Upcoming Events

Ramiro Barberena, PhD, Universidad Católica de Temuco

Licenciado en Ciencias Antropológicas (2001) y Doctor en Arqueología (2008) por la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Es Investigador Adjunto de la Universidad Católica de Temuco (Chile), Investigador Independiente del CONICET y Profesor Asociado en la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Argentina). Ha dictado cursos de posgrado en Argentina y Chile y dirigido proyectos de investigación financiados por National Geographic Society, Wenner-Gren Foundation, CONICET y Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (Argentina). Tiene amplia experiencia en la aplicación de isótopos a problemas arqueológicos desde sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras a agropastoriles, incluyendo trabajos pioneros con isótopos de estroncio en los Andes.

Se desarrollará una introducción teórica, metodológica y aplicada al uso de isótopos de estroncio (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) en Arqueología, incluyendo los campos de Bioarqueología y Zooarqueología, para el tratamiento de preguntas paleogeográficas enfocadas en las historias de vida.

1. Conocer la base metodológica de las aplicaciones de los isótopos de estroncio.
2. Comprender aspectos clave para el diseño de líneas de base en escalas regional y macro-regional: tipos de muestras, construcción de isoscapes, etc.
3. Adquirir las competencias para incorporar esta línea de evidencia en el diseño de preguntas y proyectos de investigación.

Danielle M. Benden, M.S., RPA, Driftless Pathways, LLC 

Danielle M. Benden is owner of Driftless Pathways, LLC, a small museum consulting firm near Madison, WI. She designs new curatorial facilities and renovates existing ones; consults with museum personnel to improve collections care and management; facilitates consultation between Native Nations and other stakeholders on the development of interpretive content and exhibits; and provides professional development training in curation and collections management. Prior to starting Driftless Pathways, Ms. Benden served as the Senior Curator of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she taught museum courses, designed and managed collections facility upgrades, oversaw NAGPRA compliance, and carried out fieldwork in the Cahokian Hinterlands. She has published scholarly articles, book chapters, and reports, conducted preservation assessments of archaeological sites and collections, and enjoys educating the public about the past through presentations and archaeological tours.

Ms. Benden received her B.S. in Archaeology from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and an M.S. in Museum and Field Studies (with an Archaeology emphasis) from the University of Colorado-Boulder. She has served on national committees and task forces including as chair of SAA’s Committee on Museums, Collections, and Curation (2016-2019), co-chair of SAA’s Task Force on Data Access and Archiving (2015-2016), co-chair of the Archaeological Collections Consortium (2014-2016), and member of the SAA Archive Committee (2021-present). Her practical and professional experience puts her at the forefront of the national curation discussion.

Are you interested in a career working with archaeological collections? Perhaps you’re drawn to preserving and organizing artifacts and associated records in a repository. Maybe conservation in the field most intrigues you. It could be broadening access to digital data, creating custom object mounts to meet the needs of Indigenous communities, or countless other tasks that collections personnel undertake daily. Whatever the case, this two-hour seminar will introduce participants to the types of collections jobs across archaeological sectors (cultural resource management, academic, government, and tribal) and provide a
framework to develop the necessary skills for different positions. It will offer guidance for selecting a training program(s) and finding professional development course(s) that are right for you.

Participants will learn how to develop practical skills and gain meaningful experience that will prepare them for archaeological collections jobs in the contemporary workforce. The session includes tips for preparing a resume and interviewing for a job. Whether you’re a student nearing graduation or considering enrolling in a graduate museum studies program, an emerging professional, or contemplating a new career path, this Deeper Digs seminar is for you. Participants will receive an electronic resource guide containing further information on the range of topics explored during the seminar.

1. Provide attendees with a framework to understand the range of archaeological collections jobs across sectors, and ways to develop necessary skill sets.
2. Teach participants how to find and select the “right fit” training program(s), workshop(s), or other professional development opportunities to refine skills and gain practical experience.
3. Offer tips and resources to create a standout resume and prepare for job interviews.

Hosted by: Will Meyer, PhD (he/him)

Will is a generalist anthropologist at Mercyhurst University who advocates for a transdisciplinary and collaborative “use what works” approach to pursuing the questions that interest us. Trained as a four-field anthropologist and historical ecologist, Will has conducted archaeological, ethnographic, and ecological research in the United States and Europe. He is especially interested in how societies “remember” and “forget” relationships and knowledge from the past, focusing on both landscapes/ecological relationships and on systems of sex, gender, and sexuality.

Including:

Dina Rivera, MA, RPA (they/them, Queer femme, nonbinary)

Dina graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in Applied Anthropology, specializing in archaeology and forensic anthropology. Their master’s thesis focused on enhancing accessibility through virtual archaeological and cultural resources spaces. Since 2021, they have been serving as the Communications Director for the Register of Professional Archaeologists.

Shawn P. Lambert, PhD (he/him)

Shawn Lambert is an associate professor of anthropology at Mississippi State University in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures. Lambert is a southeastern archaeologists with a primary focus in community-engaged and collaborative archaeology within a generative framework to understand late pre-European contact through pre-reconstruction histories. He also specializes in ceramic and iconographic analyses, remote sensing technologies, 3D and augmented realities, organic residue analyses, and making archaeology as inclusive and supportive as possible.

Laura Heath-Stout, PhD (she/her/hers)

Laura Heath-Stout is an intersectional feminist archaeologist, a postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford Archaeology Center, a member of the leadership team of the Disabled Archaeologists Network, and a settler on Ramaytush Ohlone and Muwekma Ohlone land. Her work focuses on how heterosexism, ableism, sexism, racism, and classism shape the demographics and knowledge production practices in archaeology. She enjoys hiking, cooking, reading feminist science fiction, and playing with her two-year-old son.

Char Farfadet, MA (they/them/theirs)

Char completed their BSc, majoring in Environmental Biology (Plant Biology) and minoring in Anthropology, at McGill University in 2019, and their MA in Anthropology, specializing in Terrestrial Archaeology, from Texas A&M University in 2023. Their PhD work has been ongoing since 2020. They specialize in arid land ethnobotany, paleoethnobotany, ethnoecology, and Native/Indigenous studies, especially in the Chihuahuan Desert. They work to understand changing plant-human relationships for health, blending archaeological data, ethnohistorical evidence, and presently-held traditional ecological knowledge to collaboratively address contemporary health issues facing Indigenous communities today.

This 90-minute panel discussion will highlight the work of, and challenges faced by, LGBT2SQIA+ archaeologists. How have gender and sexuality norms from today shaped interpretations of the past?  What needs to be done to incorporate more diverse perspectives that accurately reflects not only the current world we live in, but the world of the past?

1. Give the audience opportunity to ask about experiences (and advice!) from LGBTQ archaeologists.
2. Learn about the ways in which diverse perspectives create diverse solutions in archaeology.