Jocelyn Williams

Assistant Professor

Office: DNA C222

Office Telephone: (705) 748-1011 x7441

Lab: DNA C237 Osteology Lab

Lab Telephone: (705) 748-1011 x7683

Email: Send an email

Education

BA (McMaster), MA (Western), PhD (Calgary)

Research Interests

I continue to work on material from the Puruchuco-Huaquerones Cemetery Project in Lima, Peru, expanding the isotopic analyses of the thousands of individuals buried at this cemetery. My recent work is focusing on refining interpretations about population movement and seasonal use of the environment using hydrogen isotopes in hair (in addition to carbon and nitrogen). Future work will incorporate oxygen isotope analysis of bone and tooth, to investigate the geographical origins of this cemetery population and will also expand the temporal focus to include carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of individuals dating to before and after the Inca conquest and Spanish invasion of Peru.

“The chemical approaches (specifically stable isotope analysis) I use to directly quantify diet in ancient populations by analyzing the ratio of certain elements (carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, oxygen and strontium) in both soft (hair, nail, skin, muscle) and hard (bone and tooth) tissues has only been used in anthropology since the 1970’s, as such it is still a developing field and we are constantly testing the limits and potential of this application. Furthermore chemical analysis of soft tissues is rare in South America, and few studies exist that test how diet changed with Spanish invasion or with the Inca conquest. The chemical analysis of multiple tissues from mummified individuals is very rare and only a handful of researchers, working on much smaller samples than I have access to, have attempted this type of research.”

 

Profile

Professor Jocelyn Williams joined the department in 2005. She is bioarchaeologists whose research focuses on human palaeopathology and palaeonutrition in South American and Mesoamerican populations during the period shortly before and after Spanish Invasion. Of particular interest is the impact of cultural and/or environmental change on diet and dietary choices in addition to the application of isotopic analysis to mummified human remains. She has training and expertise in stable isotope analysis and specializes in the application of this method to archaeological populations. She is currently part of a team of bioarchaeologists working on the Puruchuco-Huaquerones cemetery project, investigating health and diet on the central coast of Peru during the Inca occupation (Late Horizon AD 1472-1532). Her stable isotopic analysis of mummified individuals from this cemetery has demonstrated seasonality in diet and death, sex differences in diet and has enabled inferences about population mobility. Earlier isotopic work in Mesoamerica has suggested a new method for investigating ancient infant feeding practices (AJPA 2005).