.

BAKOTA 2014 here I come!

So this post is very overdue, since it has basically been a year since I was fortunate enough to be chosen to work on the archaeological site in Hungary called the BAKOTA project.  I spent six weeks with amazing people excavating a Bronze Age cemetery. I am so thankful I got to be a part of the excavation, and it truly was an amazing experience that I will remember always. 

When Professor Giblin approached me about being apart of an independent study, and in turn assisting on the BAKOTA project in Hungary I almost hit the floor.  I love anthropology and archaeology so this was my chance to jump into the fields…literally.   I was a freshman and really did not want to screw up this opportunity, but luckily I had another student, Lauren Tosti who would be coming with us, which made me feel a bit better.  We got straight to work meeting with Professor Giblin once a week discussing readings and going over material that would be useful for us over in Hungary.  We read about osteology, The Bronze Age, excavation, burials, and recovery techniques.  After spending a whole semester getting prepared it was time for us to set off.  We soon found ourselves in a lovely house in Vésztő, Hungary that was only a short car ride from the excavation site called "Békés 103.”

I have so say when we first started I was very nervous, but eventually I started to catch onto the routine.  I got to do a lot of different jobs eventually landing on lab manager. Which if I do say so myself was the coolest job seeing as I got to see EVERYTHING that came in from the field.  I loved getting to see and touch all the artifacts from the field.  It was so amazing to see such well-preserved pottery and bone, and since it was my first field experience my mind was blown!  There was so much to see, and getting to be apart to the piecing together of this site’s story was amazing.

I got to witness all the different jobs like the expert drawing out the burials by Dori or getting to scan the top soil for artifacts with Paul and Györgyi!  It was such a friendly and inviting atmosphere that really made me feel welcome, and eager to learn.  When I was taking the lessons with Professor Giblin I started thinking about what I wanted to concentrate on as we gained information and artifacts.  One aspect I was/ still am interested in is the placement of the burials.  Was there an order or pattern?  I spent a lot of time paying attention to where all the burials were positioned, and there relations to other burials near them.  There were many things to take note of when observing a burial that I wished to observe.  The space between each, the orientation of any smaller vessels, size comparisons, and patterns on the cremation urns.  

The six weeks seemed to fly by, as we recovered a HUGE amount of materials ready to be analyzed and documented.  I also got an extra treat by seeing the lab where are the reconstructions took place, and where all the samples are held.   

I was so lucky to be a part of this amazing project, and I am very excited to be going to Hungary again this summer!  It was so special to see and feel materials that have been in the ground for thousands of years, and get to uncover how humans may have acted in The Bronze Age.  I cannot wait to get back in the field and see what else is waiting for us!  

        -Justine Tynan

AN Adventures on the Horizon

Greeting Nerds! Three weeks until the start of the new semester, and with it comes even more opportunities to dive into great AN courses to feed your need for disciplinary knowledge. If you are still looking for a course, you can check out Dr. Stock's Human Origins class, where you'll explore the evolutionary history of our species and learn how our splendid diversity came to be. It will build on much of the great stuff you learned in AN 102, Bones, Genes, and Everything in Between with Dr. Ullinger. We've also got space left in Latin American Societies and Cultures. Next spring Dr. Giblin is offering a new course, Archaeology of Food, so keep that in mind as you plan for the next semester (it'll be a TTh course).
To get you pumped for school and to energize your AN-loving soul, I've provided a link to my all time favorite AN video--The Anthropology Song: A little bit Anthropologist. Enjoy!

So cute - had to share!

Just a quick post - today was the last day of my fellowship at the library. As a parting gift, the staff gave me a very cute picture book called "Skeleton Hiccups." I'll bring it by the lab - it's awesome!

-Lucy

Vale Dr. Stocking

Dr. George W. Stocking Jr. passed away on July 13, 2013.  Dr. Stocking's work informed an entire generation of scholars in anthropology about their own discipline, though he was not an anthropologist himself.  He published numerous books on the history of the discipline, and profiled many of the early scholars who contributed to the discipline's foundation in the U.S. and in Great Britain. His passing makes me regret we do not yet have a History of Anthropology class at Quinnipiac. If we had such a class, all our AN students would leave QU with a deep appreciation for the work this man did for our discipline. You can be sure of one thing: much of what you read in any of your AN courses has been touched, in some way, by the work of Dr. Stocking.

https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2013/07/30/george-w-stocking-jr-historian-social-anthropology-1928-2013?utm_source=newsmodule

Greetings once again from the Hamden Public Library! This week I did a program for teens about forensic anthropology. Thank you to Professors Ullinger and Giblin for their assistance - I borrowed bones from the lab and also borrowed some ideas from the program we did with 7th graders last year.

First we did quiz-show about the myths vs. realities of forensic anthropology. Then the fun with bones began!

I scrambled up the bones and had the students work together to put him in anatomical position

The awesome teens - they got really into it!

The teens filled in a worksheet to learn some of the names of the bones.

I found some great books in the library.

So I displayed them at the program in case the students wanted to continue their studies at home.

I had 10 students in total - they were all very smart & sweet. After assembling the skeleton, we talked about how to determine the sex of a skeleton. I brought in pictures and drawings of various skeletons and had the students figure out the sex. We talked a little bit about aging, although I didn't go into too much detail because I didn't feel as confident about my grasp of the material. To conclude, I showed them some casts of pathology specimens, including a broken tibia, osteoarthritis, and the syphilis skull.

The students seemed to have a great time, and so did I! Hopefully I inspired some future anthropologists.

Yesterday, the whole fellowship went to Hartford to visit the Capitol building. To clarify, I am working at the library through a Presidential Public Service Fellowship. There are 11 students in the fellowship and we are each placed in different town offices, so my assignment is the library. Anyway, we went to Hartford and got to meet several government leaders. You can read more about it here (and admire my sullen face in the picture - I was exhausted at this point).

My favorite room was the Senate Chamber, which was beautiful. The Senate isn't in session right now, but the senators' names are in front of each of their places. There are 36 senators and, looking around the room, only a few of them are women. After a full day of meeting almost exclusively with old white men, this was discouraging to see. However, we did meet with the Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman. I asked her about her experiences working as a woman in the government. She described just one unfortunate incident, but other than that she luckily has not had too many unpleasant experiences. I wanted to further discuss women's issues, but she is very busy and had to get to another appointment.

Day to day, the library is a nice place to work. Right now we have three caterpillars in cocoons, so hopefully soon we'll have butterflies!

To conclude this post, here's a picture of my cat.

Until next time, anthro nerds.
-Lucy

Anthropology Literally Unlocks Doors

You know those "staff only" doors in museums, and how you're always dying to know what's hidden behind them? Today we found out. And it was awesome.

The British Museum. Ancient Egypt and Sudan Department. Backstage.

Professor Ullinger's friend, Daniel, is a curator at the museum and gave us a tour of some really amazing stuff that's not currently on view to the public. How cool is that?

We got to see one of the only 12 pre-dynastic Egyptian mummies in the world, ancient Egyptian jewellery (Tiffany & Co. have nothing on the Egyptians!), papyrus pages of Book of the Dead (spells to help the deceased in the afterlife), and mummies with tattoos! They're so well preserved the tattoos are still visible to the naked eye.

Seriously it was incredible how many locked doors we went through. The anthropology community has got some serious pull in museums, and that meant seeing all those truly incredible objects. Unfortunately, we still weren't allowed to touch. All in due time, right?

Before the museum, Paige and I climbed all 628 steps of St. Paul's Cathedral, straight to the top of the dome, after having climbed the 311 steps of the Monument yesterday. I could not have imagined more incredible views of the city. We also had time to visit Millennium Bridge.

Top of St. Paul's Cathedral

Millennium Bridge

We arrived to the museum a few hours early so we could look around, went on the amazing tour, had the most delicious afternoon tea, and then stayed for another couple of hours to keep exploring.

Tea Party!

Professor Haldane, I was thinking of you when I saw that Africa was grouped into one gallery relegated to the basement, when other galleries were broken up by country. No other continent is going to be considered 1 homogenous amalgam that can be summed up in a single room. Silent rage.

Now what was contained in that room was breathtaking. There was one piece, called The Tree of Life, which was made from recovered guns in Mozambique. An organization was set up that allowed people to trade in their guns in exchange for ploughs and tractors. It was so inspiring that I actually got a little emotional.

Tree of Life

Quick shoutout to my friend, Sybelle! She's in London for the summer as an au pair and we met up for a bite to eat a few nights ago.

Sybelle and Paige Playing in the Park

The three of us walked around Bishop's Park right on the Thames, which was beautiful at night. Incredible stroke of fortune that we were both in the city at the same time!

Holly