Graduate Student Introduction for C. Scott Speal
Expression of Interest:
My research involves the evolutionary relationship between culture and biology and the mutual effects of their interaction in complex social systems as viewed archaeologically. In particular, I am interested in systems of political economy, urbanization, and the influence of their development upon human population structure and dynamics. Human skeletal remains, mortuary data, and lithic technology are my analytical media of choice. My regional foci are the ancient Mediterranean and Southeastern Europe, particularly the Danubian frontier of the Roman Empire, Mesoamerica (especially the Maya), and Eastern North America.
Dissertation Title:
The Biological Impacts of Expanding Cultural Systems: Roman Imperialism, Incipient Urbanism, and Skeletal Biology in Contexts of Increasing Social Complexity
Experience:
Fieldwork
Four field seasons in Eastern Europe (Serbia) 2003 – 2006;
Five field seasons in Mesoamerica (Belize, Guatemala, Mexico) 1997 – 2002;
Four years professional experience in Cultural Resource Management (Texas, Georgia) 1997-2001
Laboratory Work
Directed field labs in Belize:
Programme for Belize Archaeological Project
Northern Belize Coastal Project
Independent research with skeletal remains at University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology
Dissertation Research
I am presently investigating vectors of biological stress and population dynamics at the Imperial Roman provincial capital city of Viminacium, located in present-day Serbia. The research employs a combination of skeletal analyses and survey of mortuary treatment to address questions pertaining to the sources and intensity of physiological stress among various socioeconomic subsets of the ancient population. The data are also being organized into a longitudinal, cross-sectional study of the populace isolated by time period in order to examine changes in population biology as the settlement became more dense and hierarchical and emerged as a major economic central place. Primary questions of interest pertain to the biological effects of increasing urban settlement and social complexity and the culturally proscribed distribution of health risk within provincial Roman society.
Publications
2006 “Postmortem Skeletal Modifications of the Pre-Columbian North American Mid-continent.” In Skull Collection, Modification, and Decoration, edited by Michelle Bonogofsky. British Archaeological Reports No. 1539. Archaeopress, Oxford UK.
2006 “The Social Implications of Younge Complex Mortuary Ritual: A Survey of Post-mortem Skeletal Modifications from Riviere Au Vase, Michigan” Archaeology of Eastern North America 34:1-28.
2006 “Regional Economic Integration in the Coastal Maya Lowlands: The Lithic Assemblage of Saktunha, Belize” Lithic Technology 31(1):3-26.
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