Syracuse University

Alumna, Anthropology

Other Affiliations: Florida State University, Anthropology
Utica College, Sociology/Anthropology

PhD, 2011

Thesis Title: Of His Bones Are Coral Made: Submerged Cultural Resources, Site Formation Processes, And Multiple Scales of Interpretation in Coastal Ghana

About

I am a PhD in Anthropology (’11), and am currently one of only three archaeologists with a developed research program in the maritime archaeology of West Africa. My primary research concerns the Atlantic maritime trade in coastal Ghana, focusing on archaeological investigations of submerged cultural resources, including shipwrecks, associated with international coastal trade. This work is interdisciplinary, and lies at the intersection of African and European history, transatlantic studies, maritime archaeology, and environmental and maritime sciences. I am also currently serving as the Director for Underwater Archaeology for the Bunce Island Coalition, focused on research and restoration of the historic slave trading island of the same name in Sierra Leone.

I have conducted historical archaeological research in a number of world areas, including the southeastern United States, Turkey, Ghana, and Nigeria, and have helped to teach historical archaeological field schools in the US, Turkey, and Ghana. My research has been primarily concerned with historical archaeology of the Atlantic era, including intersections with African diaspora and international maritime trade in Ghana, and historical archaeology in Nigeria. My teaching interests lie primarily in global anthropological and archaeological themes, including such topics as the Atlantic trade; seafaring and interactions through time around the world; and the intersection of archaeology with other disciplines.

In my dissertation research, I investigate physical and cultural formation processes relating to historic trade and navigation practices within the larger Gold Coast seascape through the investigation of archaeological remains, including a circa 1650 shipwreck. My research in Nigeria is focused on an enigmatic well site situated in the savanna that is purported to have been a stop on a 19th century slave trade route, but preliminary investigations suggest this is not necessarily the case.