Dr Jasmine Vieri awarded Honourable Mention for Emerging Investigator Award

Dr Vieri says:

'I am very honoured that my research has been recognised for making “a significant contribution for the chemical analysis of archaeological artefacts across different material classes”. The paper, which stems from my PhD research, presents new statistical tools for chemical compositional data modelling and applies them to a case study on Muisca metal procurement practices from pre-Hispanic Colombia. There are two key methodological contributions: a new, robust approach for the statistical treatment of compositional data, and the identification of four main sources of compositional variability that can be modelled within this framework. The case study also highlights how statistical modelling can shed light on social processes contributing to such variability – in this case, people pooling imported gold from a variety of sources for festivities.'

'Understanding craft production activities through the lens of compositional data modelling continues to be a key research interest of mine. I am continuing work on modelling standardisation in craft production activities across a wide range of material classes, using multivariate compositional proxies. In particular, I hope to apply these methods for the cross-cultural analysis of large-scale datasets to investigate how differential resource access developed over the longue durée. As part of my current role as a Research Associate for the REVERSEACTION project, I am also working with other types of computational analyses and archaeological data, including the spatial analysis of raised field systems. There is such a wealth of information to be unlocked with formal, quantitative methods in archaeology!'

'Thank you to all the people involved at the Society for Archaeological Sciences and the Journal of Archaeological Science for this recognition. I would also like to thank my co-authors (Enrico and Marcos, my PhD supervisors, and collaborators María Alicia and Juanita based at the Museo del Oro) for making the journey to publishing this paper as an Early Career Investigator such a rewarding experience.'