Graduate Student, Anthropology
IGERT Trainee
Thesis Title: (Dissertation) "When Humans and Mountains Meet: Eneolithic Settlement and Movement in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania."
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Dr. Sarunas Milisauskas
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About
I am a doctoral candidate and IGERT trainee in the Department of Anthropology at the University at Buffalo. I graduated from Luther College in 2006 with a B.A. in Anthropology and History.
My research interests span the Neolithic, Copper Age, and transition to Bronze Age in Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, but lie particularly in the Eneolithic of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains. The primary focus of my research is the extent to which Eneolithic settlement patterns were adapted to mountainous regions, and whether characteristics of mountain landscapes, such as passes and visual affordances, can be used as factors in predictive models. My dissertation combines these approaches with theories of structuration to develop computational models with a strong social dimension.
A secondary interest is the methods through which archaeologists produce spatial information in the field and in the lab. I have worked with formal ontology and database design with data from multiple archaeological sites. Currently, I am participating with the Muzeul Naţional Carpaţilor Răsăriteni’s research project at Păuleni Ciuc, Romania, to help develop a field and lab workflow for GIS applications in Romania archaeology.
