Posing with my Poster
Author: Liley Bozard | Major: Anthropology | Semester: Fall 2023
Hello all who may find themselves reading this! My name is Liley Bozard, and I am a senior at the Fulbright College of the University of Arkansas. I am majoring in Anthropology, with a specialization in archeology and a minor in history. I am currently conducting research for my honors thesis, “A Three-Dimensional Analysis of Parkin Phase Vessels, ca. AD 1450, Eastern Arkansas,” in which I am advised by Dr. Jessica Kowalski, a professor and station archaeologist for the Arkansas Archeological Survey. I began research for my thesis during the spring 2023 semester and recently attended the Southeastern Archaeological Conference to pose some updates concerning my work during a poster symposium. While I still have a semester until I defend my thesis and graduate, I plan to become an archeological technician for a year and then return to graduate school!
Largely, the scope of my research concerns a whole vessel assemblage from Parkin and Nodena Phase sites in eastern Arkansas, ca. AD 1450, in which I am using 3D technology to understand how food preparation and ceremonial activity may differ between the partially contemporaneous sites. During this process, I will be 3D scanning a sample from the Parkin complex and comparing my results with previously scanned Nodena vessels. While this work does seek to answer the questions I set forth above, it will help bridge research gaps concerning the possibilities of analyzing cultural materials using digital methods. Prior to this research, most work concerning the digitization of artifacts has been used by various agencies as educational outreach to provide accessible models for the public.
Like most honors students, choosing my topic was an incredibly difficult feat because my research interests encompassed a broad set of themes; however, selecting the right professor as my advisor helped me narrow down my subject! I first met my future advisor, Dr. Jessica Kowalski, when I was a freshman looking to volunteer at the Archaeological Survey. After volunteering and eventually working for the Survey, I developed a very close relationship with Dr. Kowalski and felt comfortable enough to ask her to advise me throughout this process. During this time, I was expressing interest in doing work at Parkin, as there has been limited research done at this site, and I felt that I could bridge some gaps in the research. As such, we decided this would be a great way to incorporate 3D technologies to analyze Parkin ceramics and possibly a webpage to share my data with the public!
Although Dr. Kowalski has been so helpful during my time at the university (I often call her my mom away from home because of how generous she has been in shaping my education), so many people have supported my studies. Largely, I would like to thank the entire staff at the Arkansas Archeological Survey in Fayetteville and our affiliates across the state, as they have allowed me to use their 3D scanning machines and access the materials I needed. Most importantly, I also want to express the upmost gratitude to the Quapaw Nation, the descendant community of the sites I have been researching and have graciously allowed me to access the vessels I will be scanning.
While my research is far from over, I decided to attend the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this semester to pose some updates in my research process. Working closely with my advisor, we presented a poster at this conference titled “The Analytical Possibilities of 3D Models and Virtual Museums: Making Use Ceramic Vessel Data from Arkansas.” While this poster does address some of my research themes and the simple analysis of Nodena phase vessels, it primarily promotes the benefits of using digital technologies to study delicate cultural materials. During my presentation, I met various scholars and students who were also interested in how to incorporate such methods into their own research, and it was very enlightening to share my own experiences with them! While I still have much to do in terms of my own research, I plan to finish 3D scanning vessels from the Parkin site in early January and will then analyze the data and try to understand how food preparation and consumption may differ in communities of eastern Arkansas, ca. AD 1450.