The University Star has been working on a piece about the Experimental Archaeological club. They wrote an article and also produced a video documenting various club activities, including footage from the oven they built for the recent event at Grady Early's. You can view the video here.
In the second Summer Semester of 2013, The Texas State University-San Marcos in a partnership with the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Carolina-Columbia will conduct Archaeological excavations at the site of Etowah, Georgia. The Etowah site is one of the most famous Mississippian period mound centers in the Southeast and has been the focus of many years of archaeological research. Despite that fact, there is still a great deal that we do not know about Etowah and its inhabitants, and that information is important to many different communities. Because Etowah was such a prominent place during the prehistory of Georgia, the information it contains is important to Mississippian Period Archaeologists working in Georgia and the wider Southeast. Etowah’s history is also important to the residents of Georgia, who fund its operation as a state park and are intensely interested in its story. Finally, Etowah is part of the cultural heritage of Native American people. In particular, the Muscogee/Creeks, whose ancestors built the site, and the information it contains, in a very real sense, represents their cultural history. This project seeks to explore the archaeological and cultural record of Etowah for the benefit of each of these different communities. A unique feature of this year’s excavation is that representatives and students from several Native American tribes will join us in our efforts. This welcome addition to our compliment is a part of our long-term goal to return the ancient American past to the living descendants of a long neglected New World civilization.
The Dept. of Anthropology and CASAA announces that the 2013 Mississippian Iconographic Workshop will convene at the Chickasaw Nations Cultural Center (CCC) in Sulpher, Oklahoma, for May 14-19. Our two student organizers this year are Kevin McKinney and Nathan Heep. A Chickasaw student will match each of our student volunteers, and members of the Chickasaw Cultural Center will be observing us throughout the conference. This will be a fantastic opportunity to interact with members of the Chickasaw Nation, and will be a unique experience throughout the workshop.
This year’s conference has a specific agenda. The stated goal is to work with the Chickasaw people (both scholars and students) in an effort to explore the links between the Mississippian symbols recovered during our previous workshops and the traditions of the Chickasaw Nation. We will allocate time for each of the groups to at least have a day to a half a day to work on their previous projects.
We will be extending the workshop one additional day. Saturday will be presentation day. We will have members from the Chickasaw Government in attendance, as well as Native American scholars, students, and other interested parties. The point of these presentations is to demonstrate how important these ancient objects are for the recovery of Native American history. We want to focus on how important it is that these objects are preserved, made available for study, and treated with respect.
Dr. Jason Wiersema
Mass Disasters and Preparedness Specialist
Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences
The Forensic Anthropology Society at Texas State is pleased to announce Forensic Anthropologist Dr. Jason Wiersema will be giving a guest lecture April 26th, 2013 11:00am in Evans Liberal Arts building room #225. Dr. Wiersema will be speaking on his role and experiences as a Mass Disasters and Preparedness specialist
at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. All Texas State students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend.
Download the event flyer.
Emily Brunson’s single-authored paper “The Impact of Social Networks on Parents’ Vaccination Decisions” was just published on-line in the prestigious journal Pediatrics (impact factor 4.115). Her paper has already received numerous references in the popular press.
You can read it here.
Two very nice reports on the work done at the Gault archaeological site by Mike Collins, Clark Wernecke and their colleagues. They've discovered 2.6 million artifacts at the site, which is astounding! You can check out the articles by clicking the associated links below.
Local Dig Site Uncovers Artifacts To Refute History Books
New Artifacts Suggest Civilization in America Began Earlier Than Thought
Dr. Jennifer Love
Forensic Anthropologist
Harris County Medical Examiner's Office
The Forensic Anthropology Society at Texas State is pleased to announce Forensic Anthropologist Dr. Jennifer Love will be giving a guest lecture March 8th, 2013 at 11:00am in Evans 225. Dr. Love will be speaking on her role and experiences as a Forensic Anthropologist at the Harris County Medical Examiner's office. All Texas State students are welcome to attend.
Contact Justin Pyle for more information.
The Department of Anthropology at Texas State University has recently teamed with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for assistance with the preservation of soil samples taken from the famous Gault Site, an archeological dig site located 40 miles north of Austin that has been occupied for around 13,500 years.
The Gault Archeological Project at Texas State is made up of undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, volunteers and interns dedicated to research and education regarding the earliest peoples in the Americas. Most of their local work takes place at the Gault Site, which has yielded numerous significant archeological discoveries including more than 600,000 artifacts of Clovis age (13,000-13,500 years ago).
Read the full story here.
Explore Spring Lake with Drs. Jon Lohse and Friz Hanselmann. The National Geographic Society is sponsoring an underwater geoarchaeological survey led by Dr. Hanselmann based on our own Jacob Hooge's Master's thesis material. The program is funded by NSG-Waitt, and coordinated through CAS and Meadows.
Watch the video here.
The Anthropology Department's Dr. Robert Williams has published a new book, The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall: Mixtec Lineage Histories and Political Biographies (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013). For more information, or to purchase the book, please click here.
Liberal Arts Dean Michael Hennessy and three members of the Anthropology Department recently visited the Shumla School in Comstock, Texas.
The Shumla School is a nonprofit archeological research and education center founded under Dr. Boyd’s direction in 1998. It is the only rock art field school class of its kind in North America and attracts both national and international students.
Read full article here.
First given to President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1959, the Distinguished Alumni Award is the Alumni Association’s most prestigious honor. Award recipients are Texas State graduates who have distinguished themselves in their chosen occupations and whose leadership serves as an example for the Texas State community.
Read full story here.
Experiencing “nocturnality”: Understanding The Visual Lives of Nocturnal Lemurs
Speaker: Carrie C. Veilleux, Ph.D.
Date and Time: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 1 pm
Location: ELA 245
Abstract: Primate and animal behavior studies have traditionally treated nocturnality (i.e., being active at night) as a singular monolithic category, often assuming that all nocturnal animals encounter similar sensory environments and evolutionary pressures. However, more recent research has revealed that “nocturnality” can be experienced in different ways. My work explores how variation in the sensory systems and behaviors of nocturnal lemurs influences the ways in which they experience and practice nocturnality.
For information concerning the speakers series contact Dr. Augustine Agwuele at aa21@txstate.edu or at 245-4726.
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