[TL;DR version of post: I’m presenting a poster on some of my collaborative Iberian research at the AAPAs tomorrow. Session 31 (Skeletal Biology: Bioarchaeology), docket 19, Atrium Ballroom A/B. I’ll be there from 4:00-4:45 – come say hi!]

Another day, another regional cuisine to sample. After a whirlwind week at the SAAs in Orlando, I headed to Atlanta on Sunday. The first order of business was visiting the southern staple of Waffle House.

Before and after…

I haven’t eaten again since. JUST KIDDING. Over the course of my time in Georgia I’ve also consumed pizza, mac n’cheese, fried avocado tacos, sushi, gyoza, and ribs. My third day here I was also able to sneak in a visit to the Georgia Aquarium, which is a magical, magical place. I watched some river otters snoozing, attended a sea lion show, goggled at the massive manta rays, and pet an epaulette shark (10/10 very friendly, would pet again):

However, I’ve occasionally been taking a break from my packed schedule of gluttony and sight-seeing to  do some anthropology. On Wednesday, I attended the annual Dental Anthropology Association workshop for the first time. During the first part of the morning, Jim Watson provided an introduction to macrowear, covering the factors that contribute to wear, the development of scoring systems in anthropology, and its utility in reconstructing prehistoric behavior. In turn, the participants provided data for a comparison of the Smith and Scott scoring systems:

Smith vs. Scott Scoring System Throw Down

Later in the afternoon, Chris Schmidt led the workshop in a discussion of dental microwear. During this second workshop, we were able to test our ability to differentiate “good” and “bad” images:

Spoiler: Nope, it is not.

This reads like some of the comments from my first year Archaeological Systematics papers…

We finished with a wonderful talk from the University of Michigan’s own Holly Smith, who described the academic trajectory that took her from an early interest in macrowear and diet to her continuing fascination with hominin dental development.

All in all it has been a full week, and it hasn’t ended yet! Tomorrow I will be presenting a poster co-authored with Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla in the session Skeletal Biology: Bioarchaeology. I’ll make sure to post a link to the poster on academia.edu after the session. If you’re a blog reader, or an isotope person, or a bioarch person, or simply curious about how many typos a human can find on a poster in a five-minute period, feel free to swing by! Details below:

Session: 31 – Skeletal Biology: Bioarchaeology
Number: 19
Location: Atrium Ballroom A/B
Authors: J.Beck and M. Díaz-Zorita Bonilla
Title: Bodies in motion: Isotopic analyses of mobility and diet at Marroquíes Bajos, Spain.
Time: TECHNICALLY I am supposed to be there from 9:30-10:00am, but I will most likely be attending the R Stats workshop, supporting some of my graduate colleagues. I’ll definitely be there for the evening session, from 4:00-4:45pm.