UMaine well-represented at annual Society for American Archaeology meeting
The University of Maine was again well-represented at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), held in Washington, D.C. from April 11–15.
Alice Kelley, a geoarchaeologist and instructor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, Climate Change Institute (CCI), and Anthropology Department, co-organized the session, “Shell Middens: Formation, Function, Survey and Endangered Cultural/Paleoenvironmental Heritage” with one of her graduate students. The symposium was sponsored by the SAA’s Geoarchaeology Interest Group.
UMaine presenters in the symposium included Paul “Jim” Roscoe, a professor in the Anthropology Department and CCI, who presented a paper with Kelley on “Middens or Monuments? The Shell Middens of Maine and the Construction of Peace”; CCI graduate students Emily Blackwood and Kate Pontbriand who spoke on “Seasonal Analysis of Four Coastal Archaeological Sites in Eastern Maine Using Mollusks”; Earth and climate sciences graduate student Jacquelynn Miller (the co-organizer of the symposium) who presented a paper co-written with Alice Kelley, Joseph Kelley, Daniel Belknap and Arthur Spiess on “Ground-Penetrating Radar as a Rapid Cultural Resource Management Technique for Shell Midden Delineation”; and Alice Kelley and Dan Sandweiss, a professor in the Anthropology Department and CCI, who were the session discussants.
Sandweiss also was the discussant for a symposium about “The Legacies of Archaeologists in the Andes.” Bonnie Newsom, an assistant professor of anthropology, gave a paper with Julie Woods on “Motivations of Indigenous New England Potters and Researchers: Technical Choice, Social Context, and Identity Construction” in a symposium titled, “Breaking Down Material Assumptions of Identity.” Ph.D. student Ani St. Amand gave a paper co-written with Alice Kelley and Sandweiss about “Assessing Destruction Risk of Cultural Resources: Primary and Secondary Impacts of Climate Change on the Archaeological Record” in the symposium, “Burning Libraries: Environmental Threats to Heritage and Science” at which Alice Kelley also presented a paper with Miller, Joseph Kelley, Spiess and Belknap on “Burning Libraries and Drowning Archives: Shell Middens on the Maine Coast.”
Sandweiss chaired the meeting of the Committee on the Americas, charged with enhancing interaction between Latin American and North American archaeologists.
UMaine alumni who presented at the SAA meeting included Kurt Rademaker who wrote/co-wrote five papers and co-organized a symposium; Cecilia Mauricio, who organized a symposium and gave a paper; David Reid, who presented a poster; and Gabriel Hrynick and Trevor Lamb, who both presented a paper.