Month: October 2015

Congratulations to UCHI’s Communications Coordinator Tiziana Matarazzo, on her recent book

Micromorphological Analysis of Activity Areas Sealed by Vesuvius’ Avellino Eruption: The Early Bronze Age Village of Afragola in Southern Italy

Tiziana Matarazzo headshotThe remarkable preservation of the Early Bronze Age village of Afragola on the Campania Plain of Southern Italy is unmatched in Europe. The site was buried under nearly a meter of volcanic ash deposited by the Avellino eruption of Vesuvius ca. 3945+10 cal. BP. The site boasts a large number of well-preserved structures, built features and organic materials and thus provides a laboratory-type setting in which to investigate variability in artifact distribution and activity areas across a single village. This research utilizes micromorphological analysis of thin sections of undisturbed sediment collected at the site to understand how people used living spaces, organized daily activities and, when possible, to connect village life to broad issues related to the emergence of social complexity on the Campanian Plain. In particular, micromorphology is used to identify the type and range of human activities, the function of features and buildings, and the intensity of site occupation. The micromorphological analysis at Afragola provides a unique example of a briefly occupied agricultural village with what appears to be minimally stratified social organization during the Early Bronze Age of southern Italy.

Tiziana Matarazzo recently completed a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Connecticut. Presently she is the Communications Coordinator and webmaster at the Humanities Institute.  She is also a research scientist affiliated with the Department of Anthropology at Uconn, where she continues her earlier research on the Micromorphology of archaeological sites in Southern Italy.

Natalie Munro UCHI Fellow: A Bare Bones Approach to Understanding Human Behavior

Natalie Munro headshot

The laboratory of UConn anthropologist Natalie Munro is a treasure trove of animal bones. She has assembled the collection for teaching students how to identify everything from the species and age of the animal to how it died.

Diversity of specimens is critical for that education, and Munro has been creative about amassing a rich collection.

Interspersed between the bleached remains of animals tens of thousands of years old from distant digs are newer specimens from closer to home – roadkill both collected and donated.

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2015 Martel Lecture by Peter Levine, Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 4 p.m. in the Konover Auditorium at Dodd Center.

 

The 2015 Martel Lecture by Peter Levine titled
“Leadership for Civic Renewal: Reinvigorating America’s Civic Life”.

Peter Levine is the Associate Dean for Research and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University.

You can find out more about him here:
website: http://peterlevine.ws
CIRCLE: www.civicyouth.org

In 2001 Dr. Myles Martel established an endowment in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Connecticut, his alma mater, in support of The Myles Martel Lecture in Leadership and Public Opinion. The lecture provides an opportunity for students, faculty, and business and community leaders to better understand the crucial relationship between communication and leadership.