Ph.D. candidate, Anthropology, Univ. of Florida (expected Summer 2024)
M.A., Anthropology, Illinois State Univ., 2018
B.A., Anthropology, Grand Valley State Univ., 2015
Background and Research Interests
Emily first developed an interest for the study of ancient North American foodways as an undergraduate student at Grand Valley State University, where she studied subterranean food storage features of Western Michigan for her undergraduate capstone in archaeology. Following her research passion and eagerness to learn more about ancient food practices and how they relate to land-use, Emily pursued a master’s degree from Illinois State University where her thesis research investigated subterranean food storage function and seasonal settlement patterning in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Current Research
Now a PhD candidate at the University of Florida, Emily has expanded her research into the American Southeast where she is currently studying the effects of increased sedentism and ritual intensification on hunter-gatherer foodways through the analysis of the foods processed in North America’s oldest pottery, Late Archaic Stallings wares (4500-3800 cal. BP) of the middle Savannah River Valley. Emily’s NSF-funded PhD research (award no. 2243095) utilizes organic residue analysis (ORA) and controlled archaeological experiments to gain a comprehensive picture of pottery use throughout the Stallings period. This is the first study to conduct ORA on the oldest pottery in North America to directly determine vessel uses and document changes in foodways attending the shift from mobile to sedentary settlement and ritual intensification. In support of the analysis of archaeological pottery residues, Emily conducted controlled experiments in indirect-heat cooking (i.e., stone-boiling), a hallmark of Stallings foodways in the middle Savannah, but never before subject to ORA. Check out more on this experimental project HERE.
Recent Publications
- Bartz, Emily R., Eleanora A. Reber, and Kenneth E. Sassaman. n.d. A Pilot Study to Characterize Organic Residues of Earliest Pottery in the American Southeast. In Cultural Transformations through Material Practice: Early Pottery Technologies among Foragers in Global Perspective, edited by Giulia D’Ercole, Elena A. A. Garcea, Lenka Varadzinová, and Ladislav Varadzin. Springer, New York.
- Bartz, Emily R. 2023. Boiling in the Middle Savannah: Simulation Experiments Comparing Indirect- and Direct-Heat Cooking in Stallings Replica Vessels. Poster presented at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Chattanooga, TN.
- Sassaman, Kenneth E., and Emily R. Bartz. 2022. Hickory Nut Storage and Processing at the Victor Mills Site (9CB138) and Implications for Late Archaic Land Use in the Middle Savannah River Valley. Southeastern Archaeology 41:71-97.
- Bartz, Emily R. 2018. Grand Island Pit Features: A Performance-Based Interpretation. Paper presented at the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Notre Dame, IN. 2017. Pit Features: A View from Grand Island, Michigan. Paper presented at the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Indianapolis, IN