Two members of the Anthropology Department have recently presented conference papers on their ongoing research.

Assistant Professor Dr. Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown delivered Ancient Multiple Nuclei and Peru-Urban Development in Campeche, Mexico (coauthors include Kathryn Reese-Taylor of the U of C and Armando Anaya Hernádez of Universidad Autónoma de Campeche) at the 49th annual meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association in Whitehorse, May 4-7, 2016.  This paper dealt with the Maya site of Yaxnohcah which was occupied from c. 1000 BCE to 850 BCE in the Central Karstic Uplands, a region in the centre of the Yucatan Peninsula known for its large and early urban centres.  LIDAR derived imagery and the investigation of massive platforms and smaller urban houselots is being used to explore early urban development in the region.

Theresa Ferguson, a long serving AU tutor, presented Contracts and Country Food: the role of the Hudson Bay Company Fort Hunter in the Peace River, Northern Alberta, 1818-1830's at the 17th Rupert's Land Colloquium held in Winnipeg, May 18-21, 2016.  Theresa examined the contracts held by fort hunters, the organization of the hunt, the hiring of the hunters, obstacles thwarting success in the hunt, and the social connections between the hunters and people of the HBC posts.  She situated this research within the context of First Nations-Nation State relations, noting that the Canadian Crown and judiciary are still reluctant to acknowlege that the hunter/trapper econony of the 1800's included commercial hunting and  this was thus protected by Treaty Eight under the "usual vocations" clause.