Dr. Suzanne Birch Authors Two New Papers

UGA Geography and Anthropology Professor Dr. Suzanne Birch has been hard at work this year authoring two new papers that have both been published within the month of October. According to a recent Franklin College press release, Dr. Birch served as coeditor of a special issue in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences featuring articles outlining the state of the art in archeological science. The lead article, co-authored by Birch, Current developments and future directions in archaeological science, describes how the field has grown to encompass a wide range of analytical techniques over the past 20 years.

Dr. Birch's second article of the month, Herd management and subsistence practices as inferred from isotopic analysis of animals and plants at Bronze Age Politiko-Troullia, Cyprus, was published in the journal PLOS One on October 26th. The article explores the day-to-day subsistence practices of the Bronze Age town, Politiko-Troullia, through faunal analysis. According to the study, "excavated evidence shows that community activities included copper metallurgy (ore processing, smelting and casting), crop cultivation, and rearing of livestock. Additionally, faunal analyses revealed that "the villagers of Politiko-Troullia complemented their management of domesticated animals with hunting of wild deer and feral pigs in the woodlands surrounding their village.