Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
B.A. (McMaster), M.A. (Western), Ph.D. (Calgary)
Life & Health Sciences DNA C222, ext.7441, jocelynwilliams@trentu.ca
Website: https://www.jocelynwilliams.ca/
Research Interests: I am a human bioarchaeologist who studies both mummified and skeletal human remains from ancient populations to better understand how people lived and died in the past and how this relates to living populations/descendent communities. My research is focused primarily on food and health, but I am also interested in human mobility and communities particularly during periods of political/cultural transition (e.g., colonization) and environmental change/catastrophe. My methodological expertise is in both osteology (including paleopathology) and stable isotope analysis, and I work in the Americas and the Caribbean. I have a particular interest in infant feeding practices (breastfeeding and weaning) and the biological, cultural, and social impact of Inka imperialism and Spanish/British colonialism on both ancient and living populations. My research is influenced by theories such as: queer theory, feminist theory, the biocultural approach, the new mobilities paradigm, the archaeology of communities, the bioarchaeology of colonialism and the bioarchaeology of care.
Current Projects
Accepting Graduate Students for 2024-25
Mummies as Microcosms: The Bioarchaeology of the Inka Occupation of the Central Coast of Peru. SSHRC Insight Grant with Andrew Nelson (Western University).
See a short video about our work here: https://youtu.be/na12WOJUmb8?fbclid=IwAR0gQpOFORlr8JTYyqX9ChqLenJay8Lawh...
Selected Conference Presentations
Nelson, A, Watson, L, Williams, J, Gauld S, Motley, J, Poeta, L, Gomez, E, Baldeo, J, Pozzi-Escot, D
2021 Mummies as microcosms: The bioarchaeological assessment of funerary bundles from outside of the sanctuary of Pachacamac, Peru (1100AD - 1470 AD). Paper presented at the 61st annual meeting of the Institute of Andean Studies. Virtual Meeting Jan 2021
Tait, V, Williams, J
2021 Isotopes of the Caribbean: An Investigation of Pretreatment and Human Paleodiet at the Escape Site (AD 300 - 1000), Saint Vincent, Lesser Antilles. Poster presented at the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, Hamilton ON, October 27-30, 2021.
Williams, J, Sutinen, J, Iannone, G
2019 Rocks stay stationary, not people: Population movement and long term sociodynamics at the Maya centre of Minanha, Belize. Paper presented at the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, Banff, Alberta, October 24-26, 2019
Nelson, AJ, S Guillen, L Lopes, A Sajantila, E Orellana, J Tejeda and JS Williams
2017 Maternal mortality in Ancient Peru: A case study from Ilo. Paper presented at the 7th Paleopathology Association Meeting in South America, Chile, October 2017
Selected Publications
2022 MacConnachie, M, S Lu, Y Wang, JS Williams, D Beauchemin
Sex Determination of Mummies through Multi-Elemental Analysis of Head Hair using Electrothermal Vaporization Coupled to Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry. Royal Society of Chemistry Advances 12: 27064-27071.
Nelson, A, L Watson, J Williams, S Gauld, J Motley, L Poeta, D Seston, E Gomez, J Baldeos, S Fuentes, D Pozzi-Escot
2021 Análisis de los Fardos Funerarios de Pachacamac: Aplicaciónsistemática de Rayos X y Tomografía Computarizada en un Contexto Arqueológico. Proceeding of the ACTAS VI Congreso Nacional de Arqueologia. Ministerio de Cultura Peru.
Williams, JS, SS Stronge, G Iannone, F Longstaffe
2017 Examining Chronological Trends in Ancient Maya Diet at Minanha, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 29(2): 269-287.
Conolly J, Dillane J, Dougherty K, Elaschuk K, Csenkey K, Williams J.
2014 Establishing the Long-Term Use of a Burial Location from the Fifth to First Millennium BP in South-Central Ontario: An Interim Report on Mortuary Patterning, Palaeodietary Analysis, Zooarchaeology, Material Culture and Chronology from Jacob’s Island-1 (BcGo-17), Kawartha Lakes. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 38(1): 106-133.
Williams, JS, MM Murphy
2013 Living and Dying as Subjects of the Inca Empire: Adult Diet and Health at Puruchuco-Huaquerones, Peru. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32:165-179.
Williams, JS, MA Katzenberg
2011 Seasonal Fluctuations in Diet and Death During the Late Horizon: A Stable Isotopic Analysis of Hair and Nail from the Central Coast of Peru. Journal of Archaeological Science 39: 41-57