The years between 1889 and 1922 saw great archaeological activity in Egypt, a period known as the 'Golden Age' of Egyptology. Our research seeks to answer the question: “What were women’s experiences during the ‘Golden Age’ and what impact did their work have?” Mrs. Emma B. Andrews and Mrs. Helen Winlock are unique characters, choosing to escape the rigidity of Victorian society and pave their own way on the dusty roads of Egypt. Their letters and diaries bear witness to an exciting period of history. Our survey begins with the record of travel and excavation kept by Mrs. Emma B. Andrews and Helen Winlock, wife of Herbert Winlock, Director of the Metropolitan Museum Egyptian Expedition. They describe challenges of archaeological missions in Egypt, recounting issues of site and workforce management, as well as their interactions with diverse explorers and adventure. From scans of original handwritten letters, we transcribe frequently challenging handwriting and record Andrews’ and Winlock’s unique observations. These include descriptions of difficulties of daily life on site, of managing large groups of workers, and offer insights into the personalities and characters of eminent archaeologists. The results of our work are open source and offer important insights into the lives of the foremost Egyptologists and their families. We utilize technology such as iPads, Basecamp project management, and collaborative software to facilitate transcription. Ultimately, we will produce output that is accessible online to encourage collaborative engagement with others researching this ‘Golden Era’ of excavation. This information is stored in a database and will be freely available on our project website, to encourage collaborative engagement with others researching this ‘Golden Era’ of excavation. In doing this, we aim to recreate the world of archaeology from a bygone era, seen and described through the eyes of women who were ahead of their time.

My research focused on the question: What can be learned about 19th century Middle Eastern and European medical practices from the personal diaries of Joseph Mattia Svoboda, a European resident in Iraq from 1860 to 1908? Joseph Mattia Svoboda’s diaries document a very detailed account of daily life and information in the Basra and Baghdad regions of modern day Iraq. Joseph himself suffered from a chronic gastrointestinal disease and frequently wrote about the medication prescribed to him by doctors and self-selected which he then self-administered. I used this information as a basis to piece together common medical practices and medications utilized in the 19th century. Using digital transcriptions of the diaries, I used data-mining techniques to extract references to medicines, doses, and usages. Then, using contemporary European newspapers, medical journals, advertisements, and historical records I traced these medicines and their ingredients back to their origin. I examined modern research on these medicines’ ingredients to look at the effect these medicines had on the body compared to the expected results of the time period. I found the medicinal practices of the time, especially in relation to patent medicines generally stem from Europe with many medications being produced and sold there. This allowed me to identify some of the ingredients and usages. However, some of the ingredients and medications were not native to Europe, indicating a larger trade system and medical practices from around the globe influencing medicine in Iraq. Future projects stemming from my research could look into the influence of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Native American herbalism and indigenous practices on 19th century medical practices and medicine trade. Regardless, I hope my work encourages others to explore beyond the eurocentric narrative of developing medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Archaeologists have made efforts to increase archaeology’s accessibility to those with marginalized identities and to be accountable to communities around archaeological sites. However, alternative ways of knowing and understanding the past from non-Western perspectives remained excluded from contemporary archaeology. The impact of European epistemological hegemony in archaeology limits the frameworks and methodologies that are utilized and considered valid. As more people with marginalized identities have joined the academy, however, archaeological literature has grown to incorporate previously excluded epistemologies. The Black feminist lens only recently has been applied to archaeological theory and practice. The lens attempts to acknowledge the intersectionality of Black women’s identities as racialized and gendered people and disrupt master narratives used to demonize, control, and limit Black women. The Black feminist theoretical model relies on intersectionality and development of an empowered community, while acknowledging the difficulties Black women experience due to class, education level, etc. This paper utilizes semi-structured interviews with Black women archaeologists in the United States to gain insight into their methodologies and perspectives in the field. Additionally, this paper incorporates personal ethnographic diaries entries that are connected to my experiences as a Black undergraduate student to explore the impact of the current sociopolitical climate on my research. The broader implications of the work are towards the recognition of Black women’s intellectual production within archaeology and support the presence of Black women in the discipline as necessary interlocutors in developing liberational archaeology that uplifts voices from marginalized groups through interviews with Black women in archaeology.

Based on the Newbook Digital Texts: Joseph Mathia Svoboda Diaries, I expect to answer the question of how the route of the Tigris River traveled by Joseph, a man of Eastern European decent living in the Ottoman Empire in the last half of the 19th century, has changed in the last 100 years. The Svoboda Diaries provide an insight into life and travel in the Middle East. They contian the documentation of Joseph's travels in current day Iraq, detailing villages and towns passed on his regular routes. The purpose of this research is to show that some major changes in the river are due to economically and politically motivated policies made to control sections of the river. I hypothesize that economic and social policies since Joseph's time have impacted the river today. In my research, I use mapping software to visualize changes in modern-day Iraq. Through the program StoryMap, I highlight locations along the river and compare it today. Using maps from the late 19th century I will track changes and display them in comparison to an up-to-date map. Newbook currently has a few maps available, although I also plan on using articles from their past interns, one in particular that focuses on Hydraulic Policy in Iraq. Additionally, I will look for other maps available from the Library of Congress. Through my research, I expect to find changes in major dam projects, canals and irrigation projects as well as groups of people and tribes dislocated by changes to the river.