Beth Bollwerk

Archaeology

Regional focus: Eastern North America, Virginia.

Topical interests: Contact-period archaeology, representations of Native Americans and Native American artifacts in museums, public archaeology, archaeology as an educational tool, historiography and its role in archaeological investigations.

I received my BA in anthropology from the University of Notre Dame in 2004. While in the Midwest I conducted excavations of Potawatomi Removal Period sites (1820 to 1840) and worked with the tribe to investigate how European goods were used by their ancestors in their attempts to avoid assimilation and removal. I am currently interested in working with the Monacan Indian Nation of Amhearst, Va., to investigate collections associated with their ancestors in order to explore the ways objects are given meaning by American Indians both in the past and present.

MA Paper: Up in Smoke: Understanding the Nature of Monacan Pipe Use from 1000 BC to Present

Publications:

2006. Controlling Acculturation: A Potawatomi Strategy for Avoiding Removal. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 30(2) 117-141.