Poster Session
Poster Session
Session Type:
Poster
Session Date and Time:
Friday, 22 May, 2026 - 14:00 to 15:50
Presentations
Abstract
14:00
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Resource depression is difficult to detect archaeologically. Zooarchaeological analyses distinguish human and environmental impacts on historical landscapes, but modern proxy data strengthen interpretations of past resource use. Method and theory evaluating the impact of hunting pressure on archaeological white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations using body size analyses are well-developed. This research requires location, sex, and management strategy data from modern individuals, but this has not been extensively collected for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). Mule deer have long been significant to Indigenous communities. Mule deer decrease in abundance from Pueblo I to Pueblo III (750–1350 CE) in the central Mesa Verde region. Several well-supported case studies hypothesize that overhunting could explain this decline. A lack of comparative data limits further evaluation of this hypothesis. We develop a modern mule deer database and a white-tailed deer body size correction factor to better interpret hunting pressure impacts on archaeological mule deer.
14:00
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
With the shifting of climate, infrastructure development and diseases, the habitat of the wild olive tree - Olea europaea var. sylvertris - faces transformation. In this ethnographic case study, I partnered with Vrtovi Lunjskih Maslina (The Olive gardens of Lun) and the many families of Lun, Croatia to investigate how ethnobotanical management practices are negotiated and how the wild olive forest (maslinik) is created in turn. Within the communal forest, grafting acted as a care practice in which ownership is claimed. Pruning, implicated in practices of grafting, develops the visual and biological landscape of the forest, as height and growth are shaped by both human and multispecies factors. After three months of interviews, participant observation, and archival research, both material care practices showed essential, not only to the tree’s biological form but also to the moral claims that define contemporary forest boundaries.
14:00
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Glassy nodules are inorganic ecofacts produced within thermal features and often found within archaeological contexts in the Middle East. They are formed as a result of high firing temperatures that melt amorphous silica and phytoliths within plants. Grasses are particularly high producers of phytoliths and, therefore, contexts containing significant amounts of burned grassy fuels (e.g. dung with processed dried grass or cereal processing waste) are likely to produce these nodules. Here, we test whether glassy nodules are the result of melted phytoliths combining into larger bodies, and we predict that higher firing temperatures will lead to larger sized nodules. We experimentally burned emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccom) at a range of temperatures and documented the amount and size of glassy nodules produced. We found there is a relationship between firing temperature and the size and number of glassy nodules.
14:00
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Plant studies in archaeological sites – archaeobotany – depend on reference collections – i.e., specimen databases – for comparative analysis that support the identification of families and genera of plants. Reference collections from herbaria provide a robust comparison because specimens are well identified by specialists. However, sampling procedures are destructive and sample sizes represent a loss of plant material in specimens. I explored the limitations of small sample sizes (< 0.1 g) for extracting pollen and phytoliths from contemporary plants. I tested the sampling strategy with fresh plants in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and smaller samples did not represent a limitation for extracting pollen and phytoliths. I sampled pollen and phytoliths from herbarium specimens in Costa Rica to develop an extended specimen network – multiple sources of information and subcollections built from a single specimen. The extended specimens represented a remarkable opportunity for encouraging collaborations between botany and archaeology.
14:00
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
White sage (Salvia apiana) is marketed globally for spiritual and commercial use, yet for the Kumeyaay of northwestern Baja California it remains a living relative embedded in ceremonial practice, territorial memory, and ecological responsibility. This research examines white sage as a culturally significant plant sustained through relational harvesting practices and intergenerational knowledge transmission.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork (2021–2023), including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and landscape walks with Kumeyaay knowledge holders, this study documents local criteria for plant health, seasonal gathering protocols, and ethical guidelines governing harvest. Findings demonstrate that traditional practices emphasize selective cutting, spatial rotation, and spiritual accountability, fostering plant regeneration and landscape continuity.
As global demand and restricted territorial access intensify, these stewardship systems face growing strain. Centering Kumeyaay ethnobotanical knowledge highlights Indigenous biocultural stewardship as essential to sustaining culturally significant flora worldwide.
14:00
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Prior to European settlement, grasslands - including prairies, savannas, and barrens - covered vast areas of the United States and supported biocultural landscapes shaped through long-term Indigenous presence and stewardship. Today, these systems are reduced, contributing to declines in biodiversity, pollinators, and culturally important plants central to Tribal foods, medicine, lifeways, and indigenous knowledges. This project centers ethnobotanical priorities by evaluating Midwestern prairie restorations, emphasizing seed mixes and their capacity to support culturally significant plants and their pollinator relations. We examined how prairie restoration seed mixes vary across space and time, how they differ from remnant communities, their potential relevance to Indigenous cultural and ecological needs, and ethical considerations surrounding the use of historic ethnobotanical data. Results have the potential to reestablish and maintain relationships between tribal communities and medicinal plants, bees, and the entire ecosystem through knowledge-building and future restoration efforts that promote self-sustaining harvests.
14:00
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
The chinampa agroecosystem reflects a precolonial agricultural practice that persists in the wetlands of Xochimilco and contributes to the sustainability of urban wetlands and Mexico City. Due to habitat degradation and current disuse, aquatic quelites (native edible greens), our project focuses on collaboration among farmers, local residents, community organizations, as well as national and local public authorities to rescue traditional knowledge of the management and consumption of : Hydrocotyle ranunculoides (malacotl), Jaegeria bellidiflora (acacapacquílitl), Berula erecta (tzayanalquilitl), and Nasturtium officinale (berro). Participative research includes: in situ and ex situ propagation, enhancement of cultivation practices, documentation of sensorial and nutritional properties, revalorization and enrichment of traditional cuisine.
14:00
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Our study examines how traditional foodways and ecological knowledge among pre-colonial Cherokee communities influenced soil health, drawing on archaeobotanical data from sites across the southeastern United States, the ancestral homeland of the Cherokee. We further investigate how post-colonial transitions, including the shift from traditional agricultural practices to industrialization, altered local ecological structures through analyses informed by historical record and contemporary soil testing methods. Despite growing interest in Indigenous ecological systems, there remains a significant gap in understanding how cultural and ideological changes nested ecological relationships across temporo-spatial dimensions. Following colonization and industrialization, both plant species and the animals dependent on them have faced compounding pressures from climate change. By exploring the synergistic relationships between plants and soil health within traditional agricultural systems, this research provides critical insights for ecological restoration, tribal food sovereignty initiatives, and broader global conservation efforts.
Presentations
| Abstract | |
|---|---|
| 14:00 |
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Resource depression is difficult to detect archaeologically. Zooarchaeological analyses distinguish human and environmental impacts on historical landscapes, but modern proxy data strengthen interpretations of past resource use. Method and theory evaluating the impact of hunting pressure on archaeological white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations using body size analyses are well-developed. This research requires location, sex, and management strategy data from modern individuals, but this has not been extensively collected for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). Mule deer have long been significant to Indigenous communities. Mule deer decrease in abundance from Pueblo I to Pueblo III (750–1350 CE) in the central Mesa Verde region. Several well-supported case studies hypothesize that overhunting could explain this decline. A lack of comparative data limits further evaluation of this hypothesis. We develop a modern mule deer database and a white-tailed deer body size correction factor to better interpret hunting pressure impacts on archaeological mule deer. |
| 14:00 |
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
With the shifting of climate, infrastructure development and diseases, the habitat of the wild olive tree - Olea europaea var. sylvertris - faces transformation. In this ethnographic case study, I partnered with Vrtovi Lunjskih Maslina (The Olive gardens of Lun) and the many families of Lun, Croatia to investigate how ethnobotanical management practices are negotiated and how the wild olive forest (maslinik) is created in turn. Within the communal forest, grafting acted as a care practice in which ownership is claimed. Pruning, implicated in practices of grafting, develops the visual and biological landscape of the forest, as height and growth are shaped by both human and multispecies factors. After three months of interviews, participant observation, and archival research, both material care practices showed essential, not only to the tree’s biological form but also to the moral claims that define contemporary forest boundaries. |
| 14:00 |
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Glassy nodules are inorganic ecofacts produced within thermal features and often found within archaeological contexts in the Middle East. They are formed as a result of high firing temperatures that melt amorphous silica and phytoliths within plants. Grasses are particularly high producers of phytoliths and, therefore, contexts containing significant amounts of burned grassy fuels (e.g. dung with processed dried grass or cereal processing waste) are likely to produce these nodules. Here, we test whether glassy nodules are the result of melted phytoliths combining into larger bodies, and we predict that higher firing temperatures will lead to larger sized nodules. We experimentally burned emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccom) at a range of temperatures and documented the amount and size of glassy nodules produced. We found there is a relationship between firing temperature and the size and number of glassy nodules. |
| 14:00 |
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Plant studies in archaeological sites – archaeobotany – depend on reference collections – i.e., specimen databases – for comparative analysis that support the identification of families and genera of plants. Reference collections from herbaria provide a robust comparison because specimens are well identified by specialists. However, sampling procedures are destructive and sample sizes represent a loss of plant material in specimens. I explored the limitations of small sample sizes (< 0.1 g) for extracting pollen and phytoliths from contemporary plants. I tested the sampling strategy with fresh plants in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and smaller samples did not represent a limitation for extracting pollen and phytoliths. I sampled pollen and phytoliths from herbarium specimens in Costa Rica to develop an extended specimen network – multiple sources of information and subcollections built from a single specimen. The extended specimens represented a remarkable opportunity for encouraging collaborations between botany and archaeology. |
| 14:00 |
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
White sage (Salvia apiana) is marketed globally for spiritual and commercial use, yet for the Kumeyaay of northwestern Baja California it remains a living relative embedded in ceremonial practice, territorial memory, and ecological responsibility. This research examines white sage as a culturally significant plant sustained through relational harvesting practices and intergenerational knowledge transmission. Based on ethnographic fieldwork (2021–2023), including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and landscape walks with Kumeyaay knowledge holders, this study documents local criteria for plant health, seasonal gathering protocols, and ethical guidelines governing harvest. Findings demonstrate that traditional practices emphasize selective cutting, spatial rotation, and spiritual accountability, fostering plant regeneration and landscape continuity. As global demand and restricted territorial access intensify, these stewardship systems face growing strain. Centering Kumeyaay ethnobotanical knowledge highlights Indigenous biocultural stewardship as essential to sustaining culturally significant flora worldwide. |
| 14:00 |
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Prior to European settlement, grasslands - including prairies, savannas, and barrens - covered vast areas of the United States and supported biocultural landscapes shaped through long-term Indigenous presence and stewardship. Today, these systems are reduced, contributing to declines in biodiversity, pollinators, and culturally important plants central to Tribal foods, medicine, lifeways, and indigenous knowledges. This project centers ethnobotanical priorities by evaluating Midwestern prairie restorations, emphasizing seed mixes and their capacity to support culturally significant plants and their pollinator relations. We examined how prairie restoration seed mixes vary across space and time, how they differ from remnant communities, their potential relevance to Indigenous cultural and ecological needs, and ethical considerations surrounding the use of historic ethnobotanical data. Results have the potential to reestablish and maintain relationships between tribal communities and medicinal plants, bees, and the entire ecosystem through knowledge-building and future restoration efforts that promote self-sustaining harvests. |
| 14:00 |
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
The chinampa agroecosystem reflects a precolonial agricultural practice that persists in the wetlands of Xochimilco and contributes to the sustainability of urban wetlands and Mexico City. Due to habitat degradation and current disuse, aquatic quelites (native edible greens), our project focuses on collaboration among farmers, local residents, community organizations, as well as national and local public authorities to rescue traditional knowledge of the management and consumption of : Hydrocotyle ranunculoides (malacotl), Jaegeria bellidiflora (acacapacquílitl), Berula erecta (tzayanalquilitl), and Nasturtium officinale (berro). Participative research includes: in situ and ex situ propagation, enhancement of cultivation practices, documentation of sensorial and nutritional properties, revalorization and enrichment of traditional cuisine. |
| 14:00 |
Presentation Format:
Poster (in-person)
Our study examines how traditional foodways and ecological knowledge among pre-colonial Cherokee communities influenced soil health, drawing on archaeobotanical data from sites across the southeastern United States, the ancestral homeland of the Cherokee. We further investigate how post-colonial transitions, including the shift from traditional agricultural practices to industrialization, altered local ecological structures through analyses informed by historical record and contemporary soil testing methods. Despite growing interest in Indigenous ecological systems, there remains a significant gap in understanding how cultural and ideological changes nested ecological relationships across temporo-spatial dimensions. Following colonization and industrialization, both plant species and the animals dependent on them have faced compounding pressures from climate change. By exploring the synergistic relationships between plants and soil health within traditional agricultural systems, this research provides critical insights for ecological restoration, tribal food sovereignty initiatives, and broader global conservation efforts. |