Celebrating The Women of Archaeology – 2017 Edition

Written by: Dani Bradford, Steph Halmhofer, and Nikki Martensen

*Authors and contributors listed in alphabetical order

**Featured image from Steph Halmhofer

 

It all started with a suggestion on Twitter by @ArchyFantasies to start a “women of archaeology support group”. The support group began on Twitter and then quickly moved to Slack to allow for more people to join, as the response to the group was overwhelmingly positive. Initial conversation turned to the inclusion of women in round-up lists (i.e. top 10 archaeological discoveries, best Twitter accounts to follow, etc.), after Dani Bradford mentioned the disproportionately small representation of women included within these lists. The lack of women representation in archaeology is not a new problem (for examples, check out “Women in Archaeology” (Claassen, 1994) and “Excavating Women: A History of Women in European Archaeology” (Diaz-Andreu and Stig Sørensen, 1998)). It’s also not a problem limited to archaeology, as Brian Switek wrote of palaeontology for Wired. Today projects like those of Trowelblazers’ Raising Horizons and the Bearded Lady Project are working hard to change the stereotypes of women within a variety of fields and bring to light their important contributions both historically and today.

 

Building off the idea of increasing representation and with our brains buzzing after the suggestion above from April Beisaw, the authors decided to round-up and celebrate the accomplishments of women in archaeology in 2017. We didn’t want to do a ranked round-up, we wanted to give everyone the chance to decide for themselves what they wanted to celebrate. We took to social media and asked the women of archaeology to share with us what they were proud to have worked on in 2017. From academic articles to blogs, to curating exhibits and opening dialogues on disability and accessibility, the women of archaeology were certainly busy through 2017! Join us in celebrating all of these incredible women and what they’re proud to have accomplished in the past year!

If you’re a woman in archaeology and would like to join our Slack support group, click here

Be sure to check out the 2017 Day of Archaeology contributions, which includes many, many wonderful woman (a project initially co-founded by @lornarichardson)

Make sure you give a listen to the Women in Archaeology podcast, hosted by and featuring several fantastic women!

Name	Type of Accomplishment	Accomplishment & Link (when possible)
Sarah Ashbridge	Project member (Operation Nightingale)	Exercise: Joan of Arc
Kelli Barnes	Journal Article	“Compound-Specific Amino Acid δ 15 N Values in Archaeological Shell: Assessing Diagenetic Integrity and Potential for Isotopic Baseline Reconstruction”
April Beisaw	Book Chapter	Chapter 6, “Ruined by the Thirst for Urban Prosperity: Contemporary Archaeology of City Water Systems”
Tyla Beke	Field Archaeologist	“History unearthed in NOTL”
Katie Biittner	Blog	Anthropology As
Alexis M. Christensen Cassandra Clark	Blog Post/Conference Presentation (1st Public Archaeology Twitter Conference) Presented results of MA thesis at Int’l Society for Academic Research on Shamanism Conference 2017	“Archaeology in Popular Comics and Graphic Novels” – My Contribution to the 1st Public Archaeology Twitter Conference “Prehistoric Female Shamanism in the Americas: An Analysis of Pre-Contact Graves”
Benjamina Dadzie	MA Thesis	“New Finds from Henry Townsend Letters”
Claire Ebert Savannah Ebony	Journal Article Undergraduate Thesis	“Regional response to drought during the formation and decline of Preclassic Maya societies” “Decorated Females, Figurines & Fragments of Ancient Egypt”
Freya Fenton	Conference Presentation (European Association of Archaeologists 2017)	“Jade Dragons and Wooden Crosses: Changing Attitudes to Archaeological Artefacts Within the Tomb Raider Franchise”
Kate Fitzpatrick	MA Thesis	“The integration of an established industry: glass in the early Roman Empire”
Alex Fitzpatrick	Blog Post	“Keeper of the Archives: Sith Archaeology and Propaganda”
Sarah Foxley	Report	“Results of the 2016 Content and Computing Survey for Historic Environment Records in England”
Rebecca Gilmour	PhD Thesis	“Resilient Romans: Cross-Sectional Evidence for Long-Term Functional Consequences of Extremity Trauma”
Helen Goodchild	Journal Article	“Borgring: the discovery of a Viking Age ring fortress”
Alice Gorman	Website Article	“Friday essay: trace fossils – the silence of Ediacara, the shadow of uranium”
Dorothy Graves MacEwan	Journal Article	“Monuments and Landscape: Investigating a Prehistoric Monument Complex at Lochbrow, Dumfries and Galloway”
Steph Halmhofer	Comic Book Review	Tomb Raider: Survivor’s Crusade #1 – An Archaeologist’s Take
Lesley Howse	Research project	Alarniq Archaeology Project
Leah Iselmoe	Conference presentation (Canadian Archaeological Association 2017)	“Women Within the Land: Salish Womens Puberty Landworks in the Archaeological Record”
Catrine Jarman	Website Article	“The truth about Easter Island: a sustainable society has been falsely blamed for its own demise”
Ilka Knüppel Gray	MA Thesis	“The Search for Jesus’ Final Steps: How Archaeological and Literary Evidence Reroutes the Via Dolorosa”
Robyn Lacy	Blog	The Spade and the Grave
Reecie Levin	Journal Article	“Breadfruit Fermentation in Pohnpei, Micronesia: Site Formation, Archaeological Visibility, and Interpretive Strategies”
Michelle Low	Conference Presentation (Tea With the Sphinx 2017)	“Ancient Egypt Reception Studies – The Use of ‘Archaeogaming’ to Educate Digital Natives”
Nikki Martensen	Blog Post	“An introduction to User Experience for Archaeologists and Heritage Professional”
Laura Mary	Blog Post	“Sexism in the archaeological discipline: The situation in the French-speaking world”
Sarah McClure	Journal Article	“Farming with Animals: Domesticated Animals and Taxonomic Diversity in the Cardial Neolithic of the Western Mediterranean”
Lauren McIntyre	Journal Article	“The York 113: osteological analysis of 10 mass graves from Fishergate, York”
Kirsty Millican	Journal Article	“Monuments and Landscape: Investigating a Prehistoric Monument Complex at Lochbrow, Dumfries and Galloway”
Diana Moreiras	Website Article	“Who did the Aztecs kill during their bloody sacrifices at Templo Mayor?”
Aisling Nash	Project Report (also published in British Archaeology, September/October)	“Have you Found Anything Yet?”
Theresa O’Mahoney	MA Thesis	“Empowering Archaeology: What model of disability do people with dyslexia in university archaeology courses experience?”
Vanessa Oakden	Report Chapter	Chapter 10, Section 2, ““Cheshire Past in 2014; Finds Reported under the Portable Antiquities Scheme”
Sara Rich	Blog	Shipwreck Hauntography
Lucy Shipley	Book	“The Etruscans: Lost Civiizations”
Florence Smith Nicholls Amanda Suko	Blog Post Journal Article	“Barriers to Entry in Archaeogaming” “Practice Molds Place: Communities of Pottery Production and Situated Identities at Location 3 (AgHk-54)”
Kisha Supernant	Journal Article	“Modeling Métis mobility? Evaluating least cost paths and indigenous landscapes in the Canadian west”
Becky Sykes	Exhibition Manager	Raising Horizons
Michelle Turner	Blog Post	“Legislative Attacks on Historic Preservation and Archaeological Research”
Annelies Van de Ven	Exhibition Curation	“(Re-)Producing Power”
Melandri Vlok	Journal Article	“A New Application of the Bioarchaeology of Care Approach: A Case Study from the Metal Period, the Philippines”
Sarah Ward	BBC Interview (The Conversation)	“Diving Into the Past”