Niels Koning, a Bachelor student of the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, conducted a research internship on paleoethnobotany and paleoecology under the supervision of Dr. Jaime R. Pagán-Jiménez in the context of the ERC Synergy Project NEXUS1492 led by Prof. Dr. Corinne L. Hofman. His research delved into phytolith analysis of modern top soils from four plots that correspond to different forest types in the southern foothills of the Northern Range of the Dominican Republic. Niels compared modern phytolith results with vegetation currently known to grow in the selected areas. This research was aimed at assessing if meaningful correlations exist between recovered modern phytoliths and observed plant communities. The main goal was to test if ancient phytolith assemblages recovered by different means in buried contexts are reliable indicators of the past floristic communities associated with the archaeological sites studied by Nexus 1492 in the Dominican Republic.
Sponsored by the Leiden University’s Nexus 1492 project and led by Dr. Noa Corcoran-Tadd, we left the warm summer of the Netherlands behind to survey parts of the 'ruta de plata' in Tacora (Arica) located in the northern highland part of chilly Chile.
Andy J. Ciofalo, William F. Keegan, Michael P. Pateman, Jaime R. Pagán-Jiménez, and Corinne L. Hofman recently published a new article in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports entitled "Determining precolonial botanical foodways: starch recovery and analysis, Long Island, The Bahamas. Read the abstract below!
Joseph Sony Jean and Corinne L. Hofman recently published a chapter entitled "Dynamiques interculturelles des traces mémorelles amérindiennes d'Haïti" in the volume entitled "La Mémoire de l'Esclavage. Traces mémorielles de l'esclavage et des traites dans l'espace atlantique", edited by L. Aje and N. Gachon.
Nexus 1492 would like to congratulate P.I. Corinne L. Hofman, who has been made a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy for the humanities and social sciences. She is among 76 distinguished scholars to be elected to the fellowship in recognition of her work in the field of archaeology.
Between June 1st and July 1st, Dr. Lewis Borck along with several students from Leiden University conducted fieldwork in the American Southwest in the context of the Gallina Landscapes of History Project.
Hayley L. Mickleburgh (Leiden University) and Daniel J. Wescott (Texas State University) recently published a new article in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports entitled 'Controlled experimental observations on joint disarticulation and bone displacement of a human body in an open pit: Implications for funerary archaeology'. Read the abstract below!
As part of NEXUS 1492 objectives of popularizing the results of the archaeological research the different members of the team are producing, on Saturday June 16th Dr. Eduardo Herrera Malatesta gave a lecture on his PhD thesis results for the community of San Fernando de Montecristi.
The Nexus team in Valverde, Dominican Republic, is now half way through the 2018 excavation campaign. Victoria Davies, one of the participating Leiden University students, gives us an update!
This new article was recently published in Nature's Scientific Reports and forms a collaboration between various researchers including several from the Nexus 1492. Read the abstract below!
