Research Interests
Archaeological method and theory, history of archaeology.
Social and gender archaeology.
Archaeology and nationalism, the state, and politics.
Gender and science, women in scientific professions and society.
Old World prehistory, Paleolithic archaeology, Central and Eastern European archaeology.
Prehistoric imagery, theories of symbolic representation.
Stone tool analysis (low and high-power use-wear).
Research Background
I conducted my dissertation fieldwork at the sites of Dolni Vestonice/Pavlov in the former Czechoslovakia and Willendorf in Austria. I have also worked on projects in Quebec, France, Italy and in Eastern Slovakia where I co-directed a project at the Paleolithic sites of Nizny Hrabovec and Cejkov. I studied archival and museum collections in France, Germany, Israel and Siberia. Having crossed several borders in my life, I maintain an active interest in the historical context of scientific work in general.
One of my major on-going interests that weaves through all my research and teaching is the history of knowledge production, particularly in archaeology and anthropology. The principal focus of my work is participation and contribution of women and minorities in these fields.
My research revolves around an examination of knowledge production about the past, particularly the very distant past for which only material evidence provides support for any claims. While dedicated to fieldwork and the material record, I consider myself mainly a theoretical scholar, interested in an inquiry of the history and theory building in my discipline of archaeology. My professional interests combine an analysis of the prehistoric past with a concern for present social and political contexts in which the science of archaeology operates. In pursuit of these topics, I have moved between anthropology, archaeology, history, social studies of science, and gender studies.
My current project “Practice in Stone: Engraved Prehistoric Landscapes in the Northern Cape, South Africa” focuses on stone engravings, a relatively understudied genre of prehistoric imagery in South Africa. Working with local collaborators, my team works with detailed microscopic photography of engravings at two geographically close but technically very different archaeological sites, Wildebeest Kuil and Nooigedacht. The immediate goal of my work is to capture the engravings as traces of manufacture. The larger theoretical question is to consider technological practice as a cultural phenomenon that has a tradition, and a regional and temporal specificity. Consequently a three dimensional recording of the engravings will allow me to focus on techniques of manufacture rather than the representational content or the land itself, with an attempt to discern a particular style. To this end I rely on three-dimensional computer reconstructions of the carvings. I plan to continue the fieldwork and expand the coverage of sites to other areas of the Northern Cape, to capture a wide range of settings and production techniques. An additional major contribution of the work is digital preservation of the heritage. Carvings, similarly to rock paintings anywhere in the world are exposed to the elements, animal and human destruction and are disappearing at an alarming rate. Moreover, creating the recordings will enable to create displays for viewing images of engravings that cannot be separated from the landscape. The possibility to inspect images in a museum setting may begin to address some of the educational issues related to frequent damage of rock art located in remote areas. We intend to deposit all our work with the McGregor Museum in Kimberley.
My research has been funded by the American Council of Learned Societies, the Leakey Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the School for Advanced Research in Human Experience (SAR) in Santa Fe, NM, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada, the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the University of North Carolina.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c37SQftC4Wc
Education
PhD, University of California Berkeley, 1995; MA, U.C. Berkeley, 1990; MA, Yale University, 1988; BA, McGill University, 1986