History Professor Alejandro G. Sinner and his summer study abroad students won first prize for best poster at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA).
Sinner, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) postdoctoral fellow in the Department of History, and his students from the study abroad course Roman Spain: Archaeology & History attended the conference in San Francisco from Jan. 6 to 9, 2016.
The prize-winning students – classical studies majors Kimberly McCullough and Daniel Jankulovski and anthropology major Ashwyn Grewal – were provided generous funding by York International to attend the conference..
At each AIA annual meeting, one session of the conference is devoted to the display and discussion of 25 posters selected for presentation. Each year since 2005, three awards have been granted by the program committee: Best Poster Award (first), Runner Up (second) and Best Poster designed entirely by a student or students.
York’s team won the Best Poster Award, an award that comes with a prize of $500, for their poster on “Studying Households and Tracing Cultural Practices in Northeast Spain (Second and Early First Centuries B.C.E.)”.
The poster was inspired by Sinner’s excavation project at the ancient archaeological site of Ilduro (Cabrera de Mar, Spain, 30 km east of Barcelona). His research focuses on redefining the perceptions of how each Roman provincial community had its roots in a unique and dynamic, culturally heterogeneous milieu and how this heterogeneous makeup of the local community allows us to trace a wide range of different cultural practices within the archaeological record.
The first prize award underlines the very fruitful collaboration that took place between students across various departments and programs, and highlights the appeal of history courses to students pursuing other majors, such as anthropology or classical studies.
The course Roman Spain: Archaeology & History (HIST 3136 / ANTH 3630), focused on the excavations at Cabrera de Mar, will be offered in summer 2016 as part of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) summer courses abroad program.
More information about the AIA and the award is available at www.archaeological.org/awards/poster.