Resume

• 2008

  Phd

  Anthropology

  Columbia University in the City of New York

• 2000

  MA

  Anthropology

  Hunter College

• 1994

  BA

  Anthropology

• GIS

  Field Work

  History

  Cultural Heritage

  Cultural Resource Management

  Excavation

  Science

  ArcGIS

  Archival Research

  Cultural Anthropology

  Ethnography

  Museum Collections

  Museums

  Anthropology

  Museum Education

  NEPA

  Archaeology

  Spatial Analysis

  Historic Preservation

  Surveying

  Scaffolds and links

  or how to trace staged-learning through a productive chain

  Abstract: While learning has recently become a prominent area of research within archaeology

  tracing its history and character through objects has proven difficult. This is particularly true when learning is considered a staged event in which novice engagement with objects is intermittent rather than sustained. Learning to make pottery is often staged in that novices assist in particular aspects of the productive chain while more experienced individuals perform other tasks. As such

  individual vessels often go through multiple hands

  making assignment as “novice-wares” problematic. This paper offers a way forward through the application of a constellation of techniques; each of which provides information on a discrete link in the production sequence and assess the level of skill reflected in particular attributes. By applying these methods to two pottery assemblages from neighboring contemporaneous sites

  the shortcomings and potential feasibility of these techniques are highlighted and new research directions are offered.

  Scaffolds and links

  or how to trace staged-learning through a productive chain

  Fibrous Twists and Turns: Early ceramic technology revealed through Computed Tomography

  Ceramic technology was independently invented in coastal Georgia more than five thousand years ago. These ceramics are the oldest in North America and are only rarely encountered by archaeologists. A prevailing question is “how were these first ceramic vessels constructed”? While later time periods are dominated by coil-construction

  it appears that these early potters used a wide variety of techniques (including molding

  pinching

  and slab) to construct ceramic vessels. These techniques are not readily visible without using destructive analytical methods. The use of CT technology is beginning to allow archaeologists to uncover past practices without destroying these rare artifacts. This presentation will outline current research and methodology being conducted at the American Museum of Natural History in which non-destructive practices are employed via the use of a GE phoenix v|tome|x s240 CT scanner and reconstructions and post-processing analysis work using GE phoenix datos|x 2.0 and Volume Graphics VGStudio Max 2.1 to investigate: the direction of fibers

  abundance of porosity

  and three dimensional digital reconstruction of these artifacts.

  Hannah Cain

  Sanger

  Columbia University

  Binghamton University

  American Museum of Natural History

  American Museum of Natural History

  Graduate Student

  Columbia University

  Assistant Professor

  Binghamton University