Leslie E Drane
EDUCATION
INDIANA UNIVERSITY, BLOOMINGTON
Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology
Archaeology and the Social Context
Inside Minor: Social-Cultural Anthropology. Outside Minor: Geography/GIS
Advisor: Dr. Susan Alt
2016 – 2018 (expected)
Master of Arts, Anthropology
Archaeology and the Social Context
Inside Minor: Social-Cultural Anthropology. Outside Minor: Geography/GIS
Committee Members: Drs. Susan Alt, Tom Evans, Brian Gilley, Anne Pyburn, and April Sievert
2012-2016
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, Cum Laude, High Distinction
Main Advisor: Dr. Timothy R. Pauketat
Bachelor of Arts, Gender and Women’s Studies, Cum Laude, High Distinction
Main Advisor: Dr. Cris Mayo
2008 – 2012
AREAS OF INTEREST
Midwestern and Southeastern United States archaeology (specifically the Mississippi Valley), Late Woodland and Mississippian societies, public archaeology, heritage management, GIS, ceramics analysis, archaeological ethics, curation techniques, representation, space and place, pedagogy, identity, gender, and sexuality
Address: Leslie E. Drane
Department of Anthropology
Student Building
701 East Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405
INDIANA UNIVERSITY, BLOOMINGTON
Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology
Archaeology and the Social Context
Inside Minor: Social-Cultural Anthropology. Outside Minor: Geography/GIS
Advisor: Dr. Susan Alt
2016 – 2018 (expected)
Master of Arts, Anthropology
Archaeology and the Social Context
Inside Minor: Social-Cultural Anthropology. Outside Minor: Geography/GIS
Committee Members: Drs. Susan Alt, Tom Evans, Brian Gilley, Anne Pyburn, and April Sievert
2012-2016
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, Cum Laude, High Distinction
Main Advisor: Dr. Timothy R. Pauketat
Bachelor of Arts, Gender and Women’s Studies, Cum Laude, High Distinction
Main Advisor: Dr. Cris Mayo
2008 – 2012
AREAS OF INTEREST
Midwestern and Southeastern United States archaeology (specifically the Mississippi Valley), Late Woodland and Mississippian societies, public archaeology, heritage management, GIS, ceramics analysis, archaeological ethics, curation techniques, representation, space and place, pedagogy, identity, gender, and sexuality
Address: Leslie E. Drane
Department of Anthropology
Student Building
701 East Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405
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Journal Articles by Leslie E Drane
Thesis by Leslie E Drane
Conference Presentations by Leslie E Drane
In this presentation, we discuss intersections of power, privilege, and teaching through an investigation of the ways in which power dynamics are physically materialized in and through classroom spaces. We will deconstruct the architecture of traditional classrooms and explore different ways that associate instructors can create equitable and inclusive classroom spaces.
This session will describe an effort to bring teaching experiences of diverse graduate students in from the periphery so their concerns can become part of ongoing conversations about teaching and learning. Presenters will discuss the impact of our learning community on experiences of diversity within the academy, our recommendations, and the current initiatives on campus to tackle these issues. This session will bring the teaching experiences of diverse graduate students in from the periphery, so their concerns can become part of the ongoing conversations about teaching and learning. Presenters will provide first-hand accounts of their experiences and insights in a learning community centered on diversity within the academy, highlighting recommendations and current initiatives on campus to tackle these issues.
2016 “Ethical Repatriation Beyond NAGPRA: Data Collection and Informed Consent.” Paper presented at the Indiana University NAGPRA Workshop in Bloomington, IN, February 26.
2016 “A Preliminary Investigation of the John Chapman Site (11JD12) using Magnetometry.” Paper presented at the Indiana University Anthropology Graduate Student Symposium in Bloomington, IN, February 19-20.
With this paper, I explain my preliminary fieldwork in northwestern Illinois at the John Chapman site. The John Chapman site is a mounded village that lies along the Apple River. At approximately A.D. 1050, Mississippian migrants traveled to the area and interacted with the Late Woodland people already occupying the land. With funding provided by the Glenn A. Black Laboratory (GBL) Summer Fellowship and the David C. Skomp Feasibility Fellowship Fund, I directed a magnetometry survey of a 810 m2 area. This survey allowed me to test my methodologies, as well as explore a portion of the site that has previously been little studied. This survey revealed subsurface anomalies, some of which are likely archaeological features. This paper will discuss my results, as well as the beginning stages of collaboration with the landowners, a conservation non-profit that focuses on education.
2016 “Rediscovering Landscapes: New Magnetometry Data at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.” Poster presented at the 72nd Annual Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Nashville, TN, November 18-21.
Water appears to have been a formative element of the Cahokian landscape, including natural and constructed wetlands in the central part of the site. A recent magnetometer survey of Cahokia, results of which are presented here, targeted a high area of land located between Borrow Pits 9 and 10 and an area northeast of the Rouch Mound Group near a natural slough to explore their potential for habitation. These locations were chosen given their proximity to water, their relative isolation from Cahokia’s central precinct, and the possibility that the land itself was sculpted and artificially raised above the nearby wetlands.
2015 “Common Field, Common Chert? A Preliminary Analysis of Lithics from the Mississippian Common Field Site (23SG100).” Poster presented at the 59th Annual Midwestern Archaeology Conference in Milwaukee, WI, November 5-7.
The Common Field site (23SG100) is a fortified Mississippian village located 3 kilometers south of present-day Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. The people who lived at this site likely experienced a violent attack, one that ended in their village being burned. With this poster, we explain a lithic analysis of 1,287 artifacts from Buchanan’s 2010-2012 excavations at Common Field. With this initial analysis, we focused on determining object typology and categorization of material, both chert and non-chert. We briefly explore the implications this analysis has for better understanding Common Field peoples’ technology, trade patterns, social interactions, and experiences with violence and warfare.
2015 “The Study of Temper and its Wider Implications at the Cahokian Lunsford-Pulcher Site.” Paper presented at the 80th Annual Society for American Archaeology Conference in San Francisco, CA, April 17.
This paper explores the way people at Lunsford-Pulcher, a southern Mississippian mound center, reacted to the growing presence of Mississippian influences as the city of Cahokia grew in size and power. By analyzing vessel morphology and temper usage from a ceramic surface collection at Lunsford-Pulcher, we build on previous research conducted by John Kelly and Alleen Betzenhauser. Shell is understood as a trademark signature of Mississippian ceramic production. Lunsford-Pulcher people are known for their limestone ceramics, which Kelly understands as a rejection of Mississippian lifeways. Betzenhauser explains that although southern sites continued to use limestone, inhabitants experienced changes in identity because of the diversity of people moving around the region.. We question whether Lunsford-Pulcher people were not dismissing shell temper, but rather using limestone as their interpretation of the same practice. If this is true, we would likely see similar percentages of limestone usage at the southern sites and shell temper usage in the northern sites during the Lohmann phase. In order to help answer questions about whether or not Lunsford-Pulcher people were actively resisting or embracing some types of Mississippian ceramic practices, we compare our data to four northern sites and two southern sites.
2015 “Engaging the Public through Women’s Emergence in Archaeology.” Invited paper presented at the 80th Annual Society for American Archaeology Conference in San Francisco, CA, April 17.
As we live in a world in which the social sciences continually undergo negative publicity in the public sphere, spreading our knowledge is more important than ever. Since archaeology depends on the support of non-academic communities, we must combat negative portrayals of social science through outreach events and public portrayals of our work. We explore the impact of doing archaeology through women’s life experiences. Through this lens, we discuss the passive and active manners in which archaeologists and our audiences comprehend public archaeology, archaeological scholarship, heritage, occupations, and contemporary issues. Three cases are discussed: 1. Graduate students creating a community outreach event, which demonstrates how we can cultivate young girls’ interest in archaeology, 2. How women in field supervisor positions can create different dialogues and alter group dynamics amongst field crews, and 3. The emerging cultural heritage in southern Mexico, developing from the shared identity between an ancient priest woman and contemporaneous indigenous women. Through these three examples, we investigate different manners in which we can captivate wider audiences and the meaning this may have for public archaeology and the current position of women in academia and the public sphere.
2015 “The Creation of a Comparative Resource for 1000 BCE – 1600 CE Indiana Ceramics.” Poster presented at the 80th Annual Society for American Archaeology Conference in San Francisco, CA, April 18.
This poster explains the work being conducted on the creation of a booklet demonstrating the Indiana (and likely surrounding states) ceramic types and varieties from approximately 1000 BCE – 1600 CE. We anticipate this booklet being utilized as a field guide and a comparative resource for those studying pre-Columbian people in the area. Because archaeologists so often encounter unfamiliar types and hybrid ceramic formations, this resource could be extremely beneficial for any researchers studying Midwestern people. Using the collections at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory at Indiana University, Bloomington, we are producing a guide that will contain photographs of each ceramic type with a detailed report on variety of the type, as well as a list of known sites where the pottery has been located. Ultimately, this project will end in the production of a comparative resource on Indiana ceramics, as well as a revision and inventory of the ceramic type collections held at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory. Our poster explores the process of creating this guide, the benefits it will provide researchers, and the future, collaborative advances we hope to accomplish.
2015 “Confounding Ceramic Typologies: Creating a Resource for the Glenn A. Black Laboratory’s Type Collections.” Paper presented at the Indiana University Anthropology Graduate Student Symposium in Bloomington, IN, February 21.
With this paper, I explain the work being conducted towards the creation of a booklet demonstrating Indiana (and surrounding areas) ceramic types and variations from approximately A.D. 1000-1600. Through funding from the Glenn A. Black Laboratory (GBL) Summer Fellowship, GBL worker Catherine Qualls and I are creating a booklet we anticipate being utilized as a comparative resource for those researching pre-Columbian people in the area. Because archaeologists so often encounter unfamiliar ceramics and because many types have numerous names based on region, this resource could be extremely beneficial for any researchers studying midwestern people. Using the ceramic type collections at the GBL, we are producing a guide that will contain photographs of each ceramic type with a detailed report on variety of the type, as well as profile drawings. Ultimately, this project will end in the creation of a comparative resource, as well as a revision and inventory of the ceramic type collections held at the GBL. This paper explores the process of creating this guide, the benefits it may provide researchers, and the future, collaborative advances we hope to accomplish.
2014 “Engaging the Public: Archaeological Community Outreach.” Poster presented at the 1st Annual National Archaeology Educator’s Conference at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, CO, October 27-31.
The Anthropology Graduate Student Association (AGSA) at Indiana University Bloomington has continually been focused on engaging the public with anthropology. We plan activities using a four-field approach and many members use the knowledge gained from their involvement with the unique Social Context program. Community participants created rock art by imitating earlier methods and examples. To better understand past and contemporary American Indian culture, people created cordage and learned Navajo string games. We ground corn using traditional methods to demonstrate food processing. People even had the opportunity to practice fieldwork skills through our screening and mapping activities, which highlights the importance and frequency of documentation in archaeology. This presentation seeks to further encourage public outreach, while promoting and cultivating new ideas for activities in archaeology.
2014 “Ceramic Analysis of Lunsford-Pulcher Assemblage.” Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the 58th Annual Midwest Archaeological Conference in Champaign-Urbana, IL, October 3.
The Lunsford-Pulcher site (11-S-40) is a Mississippian mound center located in the American Bottom region, near modern day Dupo, Illinois. For a ceremonial and village archaeological site, a limited amount of excavation and analysis has been conducted. A surface collection by Timothy R. Pauketat on discrete portions of the site resulted in a large assemblage, of which 181 rim sherds were analyzed for the scope of this study, and then compared to other Mississippian sites, with a focus on the differences in temper usage. We aim to provide answers to questions about who was living and visiting Lunsford-Pulcher, how the influx of diverse communities affects ceramics, and whether some Lunsford-Pulcher people were resistant to Mississippian technological and aesthetic changes. This paper explores the stylistic and morphological differences in the assemblage, while encouraging the idea that the Lunsford-Pulcher site had a diverse population, possibly with distinctive social and political ideologies
2014 “The Archaeologist as Artist.” Invited photo and poster exhibit presented at the 8th Annual North American Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference in Champaign-Urbana, IL, May 24 – 25.
I captured this photograph during the weeks of my first field experience in Trempealeau, Wisconsin. If I found it today, the small, dirt-covered ceramic piece would quickly be placed in an artifact bag and excavation would continue. However, on a field school where few materials were uncovered, this piece had meaning, since it was one of the first and only artifacts I discovered. This photograph continually intrigues me because it highlights the phenomenological approach to the body and experience (past and present). At the time the photograph was taken, my comprehension of archaeology was shifting. The archaeology glamorized by public representations became refined and pragmatic, although no less exciting. It highlights the understandings and misunderstandings between public perception and the common experiences of archaeologists.
While crafting my submission to this session, it called into question how data can be used and even what is considered to be archaeological data. Questions such as, “Do photographs have different worth depending on which person took the photo? Can pictures be an objective, accurately representative medium? And how do images change based on perceived audience?” were brought to my attention. Visual anthropology, in this case through photography, provides a nonverbal communication – often one open for interpretation. Whether the photograph is viewed as data, art, or a convergence of the two, depends on the audience.
2014 “Popular Archaeology and Converging Medias.” Paper presented at the 8th Annual North American Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference in Champaign-Urbana, IL, May 25.
The convergence of technologies and social practice plays out in diverse and fascinating ways in popular culture, social media, and the frontiers of technological application to the sciences. Where the public(s)’ archaeologies are often not the same as academic constructions of past peoples, there is occasionally tension between academics and “pop-archaeologists.” However, in investigating the ways in which pop-archaeology and academic archaeology intersect, converge, and parallel in multiple forms of mass media, it is evident that there are several archaeologies beyond that of the academic circle of discussion. This paper will address some of the themes in this session, including engagement with the multiplicity of archaeologies in order to redefine definitions of academic truths, while still remaining relatable in a world converging and intersecting via evolving mass medias.
2014 “The Problem of Public Perception and the Multiplicity of Archaeologies.” Organized session at the 8th Annual North American Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference in Champaign-Urbana, IL, May 25.
2014 “The Stylistic and Morphological Study of Ceramic Rims and Vessels from the Cahokian Lunsford-Pulcher Site.” Poster presented at the 79th Annual Society for American Archaeology Conference in Austin, TX, April 26.
The Lunsford-Pulcher site (11-S-40) is a Mississippian mound center located in the American Bottom region, near modern day Dupo, Illinois. The site currently consists of seven mounds and as many as thirteen mounds may have existed at one time. For a ceremonial and village archaeological site, a limited amount of excavation and analysis has been conducted, although Kelly (1993) suggested an occupation period from the late Emergent Mississippian period to the early Mississippian period. A surface collection by Timothy R. Pauketat on discrete portions of the site resulted in a large assemblage, of which 135 ceramic pieces were analyzed for the scope of this study. Based on this analysis, the Lunsford-Pulcher site was likely in occupation from the Late Woodland phases through the Moorehead phase. The largest grouping of ceramics is seen in the Terminal Late Woodland-Lohmann time period, with the second highest assemblage belonging to the Lohmann phase, after which there is a sharp decline, indicating the drop of presence at the Lunsford-Pulcher site. This poster explores the chronology of a Cahokian town through ceramics, contributing to our knowledge about the rise and demise of Cahokia and other surrounding mound centers.
In this presentation, we discuss intersections of power, privilege, and teaching through an investigation of the ways in which power dynamics are physically materialized in and through classroom spaces. We will deconstruct the architecture of traditional classrooms and explore different ways that associate instructors can create equitable and inclusive classroom spaces.
This session will describe an effort to bring teaching experiences of diverse graduate students in from the periphery so their concerns can become part of ongoing conversations about teaching and learning. Presenters will discuss the impact of our learning community on experiences of diversity within the academy, our recommendations, and the current initiatives on campus to tackle these issues. This session will bring the teaching experiences of diverse graduate students in from the periphery, so their concerns can become part of the ongoing conversations about teaching and learning. Presenters will provide first-hand accounts of their experiences and insights in a learning community centered on diversity within the academy, highlighting recommendations and current initiatives on campus to tackle these issues.
2016 “Ethical Repatriation Beyond NAGPRA: Data Collection and Informed Consent.” Paper presented at the Indiana University NAGPRA Workshop in Bloomington, IN, February 26.
2016 “A Preliminary Investigation of the John Chapman Site (11JD12) using Magnetometry.” Paper presented at the Indiana University Anthropology Graduate Student Symposium in Bloomington, IN, February 19-20.
With this paper, I explain my preliminary fieldwork in northwestern Illinois at the John Chapman site. The John Chapman site is a mounded village that lies along the Apple River. At approximately A.D. 1050, Mississippian migrants traveled to the area and interacted with the Late Woodland people already occupying the land. With funding provided by the Glenn A. Black Laboratory (GBL) Summer Fellowship and the David C. Skomp Feasibility Fellowship Fund, I directed a magnetometry survey of a 810 m2 area. This survey allowed me to test my methodologies, as well as explore a portion of the site that has previously been little studied. This survey revealed subsurface anomalies, some of which are likely archaeological features. This paper will discuss my results, as well as the beginning stages of collaboration with the landowners, a conservation non-profit that focuses on education.
2016 “Rediscovering Landscapes: New Magnetometry Data at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.” Poster presented at the 72nd Annual Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Nashville, TN, November 18-21.
Water appears to have been a formative element of the Cahokian landscape, including natural and constructed wetlands in the central part of the site. A recent magnetometer survey of Cahokia, results of which are presented here, targeted a high area of land located between Borrow Pits 9 and 10 and an area northeast of the Rouch Mound Group near a natural slough to explore their potential for habitation. These locations were chosen given their proximity to water, their relative isolation from Cahokia’s central precinct, and the possibility that the land itself was sculpted and artificially raised above the nearby wetlands.
2015 “Common Field, Common Chert? A Preliminary Analysis of Lithics from the Mississippian Common Field Site (23SG100).” Poster presented at the 59th Annual Midwestern Archaeology Conference in Milwaukee, WI, November 5-7.
The Common Field site (23SG100) is a fortified Mississippian village located 3 kilometers south of present-day Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. The people who lived at this site likely experienced a violent attack, one that ended in their village being burned. With this poster, we explain a lithic analysis of 1,287 artifacts from Buchanan’s 2010-2012 excavations at Common Field. With this initial analysis, we focused on determining object typology and categorization of material, both chert and non-chert. We briefly explore the implications this analysis has for better understanding Common Field peoples’ technology, trade patterns, social interactions, and experiences with violence and warfare.
2015 “The Study of Temper and its Wider Implications at the Cahokian Lunsford-Pulcher Site.” Paper presented at the 80th Annual Society for American Archaeology Conference in San Francisco, CA, April 17.
This paper explores the way people at Lunsford-Pulcher, a southern Mississippian mound center, reacted to the growing presence of Mississippian influences as the city of Cahokia grew in size and power. By analyzing vessel morphology and temper usage from a ceramic surface collection at Lunsford-Pulcher, we build on previous research conducted by John Kelly and Alleen Betzenhauser. Shell is understood as a trademark signature of Mississippian ceramic production. Lunsford-Pulcher people are known for their limestone ceramics, which Kelly understands as a rejection of Mississippian lifeways. Betzenhauser explains that although southern sites continued to use limestone, inhabitants experienced changes in identity because of the diversity of people moving around the region.. We question whether Lunsford-Pulcher people were not dismissing shell temper, but rather using limestone as their interpretation of the same practice. If this is true, we would likely see similar percentages of limestone usage at the southern sites and shell temper usage in the northern sites during the Lohmann phase. In order to help answer questions about whether or not Lunsford-Pulcher people were actively resisting or embracing some types of Mississippian ceramic practices, we compare our data to four northern sites and two southern sites.
2015 “Engaging the Public through Women’s Emergence in Archaeology.” Invited paper presented at the 80th Annual Society for American Archaeology Conference in San Francisco, CA, April 17.
As we live in a world in which the social sciences continually undergo negative publicity in the public sphere, spreading our knowledge is more important than ever. Since archaeology depends on the support of non-academic communities, we must combat negative portrayals of social science through outreach events and public portrayals of our work. We explore the impact of doing archaeology through women’s life experiences. Through this lens, we discuss the passive and active manners in which archaeologists and our audiences comprehend public archaeology, archaeological scholarship, heritage, occupations, and contemporary issues. Three cases are discussed: 1. Graduate students creating a community outreach event, which demonstrates how we can cultivate young girls’ interest in archaeology, 2. How women in field supervisor positions can create different dialogues and alter group dynamics amongst field crews, and 3. The emerging cultural heritage in southern Mexico, developing from the shared identity between an ancient priest woman and contemporaneous indigenous women. Through these three examples, we investigate different manners in which we can captivate wider audiences and the meaning this may have for public archaeology and the current position of women in academia and the public sphere.
2015 “The Creation of a Comparative Resource for 1000 BCE – 1600 CE Indiana Ceramics.” Poster presented at the 80th Annual Society for American Archaeology Conference in San Francisco, CA, April 18.
This poster explains the work being conducted on the creation of a booklet demonstrating the Indiana (and likely surrounding states) ceramic types and varieties from approximately 1000 BCE – 1600 CE. We anticipate this booklet being utilized as a field guide and a comparative resource for those studying pre-Columbian people in the area. Because archaeologists so often encounter unfamiliar types and hybrid ceramic formations, this resource could be extremely beneficial for any researchers studying Midwestern people. Using the collections at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory at Indiana University, Bloomington, we are producing a guide that will contain photographs of each ceramic type with a detailed report on variety of the type, as well as a list of known sites where the pottery has been located. Ultimately, this project will end in the production of a comparative resource on Indiana ceramics, as well as a revision and inventory of the ceramic type collections held at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory. Our poster explores the process of creating this guide, the benefits it will provide researchers, and the future, collaborative advances we hope to accomplish.
2015 “Confounding Ceramic Typologies: Creating a Resource for the Glenn A. Black Laboratory’s Type Collections.” Paper presented at the Indiana University Anthropology Graduate Student Symposium in Bloomington, IN, February 21.
With this paper, I explain the work being conducted towards the creation of a booklet demonstrating Indiana (and surrounding areas) ceramic types and variations from approximately A.D. 1000-1600. Through funding from the Glenn A. Black Laboratory (GBL) Summer Fellowship, GBL worker Catherine Qualls and I are creating a booklet we anticipate being utilized as a comparative resource for those researching pre-Columbian people in the area. Because archaeologists so often encounter unfamiliar ceramics and because many types have numerous names based on region, this resource could be extremely beneficial for any researchers studying midwestern people. Using the ceramic type collections at the GBL, we are producing a guide that will contain photographs of each ceramic type with a detailed report on variety of the type, as well as profile drawings. Ultimately, this project will end in the creation of a comparative resource, as well as a revision and inventory of the ceramic type collections held at the GBL. This paper explores the process of creating this guide, the benefits it may provide researchers, and the future, collaborative advances we hope to accomplish.
2014 “Engaging the Public: Archaeological Community Outreach.” Poster presented at the 1st Annual National Archaeology Educator’s Conference at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, CO, October 27-31.
The Anthropology Graduate Student Association (AGSA) at Indiana University Bloomington has continually been focused on engaging the public with anthropology. We plan activities using a four-field approach and many members use the knowledge gained from their involvement with the unique Social Context program. Community participants created rock art by imitating earlier methods and examples. To better understand past and contemporary American Indian culture, people created cordage and learned Navajo string games. We ground corn using traditional methods to demonstrate food processing. People even had the opportunity to practice fieldwork skills through our screening and mapping activities, which highlights the importance and frequency of documentation in archaeology. This presentation seeks to further encourage public outreach, while promoting and cultivating new ideas for activities in archaeology.
2014 “Ceramic Analysis of Lunsford-Pulcher Assemblage.” Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the 58th Annual Midwest Archaeological Conference in Champaign-Urbana, IL, October 3.
The Lunsford-Pulcher site (11-S-40) is a Mississippian mound center located in the American Bottom region, near modern day Dupo, Illinois. For a ceremonial and village archaeological site, a limited amount of excavation and analysis has been conducted. A surface collection by Timothy R. Pauketat on discrete portions of the site resulted in a large assemblage, of which 181 rim sherds were analyzed for the scope of this study, and then compared to other Mississippian sites, with a focus on the differences in temper usage. We aim to provide answers to questions about who was living and visiting Lunsford-Pulcher, how the influx of diverse communities affects ceramics, and whether some Lunsford-Pulcher people were resistant to Mississippian technological and aesthetic changes. This paper explores the stylistic and morphological differences in the assemblage, while encouraging the idea that the Lunsford-Pulcher site had a diverse population, possibly with distinctive social and political ideologies
2014 “The Archaeologist as Artist.” Invited photo and poster exhibit presented at the 8th Annual North American Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference in Champaign-Urbana, IL, May 24 – 25.
I captured this photograph during the weeks of my first field experience in Trempealeau, Wisconsin. If I found it today, the small, dirt-covered ceramic piece would quickly be placed in an artifact bag and excavation would continue. However, on a field school where few materials were uncovered, this piece had meaning, since it was one of the first and only artifacts I discovered. This photograph continually intrigues me because it highlights the phenomenological approach to the body and experience (past and present). At the time the photograph was taken, my comprehension of archaeology was shifting. The archaeology glamorized by public representations became refined and pragmatic, although no less exciting. It highlights the understandings and misunderstandings between public perception and the common experiences of archaeologists.
While crafting my submission to this session, it called into question how data can be used and even what is considered to be archaeological data. Questions such as, “Do photographs have different worth depending on which person took the photo? Can pictures be an objective, accurately representative medium? And how do images change based on perceived audience?” were brought to my attention. Visual anthropology, in this case through photography, provides a nonverbal communication – often one open for interpretation. Whether the photograph is viewed as data, art, or a convergence of the two, depends on the audience.
2014 “Popular Archaeology and Converging Medias.” Paper presented at the 8th Annual North American Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference in Champaign-Urbana, IL, May 25.
The convergence of technologies and social practice plays out in diverse and fascinating ways in popular culture, social media, and the frontiers of technological application to the sciences. Where the public(s)’ archaeologies are often not the same as academic constructions of past peoples, there is occasionally tension between academics and “pop-archaeologists.” However, in investigating the ways in which pop-archaeology and academic archaeology intersect, converge, and parallel in multiple forms of mass media, it is evident that there are several archaeologies beyond that of the academic circle of discussion. This paper will address some of the themes in this session, including engagement with the multiplicity of archaeologies in order to redefine definitions of academic truths, while still remaining relatable in a world converging and intersecting via evolving mass medias.
2014 “The Problem of Public Perception and the Multiplicity of Archaeologies.” Organized session at the 8th Annual North American Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference in Champaign-Urbana, IL, May 25.
2014 “The Stylistic and Morphological Study of Ceramic Rims and Vessels from the Cahokian Lunsford-Pulcher Site.” Poster presented at the 79th Annual Society for American Archaeology Conference in Austin, TX, April 26.
The Lunsford-Pulcher site (11-S-40) is a Mississippian mound center located in the American Bottom region, near modern day Dupo, Illinois. The site currently consists of seven mounds and as many as thirteen mounds may have existed at one time. For a ceremonial and village archaeological site, a limited amount of excavation and analysis has been conducted, although Kelly (1993) suggested an occupation period from the late Emergent Mississippian period to the early Mississippian period. A surface collection by Timothy R. Pauketat on discrete portions of the site resulted in a large assemblage, of which 135 ceramic pieces were analyzed for the scope of this study. Based on this analysis, the Lunsford-Pulcher site was likely in occupation from the Late Woodland phases through the Moorehead phase. The largest grouping of ceramics is seen in the Terminal Late Woodland-Lohmann time period, with the second highest assemblage belonging to the Lohmann phase, after which there is a sharp decline, indicating the drop of presence at the Lunsford-Pulcher site. This poster explores the chronology of a Cahokian town through ceramics, contributing to our knowledge about the rise and demise of Cahokia and other surrounding mound centers.
2014 “Further Exploration of Ramey-Incised Motifs from Five Mississippian Sites.” Paper presented at the Indiana University Anthropology Graduate Student Association Symposium in Bloomington, IN, February 23.
2013 “Burned Bone at Yokem: Questioning Cremation as a Mortuary Practice.” Paper presented at the 57th Annual Midwestern Archaeological Conference in Columbus, OH, October 25.
Yokem Mound Group in Pike County, Illinois, is a Late Woodland and Mississippian mortuary site with three structures that have been interpreted as crematories. New carbon dates on bone and old ones on wood show that at least in one of these structures, burial and burning were widely separated in time, calling into question earlier interpretations (Schurr and Cook 2013). We present a detailed comparison of remains recovered from each structure with other burned remains distributed across the site. Variability in body part representation, fragmentation and degree of burning is substantial. This suggests that bodies placed in these structured experienced differing trajectories that ultimately ended in the burning of largely defleshed and disarticulated bones, rather than a consistent mortuary program that included cremation as a final stage.
2013 “Engaging with Local Communities Using Hands-On Activities: A Four-Field Approach.” Poster presented at the 112th American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL, November 22.
In order for anthropology to thrive as a discipline, anthropologists must somehow engage with the general public. The Anthropology Graduate Student Association (AGSA) at Indiana University, Bloomington has had a long time interest in teaching anthropological knowledge to the public, especially children. We believe sparking an interest in science at a young age will greatly benefit everyone’s future. This past year (2012-2013), we took a four-field approach in creating hands-on activities to engage with the local community. Activities were presented at Brownie Girl Scout Math and Science Day as well as Family Day at the Lotus Blossoms World Bazaar. Participants were able to experience biological anthropology by sifting through fake chimpanzee feces, cracking nuts, and fishing for “termites.” In order to experience linguistics, as well as cultural anthropology and archaeology, they learned about the Maya alphabet and culture. By learning about various rock art sites and drawing their own “rock art,” participants learned more about archaeology. Making jewelry using cordage and learning Navajo string games allowed us to discuss both archaeology and cultural anthropology. With this poster, we hope to encourage other anthropologists to engage with a wide range of publics and to foster ideas for activities.