Sample Processing and Curation from recent TAP fieldwork

Processing samples

The long term Taraco Archaeological Project conducted two excavation field seasons in 2022 and 2023 in the Early Formative period sectors of sites Chiripa, Chiriamaya, and Chiripata, located next to each other along the Taraco Peninsula, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. The team conducted a range of collection strategies during the excavations, with a focus on contextual recording of artifact and ecofact material, systematically collecting archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, and bio-archaeological material.

City Life at Classic Maya Palenque, Mexico

Site Tiers

"City Life at Classic Maya Palenque, Mexico" is a Collaborative Research project with primary funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Palenque, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Chiapas, Mexico, is well-known for its important role in the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing. Previous work there on the temples and residence of the ruling family have produced one of the best-understood case studies of the development of a Classic Maya state during the Late Classic Period (approximately 600-800 AD). Less is known about life outside of the precincts of the ruling family.

Community Accountable Archaeological Partnership with Shingle Springs Band of Miwok and Colfax-Todds Valley Consolidated Tribes

Blodgett Station

Driving 20,000 miles this year, we visited multiple Ancestral Places together and developed research projects aligned with the priorities of our Tribal Mentors, including TEK officers, Tribal Vice Chairwomen, and the Flicker (InterTribal Ecological Restoration) Crew.

We also built a weekend-long event at Blodgett UC research forest to discover modes and policies for co-management of UC properties aligned with Tribal priorities, including our unique combination of archaeology and cultural fire.

Birds, Reciprocity and Knowledge Exchange in Northern NM : Zooarchaeology and Oral Histories at Picuris Pueblo

Informant describing knowledge

Based on oral historical interviews funded in part by the Stahl Fund conducted in August of 2024, this talk explores community and Indigenous values and memories about birds at Picuris Pueblo. This oral historical research is part of a larger investigation into avian-human relationships at Picuris Pueblo in tandem with a legacy collection of avifaunal remains from the 1960s excavations at the pueblo.

Studying the Pottery from an Open-Air Sanctuary at Anavlochos, Crete

Lab work in Crete

An open-air sanctuary used between the Protogeometric and the Classical periods (roughly 1000 to 400 BCE) was recently identified on the western part of the summit of the Anavlochos massif in East Crete. The sanctuary was first located in 2016 by the Anavlochos Project, which is directed by Florence Gaignerot-Driessen (University of Cincinnati) and operates under the auspices of the École française d’Athènes and with the permission of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. It was excavated in 2017 and 2018.

Ancient Seafaring Explorers of Cyprus Project

Cyprus survey image

The discovery of new hunter-gatherer and early farming occupations on the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus is dramatically changing our understanding of the timing and nature of the first occupants of the island. Archaeological evidence suggests that Epipalaeolithic hunters-gatherers in Cyprus arrived by at least 13,000 years ago. These early islanders remained deeply connected to their mainland (Levantine and/or Aegean) counterparts and, like them, experimented with plant and animal management.

Archaeobotanical Sample Processing, Taraco Archaeological Project

Flot station

Certain loci within the Lake Titicaca Basin are thought to be significant to plant and animal domestication in the Andes; archaeological work has been conducted at key sites such as Chiripa, Lukurmata, and Wankarani in pursuit of knowledge surrounding the domestication transition by archaeologists of many subdisciplines. A base of knowledge regarding certain aspects of this transition has been established over the decades, particularly through the work of the Taraco Archaeological Project (TAP), yet many questions remain about its timing and context.

Pompeii Artifact Life History Project (PALHIP)

Plaster cast of the inner side of a door found in situ in the rear entrance of residence with a wooden bar and iron lock and latch fittings

The Pompeii Artifact Life History Project (PALHIP) carried out its tenth and final fieldwork season at Pompeii (Napoli), Italy, between June 30 and July 27, 2024.

The PALHIP team, which consisted of four persons (Ted Peña, Aaron Brown, Susanna Faas-Bush, Francesca LaPasta), completed its description of the portable artifacts recovered in the various residences in the block identified as Regio I, Insula 11 (I.11 in the Pompeii address system), expanding its coverage to include the items from residences I.11.11, I.11.12, I.11.13, I.11.14, I.11.15.9 and I.11.16.