Bioarchaeology
Lopburi, Thailand

Eckerd students Jennifer Duncan ’13 (right), Emmalee Holland ’12, George Neiley ’12, Kaitlin Repko ’13, and Sean Yunker ’12, joined Professor Burnett as part of a joint Thai-American project excavating the site of Promtin Tai, an Iron Age site near the modern day town of Lopburi. Our work during the summer of 2011 focused on expanding the existing excavation unit, excavating historic period levels in order to reach the Iron Age cemetery below, and cleaning and analyzing skeletons excavated previously. Our work ultimately aims to study skeletal and dental indicators of health of the prehistoric inhabitants living in central Thailand. In addition we hope to conduct a mortuary analysis of burials at the site, which contain a variety of grave goods including shell and stone beads, marble earrings, ivory bracelets, spear points, stone axes, and food offerings. Students participating in the prior excavation season in 2009 include Rachel Flaherty '10, Zachary Hipkens '10 (below), and Petra Stevenson '11.

Dental Anthropology
Tempe, Arizona

Whitney Stamey '11 was awarded a Sigma Xi Grant in Aid of Research ($1000) to fund her research on triangular ridge bifurcation (TRB), a poorly known morphological dental trait on upper premolars. The trait was previously observed in teeth from both modern humans and neanderthals, but little systematic research has been done to date. Whitney established a new scoring system for the trait and analyzed its occurrence in approximately 2000 premolars from 502 individuals representing four geographically distinct human populations. Her research is the first to identify statistically significant population variation in the trait, suggesting that it may be useful in studies of current and past population relationships.

Bioarchaeology
Carriacou, West Indies

Eckerd students have also traveled with Professor Burnett to Carriacou, a small island in the Lesser Antilles of the southern Caribbean, to excavate at the pre-Columbian site of Grand Bay. Jessica Stone '09, Robyn Erickson '11, and Abby Heller '11 joined the Carriacou Archaeological Field Project for the 2008 field school season, where they learned archaeological field and lab techniques with an additional emphasis on bioarchaeology. Excavation revealed the first evidence of ancestor worship on the island and illuminated health issues suffered by its prehistoric inhabitants including arthritis and healed fractures suggestive of accidental trauma.

Examining Human Stature Over Time
Freshman Research Associate Program

Kelly Henry '12 is investigating stature in 20th century South Africans using long-bone length data as a Freshman Research Associate working with Professor Burnett. Average human stature is frequently used as a general measure of overall nutrition and health in a population. An increase or decrease in average human stature in a population over time is thought to reflect an improvement or deterioration in health status, frequently due to socioeconomic trends. Kelly will conduct background research on secular trends in stature, assist in the development of the research methodology to be employed for this study, and analyze skeletal data previously collected by Professor Burnett for potential diachronic trends.