Matt Stirn and Rebecca Sgouros will be featured at JHHSM’s Voices of the Valley on Thursday, February 27th, 2014 with their program “ARCHAEOLOGY UNEARTHED”.
The two archaeologists will talk about their recent research here in Wyoming and as far away as Belize and Greece. They will share some of the remarkable new scientific techniques they have used that are now available to help interpret the past and answer questions about what prehistoric life was actually like. What can we really know about what life was like 5,000 years ago? What can scientific techniques such as zooarchaeology and archaeobotany tell us about the past? To find out — come and join us 7:00 p.m. at 225 North Cache — the program is free and open to the public.
Matt and Rebecca, both members of the museum’s Advisory Council, are volunteering their time before heading back into the field in Southern Belize to help analyze Mayan artifacts excavated from sites they helped discover in 2012. When they return home this summer, they hope to set the stage for new and innovative research in the Jackson Hole area. One of their first goals will be to find, record and interpret new archaeological sites in the Teton Range, particularly in those areas where frozen artifacts have melted free from ice. “Ice-patch archaeology” has yielded exciting discoveries in the nearby Absaroka, Beartooth, and Wind River Ranges, making them hopeful of similar successes here in the Tetons.
Stirn and Sgouros are also looking forward to involving local high school students in their explorations, as well as undergraduates from the University of Wyoming. Both began their adventures in archaeology at an early age: Matt, who grew up on the R Lazy S Ranch near Teton Village, knew he wanted to be an archaeologist since he was thirteen years old and was eagerly helping excavate the Game Creek Site south of town just off Highway 191. Rebecca traces her interest in archaeology and ancient history to early travels in Greece during her childhood. One of Matt’s primary areas of interest is locating and documenting alpine villages; one of Rebecca’s the study of paleo-diets and foraging habits. Both are eager to share their enthusiasm for unearthing the past with students of all ages.
Before returning to Jackson Hole in December, the two archaeologists were pursuing master’s degrees at the University of Sheffield, England. Their work documenting and analyzing collections and doing archival work at the British School of Archaeology Museum in Athens has given them both the perfect background for helping tackle the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum’s largely undocumented collection of the local artifacts that are part of the Slim Lawrence Collection. In addition to developing independent research projects in northwest Wyoming, they are tackling Slim’s collection piece by piece — to date that’s around 550 artifacts down and some 2,000 plus left to go!
