MEDIA RELEASE

Graduate Student Receives Begole Archaeological Research Grant

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., August 20, 2008) —The Department of Anthropology congratulates graduate student John J. Eddy for receiving the Begole Archaeological Research Grant from the Anza-Borrego Foundation for research related to his MA thesis on prehistoric fine-grained soapstone/steatite industries in the greater southern California region. Soapstone/steatite was exploited as a raw material and crafted into tools, ornaments, and effigies used in utilitarian, social, economic, and ceremonial contexts. John’s thesis will apply LA-ICP-TOFMS chemical composition and source characterization analysis to address the southern California fine-grained soapstone/steatite provenience quandary while investigating aspects of the prehistoric production cycle during the middle-to-late Holocene (ca. 2,000 BC to A.D. 900). With funding provided by the Begole Grant, John will also explore the potential application of petrographic thin-section/mineralogical analysis to soapstone/steatite artifact provenience. His research has the potential to assist archaeologists in identifying the source origin of soapstone/steatite artifacts in California and elsewhere while addressing core issues that pertain to the creation and maintenance of social networks during a relatively obscure period in southern California prehistory.