Sacramento Archeological Society, Inc.’s
Annual Meeting
Saturday, December 2, 2023
1:00 p.m. – 6:00+ p.m.
at U. C. Davis campus, Young Hall, Room 224 and Zoom
Followed by dinner at local restaurant
The Annual Meeting will be conducted in person at U. C. Davis campus, Young Hall, Room 224 and broadcasted via Zoom start at 2:00 PM PT with a presentation by Patricia McNeill and formally conclude at about 4:30 PM after the SAS Annual Meeting. After which all attendees are invited to attend a dinner to socialize at a local restaurant. If you are unable to attend in person, you may join the webinar starting as early as 1:40 PM.
The schedule for the event is as follows:
1:00 – Set up, meet and greet
2:00 – Featured talk “Varsche Rivier 003: a middle aged rock shelter in southern Namaqualand, South Africa” by Patricia McNeill, U. C. Davis PhD candidate
3:00 – SAS Annual Meeting
5:00 – Socialize at Tasty Palace Asian Restaurant
“Varsche Rivier 003, a middle aged rock shelter in southern Namaqualand, South Africa”
Patricia McNeill, a 2022 scholarship recipient has been investigating hunter-gatherer mobility and resource catchment area in the arid Knersvlakte of Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. In this dissertation research she is in the process of examining ostrich eggshell beads from the site and analyzing waste fragments of shells that were discarded after eating the egg in order to reconstruct mobility and paleoclimate. In this presentation she will cover the most recent discoveries from VR003, her investigation area. One of the tools she uses to analyze mobility of Stone Age people in the region is radiogenic strontium isotopes. Strontium isotopes (⁸⁷SR/⁸⁶SR) can be used as a tracing tool for biogenic materials, such as teeth, bone, and egg shells. This analysis is not yet complete.
Patricia McNeill is a PhD candidate at University of California, Davis. She received her B.A. Summa com laude Evolutionary Anthropology and M.A. at University of California, Davis. She has conducted extensive research at the Center for Experimental Archaeology at Davis. Her field experience includes Varsche Rivier 003, Namaqualand, South Africa, Ranis, Saale-Orla Kreis, Thüringen, Germany and Bureau of Land Management, Eagle Lake Field Office, California. She has four publications.
