Department of Anthropology

Jennifer Ramsay
PhD, Simon Fraser University
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology

• Courses Taught
• Areas of Specialization
• Current Research Projects
• Selected Publications

Courses Taught

• ANT 110 - Introduction to Archaeology
• ANT 120 - Introduction to Physical Anthropology
• ANT 319 - Methods in Anthropological Archaeology
• ANT 447 - North American Archaeology
• ANT 450/550 - Primate Behavior and Ecology
• ANT 481/581 - Special Topics: Roman Archaeology
• ANT 481/581 - Special Topics: Environmental Archaeology

Areas of Specialization

Archaeobotany, subsistence reconstruction, trade patterns, environmental change and land-use patterns.

Current Research Projects

I haved worked on several multi-disciplinary projects, for example in Israel I worked with the Combined Caesarea Expeditions, the Excavations at Khirbet Qana and the site of Shivta; in Italy I have worked on material from the excavations at Horace’s Villa, the Caucana project and the Nordic Excavations at Nemi, Julius Caesar’s Villa.

I am currently applying a center/periphery theoretical model to the analysis of botanical remains analyzed from several sites in Jordan such as Petra, Humeima, Ayn Gharandal and Roman Aqaba.

Additionally this research will provide information on ancient water conservation and agricultural practices in a desert environment that could then be shared with current governmental agencies in the hopes of once again making sustainable agricultural possible in the region.

For the last three summers (2008-2010) I have been the archaeological fieldschool director for groups of students working on archaeological sites in Jordan. In the summer of 2008 I was the assistant director and field school director for the Bir Madhkur Excavation and Survey project in Jordan sponsored by George Washington University. In 2009 I was the fieldschool director for the Petra Garden and Pool Complex in assocication with the Behrend College, Penn State Erie and this past summer I was the fieldschool director for an enthnographic and archaeological fieldschool at several sites in Jordan and excavations at "ayn Gharandal.

I look forward to running a College at Brockport, SUNY fieldschool in the summer of 2011 at the Petra Garden and Pool Complex, Jordan. For more information on this fieldschool please see the fieldschool webpage at: http://www.brockport.edu/ant/fieldschool (under construction)

Selected Publications