Previous MI Anthropology Undergraduate Research Funding Recipients

This semester, funds from the anthropology department made possible my attendance at the annual  American Society of Overseas Research conference in Boston, MA. Here, I was able to present the preliminary preliminary results of my honors thesis, focused on pathologies of these animal remains. My research centers on Tell el-Hesi and Lahav, both archaeological tell sites in the southern Levant, nestled along a coastal plain on the northern edge of the Negev Desert. Both of these sites were early, fortified urban locales during the Early Bronze Age III period (2900-2500 B.C.E.), with Lahav having a longer occupational history leading up to its urban period. This preliminary analysis aims to explore animal health and the role of care for domesticates between two early urban locales, a topic crucial to reconstructing early urban diet and the complexities of feeding a growing population. More broadly, this project investigates what animal care techniques and strategies can tell us about interactions between humans and animals in early urban settlements during the transition from foraging to farming.

As this research is the base of what will become my honors thesis, presenting the preliminary stages at this conference was an invaluable opportunity, both in my education and as a formative step in my career. Not only was I able to receive input from top scholars in my chosen field and region of study on this project, but l also had the opportunity to show my academic prowess in a professional setting. ASOR is focused on archaeological research from the Near East and wider Mediterranean world, exactly where my doctoral studies will focus. Thanks to the funding from this award, I was able to this conference as a networking opportunity. The fall semester for me was characterized by crafting PhD applications, and I was able to connect with potential advisors and other graduate students at the conference.

I am extremely grateful for my experience at this conference, and to the donors of the Anthropology department.

This summer I traveled to the Philippines to carry out anthropological fieldwork to investigate a new government sponsored transportation program called the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP). The program seeks to replace traditional Jeepneys, the most common form of public transportation, with a new “modern” Jeepney that will decongest traffic and reduce pollution in urban areas. While the modern Jeepney is equipped with environmentally friendly engines, air conditioning, and security cameras, their high prices are expected to be a large burden on the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who depend on the traditional Jeepneys to secure their livelihoods. Traditional Jeepneys also serve as an important cultural symbol, elaborately decorated to reflect the aspirations and personalities of the working class Filipinos who own and drive them. 

My fieldwork consisted largely of interviews in both English and Tagalog and public observation in the National Capital Region of Manila and on the island of Panay. During my time in the Philippines I had the opportunity to interview several Jeepney drivers, a Jeepney conductor, a Jeepney dispatcher, community organizers, and members of my family on the topic of the PUVMP. Towards the end of my trip, Typhoon Carina caused extreme flooding in Metro Manila.Thankfully, my family and I were safe during this time. I was able to participate in assembling relief packages with the local chapter of a Jeepney drivers’ union and shadow one of their survey teams as they collected data on the impacts of the typhoon on the union’s members.

Overall, my experience in the Philippines was challenging, rewarding, and stimulating. I was pushed far outside of my comfort zone as I navigated through the unfamiliar megacity of Manila and practiced Tagalog outside of the classroom. I was also confronted with challenges to my ideas of class privilege, scholarship, family, and Filipino identity, and considered their interconnectedness in new ways.

I am extremely grateful for the Undergraduate Anthropology Department and the donors for the Julie Childress Stroh Endowment for Student Support in Anthropology for making this trip possible. I would like to thank Dr. Alyssa Paredes for encouraging me to my aspirations and apply for this grant, as well as Ate Irene Gonzaga for teaching the Filipino language course that gave me the skills to participate more fully in the Philippines. This was my first fieldwork experience and I have decided that it will be far from my last.

Thanks to the generosity of the Daniel Carl Maier fund and the Department of Anthropology, I had the opportunity to work at Hohle Fels with the University of Tübingen this past summer. Hohle Fels is a paleolithic cave site in the Swabian Jura that has yielded significant upper paleolithic finds, including ivory figurines such as the Venus of Hohle Fels, a “Lion Man,” and a water bird. During my time on this excavation, I was able to excavate, water screen, and work in the lab.

During my time in the cave, a typical day would follow the routine of leaving the dig house by 7:45 am in order to begin work by 8. The day included a coffee break at 10 am and lunch at 1 pm, during which times I was able to learn from other students on the crew and the wonderful field technician through discussing European archaeology, our work and research at our respective universities, and Swabian Jura cave sites. Every day in the cave was exciting, and being able to learn about all of the different work that would be done on everything coming out of the cave was fascinating. From two of the four sub-squares that we excavated in each abtrag (a three-centimeter layer) of each unit, we took soil samples with special, clean tools to send to a paleogenomics team for aDNA extraction. We would also take gipslings of certain layers. We also kept all of the sediment that we excavated from each sub-square in a bucket to water screen and sort.

Working in the lab was equally exciting and provided ample opportunity to learn about the paleolithic and all of the opportunities for research. The lab included many moving parts, such as sorting the bags of water-screened sediment coming out of the cave, washing and labeling single finds, and even preparing old bags to be reused in the cave to mitigate the plastic waste and environmental impact of our research. One aspect of the lab that I particularly enjoyed was meticulously washing and labelling single finds. Being able to gently remove dirt from lithics and bones allowed me time to see the details of what we were taking out of the cave, like a not yet erupted molar in a cave bear mandible.

Sorting the sediment meant taking out anything that someone could need in the future, which meant everything including the tiniest fragment of burnt bone. Minimizing waste in an inherently destructive field and maximizing the scientific output of every three-centimeter layer by taking absolutely everything from the sediment was inspiring to me. Learning just how useful the seemingly trivial microfauna was made me passionate about putting on my glasses, turning on my lamp, and sorting out every last frog radio-ulna. Furthermore, this provided an exciting opportunity for me to think about the statistical analysis of microfauna for palaeoecological and paleoclimatic reconstructions. As a Statistics and Human Origins, Biology, and Behavior double major, the opportunity for me to think in an interdisciplinary manner about the application of math, statistics, and computer programming to paleolithic archaeology was invaluable.

I would once again like to thank the Daniel Carl Maier fund for making this experience possible. Spending the summer working with researchers at the University of Tübingen and students from across the globe has been an incredibly rewarding experience. The Hohle Fels excavation has provided me with invaluable anthropological insight as well as opportunities for personal and professional growth, which I am incredibly grateful for.

This summer, I had the rewarding opportunity to participate in a lab season with the Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológico Muyumoqo (PIAM), in Cusco, Peru. Over thecourse of the Winter 2024 semester, I worked with the director of PIAM, Matthew Brown, to develop an honors’ thesis project utilizing burial data from the project site,which had already been excavated. However, given the nature of and with respect to the provenance of the excavated material, it was necessary that I travel to Peru in order to analyze it. During my time in the lab, I was trained in portable X-ray fluorescence analysis and scanned at least 1,000 flakes of obsidian in an effort to determine where it had been sourced. Additionally, I was trained in methods of ceramic analysis and archaeological survey, the latter of which included some precarious treks to quarries in search of an andesite source local to Muyumoqo. Lastly, I was able to sort and analyze the burial goods associated with the 29 burials excavated at Muyumoqo, which was an essential step in the progress of my honors’ thesis project, as I seek to analyze the connection between material culture and gender within mortuary contexts. All in all, this lab experience was an invaluable addition to my education and experience as a student of Anthropological Archaeology, especially as I begin the process of applying to graduate schools. After completing a field school in Lesotho earlier this summer, it was enriching to explore and learn more about the non-excavation side of archaeology and doing so has fueled my desire to learn more about methods of analysis in bioarchaeology, the discipline which I hope to pursue in graduate school. Not only did I learn new methods of analysis, but I was also able to cultivate a deeper understanding of Andean archaeology and culture by visiting a variety of archaeological sites near Cusco, such as Muyumoqo itself, Pisac, and Pikillaqta. Seeing these sites enabled me to contextualize the research I’ve been doing in a way that reading alone simply cannot. Being able to see the feats of Inca architecture at Pisac, with its terraced fields, carefully built administrative structures, and canals, gave me a deeper understanding of the scale of Inca society, the integration of spiritual and political sectors, and some of the innovations that played a role in daily life. Viewing the site of Muyumoqo was another pertinent experience, given that I was able to develop a better spatial awareness of the site, how it’s location related to political and social changes that were occuring, and the resources that were available in the region. For all of these experiences and more, I am deeply grateful for the scholarships I received from both the Riggs Hoenecke Student Experience Fund and the Derrow/Goodman Fund. Without the generosity of donors, my trip to Peru would not have been possible. As a first-generation, non-traditional student who supports herself, the cost of this experience was too great to cover on my own, but these scholarships made it possible and gave me the opportunity to pursue my research project, which will open so many doors when it comes to pursuing a career in academic archaeology. Equally as important, though, was the opportunity to really see and experience a new part of the world, which has always been a goal of mine, but always seemed financially out of reach for me. For this reason, I truly can’t give enough thanks to the Department of Anthropology and its generous donors!

This semester, funds from the anthropology department made possible my attendance at the annual  American Society of Overseas Research conference in Boston, MA. Here, I was able to present the preliminary preliminary results of my honors thesis, focused on pathologies of these animal remains. My research centers on Tell el-Hesi and Lahav, both archaeological tell sites in the southern Levant, nestled along a coastal plain on the northern edge of the Negev Desert. Both of these sites were early, fortified urban locales during the Early Bronze Age III period (2900-2500 B.C.E.), with Lahav having a longer occupational history leading up to its urban period. This preliminary analysis aims to explore animal health and the role of care for domesticates between two early urban locales, a topic crucial to reconstructing early urban diet and the complexities of feeding a growing population. More broadly, this project investigates what animal care techniques and strategies can tell us about interactions between humans and animals in early urban settlements during the transition from foraging to farming. 

As this research is the base of what will become my honors thesis, presenting the preliminary stages at this conference was an invaluable opportunity, both in my education and as a formative step in my career. Not only was I able to receive input from top scholars in my chosen field and region of study on this project, but l also had the opportunity to show my academic prowess in a professional setting. ASOR is focused on archaeological research from the Near East and wider Mediterranean world, exactly where my doctoral studies will focus. Thanks to the funding from this award, I was able to this conference as a networking opportunity. The fall semester for me was characterized by crafting PhD applications, and I was able to connect with potential advisors and other graduate students at the conference. 

I am extremely grateful for my experience at this conference, and to the donors of the Anthropology department.

I was a lucky recipient of funding for archaeological research presentation this year. I am writing to thank all contributors to these funds for their  support. It really means a lot that people are so invested in supporting undergraduate research, and these contributions have allowed me to gain invaluable and unforgettable experiences that directly contribute to my
long-term academic goals.

The money I received contributed to my entrance fee and food budget for the annual conference of the Society for American Archaeology in New Orleans, LA in April. The SAA conference is the largest gathering of archaeologists and archaeology students in North America. Attending this conference was a fantastic opportunity for me to explore my research interests, as well as gain exposure to the latest work and advancements in my field of study, and expand and reinforce my professional network. Further, I was able to present the results of my honors thesis research with colleagues. After nearly a full year of work on my thesis, it was very exciting for me to share my research with the wider archaeological community.

I am so grateful for having this opportunity, which was largely made possible by the funding I received from the Anthropology Department. Donations from people like you who believe in the pursuit of knowledge, and who want to support the researchers of the future, mean the world to students like me. Thank you.

It is difficult to find the words that adequately express my gratitude for the generosity of the Riggs Hoenecke fund. For as long as I can remember, my dream has been to contribute new knowledge to the world. During my final year at the University of Michigan, that dream became a reality, and it would not have been possible without the assistance from the donors.

After studying how tectonic forces influence faunal community composition in Lake Turkana last summer, my advisors were encouraging me to submit an abstract to the national meetings so I could present our findings to other up-and-coming and established biological anthropologists. I sent drafts of my abstract back and forth for weeks, editing and re-editing the same two lines, before finally submitting it. I was elated to hear that the abstract had been accepted and quickly began working on visually representing months of research on a 3x4 poster.

While at the conference, I was able to reconnect with the researchers that assisted me on the project, as well as meet with faculty at other universities. I was also able to attend presentations on emerging research in the field, which inspired me to pursue new research projects. I built my network, improved my presentation skills, and most importantly, learned a few new pieces of knowledge. However, the value of this experience goes beyond a few bullet points on my CV. I was able to do what every scientist dreams of: talk to anyone that would listen about my research.

My experience at the conference was a major professional milestone for me, and the funding was the foundation of that. Therefore, it is with my sincere gratitude that I thank you for your generosity; without it, I would not have fulfilled my childhood dream. 

My honors thesis research is investigating the development of herd management strategies during the fourth millennium BCE at the site of Tepe Farukhabad, located in modern-day southwest Iran in what was formerly the fringes of Mesopotamia. Coinciding with the spread of urbanism and Uruk material culture, excavations at Tepe Farukhabad in the 1960s discovered a decline in hunted faunal remains compared to domesticates in the Uruk period, indicating the development of alternate subsistence strategies to support a growing population (Wright 1981). One such method observed in Mesopotamia during this period was the standardization of herd management strategies in order to maximize the productivity of herds. These standardizations included foddering, altered landscape use, and manipulation of natural reproductive cycles in order to make milk available throughout the year. Presently, little is known about how these standardizations were practiced at Tepe Farukhabad, if at all. To investigate to what extent herding standardizations were implemented at Tepe Farukhabad, my thesis will use sequential carbon and oxygen stable isotope values of sheep and goat molars to reconstruct the diet and landscape use of herded ruminants. Variation in sequential isotopic values between the Early and Late Uruk periods will reveal the extent to which an increased reliance on domesticates for subsistence manifested in standardizations of herd management at Tepe Farukhabad.

Nineteen caprine mandibular molars were selected from the archaeological layers dating to the Early, Middle, and Late Uruk periods. Of the nineteen, fifteen were identified to be from the sheep and the remaining four were from goats. As enamel develops over the lifespan, the teeth were sampled sequentially in order to investigate changes in environment and diet over the period of a year. Sample preparation was conducted at the Ancient Protein and Isotope Laboratory at the University of Michigan. Prior to sampling, the surfaces of the teeth were cleaned with a hand drill for removal of surface contaminants. Tooth enamel carbonate samples were then prepared following the sequential sampling protocol outlined in Ventresca Miller et al.(2018). Using a Dremel drill equipped with a diamond-coated drill bit, a series of 1-2 mm wide horizontal bands were drilled incrementally along the buccal surface of the tooth from the root to the crown. The resulting powdered enamel was collected on weighing paper, transferred to a 1.5mL Eppendorf tube, and weighed, ideally falling between 5 and 8 mg. Samples were then rinsed with acetic acid and water before being transported to the mass spectrometer.

Though I am anticipating my results to arrive in the next few weeks, this process has so far been very interesting and rewarding. I have enjoyed seeing the research process through from beginning to end, and I look forward to interpreting my results and discussing the implications of my research.

As described in my funding proposal from last fall, I used the funds from the anthropology department in two ways.

First, I used these funds to pay for the materials I needed to perform my research,  which consisted of experimental recreation of ancient pottery (called mortaria) in order to support or refute a specific hypothesis about their construction methods. I purchased clay and  temper, which made up the vessels themselves, as well as plaster of paris in order to create the mold over which I could drape the rolled-out clay. In addition, I rented studio and kiln space so that I could fire my vessels.

Here are some of the photos that I took during this process, showing each step from constructing my mold to attaching pieces to the vessels to when I smashed them so that I couldx-ray the pieces.

In addition, the funds from the Anthropology department were used to fund my travel and attendance at the annual ASOR meeting in Boston. These funds mainly covered my flight from Detroit to Logan International Airport, but the rest of the funds were applied to my membership fee from ASOR.

While there, I connected with many people and attended many presentations of new and exciting research. In addition, I was able to explore and experience Boston while visiting.

I am so grateful to have been chosen as a recipient of awards from the Derrow/GoodmanFund and the Riggs Hoenecke Student Experience Fund. The funding allowed me to buy necessary equipment and live in Ann Arbor as I worked on my honors thesis investigating the social flexibility of wild chimpanzees during play behavior.

My project seeks to understand how chimpanzees change their gestural behavior depending on social context, such as the age, sex, and kin relationship of their play partner. Previous research has shown that chimpanzees do change their gestural communication depending on their play partner during play solicitation, so my project will see if similar patterns extend into play behavior too. Since play behavior has been shown to positively correlate with social development, play behavior might also be an important context to see social flexibility develop.

Throughout the summer, I furthered my background reading and literature review. I also made significant progress in data collection and analysis of video data collected from two chimpanzee communities and spanning 2 years. I have more data collection and analysis ahead, but my preliminary results are exciting, and I am excited to see what patterns develop as I continue my project.

This funding allowed me to develop and pursue an independent research project that I am passionate about. Once again, thank you for your support this summer. The experience I have gained in developing methods and collecting and analyzing behavioral coding data has been invaluable.

This summer I participated in archaeological fieldwork in Israel-Palestine at the sites of Tell el-Hesi and Khirbet Summeily. It was an incredible experience only possible through the Riggs Hoenecke Prize and the Daniel Carl Maier Fund and the anthropology department here at the University of Michigan. I am deeply grateful for the generosity and encouragement I received in support of my endeavors.

This field season was split between two sites. At the first, Tell el-Hesi, led by University of Michigan PhD candidate Kara Larson, our project was the first new excavations since the 1970s and the goal of our project was to identify early Bronze-Age domestic structures outside the namesake tell that consisted of the upper city. Our team was relatively small but this led to us all becoming a tight-knit community of people who loved to dig in the dirt together. Even the longest days flew by with our amazing crew. We only opened two units, but all things considered we made incredible progress and I am so excited to see the future of this project as it continues to develop and unearth groundbreaking discoveries.

The second site I worked at was Khirbet Summeily with Mississippi State University and their  summer field school. Most of our team from Hesi also moved over to work at Summeily and we were divided among the team from Mississippi State to finish excavations at Khirbet Summeily. It was
an interesting juxtaposition with starting new excavations at one site and finishing them at another. I’m very thankful to get the perspectives of both ends of a project.

I was also able to gain experience outside of excavation on this trip. My skills in scientific illustration also caught the attention of our project leaders and they organized, to my surprise, a day trip for me to travel to Bar-Ilan University and work with their resident scientific illustrator to learn about her process, experience, and gain useful insights as I enter the field myself. This special trip reinforced the knowledge that our team leaders wanted us to succeed as individuals as well as a team and I will never forget their generosity.

Weekends provided time to travel across the country to renowned archaeological sites, culturally significant locations, and the region's must-see attractions. Among the memorable highlights were the experience of floating in the Dead Sea (a word of caution – avoid getting the water in your eyes, trust me, it’s not pleasant), visiting Masada, where some of our team braved climbing the snake path while others took in views from the gondola, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, and, my personal
favorite, the opportunity to explore Jerusalem's Old City.

The knowledge, experiences, and friendships I gained during this fieldwork season have shaped my growth in ways I could not have imagined. I made professional connections with experts in my field, I learned more than I could have ever hoped about Israel, its people, history, and culture, and how I want to do good in the world as I move forward. As I continue in my academic and professional pursuits, I am committed to carrying the knowledge and experiences from this summer with me and I aspire to make meaningful contributions to the field of archaeology, thanks in no small part to the support I received through the anthropology department, Riggs Hoenecke Prize, and the Daniel Carl Maier Fund.

Thanks to your donation, I was able to travel and visit archives to do research outside of the classroom and practice and experiment with different research methods in ways I had never tried before. Most importantly, I gained first-hand experience in adjusting research plans to accommodate unexpected situations and discoveries. I am sincerely grateful for your help; it was very important to me.

I went to North Carolina State University to visit its Animal Right Archive and the American Vegan Society to research the formation and development of the American vegan discourse, which was supplementary to a previous ethnographic course project. For the research, I initially focused on news reports and correspondence between animal activist organizations and later turned to vegan recipes, cookbooks, and lifestyle books. I used these materials to understand how different philosophical trends, activist networks, and practical needs co-constituted the American vegan experience. My preliminary findings included how veganism was transmitted from the UK to the US through international migration and material and information exchange across the Atlantic Ocean, how early American veganism was influenced by Gandhi and the philosophy of nonviolence, and how American vegans’ focus on promoting vegan lifestyles and life-philosophies met the surging animal right concerns in the 1980s, which increased American veganism’s publicity and redirected towards the mainstream of today’s cultural and political landscape. The central thematic issues in my research are transnational cultural exchange and culture-making, relationships between activist groups, and cookbooks as important cultural media.

Christian Berends

Alexis Fine

Kuo Guang

Caitlin Hoyng

Abdul Kizito

Georgia Mies

Cassandra Payne

Patrick Potoczak

Thomas Proffitt

India Pruette

Abigail Rieck

Josephine Schmidt

Armando Otero

Josephine Schmidt

Macy Afsari

Jordan Brady

Alexis Fine

Patrick Potoczak

Daniel Wong

Zoe Boudart

Jordan Brady

Autumn Schmitz

Nicole Smith

Hannah Thoms

Trey Smith

Kevin Wang

Allegra Ward

Rachele Willard

Faith Williams

Alex Cashman

Arianna Cerqueira

Rachel Hurwitz

Aliya Khan

Christine Rysenga

Nicole Smith

Kinsey Vear

Allegra Ward

Zachary Arrington

Kelly Garland

Megan Harrison

Lauren Heinonen

Andrew Mitchel

Nolan Powers

Bianca Winward

Brianne Yeskey

Sarah Burke

Anna Forringer-Beal

Polina Hristova

Connor Liskey

Hannah Marcovitch

Lillian Shipp

Sarah Cunninham

Darci Curwen-Garber

Andrew Fiasco

Anna Forringer-Beal

Briana Gladhill

Nabiha Hashmi

Polina Hristova

Christina Johnson

Ingrid Lundeen

Alexandra Newton

Ann Soliman

Jennifer Washabaugh

Andrea Dantus

Julia Hickey

Polina Hristova

Jenna Isherwood

Laura Jessmore

Katherine Kinkopf

Ingrid Lundeen

Ann Soliman

Jennifer Washabaugh

Colton Babladelis

Colleen Breslin

Alie Rae Cohen

Julia Field

Anna Forringer-Beal

Erika Loveland

Jillian McConville

Samantha Patterson

Anna Schwiebert

Rachel Stokes

Murphy Van Sparrentak

Kendall Arslanian

Nicole Carbone

Megan Cole

Katherine Globerson

Sarah Hodin

Clare Toeniskoetter

Cynthia Kazanis

Shayna Liberman