Everyone working in Haury 316 is heading out to carry out research projects and take new jobs.
 
Brandi Bethke (Ph.D. student) received a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant for the project titled “Dog Days to Horse Days: Evaluating the Rise of Nomadic Pastoralism among the Blackfoot.”
 
Abstract: This dissertation examines the extent to which the adoption of the horse altered landscape uses, bison hunting practices, and worldviews of the Blackfoot during the protohistoric and historic periods in the Northwestern Plains. Employing a framework that integrates archaeology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), social history, and ethnography, this work provides an updated investigation of the horse in Blackfoot culture, focusing specifically on how changes in Blackfoot lifeways may be reflected in the transition from hunting and gathering to incipient nomadic pastoralism.
 
Willam Anderson White (Ph.D. student) was awarded a Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry Graduate Fellowship to initiate “The River Street Public Archaeology Project” as part of his dissertation. He will direct the archaeological field school administered by the University of Idaho as a vehicle for public outreach and heritage conservation at the Erma Hayman House in Boise’s historical River Street Neighborhood. Confluencecenter funds will go towards GIS work, public outreach coordination, and publication of the end-of-fieldwork report.
 
Mario Battaglia completed his Applied Archaeology Master’s Degree with the project titled “Presenting a Pluralized past: Assessing the Efficacy of Bison-themed Lesson Units as a Public Education and Outreach Strategy for Archaeology”. This project was funded by the Montana Department of Transportation on behalf of the Blackfeet Tribe.
 
Nieves Zedeño (faculty) received an SBSRI small grant to explore “Bison Hunter’s Side-notched Point Variability through Landmark Geometric Morphometrics.” (Original Digest publication date: 5/15/2015)