Research
El Salvador Field School
For four weeks in May and early June, 5 students (Robert Bryant, Jennie Eldredge, Amy MacLennan, Bronwen Morgan, Stacey Whitacre) accompanied Dr. Glover to eastern El Salvador to participate in an archaeological field school. The field school was conducted in association with Dr. Fabio Esteban Amador of the National University of El Salvador who began the Archaeological Atlas of Eastern El Salvador in 2006 with support of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI). Dr. Amador is a native of El Salvador and is the first Salvadoran to receive his Ph.D. in archaeology.
The project rented a hotel in San Miguel, the third largest city in El Salvador, which was used as the base of operations. The fieldwork focused on three sites, La Laguneta, Salto el Coyote, and El Cacao. At each site the students conducted test excavations to collect data that will reveal the occupation histories of the sites once the ceramic analysis is completed. In addition to the test excavation program, the students learned how to operate the GSU Leica Total Station. The maps created with the Total Station were downloaded onto the project laptop and the students learned the joys of data entry and became familiar with ArcGIS, a Geographic Information System (GIS) software package. ArcGIS will now be used to integrate the excavation data with the mapping data so that spatial analysis can be conducted on the data collected.
Along with the fieldwork, the project had a community outreach component. Dr. Amador and his two assistants, Lola Amador and Paola Garnica, make a point of keeping the community involved and informed of their fieldwork and its results. On the next to last day of fieldwork at La Laguneta, for example, the project organized a presentation for the local high school and any other interested community members of Estanzuelas. The presentation was about an hour and focused on the importance of preserving the cultural patrimony of El Salvador and more specifically on the work done at La Laguneta. Both Dr. Amador and Dr. Glover spoke to the assembled students and community members and the talk was well received. While a formal presentation was not made at the site of El Cacao, the mayor and other officials of the nearby town of Uluazapa came to visit to talk about finding a balance between development plans and the preservation of their cultural patrimony. In addition, Dr. Glover was invited to give a lecture at the National University of El Salvador on Geographic Information System (GIS) applications for archaeology and anthropology which was attended by almost 50 faculty members and students.
While the fieldwork was demanding, the project did find time to enjoy some of the beautiful sites El Salvador has to offer. One weekend Dr. Glover and the students visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Joya de Ceren, often referred to as the Pompeii of the New World. Around A.D. 600 the site was buried by a volcanic explosion that resulted in unbelievable preservation. Dr. Glover contacted Dr. Payson Sheets of the University of Colorado, Boulder who has been conducting research at the site since the late 70’s, and Dr. Sheets was kind enough to give the GSU crew a personal tour. Following the visit, Dr. Sheets and his crew made a significant discovery of the first manioc fields ever in Mesoamerica. All of the weekend trips did not involve archaeology. One weekend was spent high in the mountains of western El Salvador where everyone had a chance to escape the heat and traffic of San Miguel. Other weekends were spent at the beach of Punta Flores where everyone had a chance to frolic in the ocean (even some surfing was enjoyed) and relax in hammocks by the beach.
Overall, it was a fantastic group of students who, while learning archaeological field methods, contributed greatly to the archaeological knowledge of eastern El Salvador, a little studied area on the fringe of Mesoamerica.
The Brazilian Community in Atlanta
Researcher(s): Cassandra White
In this qualitative research project, the phenomenon of the rapid formation of cohesive Brazilian community structures in metropolitan Atlanta will be analyzed in terms of the interplay of transnational and local forces with individual and group decision-making processes that shape patterns of their immigration. In addition to questions about how and why the Atlanta Brazilian community has formed, this research will provide a nuanced look at the complex process of immigration that goes beyond an analysis of the acculturation process to look at the reasons why assimilation may be sought or actively resisted and how conceptualizations of citizenship and identity are transformed in the process of adaptation within host societies.
Relevant links:
http://www.brazilvision.com/
http://apps.atlantaga.gov/sister/Rio/index1.htm
Dental Microwear Plio-Pleistocene Southern Africa
Researcher(s): Frank Williams
In June 2005, Dr. Williams, shown here, traveled to the Cape Point Nature Reserve at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa to obtain dietary observations on chacma baboons (Papio ursinus). The Cape flora is one of eight floral kingdoms in the world with over 8,000 endemic species. The hillsides are dominated by an incredibly diverse array of fijnbos which the baboons were only rarely observed eating. Focal animal sampling was used to create a dietary budget of plant types. The austral winter diet of these baboons include mostly leaves, particularly from low-lying ground plants, along with clover, roots, tubers and succulents. Small amounts of flowers and seeds are also eaten.
These observations of living baboons can be used to infer the dietary behavior extinct primates by comparing the dental microwear from extant and fossil forms. The Department of Anthropology at Georgia State University currently houses an important and unique collection of dental impressions (n = 375), including specimens referred to Parapapio, Papio, Theropithecus, Gorgopithecus, Dinopithecus, Cercopithecoides and Australopithecus as well as modern primate comparative material from Papio, Theropithecus, Colobus, Procolobus, Alouatta, Cebus, Pongo, Pan and Gorilla. Low-magnification stereomicroscopy, statistical tools and a digital library of occlusal surfaces are available for students and researchers to address the biochronology and paleoecology of Plio-Pleistocene southern Africa.