Fiona Marshall (Ph.D.,
University of California, Berkeley,
1986)
Professor
My current research focuses on the last 20,000 years in
Africa and the origins and spread of food production in the region.
Variation in hunter-gatherer socio-economic systems, and interactions
between hunter-gatherers and early herders are a particular interest.
I explore these topics through excavation, ethnoarchaeological, and
zooarchaeological research in Eastern Africa, especially Kenya, and
Ethiopia.
My ethnoarchaeological field work has been conducted among
the Okiek in Kenya and is designed to investigate hunting, material
reflections of a delayed-return socioeconomic system, and variation
in pathways to food production. Hunting practices and herd
management, as well as studies of ancient cattle breeds, are a focus
of my zooarchaeological research. I am currently engaged in a project
on the possible role of early cattle herders of arid
northeastern Africa in domestication of the donkey and implications
of this for the development of African pastoral societies. I am also
exploring the possibility of further excavation of hunter-gatherer
and Pastoral Neolithic sites in East Africa. This research is
designed to integrate diverse approaches to understanding spatial
patterning and hunter-gatherer pastoral relations during the spread
of food production.
The Ph. D. research
of current and recently graduated students focuses on hunter-gatherer
socio-economic systems, pathways to food production, the influence of
animal-based subsistence on change through time in complex societies, and site
formation processes. Projects that examine hunter-gatherer social organization
include: Kansyore hunter-gatherers, ceramics, and possible social complexity in
Western Kenya during the Holocene (Darla Dale); and historic Mukogodo
hunter-gatherers of Kenya, social organization and pathways to food production
(Kennedy Mutundu). A recent project on early food production in Africa uses
ethnoarchaeological data to address domestication of enset and yams in Ethiopia
(Elisabeth Hildebrand). Several projects investigate economies of complex
societies using zooarchaeological data. This includes fieldwork at Cahokia (Lucretia
Kelly) and Pot Creek Pueblo (Christina Waskiewicz) in North America, and ancient
Axum in Ethiopia (Chester Cain). Taphonomic issues and the zooarchaeology of
Upper Paleolithic/Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers is also a research interest
of our group. A recent study used geoethnoarchaeological approaches to the
formation of Maasai pastoral settlements (Ruth Shahack-Gross). Current projects
focus on the role of small mammals in Maasai settlements (Lior Weissbrod), and
in Upper Paleolithic sites from Italy (Francesca Alhaique) and the Czech
Republic (Michael Glore).
This research is interdisciplinary, and relies on resources of the
Washington University Archaeology, Zooarchaeology,
Paleoethnobotanical, and
Geoarchaeology laboratories and programs.
Regionally, our research uses the facilities of the St Louis Zoo,
Missouri Botanical Gardens, Illinois State Museum, and the Field
Museum in Chicago.
Contact: Dr. Fiona Marshall,
Department of Anthropology, Campus Box 1114, Washington University, One
Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130 (314) 935-5181