Archaeological research at the ancient Maya townsite of Alabama, Belize, presents many contextual challenges rarely faced by researchers working in other, more heavily studied, geographic subregions of the Eastern Maya lowlands. These challenges include a poorly preserved and fragmentary ceramic assemblage, a relatively short period of occupation (interpreted as a “boomtown”), and an earthen-core construction practice that complicates stratigraphic profiles. Together, these issues significantly constrain our ability to detail the timing of platform construction and residential occupation and abandonment processes. To address these challenges, we expanded our program of AMS ¹⁴C assays to apply a Bayesian statistical framework to refine age models for the deposition of materials associated with residential occupation and associated building-platform construction. In this poster presentation, we summarize the results of these analyses, highlight the successes and limitations of this approach given our contextual challenges, and outline lessons learned to guide future radiocarbon sample selection and excavation strategies at Alabama. Our study contributes to the ongoing program of research by the Stann Creek Regional Archaeology Project (SCRAP), which aims to better understand the timing and tempo of urban development processes at ancient Alabama and in the greater subregion of East-Central Belize.

Here, we introduce a new interdisciplinary research project called CAVEWEST. The project is inspired by recent efforts to document caves in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, which have yielded spectacular results. It is our intention to apply a similar systematic approach to the Western Cordillera of North America, from Alaska to the US-Mexico border. Specifically, CAVEWEST has two aims. One is to create a baseline database of information that is pertinent to research on, and management of, the known caves and rock shelters in the Western Cordillera. The second aim is to develop a network of Institutional Partners. These will include archaeological research centers, Indigenous organisations, and recreational caving clubs. The Institutional Partners will participate in the selection of the variables for which data will be collected, and in the design of the protocols for how the completed database will be accessed and shared. In addition, they will be the database’s primary users when it is complete. We anticipate that, among other things, CAVEWEST will result in a step-shift in the amount of archaeological and palaeontological research on the caves and rockshelters of the Western Cordillera and also greatly enhance management of the cultural resources they contain.

Analysis of microwear patterns on teeth has been proven to determine an animal's diet and therefore seasonality at death. This is based on the recognition that food characterizing general dietary patterns leaves unique signatures on the enamel of teeth. Unfortunately, this has been limited to broader inferences regarding diet, such as seasonal grazing and browsing. This research evaluates dental polish in archaeological bison as a means of determining seasonality for these specimens. Dental polish analysis is applied to bison teeth to assess signatures left by grasses with variable moisture content and exogenous grit to infer the season at death for these specimens. Correlations of dental polish with seasonal patterns were identified based on modern observations which determined four seasonal categories within southern Alberta based on these variables. Subsequently, dental polish of bison from several archaeological assemblages in the northern plains were examined, allowing for assessment of seasonality for these individuals.

In this poster, we introduce the New Brunswick Archaeological Bibliography Project, an effort to catalogue published sources about New Brunswick archaeology for New Brunswick Bibliographies Series (NBBS). The NBBS is a collaboration between the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Libraries and Gaspereau Press that aspires to support New Brunswick studies by focusing attention on the province’s published heritage. In the spirit of the series, we believe our bibliography highlights research emphases and gaps that offer direction for research. However, the bibliography also reflects trends in the dissemination of New Brunswick research through time and changes in the way the profession is practiced in the province. In this poster, we explore these trends and consider possible implications of them for policy, legislation, and future research.

Le projet Érosion est une initiative pluriannuelle pour évaluer et suivre l’érosion sur les sites et zones de potentiel archéologiques le long de deux rivières importantes pour la Nation W8banaki et ses ancêtres : Alsig8ntegw (rivière Saint-François) et W8linaktegw (rivière Bécancour). Le patrimoine archéologique riverain est particulièrement menacé par les changements climatiques et le développement immobilier. Il faut agir rapidement et intelligemment pour le pérenniser.

Le projet est une collaboration entre le Bureau du Ndakina, les Bureaux Environnement et Terre d’Odanak et Wôlinak, ainsi que les organismes de bassin versant COGESAF (rivière Saint-François) et GROBEC (rivière Bécancour). Il projet est financé par RCAANC. Il mise sur une approche multidisciplinaire et l’utilisation de plusieurs types de données pour assurer la gestion et la protection du patrimoine archéologique du Ndakina, le territoire ancestral de la Nation W8banaki. Dans la communication, nous décrirons la méthodologie employée ainsi que les avenues futures pour le projet. Notamment, il sera question des sources d’informations utilisées pour l’identification des zones de potentiel ainsi que le protocole de collecte de données sur le terrain. La méthodologie que nous proposons, bien que développée sur deux rivières en particulier, peut être appliquer sur d’autres cours d’eau.

Dr. Terry Gibson was a leader on the vanguard of consulting archaeology and influenced many to incorporate emerging technologies into their research. He was particularly important in developing archaeological geophysics. While we were contemporaries, in the early 1980s was an important mentor who introduced me to magnetic gradiometry (and later ground penetrating radar and magnetic susceptibility), and led me to explore how micro-computers might someday revolutionize archaeological cataloguing, database development, analysis and digital data presentation. His research innovation continued right up to his death with exploration of ‘real-time’ data collection and analysis in field archaeology. This poster celebrates aspects of his contribution and highlights projects that have Terry’s creative ‘fingerprints’ all over them.  

The Historic Resources Management Branch (HRMB) at the Government of Alberta is challenged with the protection of the province’s historic resources. In order to efficiently communicate concerns with industry representatives, the HRMB has developed the Listing of Historic Resources (LHR), a biannual publication of lands that contain known or high potential archaeological and palaeontological sites, Indigenous traditional use sites of a historical resource nature, and historic structures.

This poster will outline some of the methodological challenges faced in building and maintaining a large-scale spatial dataset representing diverse historical resources. We discuss how we collect data representing these resource sites and perform spatial analysis with FME Desktop and ArcMap to assign historic resource values to lands in accordance with HRMB regulations. Additionally we outline how the Listing is published to users in an online format using a Web GIS platform (ArcGIS Portal). Notable challenges that we highlight are integrating legacy data, protecting anonymity of historic resource sites, maintaining data quality, and delivering spatial information to a diverse user base with highly variable computing environments and familiarity with spatial data.