How's the Alabama August treatin' you down in Evergreen? Auburn University just wrapped up our excavation in Tallassee. Shame. Of course we found all the neatest artyfacts in the last week of fieldwork.
As far as my interests in the iconography of the SCC, I'm most fascinated with the potential implications of status and agency that regionally-variated motifs may suggest.
How's the "field season" goin'? I'm workin' in Tallassee (AL) and lovin' the heat...there's an incredible "soul food" restaurant nearby as well, have you ever heard of the Hotel Talisi?
Have you done any fieldwork concerning the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex?
Just thought I would pop in and say hi. Its been a long spring already. Hopefully, this summer is going to go well, as I have landed a job with the FS doing archaeological interpretation for the public. Not the end of the rainbow, but it is a paying job, and that is cool. Graduation date is set to May 2010, and I am so ready for it. I am also compiling a comparative collection of animal bones for the lab. It is going to be for recognizing lithic marks on bone. Therefore, I had better get to knapping...let me know what you are up to. Next summer I am probably going to Peru with Dr.Gaither to work with her on some of the bundles and other burials at her main research site...i am so excited.
Are you doing skeleton measurements? Or is NAGPRA an issue? Contact Catherine Gaither at gaither.mscd.edu. She is an awesome physical anthropologist and paleopathologist.
Catherine Gaither at Machu Picchu. She has studied cultural and physical anthropology and paleopathology.
Metro State's success begins with... Catherine Gaither
Feb 4, 2009
Rectangles formed by white string tied to rocks span the floor of the crowded classroom where Catherine Gaither circles the room teaching her students how to mark off and map archeological dig sites. She hops around excitedly as she places skulls and skeletal hands and feet into every rectangle and anxiously waits for each group of students to chart the body part on a graph paper map.
Teaching and studying human skeletons has not always been a passion for Gaither, who spent time on the Asian island of Borneo studying orangutans before anthropology took over her life.
“I loved working with the animals, but I really loved learning about the people (Dayak tribesmen) and the culture that we were working with,” says the assistant professor of anthropology. Gaither spent several years working with and studying animals, but the trip to Borneo changed everything. “It was just fascinating for me to learn about (the tribesmen’s) culture, so I came back and wanted to do anthropology,” she says.
Gaither earned her bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology at Metro State. “I started reading about physical anthropology, which deals with human remains, and was just so struck by all the information that you can gather from a human skeleton,” she says. She focused on physical anthropology for her master’s degree and doctorate after her first trip to Peru to study ancient bones under the suggestion of her former professor and current colleague Professor Jonathan Kent.
She says she enjoys physical anthropology because she gets to try to figure out the details of how ancient people lived and why they died. Gaither is also fascinated by paleopathology, where she studies skeletons and determines how healthy the population was and what diseases they had.
“I definitely have respect for the remains of the people that I’m working with,” Gaither says. “It’s never something that I take lightly.”
Hello! My paper on South American lithic industries didn't turn out because one of my sources misused a journal article. I ended up doing an ethnographic litany on known south american lithic types. I am still working on it though. Hope you are having a good semester. Spring has hidden behind the snow around here.
Know of any current journal articles (within the past five years) about lithics in South America? I am having a devil of a time, and if I cannot find current sources have to change subject. That would really really not be good for my sanity. I now know much more about Pleistocene people of South America than I thought I ever would. Unfortunately, it seems that the bulk of the research done focuses on Ceramic and forward. Lithic technology evolution would give more insight, but it seems that it has been largely ignored in South America. HELP
I am having issues finding sources from the past five years. For some reason, the ceramics are more important that the tools. Both tell how life really was!!! If you have any suggestions, please let me know. I have read about fifteen different Journal articles from JSTOR and have figured out that the search on it doesn't do that well for finding specific articles. I am going to try to contact Dr. Dillehay and a couple of others like Stanford and probably Bruce, but I don't have much more time, since if I can't find enough sources, I have to pick a new subject....
The model is still under advisement, but the material class will be lithics exclusively, and the differences in style. Barbed vs non barbed more than likely. The lack of articles tells me that I had better brush up on my Spanish.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Starting a research paper comparing and contrasting tool technologies in early Chile and Peru-specifically the impact the geographical barrier of the Andes and how it contributed to the differences.
Sounds good, right? I hope so!
Hope the rest of your summer goes well. There is a primitive skills workshop at Hudson Meng August 29-September 1. Its a free workshop, and let people know if they want to take a "whack" at some primitive skills. I can't go, I have field school that Saturday. Wish I could go. I had better get back to the nephew's bday party. Archaeology nerds unite!!!
The Pacific Northwest and New England are the only two regions I haven't ever worked in. For all my wanderlust and insatiable curiousity, I still find myself returning to the prehistoric southeast. There are some very neat projects going on down here, including the one I will finish out end of the week.
If you haven't done it, you ought to try it. Depending on what you're interested in, of course.
I have indeed thought about it - ideally I'd like to work in all the US regions at least once. I just haven't actually sat down and looked into it yet.
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As far as my interests in the iconography of the SCC, I'm most fascinated with the potential implications of status and agency that regionally-variated motifs may suggest.
Have you done any fieldwork concerning the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex?
Catherine Gaither at Machu Picchu. She has studied cultural and physical anthropology and paleopathology.
Metro State's success begins with... Catherine Gaither
Feb 4, 2009
Rectangles formed by white string tied to rocks span the floor of the crowded classroom where Catherine Gaither circles the room teaching her students how to mark off and map archeological dig sites. She hops around excitedly as she places skulls and skeletal hands and feet into every rectangle and anxiously waits for each group of students to chart the body part on a graph paper map.
Teaching and studying human skeletons has not always been a passion for Gaither, who spent time on the Asian island of Borneo studying orangutans before anthropology took over her life.
“I loved working with the animals, but I really loved learning about the people (Dayak tribesmen) and the culture that we were working with,” says the assistant professor of anthropology. Gaither spent several years working with and studying animals, but the trip to Borneo changed everything. “It was just fascinating for me to learn about (the tribesmen’s) culture, so I came back and wanted to do anthropology,” she says.
Gaither earned her bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology at Metro State. “I started reading about physical anthropology, which deals with human remains, and was just so struck by all the information that you can gather from a human skeleton,” she says. She focused on physical anthropology for her master’s degree and doctorate after her first trip to Peru to study ancient bones under the suggestion of her former professor and current colleague Professor Jonathan Kent.
She says she enjoys physical anthropology because she gets to try to figure out the details of how ancient people lived and why they died. Gaither is also fascinated by paleopathology, where she studies skeletons and determines how healthy the population was and what diseases they had.
“I definitely have respect for the remains of the people that I’m working with,” Gaither says. “It’s never something that I take lightly.”
This skeleton was excavated from Puruchuco-Huaquerones, a site near Lima, Peru. “You can really feel the story (of these people),” Gaither says.Her skills were put to the test while studying at Huaca de la Luna in Northern Peru where several bodies were found in the large ceremony area. Examining the crushed skeletons, she was able to determine that they were mutilated after being captured and killed during a tribal war. “You can really feel the story (of these people) and that was something that drew me into this,” she says.
Gaither spends her time in constant discovery in the field and in her classroom. She has taught at Metro State since 2002 and has been a tenure-track faculty member since 2006. “The best part of teaching is watching the face of a student light up who has finally ‘got it,’ because too many people think they can't and I love seeing it when they realize they can,” she says.
Human evolution plays a central role in the basics for the courses that she teaches. While not all students believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, she is able to make students comfortable learning about the unfamiliar. “I always tell students that you don’t have to believe this, but what I’m asking of you in this class is that you understand it and then you can decide what you believe,” she says.
As a student, Gaither was involved in Metro State’s Archeology, Linguistics, Physical Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology club (ALPACA) and continues her involvement today as the faculty advisor. She and ALPACA have organized “200 Years of Darwin: Are We Still Evolving?” a Metro State conference that will cover several areas of interest in anthropology.
The conference will take place Thursday Feb. 12, 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., on the fourth floor of the Tivoli. Several experts in the field will speak on everything from physical anthropology to linguistics.
The University of Colorado Denver will also host their anthropology symposium “150 Years on the Origin of the Species: Darwin’s Magnificent Legacy” on Feb. 12 in the King Center.
Both conferences are free and open to the public.
© Copyright 2008 by Metropolitan State College of Denver.
All rights reserved. Metropolitan State College of Denver Office of College Communications, 303-556-2957.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Sounds good, right? I hope so!
you ever get nostalgic enough to catch a game?
If you haven't done it, you ought to try it. Depending on what you're interested in, of course.
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