Anthropology students from Stockton University provide sampling suppport
by Caroline Funk and Bobbi Hornbeck
Our Aleutian Mercury Dynamics project partnered with Stockton University’s Dr. Bobbi Hornbeck and a group of mainly volunteer students.
With permission from Aleut (formerly Aleut Corporation) the students processed bulk samples from Unit 3 of the ATU-216 2023 excavation on Agattu Island. They screened materials, sorted by type of material, identified faunal materials, and cataloged everything to University of Alaska, Museum of the North protocols.
We’re grateful for opportunity to cooperate with the Stockton University crew!
Stockton University graduate student Alex Rivera filmed a short documentary of their work for Aleut, and we’re happy to share it here:
About the video:
Anthropology students at Stockton University are providing essential laboratory support for the Aleutian Mercury Dynamics Project. They have been tasked with the responsibility of sorting and cataloging samples of ancient food materials that were collected by archaeologists in the western Aleutian Islands during the summer of 2023.
Piece by piece, these students are identifying the bones of various sea mammals, birds, and fish; a time consuming but necessary process that allows them to put eyes on every specimen. This meticulous sorting is what allows them to spot a very specific bone of interest – the premaxilla (part of the upper jaw) of Pacific Cod – even if it is just a small piece of broken bone. Once the specimens have been sorted, students weigh the samples, pack them into neatly organized bags, and enter their findings into a spreadsheet that helps the project easily manage the collection.
