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Center for the Study of Human Origins

Department of
Anthropology

 
New York University

25 Waverly Place
New York City
NY 10003

telephone:
212.992.9785
fax:
212.995.4907

 

PAM CRABTREE

 
 
Sheep horn core are from the Middle Saxon site of
Brandon in eastern England

Position:Associate Professor of Anthropology

Education: B.A. 1972, Barnard
M.A. 1975, University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D. 1982, University of Pennsylvania

E-mail: pc4@nyu.edu, PamCDougC@comcast.net

Phone:
212-998-8573

Research Sites:
Dún Ailinne, Ireland; Brandon, England;
Delaware Water Gap, NJ

Excavating at the Delaware Water Gap during the 1998 field season
Research Focus: Pam Crabtree is a zooarchaeologist whose research interests center broadly on the uses of faunal remains to study past animal husbandry patterns, hunting practices, and diet. She is also interested in the use of archaeological-recovered animal remains to study trade, social status, ethnicity, and prehistoric ritual. Crabtree’s primary area of interest is later prehistoric and early medieval Europe, but she has also worked on Natufian settlement and subsistence in the Southern Levant and 18th- and 19th-century sites in eastern North America.

Excavating at the Delaware Water Gap during the 1998 field season
Crabtree is currently completing three major research projects. The first is the study of the animal remains from the Iron Age site of Dún Ailinne in Ireland. Dún Ailinne is a large, ceremonial site located southwest of Dublin in County Kildare that was traditionally associated with the kings of Leinster. Excavations were carried out at the site in the late 1960s and 1970s under the direction of Prof. Bernard Wailes of the University of Pennsylvania. The site produced over 18,000 animal bones and fragments, the largest Iron Age faunal collection in Ireland. Pam Crabtree and Doug Campana are also studying the worked bones and bone implements from Dún Ailinne.

Crew chief, Mary Socci, excavating at Salibiya in the West Bank

Pam Crabtree and Doug Campana are also completing the analysis of the mammal and bird remains
from the Middle Saxon site of Brandon in eastern England. Brandon is a high-status residential site that was excavated over nine seasons in the 1980s. The Brandon excavations yielded over 150,000 bird and mammal remains, including exotic species such as grey seal, dolphin, and peregrine falcon. The vast majority of the remains were sheep, which appear to have been kept primarily for their wool. Crabtree and Campana are currently preparing the final report on the Brandon faunal remains.

Exacavating at the Delaware Water Gap during the 1999 field season
Pam Crabtree has just completed a five-year study of the archaeological potential of French-and-Indian-War-period sites in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in northwest New Jersey. The study was carried out in conjunction with John Wright and Doug Campana of the National Park Service. The project included four seasons of archaeological survey and excavation, including an extensive program of archaeological excavation at Fort Johns, archaeological testing a Fort Naminock, and archaeological survey and mapping of an 18th- and 19th-century African American burial ground. Many NYU undergraduates and graduate students have taken part in the excavation program at the Water Gap. We are currently preparing the artifacts and faunal remains from the Water Gap for final publication.

Harold Fuess excavating at Salibiya in the West Bank
Crabtree’s future research plans include the study of faunal remains recovered from slave cabins in South Carolina, as part of an on-going survey and excavation project. Crabtree regularly teaches graduate courses in faunal analysis, the history of archaeological theory, and medieval archaeology. She has also taught contemporary archaeological theory, Near East I, and environmental archaeology, and she recently co-taught Paleoanthropology 1 with Terry Harrison and Eric Delson. Her undergraduate courses include Barbarian Europe, human ecology, prehistoric hunters and gatherers, and archaeology: early societies and cultures.


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Recent and Selected Publications: