Archaeological Field School in Belize 2008

Project Staff

Field Director

Daniel Seinfeld I am a PhD. student at The Florida State University. One of my primary research interests is how people used food both as a dietary staple and as a marker of identity and a social tool in activities such as feasting, specifically in Formative period Mesoamerica. I earned my B.A. in anthropology from The University at Albany and my MS from The Florida State University. The 2008 season will be my third season of involvement with University at Albany archaeological field schools in the San Estevan area of Belize. I attended field school as a student in 2002, and in 2005 returned as an excavations supervisor. I plan to use data collected from the 2005 and upcoming 2008 field season at San Estevan as the basis for my dissertation, in which I plan to examine patterns of maize use between the Middle and Late Formative periods using paleobotanical and molecular analysis. I hope to examine if the intensification in the scale of building activity at San Estevan in the Late Formative period was linked to a trend towards an increased use of maize as a staple food crop.
Laboratory Director
Elizabeth France I received my Bachelors in Anthropology from SUNY Brockport in the winter of 2003.  I am currently a graduate student at the University at Albany, where my interests are focused on Postclassic Mayan household economics and the economics of trade, with a focus on craft specialization. This trip will be my fourth time participating in a UAlbany field school in Belize.
Camp Manager
Josalyn Ferguson             I have been working in Belize and Mexico for over 10 years now, and have held various positions over that time including instructor, field director, field supervisor and lab manager. I have worked at both surface and cave sites, and have been focusing my dissertation research on the site of Strath Bogue, not far from San Estevan. While my analyses are still ongoing, it appears that the Precolumbian community at the Strath Bogue site was comprised of migrants, fleeing the Terminal Classic Maya collapse at approximately AD 900-1000. This is very exciting research, as there has been little investigation into migration in the wake of the Maya collapse at the site level, and the identification of this process in the archaeological record of the Maya. Concurrent with my responsibilities to the field school, I will also be conducting the ceramic analysis for this research. I am currently working on an archaeological project in Campeche, Mexico, where I am a field supervisor, and the project lithic and mollusk specialist. I received my B.A. and M.A. from Trent University in Canada, and I am currently a Ph.D. student at UAlbany.