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Summer
Session
Notre
Dame - NMNH Internship Program in Anthropology Application
Procedures
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Other
Opportunities for
Smithsonian
Center for Education and Museum Studies Smithsonian Office of Fellowships - internships
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Research
& Collections
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Applicants | Finalists | Participants In this, the first year of the University of Notre Dame - National Museum of Natural History Internship Program in Anthropology a total of fifteen (15) applications were received for consideration by the application deadline of 15 March 2003. Application documents were submitted through the NMNH Research Training Program on-line application and information management web system. Beginning on 19 March 2003, faculty at the University of Notre Dame, Department of Anthropology evaluated each applicant and selected five (5) finalists. Finalist applications were then forwarded on 26 March 2003 to a Smithsonian review panel for final consideration and placement. After careful review, two (2) students were selected on 2 April 2003 for an internship appointment during the summer of 2003. The final selection panel, composed of members from the NMNH Department of Anthropology Executive Committee, considered recommendations from host Smithsonian advisors as well as project focus consistent with the Department's research goals and priorities. Students not selected for a position this year are encouraged to apply again next year or consider other internship opportunities at the Smithsonian. Many Smithsonian staff are seeking student volunteers to assist them with various aspects of their research and collections management. If interested in a volunteer/non-paid internship position, visit the Volunteer Internship page for more information. Notre
Dame - NMNH
ebollwer@nd.edu
Ms. Bollwerk is from Bethesda, Maryland. She is currently a Junior at the University of Notre Dame where she is majoring in Anthropology. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in historical archaeology. Ms. Bollwerk has worked in the Archaeology lab at the University of Notre Dame classifying, cataloging, and labeling artifacts. She has conducted fluorine dating tests on animal bones for the Anthropology Department at the University of Notre Dame and served as an intern at the National Museum of Decorative Arts and History in Dublin, Ireland, compiling a manual that provides information to the public on how to locate collections in the museum and working with collections. She has participated in field research during the summers of 2001 and 2002 conducting geophysical (magnetic and resistivity) surveys and has also conducted and supervised excavations of two pre-1860s Potawatomi Habitation Sites in Michigan and Indiana. Ms. Bollwerk is the Secretary/Treasurer of the Notre Dame Anthropology Club, she was chosen to participate in the Archaeology of Ireland tour and has been studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland for Spring semester 2003. She has conducted research on lab ceramic collections and is currently working on the draft of an article dealing with Stanley South's Ceramic Mean Formula and the cermaic assemblage collected from pre-1860 Potawatomi Indian Sites in Indiana and Michigan. On the personal side: "Aside from my interests in archaeology, I also love playing sports such as softball and running. I am currently training to run a marathon in the fall. When I'm not studying or running I also love reading, watching movies, and hanging out with friends. I recently returned from an amazing semester abroad in Dublin and am looking forward to one last year at Notre Dame (and one last awesome football season). Go Irish!"
Project Summary: The Repatriation Office of the National Museum of Natural History carries out the repatriation provisions of the National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAI Act). Repatriation at the Museum is a collaborative process in which Museum staff work with tribal representatives to determine the disposition of human remains and cultural objects under the law. Upon the request of the Hopi tribe, the Repatriation Office conducted an inventory of the museum’s Hopi ethnographic material in 1999. While this work identified and catalogued all of the collection’s four thousand objects in a Microsoft Access database, further research is necessary to improve identification of locations from which the objects originated. Part of the current documentation project will be spent conducting an object-by-object examination of Hopi and General Pueblo ethnographic material to record information written on the objects and original tags in order to decipher their provenience. Additional time will be spent researching object history through archival records in the National Anthropological Archives (located at the Museum Support Center in Suitland, MD), and researching original accession and catalog information. The primary formats for documentation for the NMNH collections are field notes, accession files, and catalog records encompassing handwritten ledger books, the card catalogue, and a computer database. The end product of this project will be a database with the newly recorded information and/or a written report evaluating the nature of the documentation and future research needs for this collection. This project will serve as an important step in providing the most comprehensive information to assist the Hopi and other researchers in learning as much from this collection as possible. Project Presentation: Due to the fact that collections documentation has undergone several technological changes from 1) the original ledger book to 2) catalog card to 3) database, the possibility exists that information was not completely or accurately transferred at any point. The purpose of this project is to check for discrepancies between all of these sources before entering the new information in a Microsoft Access database. Throughout the ten-week internship, an object-by-object search will be conducted of all four thousand objects in the Hopi Ethnographic Collection and the three hundred objects in the General Pueblo Collection to document additional accession information on how they became part of the National Museum’s collections. The procedure of documentation will include:
It is very likely that important information regarding these objects is hidden in these forms of documentation. For example, over time many of the Hopi’s traditional techniques for making crafts such as pottery or weaving changed under the influence of Euro-American settlers. Learning the date and location of accession for many of these objects may make it possible for future researchers to study the progressive changes of items according to the amount of time the Native Americans had spent with Euro-Americans. Also, the additional information gathered from the General Pueblo collection may help to further identify more specific cultural afflilation. Thus, it is believed that the additional information discovered through the comparison of all these sources will be a critical factor for enhancing the understanding of the collection in general, for future researchers and the Hopi tribe. Besides creating a new database of information, I will also be choosing one aspect of the General Pueblo Collection, such as pottery, clothing, or tools, to investigate in greater depth. In order to achieve this, an object-by-object study of the items I choose to focus on will be conducted. The information gained from this investigation will be accompanied by background research acquired through materials borrowed from the Anthropology Library at the National Museum of Natural History and whatever other sources are available for study. At the end of these studies, two separate written reports will be created explaining both the documentation included in the collection and the additional research on the General Pueblo Collection. These reports will most likely be used by the Office of Repatriation to assist researchers and tribes who want to study the collections in the future. Materials and Methods: Due to the fact that this is a research and documentation project, no special techniques or equipment will be required, and all of the supplies needed are already purchased. Laptops provided by the Office of Repatriation and the MSC will be used to record data from the objects and from sources such as card catalogues. The Microfilm records in the Office of the Registrar will provide the original accession files. Finally, we will be using the program Microsoft Access to create the database. Staff and Research Facilities: Throughout the ten weeks of this internship, various staff members from the Office of Repatriation will assist me in the completion of this project. Dr. Risa Arbolino, my advisor who holds the title of Repatriation Case Officer for the Southwestern region of the United States, will help investigate the collection and the documentation associated with it. Beth Eubanks, a museum specialist, will assist us in the creation of a new Microsoft Access database for the additional information collected. Betsy Bruemmer, another museum specialist who prepared the original Hopi Inventory Project, will assist in combining the previously catalogued information with that discovered through the new documentation project. In addition
to using sources provided by the Repatriation Office, facilities
such as the National Anthropological Archives, located in Museum
Support Center in Suitland, MD and the Office of the Registrar located
on the first floor of the Natural History Museum, will be searched
to find additional information in regards to provenience. The Library
of the Natural History Museum will also be used to find background
information that will help identify objects and place them in a
cultural context.
lgregori@nd.edu
Last summer Ms. Gregoricka participated in the Notre Dame Archaeology Field School where she worked at three different sites learning traditional field methods such as using laser and optical transits, discovering and recording sites, creating accurate site maps, excavating, and identifying and preserving artifacts. She will travel to Dublin, Ireland in 2004 to study archaeology as part of the Notre Dame semester abroad program. On the personal side: "I am really involved at my university with many activities, including intermural tennis and piano. Besides studying anthropology, I love theater and am a member of an all-student company that performs modern interpretations of Shakespeare's works. When I am not acting or volunteering, I enjoy watching movies and listening to punk music."
Title: CSI Sheep Project Summary
and Description: Last Spring a mysterious box of animal bones
was discovered in a dark corner of the attic of the Museum Support
Center, which houses collections from the National Museum of Natural
History. The box contains the jumbled skeletons of between 30-50
individual sheep and a variety of other mammals as well. The project
concentration is twofold; first, the skeletons must be sorted and
reconstructed in order to attempt to answer the basic inquiries
of who collected the material, when it was collected, and why, all
of which are uncertain. Secondly, in the reconstruction of the herd,
demographic information will assist zooarchaeologists in better
understanding the success of domestic organization. Materials
and Methods: The Archaeobiology laboratory at the Museum Support
Center will be the center of the project's operations. No equipment
will be used in this project due to the nature of its objectives.
The sheep and other mammalian specimens to be examined will require
the personal analysis of the researcher, who will probe the bones
of the creatures. The varying stages of epiphyseal bone fusion will
be used in determining age and consequently reconstruction, and
can be used in dividing the various genus ad species found in the
box. Tooth eruption and wear from the mandibles and maxillas provides
excellent aging data as well, and will make it possible to match
the skulls with the respective skeletons. These methods will assist
in a critical aspect of the project, the reconstruction of the individuals,
so that an accurate picture of the demography of the herd comes
to light. Also, plant, geological, ceramic, and insect specimens
which accompanied the bones in the box will be taken into consideration
in determining the origins of the box. This requires many experts
in each field, working to determine the type or species of the specimens
in order to pinpoint the probable location of where the animals
were collected. - Museum Support
Center Notre
Dame - NMNH
Internship Program in Anthropology List of Finalists 2003
Notre
Dame - NMNH
Internship Program in Anthropology List of Applicants 2003
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University
of Notre Dame - National Museum of Natural History
Internship Program
in Anthropology
2003
________________________________________________________
Southwest
Ethnographic Research Project:
Picking Out the Pueblos, A Documentation Investigation
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Elizabeth Bollwerk Risa Arbolino, Ph.D.
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The Repatriation Office of the National Museum of Natural History was established in 1991 to carry out the repatriation provisions of the National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAI Act) which was passed by Congress in 1989. This act required that the Smithsonian inventory, document, and if requested, repatriate (or return) culturally affiliated human remains and funerary objects to Native groups. Although the Smithsonian has fulfilled this requirement, various ethnographical and archaeological collections are in need of more thorough investigation. The General Pueblo collection is an example. The Pueblo region consisted of an area occupied by approximately twenty-eight different Native American tribes spread out across Arizona and New Mexico. Yet all of these villages are distinctive cultural groups beliefs and traditions that have been passed down through generations, and remain very much alive in the present day. Consequently, having these items lumped in one category would make the repatriation process extremely difficult. Therefore, it was necessary to conduct an in-depth study to ascertain whether there was any evidence available to prove what village each object had originated in. It was decided that the best way to search for this information was to investigate the many forms of documentation that accompanied the objects as they become part of the museum collection. These documents were from a range of sources and sometimes but not always included data about who collected the object, where and when it was collected, and what the object was used for. This investigation included 1) going to the MSC (Museum Support Center, where all the collections are housed) and looking at each object, noting what was written on the tag and the object itself 2) checking this information against the original ledger books 3) completing another check against the original card catalogue and 4) examining Accession Files to find any information on donors or the cultural background of the objects. After all of this information had been gathered, it was entered into a database and compared to see whether it a) agreed and b) provided enough evidence to discern which Pueblo the object had come from. Although the search failed to discover any new evidence for some objects, in many cases the records held information that demonstrated which village certain objects had come from. In light of this new information it will be recommended that these items be added to the collections from specific Pueblos that already exist, and that the records associated with them be updated. The findings of this investigation will be recorded in a report that will be kept onfile in the Repatriation Office as a reference for future Native American tribes and researchers who are interested in the collection.
This research was supported by a grant from the University of Notre Dame NMNH Internship Program in Anthropology
CSI Sheep: Skeletal Reconstruction and Demographic Analysis
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Lesley Gregoricka Melinda Zeder, Ph.D. |
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Last Spring, a mysterious box of animal bones was discovered in a dark corner of the attic at the National Museum of Natural History. Containing mostly sheep remains, the box proved most puzzling, as no written documentation of who collected the sample, where it was collected, or when it was collected exists. This research focused on three important aspects: investigating the origins of the box, reconstructing the individual sheep, and analyzing the demography of the mystery population. First, packing materials found with the bones provided helpful evidence in determining the origins of this mystery. Rocks, ceramics, insects, plants, and a tin all contributed critical information, as interpreting these clues adds to the story the bones tell. The rocks and insects proved too universal to isolate any exact location. The ceramic pieces appeared to be irrigation tiles buried in a farm field, giving an interesting glimpse at the details in which the animals were buried but not disclosing any specific localities. An unusual plant pod assisted in pinpointing where the box came from; found in tropical climates, the pod grows only in Africa and Asia. A British fruitcake tin also assisted in unraveling the mystery, providing a time range of 1870-1940s. Secondly, in reconstructing the sheep skeletons, the various stages of long bone fusion were used to age the individuals, enabling the bones to be organized, matched into pairs, and eventually assembled into individuals. Examining tooth eruption and wear patterns offered valuable age statistics as well, providing age curves that express survivorship and mortality rates. From this data, the demography of the mystery box's population is revealed. In a normal, managed (domestic) herd providing meat and milk, as sheep age, there are proportionally less older individuals; in other words, more sheep die or are culled as they get older, so a small population of older adults with a large population of newborns is to be expected. However, an unusual number of newborns and older adults dominate the demography of the box, suggesting that a catastrophic, mass die-off occurred, selectively picking off the weakest members of the population. Naturally, the very young and the very old would be much more susceptible to disease or an early winter than the stronger, young population. Also, the sheep appear to have been buried in order to deflesh the bones, suggesting this was no cumulative butchery scheme but a single catastrophic incident. Adding to this argument is the lack of butchery marks on the bones, indicating that the sheep were not killed for food. Consequently, the composition of the boxed individuals suggests the representation of the weaker portion of a population, caused by some sort of natural disaster, and not a complete herd or mass slaughter.
This research was supported by a grant from the University of Notre Dame NMNH Internship Program in Anthropology
Elizabeth Bollwerk
Junior. Anthropology major at University of Notre Dame.
While I greatly enjoy fieldwork, my main interest in archaeology lies in working with collections. My goals for RTP included learning the curatorial requirements and methods for conducting museum based research on archaeological or ethnographical collections, and what kind of education and training I would need to obtain in order do this in the future. My advisor (Dr. RISA ARBOLINO) set up a research project for me that encompassed work with collections and the documentation surrounding them. The purpose of my project was to decipher the provenience of objects in the General Pueblo ethnography collection. My project advisor recommended the best way to accomplish this would be to study different sources of documentation that were associated with the objects such as original ledger books, catalogue cards, accession files, and information recorded on the objects themselves. With the assistance of museum specialist, BETH EUBANKS, we developed a database to store the information I collected. Once I investigated all the records, I went to the National Anthropological Archives and the Anthropology library at NMNH to conduct further research. After gathering all possible information, I analyzed the data and together with my project advisor, created a report for the Office of Repatriation which outlined what objects should be left in the General Pueblo collection and which ones should be separated into other collections, using the documentation as evidence. My advisor is certain that Repatriation Office will use the information discovered through this project as a reference when Native American tribes come to investigate the collection in the future.
Other things I did during the summer
1. World Archaeology Congress (21 June 2003 - 26 June 2003). Attended several of the lectures and social events.
2. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Tour (19 July 2003). Attended the fieldtrip to SERC and took part in various activities.
3. Independent Anthropology Research. (25 July 2003). Met with anthropology staff members Laurie Burgess and Doug Owsley to discuss graduate schools and research options pertaining to historical archaeology.
What are your plans for the upcoming year?
I plan to receive my undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Computer Applications at the University of Notre Dame. I also plan to complete a senior thesis possibly pertaining to Stanley South's Ceramic Mean Date Formula. I also hope to submit an article on the aforementioned topic for publication in the Journal of Michigan Archaeology. I also hope to continue to serve as an officer of the anthropology club.
I hope to continue working
in the Notre Dame Archaeology Lab engaging in various kinds of research on
the collections housed there.
Lesley Gregoricka
Sophomore. Anthropology major at University of Notre Dame.
My goals for the summer included learning skeletal reconstruction techniques and demographic analysis of sheep herds. My RTP research coincided with the research of my project advisor, Dr. MINDY ZEDER, whose particular interests in osteology as well as goats and sheep in the Near East drew me to the project. I sorted the bones into specific groups, identified and matched particular pairs, and began to construct forelimbs and hindlimbs; this allowed me to begin to identify specific individuals, shedding light on the composition of the herd. I worked with sexing the pelvises and skulls on the sheep in order to investigate the demographics of the group as well. Also, I charted the varying levels of fusion for the long bones and examined tooth eruption and wear for the purposes of ageing the sheep, proving extremely important, as I discovered an unusual number of newborns and older adults. After researching domestic herd demography and butchery I concluded that the box was the work of a catastrophic die-off caused by a natural disaster. Gaining experience in working with bones was only one of the advantages of working on this project. The box that the sheep bones were found in was a mystery; no written documentation of who collected the sample, where it was collected, or when it was collected exists. However, the bones were packed with many different samples, including rocks, ceramics, plants, insects, and a tin. Therefore, many experts in these fields were called in to try and help me unravel the mysteries of the ambiguous materials. SORENA SORENSEN identified the rock samples as limestone, sandstone, and clay, materials found on every continent on earth. While this did not lead to pinpointing the origins of the box, she also identified two pieces of ceramics amidst the rocks. These were taken to RISA ARBOLINO and ERIC HOLLINGER and were recognized as underground tiles used in farm fields for irrigation. This did not give me a specific location but was helpful in determining the conditions of the burial. The plant material was perhaps the most useful of all, as AARON GOLDBERG determined the Genus of an unusual pod found only in the Old World tropical climates of Africa and Asia. The insect materials, examined by GARY HEVEL, were as universally spread as the rock samples, although further research might shed light on maggot stages of growth and the amount of flesh on the bones at burial. Finally, a British fruitcake tin was found at the bottom of the box and is still being researched by DEBORAH HULL-WALSKI. ROB LOSEY and DAVE ROSENTHAL offered many helpful suggestions regarding the photography of the bones and instruction on PowerPoint. This project fits into larger, ongoing research in describing catastrophic demography. I hope to use the topic as my senior thesis, coming back to the Smithsonian next summer to continue research under my advisor once more.
Other things I did during the summer
1. World Archaeology Congress (21 June 2003- 26 June 2003): attended many lectures, plenary presentations, and social events; discussed graduate school and careers with speakers2. Behind-the-Scenes Tour of the Museum Support Center Archaeobiology Laboratory (throughout summer 2003): assisted in hosting tours of the laboratory, lectured on various research projects currently run in laboratory
3. Career Enlightenment Day: Networking Reception for Interns (16 July 2003): met with museum directors to discuss education and career opportunities, transition from college to an occupation
4. Folklife Festival and Mali Film Festival (June-July 2003): attended festival celebrating the cultures of Scotland, Mali, and Appalachia; attended Malian films, lectures, and discussion sessions with directors of films—anthropology of Mali
5. Chicago Field Museum Zooarchaeology Research (27 May 2003-31 May 2003): conducted independent research with advisor, ageing sheep and goats from the Near East by counting horn sheaths, comparing with tooth eruption and wear
6. Independent Graduate
School Research (throughout summer 2003): researched graduate school for many
hours on the internet and in the Anthropology Library; met with various staff
members such as Doug Owsley to discuss education options
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