Maria Shannon Parks

Professional Interests

Prehistoric diet and health; stable isotope analysis; paleopathology; Brazil; migration; mortuary analysis; Mimbres; American Southwest

I am a PhD student at Texas A&M University in the department of Anthropology, and my research interests involve the analysis of diet and health of prehistoric populations.  I have begun my dissertation research on skeletal remains from an archaeological site located in the state of Piaui, Brazil, which is being excavated by the Fundacao Museu do Homem Americano (FUMDHAM) under the direction of Niede Guidon.  My investigation will also extend to populations who lived along the northeastern coast of Brazil. 

For my Master's thesis, I described the physical properties, origin, and placement (archaeological context) of prehistoric jewelry from a Mimbres site, the NAN Ranch Ruin, located in southwestern New Mexico. Factor analysis on the inclusion of jewelry from mortuary contexts uncovered no significant status differences for this group.  The majority of marine shell for adornment originated in the Gulf of California, and was likely manufactured by the Hohokam.

Education

2001  M.A., Texas A&M University
         Thesis: Prehistoric Jewelry of the NAN Ranch Ruin (LA15049), Grant County, New Mexico

1994  B.A., University of Texas at Austin
         Major: Latin American Studies with a concentration in cultural anthropology

Selected Laboratory and Fieldwork

Aug 2003  Toca do Serrote do Tenente Luis, Sao Raimundo Nonato , Piaui, Brazil (Researcher, osteological analysis)

Jul  2003  Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas at San Antonio; Zavala County, Tx (Crew Member)

May 2003  Brazoria County, Tx (41BZ1); recovery of prehistoric skeletal remains (Research Assistant)

Jun 2002  Office of the Medical Examiner, Memphis, Tennessee (Volunteer Osteologist)

Jun-Aug 2002  Preparation of tooth enamel from the Maya site of Copan for stable isotope analysis; preparation of
                     tooth dentine from the Maya site of Tikal for stable isotope analysis (Laboratory assistant to Dr. Lori
                     Wright)

May 2002  Preparation of tooth enamel from the Maya site of Piedras Negras for stable isotope analysis (Researcher)

Jun-Jul 2001  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, NAGPRA Project; Prewitt and Associates, Inc. Project
                   number: 201007 (osteological analysis)

Jun-Aug 2001  Preparation of bone collagen from the Maya site of Tikal for stable isotope analysis (Laboratory
                     Assistant to Dr. Lori Wright)

Teaching Experience

2003-2004  ANTH 225  Introduction to Physical Anthropology (Graduate TA, lab instructor)

2003-2004  University Writing Center (Writing Consultant)

2002-2003  ANTH 205  Peoples and Cultures of the World (Graduate TA, lecturer)

2002-2003  University Writing Center (Writing Consultant)

2001-2002  ANTH 205  Peoples and Cultures of the World (Graduate TA, lecturer)

Presentations

2003  Paper presented at the 17th Annual Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueologicas en Guatemala: La Dieta de los
         Habitantes de Piedras Negras: Una Vista de los Isotopos; Andrew K. Scherer, Cassady J. Yoder, and Maria S.
         Parks

2003  Poster presented at the Proceedings of the 55th American Academy of Forensic Sciences: Back to the Basics:
         Anatomical Siding of Fragmentary Skeletal Remains of Victims from the World Trade Center Disaster; Eric J.
         Bartelink, Jason M. Wiersema, Maria S. Parks, Gaille Mac Kinnon, and Amy Zelson Mundorff

2001  Paper presented for the Society for American Archaeology: Prehistoric Jewelry of the NAN Ranch Ruin,
         southwestern New Mexico; Maria Parks