SAS Bulletin Editor
James M. VanderVeen, Ph.D., RPA, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Wiekamp Hall 2267, 1700 Mishawaka Avenue, Indiana University South Bend, South Bend, IN 46634-7111, USA; tel 574-520-4618; fax 574-520-5031; jmvander@iusb.edu
Bio: Jay VanderVeen is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University South Bend. He received his B.A. in Anthropology and Sociology from Albion College, studying Aztec pottery under Elizabeth Brumfiel. With his interest in Latin American prehistory piqued, he enrolled in Indiana University to study with Geoffrey Conrad. Jay participated in many terrestrial and marine excavations in the Caribbean and decided to focus on cultures in contact by investigating dietary changes through the use of absorbed residue analysis. He earned his M.A. in Historical Archaeology and his Ph.D. in Archaeology in the Social Context from IU. His research was done through the Biogeochemistry Laboratory there, with the help of Simon Brassell.
Jay now teaches future anthropological archaeologists and other scientists-to-be at IU South Bend. His classes range from Forensic Anthropology to Material Culture to Zombies. He directs the Material Culture Laboratory and runs field schools in both the Dominican Republic and northern Indiana.
Associate Editor, Archaeological Ceramics
Charles C. Kolb, National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Preservation and Access, Room 411, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506, USA; tel 202-606-8250; fax 202-606-8639; e-mail ckolb@neh.gov
Bio: Charlie Kolb, an Independent Scholar, is also Senior Program Officer in the Division of Preservation and Access at the National Endowment for the Humanities. He received a BA in Latin American history and a doctorate in anthropology and archaeology, focusing on Latin America and Central Asia, from The Pennsylvania State University, and has taken additional postgraduate work at a number of universities. From 1966 to 1983 he served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College, Penn State University Park campus, and Penn State-Erie, and was Director of Research and Grants and the Assistant Director of the Library at Mercyhurst College from 1983 to 1989. Prior to joining the Endowment in 1989, he was board member of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council from 1979 to 1989.
Since 1962 he has conducted archival, anthropological, historical, and ecological research in the North American Great Lakes region, central Mexico, northern Afghanistan, Uganda, and Peru. Cross-trained in the physical sciences and specializing in physicochemical analyses of ceramic materials, he is the author of more than 140 major publications (including six monographs), 42 encyclopedia articles, and 550+ book, film, and Web site reviews, and has presented more than 400 papers at professional meetings.
He also serves as an abstractor for scientific journals including the Getty' s Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts, and is associate or regional editor for technical bulletins in archaeology, including the Society for Archaeological Sciences [SAS] Bulletin (1993-date), La Tinaja A Newsletter of Archaeological Ceramics (1990-date), and Old Potter's Almanack (Ceramic Petrology Group, British Museum, 1993-date).
Kolb has organized and chaired annual Ceramic Ecology Symposia at the American Anthropological Association meetings since 1985. At NEH he is responsible for research and development grants and projects for preserving and providing intellectual access to still and moving image and recorded sound collections. He also works on the National Digital Newspaper Program with the Library of Congress and advises on material culture collections, environmental controls, and collections' storage and rehousing. Kolb also has responsibility for the Endowment' s "Recovering Iraq' s Past" and "Rediscovering Afghanistan" initiatives.
His particular interests include materials science - especially ceramics; archaeology, ethnology, and ethnohistory; military, political, and diplomatic history; cartography; demography; and pedagogy. His regional specializations and interest include Mesoamerica; Central, South and West Asia; Northeastern North America; the Andean Region, and East Africa.
Associate Editor, Archaeological Chemistry
Ruth Ann Armitage, Department of Chemistry, Eastern Michigan University, 225 Mark Jefferson, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, tel 734-487-0290, email rarmitage@emich.edu, website http://people.emich.edu/rarmitage/rarmitage.htm
Bio: Ruth Ann Armitage is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Eastern Michigan University. She received a B.A. in Chemistry from Thiel College in Greenville, PA. While still a student, Ruth Ann participated in an archaeological field school at Slippery Rock University that confirmed her desire to learn more about archaeological science. She completed a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Texas A&M University with Dr. Marvin Rowe on radiocarbon dating of charcoal-pigmented rock paintings. She has been an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, working closely with the archaeologists at Historic St. Mary’s City, the site of the original settlement of the Maryland Colony. Dr. Armitage moved to EMU in Ypsilanti, MI in 2001, where she has continued her studies of 17th century bricks and soils from that site. During her tenure at EMU, she has been the major research advisor to nine M.S. students and 20 undergraduates. She has had published 18 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, has given many invited talks, and is a coauthor and/or presenter of more than 80 scientific presentations at regional, national, and international meetings. Dr. Armitage and her students are currently using GC-MS and will soon begin developing direct analysis in real time (DART) mass spectrometry methods to characterize and date by plasma-chemical oxidation-AMS archaeological materials, including rock paintings, fragile organic artifacts, and residues.
Bio: Thomas Fenn is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Archaeological Sciences at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, where he is examining ancient glass production in the Western Mediterranean utilizing compositional and isotpic analyses. Tom also is a Visiting Scholar in the School of Anthropology at The University of Arizona, Tucson. He received his B.A. in Anthropology (minors in Geosciences and Classics) from the University of Maine, Orono, where he worked on prehistoric and Colonial era archaeological sites, and worked for several years as the chief metals conservator for the Historical Archaeology Laboratory. He received his M.Sc. in Geology (minor in Anthropology) from the University of New Orleans, where his thesis topic was on the geochemistry of copper artifacts associated with the Old Copper Culture in northern Wisconsin. He received his PhD from the School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, with a dissertation emphasizing the application of heavy isotope (e.g., Pb, Sr) analysis to archaeological problems, including examining ceramics, metals and glass production and movement in both the New World and Africa. While at the University of Arizona, Tom was awarded (in 2 different years) a National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Fellowship which provided support while receiving isotopic analysis training and for analysis of his dissertation related samples.
Tom’s research interests are primarily in examining early technologies, technological knowledge and the transmission of technology and knowledge, as well as more overarching questions on long distance trade, and local, regional and long distance contacts and exchange. His analytical experience includes sample preparation and analysis with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), and multi-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). He has taught introductory courses in world archaeology and has several chapters published in books.
Associate Editor, Bioarchaeology
Gordon F.M. Rakita, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, & Criminal Justice, University of North Florida, Building 2, Room 1100, 4567 St. Johns Bluff Rd., South Jacksonville, FL 32224-2659, USA; tel 904-620-1658; fax 904-620-2540; e-mail grakita@unf.edu
Bio: Dr. Rakita is Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of North Florida. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico and a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His areas of expertise include bioarchaeology, mortuary and other ritual behavior, the prehistory of southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, emergent social complexity, evolutionary theory, human skeletal biology, archaeological method, theory, and research design, and statistical data analyses. He has received numerous professional grants including one from the U.S. National Science Foundation. Dr. Rakita has co-authored one volume on Illinois Hopewell ceremonialism and has co-edited one volume on the application of evolutionary theory to the archaeological record and was lead editor of another volume on prehistoric mortuary ritual. His most recent book is a study of prehispanic ritual behavior in northern Mexico. He has authored or co-authored a dozen peer-reviewed articles or book chapters and has presented 40 professional papers and posters at national and international meetings. He has participated in a variety of anthropological field research throughout North America including projects in Chihuahua, North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, and Barbados. At UNF, Dr. Rakita teaches classes on general anthropology, physical anthropology, mortuary studies, forensic sciences, archaeology, the anthropology of religion, and southwestern cultures.
Associate Editor, Book Reviews
David V. Hill, Associate, Center For Big Bend Studies, Alpine, Texas.2770 South Elmira St. Unit 38, Denver, Colorado 80231,USA; tel (303) 337-2947 USA; e-mail dhill1@att.net; web http://www.sulross.edu/cbbs/
Bio: David Hill is an archaeological consultant currently working with indigenous peoples in the southwestern United States, federal and state agencies and university-based research programs. He holds a B.A in anthropology (with a Spanish minor) from the University of Tulsa, an M.A. in anthropology (with a geology minor) from Wichita State University, and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. He has conducted research at the Smithsonian Institution, the British Museum Department of the Near East and the Royal Ontario Museum. Dr. Hill s analytical expertise includes; thin section petrography of ceramics, soils and archaeological stone, Electron Microprobe, Inductively Coupled Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and quantative statistical and graphical techniques. While the majority of Dr. Hill s fieldwork has taken place in the southwestern United States, he has also conducted fieldwork in northern Mexico and China. His dissertation research focused on reconstructing the origins and technological development of lead-based pottery glazes in Mesopotamia. This research was funded by grants from University of Texas at Austin, Collage of Liberal Arts Graduate Research Grant for Stable Lead Isotope Analysis, and the Big 10 Nuclear Reactor Consortia Mini-Grant Program for Neutron Activation Analysis. He has also conducted analysis of ceramics from Antigua, Barbados, China, Equador, Panama, the Phillippines, the Tekta Burnu a Greek Classical Period shipwreck and archaeological sites across the United States with over 200 published and unpublished manuscripts presenting the results of these studies.
David research interests includes the study of technological innovation and conservatism and their relationship to technology; how ethnicity and cultural learning and the properties of raw materials interact to affect ceramic technology, the cultural uses of geological materials, and the production of ceramics by mobile people. He has taught courses in archaeological method and theory, cultural and physical anthropology. He also has published in Archaeometry, The Journal of Archaeological Science, American Antiquity and in numerous edited volumes published in the United States, China and Mexico.
Associate Editor, Geoarchaeology
Jane Entwistle, Geography, School of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Sandyford Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK; tel 44(0)191-227-3017; fax 44(0)191-227-4715; email: jane.entwistle@northumbria.ac.uk
Bio: Jane A. Entwistle is a physical geographer, and Head of Geography, in the School of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle. She completed her undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) studies at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Wales. While her particular interests lie in the area of geoarchaeology and environmental change, her expertise is in soil geochemistry, and she has been involved in a wide range of soil chemistry related projects. Over the past 15 years, she has undertaken research with funding from the Royal Geographical Society, Natural Environment Research Council, Heritage Lottery Fund, British Council and other agencies. Previous projects, for example, include: landscape studies as part of the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project; Platinum Group Elements in human tissues and urban environments; Radioecological studies in Belarus; Risk assessment of contaminated land and the role of physiologically-based extraction procedures. Her research has been published in journals ranging from the Journal of Archaeological Science and Archaeological Prospection, to Health Physics and Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis.
Associate Editor, Dating:
Gregory Hodgins, NSF Arizona AMS Facility, Physics and Atmospheric Sciences, 1118 E. 4th Street, University of Arizona, Box 0081, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; tel 520-621-3619; fax 520-621-4721; e-mail ghodgins@physics.arizona.edu
Associate Editor, Meetings Calendar
Rachel S. Popelka-Filcoff, Research Associate, School of Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences Building, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia 5001; tel 61-8-8201-5526; fax 61-8-8201-2905; e-mail rachel.popelkafilcoff@flinders.edu.au
Bio: Rachel Popelka-Filcoff is a Research Associate in the School of Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Sciences at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). She received her B.A. in Archaeology and Classics from Washington University in St. Louis, focusing on Classical archaeology. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Missouri where she was also a NSF Graduate Fellow, focusing on radioanalytical chemistry and archaeometry. After receiving her doctorate, she was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, working on neutron activation analysis methodology as part of the Nuclear Methods Team.
Her research interests are primarily in the application of radioanalytical analytical chemistry techniques to archaeological questions such as technology and exchange. Her projects involve the geochemical and mineralogical analysis of many types of artifacts including pigments, ceramics, obsidian, and metals. Her graduate work and current research project focuses on the analysis of iron oxide pigments (ochre) to understand ancient and modern technologies, use and trade. Rachel s technical expertise is in neutron activation analysis (NAA), x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), and mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy. She has also participated in excavations in Greece, Jordan and Italy. Her teaching includes courses in global warming and climate change, nuclear chemistry and radiochemistry, and first-year chemistry.
Rachel has published in Journal of Archaeological Science, and Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry among others. She is also a co-editor of Archaeological Chemistry: Analytical Techniques and Archaeological Interpretation, Vol. 968 as part of the American Chemical Society Series along with Michael Glascock and Jeff Speakman.
Associate Editor, Remote Sensing and GIS
Apostolos Sarris, Laboratory of Geophysical - Satellite Remote Sensing & Archaeoenvironment, Institute of Mediterranean Studies, Foundation of Research & Technology Hellas, Melissinou & Nikiforou Foka 130, P.O. Box 119, Rethymnon 74100, Crete, Greece; tel (30)-831-25146, (30)-831-56627; fax (30)-831-25810; e-mail: asaris@ret.forthnet.gr
Bio: Born in Chania, Crete, Greece in 1963. He received a B.A. in Astronomy & Physics (1985) and M.A. in Physics (1988) at Boston Unversity (1985) and a M.Sc. (1990) and a Ph.D. in Physics (1992) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Since then he became active in education and research, being a contracted lecturer at the University of Maryland (European Division), the National Hellenic Airforce Academy, the University of Crete, the Technological Educational Institute of Crete and the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki.
Currently he is a researcher at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies - FORTH and director of the Laboratory of Geophysical and Satellite Remote Sensing & Archaeo-environment. The Lab is part of the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories of Europe (AGILE) and of EPOCH consortium. His research interests span from Applied Geophysics and Remote Sensing to Geophysical Prospection of Archaeological Sites, Site Assessment and Modelling through the Application of Remote Sensing/GIS techniques, Satellite Remote Sensing, Image Processing, Classification techniques and Environmental Research-Development Strategies. Until now he has organized, planned and participated in more than 100 geophysical/satellite remote sensing/GIS/GPS projects in Greece, U.S.A., Cyprus, Hungary, Albania, and Egypt. He has written 4 chapters in books, 1 Proceedings Volume, 34 refereed journal papers, 48 refereed papers in books of proceedings, 12 in non-refereed journals, 70 Technical Reports, 3 Technical Guides/Notes.
He is acting as an Assistant National representative in the Scientific Committee for Peace and Safety of Safety of ΝΑΤΟ (ΝΑΤΟ/Committee on Science for Peace and Security/SPS) (2006-2010), vice-chair of the International Society for Archaeological Prospection (ISAP), and associate editor of the Society for Archaeological Sciences Bulletin and of Archaeological Prospection Journal.
