Tag: Poster 147

Changing Climate in Ancient Peru and the Rise and Development of the Norte Chico Civilization

Presenter(s): Jacob Dicken − Anthropology

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Carey

Poster 147

Research Area: Social Science

The Norte Chico civilization represents the earliest known example of an urban society in the Andean region and the Americas as a whole, having existed from around 3500 BC until its gradual decline around 1800 BC. The economy of ancient Norte Chico relied on both the growth of early domesticated plants such as cotton as well as the harvesting of wild resources such as fish. The success in attaining these resources hinged largely on the climatic conditions which made them possible. The Norte Chico civilization first emerged during a period of relatively low El Niño activity, allowing for a relatively stable agricultural economy and abundant marine resources, creating the food surplus necessary for the emergence of a large-scale civilization. This presentation will focus on both climatic and archaeological data to show how climatic conditions thousands of years ago made large-scale civilization both viable and attractive. Norte Chico can provide for us an important case study on the use of environmental resources in an early civilization and how climatic changes which affect the viability of these resources can shape the nature of the societies as they develop in relation to them.

A Ptolemaic Egyptian Cartonnage Mask: Analysis of Authenticity and Provenance

Presenter(s): Delaney Fisher

Faculty Mentor(s): Chris White & Malcolm Wilson

Poster 147

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

Museums strive to determine the authenticity and provenance of the artifacts they preserve. Such research also increases the educational value of acquired objects, allowing a rich history and cultural context to be shared with museum patrons. This project was conducted to research the cultural relevance, and confirm the authenticity and provenance of artifact eg11:1, a Ptolemaic funeral mask acquired for the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in the early 1950s. In my research, I have compiled a body of evidence through the combination of art historical research of stylistic elements of the mask, biographical research of various persons associated with the artifact, and the analysis of its pigments using a focused ion beam-scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM). The stylistic similarities of the mask to ancient objects, associations with a prominent antiquities dealer of Egypt, and the presence of traditional pigments and materials prove the likely authenticity of the artifact. Additionally, I believe that the mask would lend itself well to public exhibition and education, on account of its intriguing history and cultural background.