REU Site: Bioarchaeology of Bronze Age Social Systems

University Of South Alabama, Mobile AL

Investigators

Abstract

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). It has both scientific and societal benefits, and it integrates research and education. The Bioarchaeology of Bronze Age Social Systems REU program supports a diverse pool of nationally recruited undergraduates engaged in the entire research process from hypothesis formation to data collection, analysis, public outreach, and publication. Teams of students collaborate with an interdisciplinary group of dynamic scientists and professionals while conducting original research on two Bronze Age skeletal collections, examining how alternative pathways to social complexity during an increasingly globalized Bronze Age were embodied in the human skeleton and reflected in mortuary practices. Many of these bioarchaeological methods have applications to forensic anthropology as well, and by illustrating their utility and accuracy, students may contribute to advancing the use of more accurate demographic techniques in contemporary criminal cases involving commingled remains. Students also receive training on how to effectively disseminate their research results to both academics and the broader public all while engaging in discussions surrounding the ethics of working with human remains. Participants similarly receive mentorship in professional development via guest scientists and with established summer undergraduate research workshops at the University of South Alabama. Prior to conference presentations, students engage with members of the local community to share their project findings using weekly blogs, social media posts, posters, and digital stories. This project focuses on two large skeletal collections dating to 2700-2000 BCE. These Bronze Age communities did not develop highly stratified social systems, but instead maintained tribal, kin-based systems of social organization. Subsequently, an analysis of these skeletons presents a unique opportunity for an in-depth examination of the socioeconomic, political, and environmental circumstances in which so-called peripheral populations resisted stratification, adapted to environmental change, and negotiated their own identities. Students collaborate with top scholars and use innovative techniques well-suited to the challenges of working with commingled collections to answer questions about changing mortuary practices and human lifeways in this region, but also to more broadly compare these social trajectories to paths of complexity taken elsewhere. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.