Two New College Students Win Time Sifters Student Archaeology Grant Competition

March 27, 2012—New College students Rozalyn Crews and Evan Giomi won the top prizes in the 2012 Student Archaeology Grant contest sponsored by the Time Sifters Archaeology Society for exemplary research in the fields of anthropology and archaeology. This is the fourth year in a row that the prize has been won by New College students.
Crews and Giomi presented their research at the Time Sifters’ member meeting on March 21 at Selby Library in downtown Sarasota. In her paper, Crews considers how the Calusa Indians may have experienced their social and environmental landscapes. Giomi’s paper examines rock-hewn church complexes of Lalibela, in northern Ethiopia, to investigate issues of colonialism and Christianity.
“This is the fourth year we have offered this grant contest, which is aimed at giving area students experience in adapting their work for the general public,” says Time Sifters president and New College alumna Sherry Svekis.
The contest has categories for both undergraduate students and pre-doctoral graduate students who are currently enrolled at a college or university in the Sarasota/St.Petersburg/Tampa area. Prizes include a minimum of a $200 first place prize and a $100 second place prize.
The winning papers came out of Professor of Anthropology Uzi Baram’s Method and Theory in Archaeology course taught in the fall of 2011.
“I am quite proud of them for taking their coursework, revising for the competition, and presenting complicated concepts and innovative ideas so well,” says Professor Baram.
Bringing archaeology to the public is what Rozalyn Crews’ senior thesis project is all about. Entitled “Archaeology Rolls into the Public Sphere: An Introduction to Florida Public Archaeology Network’s ArchaeoCart,” her thesis explores the development of a mobile educational tool that is used to teach archaeological concepts and history to children. She is currently a member of the student subcommittee for the Society of Historical Archaeology and plans to spend the fall of 2012 in Veracruz researching the history of warfare in the area.
Evan Giomi has spent time working with the Bureau of Reclamation at Puebloan archaeology sites in the Southwest, inspiring him to focus his forthcoming thesis project on the archaeology of the region. The third-year student is interested in the pre-Columbian and historical archaeology of the Americas. After graduation, Giomi plans to attend a graduate program in archaeology with the goal of becoming a professional archaeologist.
Formed in 1986, Time Sifters is dedicated to preservation, education and research. The society has assisted trained archaeologists in major Calusa Indian digs, participated in creating the unique ‘Window to the Past’ exhibit at Historic Spanish Point, sponsored and/or participated in outreach programs “Trail of the Lost Tribes” and “Looking for Angola” and provided significant support contributing to the preservation of local archaeological resources. As part of its educational outreach program, Time Sifters sponsors monthly lectures on archaeological topics. For more information, visit timesifters.org.