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Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology

Ginessa J. Mahar

Anthropology Librarian, George A. Smathers Library, University of Florida

Ph.D., Anthropology, Univ. of Florida, 2019
M.A., Anthropology, Hunter College, 2010
B.A., Anthropology, Stony Brook Univ., 2002

Background and Research Interests

Before Ginessa joined the Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology at UF, she worked in the North American Archaeology Lab at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Early work at the museum involved the analysis of Spanish Mission materials recovered in excavations from 16th century Mission Santa Catalina de Guale. This project allowed her to explore the tumultuous Spanish colonial period of the southeast and the uses of nondestructive analytical techniques in material culture analysis, such as portable X-Ray fluorescence. Her interest in archaeometry then expanded into remote sensing technologies and their uses on archaeological sites.

While working at the museum, Ginessa completed her M.A., which focused on two Late Archaic (5800-3200 cal yr B.P.) shell ring sites on St. Catherines Island, GA. Her thesis involved the comparison of the two rings using geophysical survey, analysis, and excavation. Her study showed that appropriate geophysical testing can add insightful information that could be missed through excavation alone. This research inspired an interest in the settlement patterns and landscape usage of Late Archaic and Early Woodland hunter-gatherer populations along the southeast coast.

Current Research Projects

Ginessa has been able to continue her interest in southeastern coastal archaeology through the Lower Suwannee Archaeological Survey, a part of the Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology. Her dissertation focuses on the ancient fishing technologies employed along the Florida Gulf Coast. To do this, Ginessa integrated both archaeological and ethnographic approaches. She used a mixed methods approach to develop new models of fishing practices to better interpret the archaeological record regarding past human-environmental interactions along Florida’s coast. Ginessa worked with crews from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to collect specimens to develop new allometric equations to infer not only the size of fish collected by ancient fisherfolk, but also the sorts of technologies they may have used.

Recent Publications

  • Sassaman, Kenneth E., Meggan E. Blessing, Joshua M. Goodwin, Jessica A. Jenkins, Ginessa J. Mahar, Anthony Boucher, Terry E. Barbour, and Mark C. Donop. 2020. Maritime Ritual Economy of Cosmic Synchronicity: Summer Solstice Events at a Civic-Ceremonial Center on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida. American Antiquity 85:22-50.
  • Sassaman, K. E., N. J. Wallis, P. M. McFadden. G. J. Mahar, J. A. Jenkins, M. C. Donop, M. P. Mones, A. Palmiotto, A. Boucher. J. M. Goodwin, C. I. Oliveira. 2017. Keeping Pace with Rising Sea: The First Six Years of the Lower Suwannee Archaeological Survey. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 12:173-199.
  • Mahar, Ginessa J. 2013. Archaeological Geophysics on St. Catherines Island: Beyond Prospection. In Life Among the Tides: Recent Archaeology on the Georgia Bight, edited by D.H. Thomas and V.D. Thompson. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
  • Mahar, Ginessa J. 2010. Theorizing Formation and Function Through Shallow Geophysics: An Integrated Approach to the Remote Sensing of Two Late Archaic Shell Rings, St. Catherines Island, GA. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, CUNY Hunter College, New York.
  • Mahar, Ginessa J. 2009. The Bigger Picture: Using Landscape Archaeology to Better Understand Two Late Archaic Shell Rings on St. Catherines Island, GA. The Society for Georgia Archaeology, www.thesga.org. December 2009.
  • Sassaman, Kenneth E., Andrea Palmiotto, Ginessa J. Mahar, Micah P. Mones, and Paulette S. McFadden. 2013. Archaeological Investigations at Shell Mound (8LV42), Levy County, Florida: 2012 Testing. Technical Report 16. Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville.

Selected Conference Presentations

  • Mahar, Ginessa J. 2013. Measuring the Missionized Soundscape. Paper presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Tampa, Florida.
  • Mahar, Ginessa J. 2013. Ethnoarchaeology of the Lower Suwannee Environment: A Different Approach to a Familiar Method. Paper presented at the Florida Anthropological Society Annual Meeting, St. Augustine, Florida.
  • Mahar, Ginessa J. 2011   Archaeological Geophysics as Primary Data. Paper presented at the 76th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Sacramento, California.
  • Mahar, Ginessa J. 2011. Continuity is Only Skin Deep: Disassembling Two Late Archaic Shell Rings Using Archaeogeophysics. Paper presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Jacksonville, Florida.
  • Mahar, Ginessa J. 2010. Decree and Divergence: Investigating the Spiritual Conquest of Spanish La Florida. Paper presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference Annual Meeting, Lexington, Kentucky.