Friday, February 26, 2010

Excavations by GW students and Prof. Eric Cline show Aegean influences in Bronze Age Canaan

The Canaanite city of Tel Kabri, occupied around 3500 years ago, has yielded novel evidence of contact with the Bronze Age Aegean. The most exciting finds were hundreds of fresco fragments and a floor painted in a Greek style.

Twenty-eight GW students worked at the site last summer with Prof. Eric H Cline.

For a detailed report in GW Today, go to http://www.gwu.edu/explore/gwtoday/aroundtheworld/uncoveringanancientcivilization

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Alice McKeown (MA 2002) directs Vital Signs Online for Worldwatch Institute

Alice L. McKeown (MA Anth-ID 2002, BA Anth with Special Honors 2000) continues to research and publish for Vital Signs Online and other publications as part of her work at the Worldwatch Institute. She reports on such topics as the growth of organic agriculture, the mixed prospects for jobs related to biofuels, and the drastic decline in the size of coral reefs. Before going to the Worldwatch Institute in 2008, Alice worked for more than five years with the Sierra Club, where she became an expert on coal, energy policy, and air pollution.

For more, visit her Worldwatch profile.

Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala presents for the Global HIV/AIDS Program of the World Bank

Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala (MA Anthropology 1985, PhD University of Natal 2000) presented on “AIDS in Southern Africa: A socio-cultural interpretation from USAID's first AIDS anthropologist” at the World Bank on February 2.The presentation discussed some of the potential reasons why HIV prevention programs have not been successful in Southern Africa. Applying an anthropological lens, the presentation examined the common pattern of sexual practices in Southern Africa that makes people especially vulnerable to HIV and suggest ways to improve HIV prevention.

Suzanne is Senior Anthropology Advisor in the Office of HIV/AIDS in the Global Health Bureau of USAID.

Erin Marie Williams (Hom Pal) receives inaugural Bouchet Society Fellowship

Erin Marie Williams, a Ph.D. candidate in Hominid Paleobiology who has a 2005 Anthropology M.A. from GW, has received the inaugural fellowship for the GW chapter of the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. The society is named after the first African American to receive a doctoral degree. Erin Marie, who is completing a dissertation on stone technology and the evolution of modern humans, applied for the Bouchet Fellowship because she wanted to have the opportunity to interact with other African American Ph.D. students and find African American academic mentors.

For more: Click here

Monday, February 1, 2010

Isaac Morrison (MA 2009) teaches class in ceramics and archaeology

Isaac Morrison (MA Anthropology-International Development 2009) is teaching a course at Baltimore Clayworks. Material in Context: Ceramics and Archaeology is a 6-week course that is directed towards professionals and students in the field of archaeology who wish to better understand the methods and cultural processes that go into the creation of pottery. The class aims to teach basic ceramic crafting within a scientific, historical, and theoretical context. The class will be held on Saturdays 11 am - 2 p.m., April 17- May 22. The fee is $165 for members and $185 for non-members.