The June issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (JASREP) contained a special section on landscape archaeology that highlighted the research of several Hamilton faculty and alumni. The papers were part of a special section organized by 2009 Hamilton graduates Lisa Fontes and Rachel Horowitz.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Colin Quinn, with his Romanian collaborator Horia Ciugudean, published “Settlement Placement and Socio-Economic Priorities: Dynamic Landscapes in Bronze Age Transylvania.”
The article demonstrates how communities living in Transylvania during the Bronze Age prioritized access to trade routes and agricultural land when they established their settlements. This unexpected finding runs counter to the idea that access to metal ores were the primary concern for communities living in mining districts during this critical period in human history.
Associate Professor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale, along with Madeleine (Gunter) Bassett ’11, Professor of Geosciences David Bailey, and collaborators Ryan Lash of Northwestern University and Ian Kuijt of the University of Notre Dame, published “Early Medieval Seascapes in Western Ireland and the Geochemistry of Ecclesiastical Cross Stones.”
In this article, the researchers describe their use of geochemical characteristics and petrographic analysis to assess the source of cross stones found at early medieval ecclesiastical communities on small islands along Ireland’s western coast. They find that while people mostly used locally available stone for making crosses, they did use non-local material that was difficult to acquire and required transportation through exchange networks over the open ocean.
In addition to a co-authored introduction by Horowitz and Fontes, separate articles by the guest editors were also published. Fontes wrote on lithic raw material provisioning in Spain during the Lower Magdalenian, and Horowitz wrote on lithic procurement and economic organization in western Belize during the Late/Terminal Classic Maya period.
The special issue also included an article by Khori Newlander ’04 on the cultural landscapes of Paleoindians.
