Bonnie Newsom
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Dr. Bonnie Newsom is a citizen of the Penobscot Nation and an archaeologist interested in the pre-contact lifeways of Maine’s Native peoples. Through her research, Dr. Newsom seeks to humanise past peoples by exploring concepts of identity and human agency. Her current research centers on community-engaged archaeologies, aboriginal ceramic technologies, and Maine’s shell bearing coastal sites. Dr. Newsom’s professional history includes serving as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Penobscot Indian Nation and as Assistant Director for UMaine’s Wabanaki Center. She has a strong public service record which includes serving as Chair of the Repatriation Review Committee for the National Museum of Natural History, a member of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission, and a Trustee for the University of Maine System. She currently serves as a board member for the Forest Society of Maine. Dr. Newsom holds a B.A. in Anthropology and an M.S. in Quaternary Studies from the University of Maine and she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She and her husband Les are both military veterans and they live in Eddington, Maine. They have four children and three grandsons.
Dissertation:
Newsom, Bonnie D., (2017) Potters on the Penobscot: An Archaeological Case Study Exploring Human Agency, Identity, and Technological Choice. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1085/.
Recent Presentations:
Kelley, Alice and Bonnie Newsom (2021) “Maine’s Archaeological Shell Heaps: A Conversation with the Midden Minders,” Frenchman’s Bay Conservancy (Zoom presentation).
Newsom, Bonnie and Alice Kelley, (2021) DONOP: Making Spaces for Indigenous Voices in Climate Change Research, European Archaeological Association.
Newsom, Bonnie, Natalie Dana-Lolar, Isaac St. John, Rebecca Cole-Will, Catherine Schmitt, (2021) In Conversation with the Ancestors; Wabanaki Archaeology at Acadia National Park, Canadian Archaeological Association.
Newsom, Bonnie, (2021) POW’s in Passamaquoddy Forests: The story and backstory of a WWII German POW camp at Motahkokmikuk (Indian Township), Maine. Abbe Museum, Indigenous Methodologies Speaker Series, Bar Harbor, ME.
Newsom, Bonnie (2021) “Reaching Back to Go Forward: Wabanaki Archaeology at Acadia National Park, Maine,” Women and Gender Studies Lecture, University of Maine, Orono.
Newsom, Bonnie, Natalie Dana-Lolar, Isaac St. John, Catherine Schmitt. (2021) “Old Collections, New Analyses: Indigenizing Shell Heap Research in Acadia National Park, Maine, 3 Minute Climate Story Video, Society for Historical Archaeology Meetings.
Keynote Speaker: Newsom, Bonnie, (2020) Indigenous Archaeologies and Climate Change Resilience: Lessons from Passamaquoddy Homeland; Indigenous Archaeology and Community Engaged Research Speaker Series, Boston University.
Kelley, Alice and Bonnie Newsom (2020) Maine Midden Minders: Racing the Clock to Document Cultural and Environmental Archives; Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, Boston, Massachusetts.
Wheeler, Ryan and Bonnie Newsom (2019) Sacred Places and Contested Spaces in Maine: The Long Shadow of Science in the Light of Repatriation; Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Kelley, Alice, Bonnie Newsom and Arthur Spiess (2019) Climate Change and Shell Middens, Creating Baselines for Future Decisions; Geological Society of America, Northeastern Section, Portland, Maine, March 2019.
Recent Poster Sessions:
Kelley, Alice R., Bonnie Newsom, Kristin Schild, (April 2021) “So Many Sites, So Little Time: Shell Heaps on the Maine Coast” Society for American Archaeology.
Kelley, Alice, Bonnie Newsom, Arthur Spiess, Anne Spezia, Kate Pontbriand (2019) Maine Midden Minder Network: Collaborating to Save a Cultural Resource. Society for American Archaeology Meetings, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Areas of Expertise
Education
M.S., Quarternary Studies, University of Maine, 1999
B.A., Anthropology, University of Maine, 1995

