News Archive

A team of interdisciplinary researchers are turning to a global event 4,200 years ago for insight on human adaptation to climate change. The project, led by UAlbany archaeologist Robert Rosenswig, has received $1.6 million in funding over five years from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to reconstruct human occupation, food production and tropical forest species diversity in the lowlands of northern Belize around the “4.2k BP” event.

The Maritime Archaic people thrived in harsh coastal conditions for nearly 5,000 years before disappearing around 1,000 B.C. Yet very little is known of their settlements, their social organizations, and how these were affected by ecological factors. A University anthropologist and three UAlbany students recently set about filling in the gaps on a two-week exploration in Newfoundland.

ALBANY, N.Y. (July 9, 2019) — In the hands of the young archaeologist, the detritus of a civilization offers pearls of enrichment, culturally and educationally. It is for this reason that Associate Professor Sean Rafferty of Anthropology has teamed for 13 years with New York State Archaeologist Christina Rieth to offer a field school at the Pethick Site in Schoharie that explores four Native American cultures — the oldest extending back to 4,000 B.C., the most recent to the mid-19th century.

At the Pethick Site in Schoharie County, students immerse themselves in history through the excavation of artifacts dating back thousands of years. Pethick, now in its 13th season of excavation as an archaeological field school, is a rich and important Native American site and to date has yielded almost 500,000 artifacts and over 1,000 soil features.

Congratulations to Anthropology Professor Dr. Lawrence M. Schell who has been promoted to Distinguished Professor!

Dr. Louise M. Burkhart, Professor & Department Chair of Anthropology, has won one of this year's Chancellor's Awards for Excellence, a system-level honor that recognizes consistently superior professional achievement. This award, underscores SUNY's commitment to sustaining intellectual vibrancy, advancing the boundaries of knowledge, providing the highest quality of instruction, and serving the public good.

Dr. Julia Jennings, has been awarded a prestigious Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award by the National Institute on Aging (NIH). Her project,Kin Networks and Old-Age Survival During the Demographic Transition,examines the role of kinship ties in the wellbeing of older adults. The project investigates the effects of kin networks and economic resources on adult mortality in historical and contemporary aging populations using data from Orkney, Scotland, the Schottish Longitudinal Study, and the Healthy Aging in Scotland (HAGIS) Study.