Society for American Archaeology Awards Fellowship to Stony Brook Graduate Student

Jennifer Henecke, a second year graduate student in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences (IDPAS) at Stony Brook University , was recently announced as a recipient of the Dienje Kenyon Fellowship from the Society for American Archaeology.

The $500 D. Kenyon Fellowship was established in honor of the late Zooarchaeologist, Dienje M. E. Kenyon for students pursuing research, or with the intention of receiving either an MA or PhD on a topic related to Zooarchaeology. The award is offered to support the research of women archaeologists in the first two years of their graduate training with the most interesting final analysis project.

"I'm extremely happy and honored to have won," said Jennifer. "It is nice to know that someone thinks my research is valuable."

Jennifer's research interests focus on the development of complex societies, interregional interactions and nomadic pastoralism, specifically herd management strategies and pastoral mobility, in southeastern Anatolia , Turkey . Pastoralism has played a major role in social developments in the region, but unfortunately it is difficult to see pastoralism or its mobility in the archaeological record.

In her project that won her the award, Jennifer is testing out two different methods for looking at strategies of pastoral mobility in the archaeological record. The first method is the isotope analysis of strontium and oxygen. This method works on the idea that an organism uptakes isotopes through the food and water it consumes creating an isotopic signature in the animal or human bone. These should reflect the isotopic conditions in the area where the individual spent its life and allow researchers to track the mobility of the animal.

The second method is cross-sectional geometry where the shape and area of a bone in cross section reflects body mass, bone function and locomotor stress. Jennifer will be working with IDPAS Assistant Professor, Dr. Kathryn Twiss, to test if this method can be used to distinguish different degrees of mobility. Her work will also be based at Dr. Elizabeth Stone's (IDPAS) excavation at Ayanis, a site located in eastern Turkey .