Tammy Buonasera
Tammy Buonasera, Assistant Professor, PhD, University of Arizona, 2013.
Phone: 907-474-6758
Office: Bunnell Building 307C
Email: tybuonasera@alaska.edu
Interests:
Biomolecular archaeology (proteomics, lipid analysis, and stable isotopes), past diets and health, economic and social aspects of food processing technologies, hunter-gatherer archaeology, experimental archaeology, gender, human behavioral ecology, California, northern ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, Anatolia.
Research:
I am anthropologist who specializes in biomolecular archaeology and experimental archaeology.
I use a range of biomolecular techniques, as well as stable isotopes to study lifestyles
of hunter-gatherers in the past—the recent past as well as many thousands of years
ago. Some of my research uses biomolecules, like lipids, to learn what foods people
cooked in pots or in hearth features. Much of my recent research has focused on proteomic-based
sex-estimation in combination with stable isotope analysis to learn about patterns
of weaning, health, and mortality among archaeologically known hunter-gatherers in
California.
I am also broadly interested in experimental archaeology and in combining studies
of food processing technologies such as ceramics, ground stone tools, and cooking
features (often associated with women) with insights gained through molecular archaeology.
Together these analyses can provide new possibilities for learning about women’s economic
and social lives in the past. I have worked in California, the southwestern U.S.,
northwestern ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, and Anatolia.
Courses Offered:
- Introduction to Anthropology (ANTH 101)
- Race and Anthropology (ANTH 225)
- Experimental Archaeology (ANTH 492/692)
- Seminar in Archaeology (ANTH 492/692)
- Proteomics in Archaeology (ANTH 697)
Selected Works:
Buonasera, T., Damick, A., Shoup, D.
2023 Not up in smoke: Lipid and phytolith evidence for the function of combustion
features at CA-ALA-11, a San Francisco Bay area shellmound, Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 51:104133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104133
Buonasera, T., Eerkens, J., Byrd, B., Engbring, L., Arellano, M., Leventhal, A., Parker,
G.
2022 Sex-Biased Differences in Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy at a Protohistoric
Native American Village in Central California. Human Biology. In Press for a special edition on collaborative research with the Muwekma Ohlone
Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area of California. https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol_preprints/200/
Buonasera, T., Eerkens, J. de Flamingh, A., Engbring, L. Yip, J., Li, H., Haas, R.,
DiGiuseppe, D., Grant, D., Salemi, M., Nijmeh, C., Arellano, M., Leventhal, A., Phinney,
B., Byrd, B., Malhi, R., Parker, G.
2020 A Comparison of Proteomic, Genomic, and Osteological Methods of Archaeological
Sex Estimation. Scientific Reports 10:11897. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68550-w
Haas, R., Watson, J., Buonasera, T., Southon, J., Chen, J.C., Noe, S., Smith, K., Llave, C.V., Eerkens, J. and Parker,
G.
2020 Female Hunters of the Early Americas. Science Advances 6(45) p.eabd0310.
Buonasera, T.
2019 Benefits of Big Mortars: Considering Performance Characteristics and Economic
Trade-offs of Women’s Technology. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 39(2):161-179.
Buonasera, T., Herrera-Herrera, A.V., Mallol, C.
2019 Experimentally Derived Sedimentary, Molecular, and Isotopic Characteristics
of Bone-Fueled Hearths. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 26: 1327-1375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-019-09411-3
Anderson, S., Tushingham, S., and Buonasera, T.
2017 Aquatic Adaptations and the Adoption of Arctic Ceramic Technology: Results
of Residue Analysis. American Antiquity 82(3):452-479. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2017.8
Buonasera, T.
2016 Lipid Preservation in Sheltered Bedrock Features at Gila Cliff Dwellings
National Monument, New Mexico. Journal of Lithic Studies 3:1-24. https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.v3i3.1304
Buonasera, T.Y., Tremayne, A.H., Darwent, C.M., Eerkens, J.W., Mason, O.K.
2015 Lipid Biomarkers and Compound Specific δ13C Analysis Indicate Early Development
of a Dual- Economic System for the Arctic Small Tool tradition in Northern ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ.
Journal of Archaeological Science 61:129-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.05.011
Buonasera, T.
2015 Modeling the Costs and Benefits of Manufacturing Expedient Milling Tools.
Journal of Archaeological Science 57:335-344.
Buonasera, T.
2013 More than Acorns and Small Seeds: A Diachronic Analysis of Mortuary Associated
Ground Stone from the South San Francisco Bay Area. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32(2):190-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2013.01.003