Lori Ricard

Archaeology

Regional focus: Middle Atlantic region (Woodland and Contact periods).

Topical interests: Ceramic analysis, social values and meaning.

My master's paper, "'It may prove a drug in time': The Power of Wampum in the Seventeenth-Century Northeast" (2001), was about the social values giving meaning to what is mainly viewed as a monetary object, wampum. I have been a non-resident student since May 2002.

Between 2002 and 2006, I worked as a full-time field archaeologist and prehistoric ceramic analyst at R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates in Frederick, Md., participating in or directing archaeological projects in the Middle Atlantic, Southeastern, and Midwestern states as well as the Caribbean. Despite my prehistoric leanings, I do seem to spend a terrible lot of time directing historic urban archaeology projects and monitoring pipeline and construction projects. I am the ceramic analyst, technical editor and first author for many Goodwin technical reports.

For the time being, I am pursuing research on my dissertation synthesizing Virginia prehistoric ceramics, hoping to finish it before the decade ends. In the meantime, I am a board member of the Certified Archaeological Technician program, giving experience and training to members of the Archeological Society of Maryland.

MA Paper: 2001. "It may prove a drug in time": The Power of Wampum in the Seventeenth-Century Northeast