Fall 2024, Vol. 3
Message from the Assistant Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences
If you received previous years' newsletters, you'll notice a change in the title of this section. As part of the 2023-2024 restructuring of IUP, Anthropology merged with the Department of Geography, Geoscience, Environment, and Planning (GGEP) to form the Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences (AGES). Unofficially, we have floated "Stones, Bones, and Drones" as the name for the new department. For those of you with deeper IUP roots, GGEP was formed from the Department of Geosciences and Department of Geography and Regional Planning in 2021. We expect to continue to offer both the Applied Anthropology and Archaeology specialties in the BA program, as well as the Applied Archaeology MA program. We are also hoping to stay in McElhaney Hall and offer the same variety and depth of courses that you all experienced, but only time will tell.
We continue to see Anthropology as central to the mission of IUP. A new Liberal Studies curriculum, rebranded as Crimson Core, will be released this year, and we expect to include Anthropology courses in several of the competency areas. As IUP continues to develop a school of osteopathic medicine, we will contribute the medical anthropology and global health strengths of the Anthropology Department.
IUP was recently recognized as a Doctoral University with High Research Activity (R2) and the active research of Anthropology faculty and students are notable in that status. We recently analyzed our classes to document how research is part of our curriculum - the first time an IUP department has taken that step - and found that research is embedded in 80% of Anthropology courses.
Enrollments in Anthropology have remained steady while many other programs at IUP have declined, but we will always welcome new students. Please don't hesitate to share your positive IUP experiences with anyone considering a college degree. This was the first year that enrollments in the Applied Archaeology MA program surpassed those in the BA programs. We see this as clear evidence that there is a demand for Anthropology degrees, we just need to do a better job of getting out the word about the benefits of an IUP Anthropology degree.
If you would like to take an active role in supporting student research, mentoring students, or advocating for Anthropology, please feel free to email your favorite professor, or Ben Ford (ben.ford@iup.edu).
This newsletter goes out to hundreds of IUP Anthropology Alumni and is one of the ways that we keep in touch with you. The following pages contain a variety of stories and notices about your favorite anthropology department, as well as updates on alums. We are already collecting items for next edition, so please drop us a line HERE with any news you'd like to share. News can be updates, new jobs, births, marriages, fun facts, whatever you want others to know. If you want to make sure that future editions, come straight to your inbox, sign-up here.
Student Spotlight
Applied Anthropology, BA: Hope Wright
Hope Wright, originally from McKeesport, PA plans to use Anthropology to help others. After IUP, she plans to go to graduate school and then a career in public policy. She draws inspiration from one of her mentors and role models, Dr. Abbie Adams, who, as Hope says, “has done so much to advocate and help people in their communities.” Hope is well on her way to those goals. This past summer she interned with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. This photo of Hope was taken during a State Capitol visit as part of that internship.
I chose anthropology because I love learning about different cultures and people, and being able to use that knowledge to help people in the way that they want is very important.
Like many Anthropology students, Hope chose IUP because the Anthropology program was recommended to her by several people and because the university is affordable. As a single mother, Hope also credits the CCAMPIS program and her professors with helping her balance school and home responsibilities.
Student Spotlight
Archaeology, BA: Kaylee Becker-George
Kaylee Becker-George grew up just up the road from IUP and is amassing a resume that will take her wherever she wants to go. Besides her Anthropology degree, she’s getting a dual baccalaureate in History, with certificates in Public History and Museum Studies. She’s also enrolled in Early Graduate Admissions for the Applied Archaeology program, so she’ll be tacking on an MA degree as well.
During my sophomore year of college, I realized pretty abruptly that I didn't want to be a high school teacher. I was far more interested in archaeology, and had been since I was a little girl, but I had managed to convince myself there weren't jobs in the field. I also had an older relative go through the Anthropology program, and she highly recommended it.
Kaylee is working on a well-rounded education that will eventually lead to a career as a museum curator. Her Anthropology role model is Zora Neale Hurston. Kaylee says, “Before I even knew she was an anthropologist, I read a book by her in high school called Their Eyes Were Watching God. I've always admired her and her work.” She’s a volunteer Curator at the Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana County, where she has started redesigning the Indigenous Peoples Exhibit. Kaylee is also the President of the Student Government Association, so we get to see her on stage at lots of events.
One of Kaylee’s favorite experiences so far was during the Newport Village archaeology field school, where we excavated several feet into a foundation. “It was extremely fun seeing just how far down it went, and seeing if we would hit the bottom was every day's goal (we didn’t make it to the bottom).” This photo is Kaylee taking a little break down in the foundation.
Student Spotlight
Applied Archaeology, MA: Nate Coughlin
Nate Coughlin of West Chester, PA graduated from IUP Anthropology in 2021 and then returned to the Applied Archaeology MA program in 2023. Like Kaylee (above) and others, Nate originally came to IUP for an education degree, but found a career in Anthropology. As Nate puts it, “I was drawn to this department for my love of history and my curiosity of people throughout time. Anthropology/Archaeology allows me to explore both of these loves. Little did I know at the time I was becoming a part of one of the most acclaimed Archaeology programs in the country if not world.”
Thanks to the skills I learned in my time here as an undergraduate, I was able to travel to 12 states across the Midwest and Eastern US during the two years before I returned to the MA program. From Miami, Florida to Aberdeen, South Dakota, all thanks to the skills learned at IUP.
The two years that Nate spent working in Cultural Resource Management after undergraduate helped him better understand the career trajectory he wanted in archaeology. He decided to focus on soils and geoarchaeology while also preparing for a leadership position. Wanting to develop those skills brought him back to IUP. He plans to graduate during the summer of 2025 and return to CRM to lead geoarchaeology projects.
My all-time favorite experience within anthropology was my time in South Dakota, bar none. I spent two weeks hiking around the Plains surveying Indigenous effigies across the landscape with the help of several Tribal Specialists. It was a massive learning experience. I was able to learn so much about the region’s Indigenous history from peoples whose ancestors built these 100-ft wide effigies. It is an experience I think of frequently and always fondly. Once in a life discoveries were made that I am glad to never beat.
2024 Archaeology Field School
Squirrel Hill Site (36Wm0035), New Florence, PA
The 2024 IUP North American Archaeological Field School took place at the prehistoric Squirrel Hill Site (36Wm0035) in partnership with The Archaeological Conservancy and the Seneca Nation of Indians. Drs. Lara Homsey-Messer and William Chadwick served as instructors and 26 graduate and undergraduate students from 4 universities (IUP, PennWest, George Washington University and Cedarville University) braved the invasive Japanese knotweed. We had many visitors to the site over the course of the 6-week season, including a high school science class from Ridgeway Area High School, members of the Westmoreland and Allegheny chapters of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, representatives of The Archaeological Conservancy, IUP President Dr. Mike Driscoll and KCNSM Dean Dr. Steve Hovan, and several local residents who came by to generously share their knowledge of New Florence’s history and archaeological resources.
Squirrel Hill is Middle Woodland Monongahela village (ca. 1350-1600) located along the Conemaugh River near New Florence, Pennsylvania. Investigations included a combination of geophysical survey (GPR), shovel testing and test excavations, and geomorphic augering.
The Squirrel Hill site has been known to archaeologists since the 1950s, but little systematic investigation of the site has taken until IUP began holding its summer archaeological field school there in 2016. Because it was heavily collected for decades, The Archaeological Conservancy purchased the property in 2005 in order to protect it from further damage and minimize the loss of data. The 2016 and 2022 IUP field schools recovered pottery, lithic debitage, groundstone, a lot of fire-cracked rock (likely used in cooking and possibly sweatbathing), and over 80 features (such as post molds and storage pits). Excavations indicate that occupation of the site was more complex than initially believed. Of particular interest, ground penetrating radar (GPR) identified a large rectangular anomaly significantly different in both size and shape from typical round Monongahela domestic structures.
The results of the 2024 field season highlighted three important discoveries. First (1), the site is more than double the size previously believed, making Squirrel Hill the largest recorded Monongahela site in western Pennsylvania. Second (2), ground truthing of the rectangular GPR anomaly—a possible longhouse—confirmed that the structure is precontact and is characterized by a domestic assemblage of lithics, fire-cracked rock, and ceramics. No charcoal was recovered for AMS dating, but test unit excavation resulted in a light concentration of small (<2cm) artifacts— primarily FCR, lithics and pottery—suggesting that the structure was cleaned prior to abandonment. Finally (3), AMS dates suggest that the site has multiple components: two Monongahela occupations—one conforming to the expected Late Middle Monongahela Johnston Phase (1450-1590 AD) and the other an Early Middle Monongahela Period (1250-1450 AD.)—and an ephemeral early Late Woodland occupation (ca. 400-550 AD). It is likely the site consists of several overlapping villages which grew over time, rather than one village as previously thought.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 2024 field seasons left us with more questions than answers, but, of course, that is half the fun of archaeology. For example, we still have yet to identify a palisade or plaza, features commonly present at villages of this time period. The 2026 field school, likely the last at this site, will focus on clarifying the nature of the pre-Johnston Phase occupations, completing the last section of GPR survey to connect the northern and southern survey grids; and further ground-truthing the rectangular structure to better understand the relationship between it and the domestic structures of the Monongahela Cultural Tradition. We anticipate that many master's and undergraduate theses will be directed toward answering these questions in the years to come!
Forensic Archaeology Field School
Baden-Württemberg, Germany
IUP returned to Baden-Württemberg for six weeks during the summer of 2024 to investigate a World War II plane crash site. We are honored to be a partner of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and contribute to these humanitarian missions while training students. Three years in, and we’ve built a great rapport with various local towns people and officials, too, and it was great to see all of them again.
Our 2024 team members applied from universities across the US, including IUP, PennWest, University of Pittsburgh, Purdue, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Virginia Commonwealth University, James Madison University, Cal State Northridge, Southern New Hampshire University, as well as a current DPAA contractor. With 19 US staff and students, we continued recovery efforts by expanding our GPR, metal detection, and pedestrian surveys, as well as some innovative excavation strategies.
We finished the season with students placing judgmental STPs as they synthesized everything they learned about the incident and site over the course of the mission. We also had opportunities to explore Germany on the weekends, visiting ongoing excavations at Roman Ruins in Neuenstadt am Kocher, traveling to the Black Forest and Stuttgart, among other places.
Underwater Cultural Resource Managment Archaeology Field School
Lake Erie, Pennsylvania
We introduced a new field school this year. In partnership with Texas A&M University and the Center for Field, we taught an underwater cultural resource management field school based in Erie, PA. Ten students were introduced to cultural resource law and practice, as well as marine remote sensing and underwater site recording. Over the course of 4 weeks, the students learned to set up and run a side-scan sonar and sub-bottom profiler, as well as how to interpret the results. Linked to this were discussions of submerged landscape archaeology and geoarchaeology. In the last weeks of the class, the students helped to record a large wooden schooner wrecked near Erie. The goal was to expose students to various skills used in underwater CRM.
We are still interpreting the data gathered during the field school, but we noted interesting stratigraphic layers in the lake bottom that may represent formerly exposed surfaces. Future research will use cores to sample these strata and determine if they might contain archaeological deposits.
This field school benefited from the support of many Erie partners, as well as the National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation and the Regional Science Consortium.
Department News
Anthropology merged with Geography, Geoscience, Environment, and Planning to form the Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences (AGES).
This year marks the 15th Anniversary of the Applied Archaeology MA Program. We kicked off the year with a happy hour at the 2024 Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology meetings.
The Anthropology Department will host a family-friendly Archaeology Day open house on Saturday October 12, 2024 from 1-3 pm. If you are in the area, come see us!
IUP Anthropology signed an interagency agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to support cultural resource management in Pennsylvania state parks and forests.
In partnership with IUP History and Geography, Geoscience, Environment and Planning, Anthropology completed a study of an early African American settlement outside of Johnstown. This project was part of DCNR's Untold Stories initiative. As a bonus it gave us an opportunity to reconnect with department alum Jeff Bergman a Senior Director at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
We are partnering with the Pennsylvania Archaeological Council and the Friends of Lebanon Cemetery to record gravestones in the historic African American Lebanon Cemetery in October.
The Forensics Outdoor Research Station is now up and running with several mock burial sites. IUP students are using the facility, and students from Carlow University will soon be using the facility for an Evidence and Procedure course.
IUP led an effort to reboot the PASSHE Undergraduate Anthropology Conference. After a 5-year hiatus, the conference was back with students from Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg and IUP.
Student News
Victoria Albert ('25) won the department's Olin-Fahle Award for Excellence in Anthropology. The Olin-Fahle Award goes to the graduating student who has best represented Anthropology through volunteerism, interest in and concern for ethnic minorities or world affairs, dedication to anthropology through a field experience, and inspiring fellow students respect for and enjoyment of scholarship.
Kaylee Becker-George was elected IUP Student Government Association President.
Elizabeth McCreary was awarded the Paul Goldberg Award for Geoarchaeology from the Society for American Archaeology. Liz is the third IUP student to win this national award.
Laura Broughton, Emma Lashley, and Elizabeth McCreary each won a James W. Hatch scholarship from the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. They also placed first, second, and third in the poster competition.
Luke Nicosia (MA '23) received the IUP Graduate Student Outstanding Research Award for thesis “Dam the Rivers, Damn the Country: Comparing the Flood Control Regions of New Alexandria and Smicksburg Boroughs.”
Students also did very well at the IUP Scholars Forum. Emma Lashley won the Three-Minute Thesis competition. Elena Frye and Heather Alvarado won the Graduate Dean’s Award. Elena and Heather also tied with Elizabeth McCreary tied for third place (graduate division) in the Sigma Xi Society competition. Emily Sykora won the Women in STEM Outstanding Poster Award (graduate). Eight other undergraduate and graduate students also presented their research at Scholars Forum.
Students attended a wide variety of conferences, including the Society for Applied Anthropology, Society for American Archaeology, American Cultural Resources Association, and Appalachian Teaching Project.
Six undergraduates and eight graduate students graduated over the past year.
Alumni News
Stefanie Perez (MA '14) launched her own company, SP Faunal Services.
Luke Matthews published Theorizing the Anthropology of Belief: Magic, Conspiracies, and Misinformation with Routledge Press.
Jamie Kouba (MA '22) was featured on several episodes of the History Channel show "Curse of Oak Island" proudly wearing her IUP sweatshirt.
Paige Williams ('21) finished her MA in Forensic and Biological Anthropology from University of Montana AND had her first child, a daughter.
Douglas Roblin ('75) is retiring from Kaiser Permanente.
Gabriel Leigh completed a PhD at University of South Florida.
Alumni Profiles
From Megan Hinrichsen ('08): In these times of change for higher education, perhaps my alumni story is useful. I graduated from IUP in 2008 and immediately went to graduate school (MA 2010, PhD 2015) studying medical anthropology. Then, I began my time as a tenure-track professor of anthropology at a liberal arts college, where I was able to take students on study abroad experiences to Ecuador (my field site), Ghana, and Senegal. I did research with students and presented with them at conferences, including the AAAs. These were all things I wanted to do, since I had these experiences when I was an undergrad at IUP. I was living the life I intended until the disruption of COVID led to my release from the faculty at my institution. I decided not to do another academic job search and moved into a new career using my anthropology skills. I used to teach about medical ethics and now I work full time teaching research personnel about research ethical requirements and reviewing medical research proposals for ethical compliance (among other things, such as study design). As my IUP mentor Dr. Chaiken once said, I am still using my anthropology skills for good. I was able to be resilient because of my skills and ability to learn.
From Becky Corran: I'm now a Professor of Public Health at Doña Ana Community College (DACC) and a City Councilor for Las Cruces, New Mexico. My applied anthropology undergrad showed me how to build community and do research, in particular related to health. Skills like interviewing, participant observation and action research are helpful as I work with community members to address critical issues like climate change, infrastructure and health. My experience in traveling to Peru while in the anthropology program at IUP not only made my world bigger, but the things I learned there informed my work in developing a promotores de salud certificate program at DACC. Now I live joyfully along the border, in NM (the "Land of Enchantment") with my dog and two cats, and travel every chance I get.
We'd really like this section to be longer and we want alumni to know what each other are up to. Please submit any updates HERE.
Faculty News
Lara Homsey-Messer was promoted to the rank of Professor.
Bill Chadwick and Ben Ford were awarded sabbatical leave for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025, respectively.
Amanda Poole published Hosting States and Unsettled Guests: Eritrean Refugees in a Time of Migration Deterrence (Indiana University Press) with Jennifer Riggan. This book based on three years of ethnographic research with Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia and explores the violence of Ethiopian refugee hosting policies through the stories and experiences of refugees, policy makers, camp managers, and aid workers.
Ben Ford addressed the May graduation ceremonies as Distinguished University Professor.
Andrea Palmiotto was awarded a Wenner-Gren grant to explore communal learning through ancient bone tools.
Abbie Adams participated in a Fireside Chat for Anthology, a major Learning Managment System company, to commemorate Pride Month.
Ben Ford received a Fulbright Scholar award to study maritime landscapes in Portugal. He and the family will spend spring 2025 in Porto.
Francis Allard continues as the Editor-in-Chief of Asian Perspectives.
Andrea Palmiotto published "Interpreting perimortem blast trauma from skeletal remains: complications and considerations" with K. McCormick and L. Freas in the Journal of Forensic Sciences; "Advances in commingled human remains analysis between 2014 and 2023" with H. Maijanen, C. LeGarde, and M. Ingvoldstad in the Journal of Forensic Sciences; AND "Forensic anthropologists and estimates of skeletal completeness: the impacts of training and experience" with AP Winburn, C. Pink, C. LeGarde, and C. Brown in Science & Justice.
Bill Chadwick and Andrea Palmiotto published "Geophysical Methods Reveal Aviation Impacturbation and Inform Forensic Archaeological Recovery of Historic Aircraft Crash Sites" in Archaeological Prospection.
Amanda Poole published "Smugglers vs. Students: Migration Deterrence and Understanding Risk Among Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia" with Jennifer Riggan in Cahiers d'Études africaines.
Ben Ford published "Nineteenth-Century Shipwrecks and the Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Gulf of Mexico" with James Delgado and Michael Brennan in the Journal of Maritime Archaeology.
Franics Allard published "The funerary beads at Hepu, China" in Bead Forum Newsletter.
Book Review
Ghost River, The Fall & Rise of the Conestoga by Lee Francis 4, Weshoyot Alvitre, and Will Fenton
Written and illustrated by Indigenous artists, Fenton and Alvitre, with the assistance of historian Fenton, Ghost River tells the story of the Paxton murders from the perspective of the Conestoga people who were murdered. Much of the story takes place at the time of the murders in 1763 when white settlers from Lancaster and Cumberland Counties attached and killed 20 unarmed Conestoga, but the narratives spans from the dawn of time to the modern era. By moving freely in time, this graphic novel makes clear the connections between past and present. It also turns a narrative that has too often focused on the white aggressors to focus on the Conestoga who suffered the most in the events but who are often treated as props in a narrative of political wrangling.
While some knowledge of the Paxton murders is helpful in approaching this book, there is a wealth of primary documents and essays that follow the graphic story that help provide context. The artwork alone is also worth reading this book. Alvitre used 18th century pens and reproduced inks to infuse the artwork with authenticity.
Ghost River provides a different way to think about the past and a different way to present scholarly research. It is model worth considering.
Stay in Touch
We'd love to hear from you, or, better yet, see you. We'll be at the Society for American Archaeology, Society for Applied Anthropology, Society for Historical Archaeology, and Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology conferences this coming year. We might also put in an appearance at other conferences. If you are going to any of these please let us know.
We are getting alumni stickers made to go on conference badges. Let us know ahead of time and we'll mail them to you, or you can find us at a conference to get yours.
Please drop us a note HERE to let us know if you have any news for the next newsletter.
You can also keep up with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and by reading the graduate student blog: Trowels and Tribulations.
If you'd like to support the department financially you can do so through the Online Gift Form (specify Anthropology Enhancement Fund #4703) or through Charitable Giving.
Feel free to email ben.ford@iup.edu with any questions or comments.