Research Laboratories of Archaeology at UNC-Chapel Hill

Updates from the field in NC! Check out a photo essay about archaeology at Ayr Mount
https://college.unc.edu/2026/06/archaeology-ayr-mount/
and the Berry Site Field School:

The @jenrettefoundation has funded a field school with the @uncchapelhill Research Laboratories of Archaeology to explore the material culture of Ayr Mount’s past. A team of undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty are looking for evidence of Ayr Mount’s original exterior kitchen building behind the main house. In addition to excavating, the team is using ground penetrating radar and other less-invasive methods to study areas of the site that may contain clues about the history of property beyond what we can see above ground. This partnership with UNC Archaeology stretches back to the 1980s, when Dick Jenrette supported exploration and study of historic and prehistoric material culture around Ayr Mount through funding and land preservation. This field school is another way the Jenrette Foundation is providing emerging scholars opportunities for hands-on learning at our sites. This is an important initiative, as the Jenrette Foundation’s longest-standing partnership, because it strengthens the opportunity that area students have to investigate their community. There’s a lot we don’t know about Ayr Mount’s history, and we continue to reveal more of the story. #jenretteconvenes

Congratulations to all our graduating Archaeology majors and minors! We are proud of everything you have accomplished and wish you all the success in the exciting next steps of your journey!

We also celebrate every student who has successfully completed this academic year! Enjoy a well-earned break, and we are looking forward to welcoming you back in August!

Congratulations to Sierra Roark on receiving two prestigious awards supporting her research!

Sierra was awarded a 2026–2027 Conrad M. Hall Fellowship from the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, which will fund a month-long research visit in Richmond to study herbal medicine and health practices in the colonial and antebellum South. She also received the James R. Cothran Graduate Fellowship from the Southern Garden History Society for her participation in their annual meeting in Williamsburg.

A doctoral candidate in Anthropology at UNC, Sierra is a historical archaeologist and archaeobotanist whose dissertation, “Green Gold: Plant Use, Identity, and Power in the Colonial Chesapeake, 1600–1800,” examines how plant knowledge, foodways, and medicinal practices shaped identity and power in the early Chesapeake.

Congratulations to Arnav Sharnappa Honna on graduating with highest honors!

His senior honors thesis, “We are the Achaemenids”: Iranian Nationalism and its Shifting Sentiments Towards the Achaemenid Past, explores how Iranian nationalists have engaged with archaeological materials from the Achaemenid Empire since the 19th century.

This fall, Arnav will continue his academic journey at Colorado State University, pursuing an M.A. in Anthropology. We wish him continued success in this next chapter!

Let’s congratulate Regina Lowe, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, for receiving a Summer Research Fellowship from The Graduate School at UNC Chapel Hill for her dissertation project, Making Pottery in Carolina: A Comparison of Catawba Pottery and Colonoware from South Carolina, 1760–1820.

This project tests the archaeological understanding of Catawba potting techniques during the 18th and 19th centuries to explore how Native potters used their craft to support their families during a time of political and economic transition. This summer research will produce a variety of data on Catawba potting techniques to test whether there are patterns in Catawba craft production related to increased colonial pressures.

Congratulations, Regina, and we wish you lots of success in your dissertation research this summer!

RLA’s research archaeologist Dr. Mary Beth Fitts and PhD student Regina Lowe brought portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) technology into the Ackland Art Museum’s conservation studio, collaborating with Grace White, paper conservator at the Ackland, and senior chemistry student Lindsey Ioos.

As part of her independent study, Ioos, a chemistry major with double minors in art history and classical humanities, analyzed pigments in Japanese prints. Using RLA’s pXRF under the guidance of Fitts and Lowe, she identified elemental composition non-destructively, helping reveal how materials, trade, and culture intersect.

Congratulations to Lindsey on her next step as a doctoral student in inorganic materials chemistry at The Ohio State University!

Join us in celebrating Cayla’s dissertation defense!

Cayla Colclasure is a historical archaeologist working in the American South on topics related to power, identity, and institutions. Her dissertation research examining life under the convict leasing system on the Western NC Railroad was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

During her time at UNC, Cayla completed the Graduate Certificate in Participatory Research and further developed her skills in community engagement through several fellowships including Humanities for the Public Good, Southern Futures, CSAS, the Carolina Center for Public Service, and the Maynard Adams Fellowship for the Public Humanities.

Cayla has an upcoming co-organized session at SAAs that she will also be presenting at: “Punishment and Production: Archaeological Approaches to Incarceration and Forced Labor.” Next year, she will be a post-doctoral researcher at the UGA Laboratory of Archaeology.

Congratulations, Cayla, and we wish you lots of success at UGA!

Please join us in congratulating Emily O’Loughlin for a successful Senior Thesis defense with Highest Honors! Emily’s thesis, titled “Giving an Arm and a Leg: Healing Dedications and the Performance of Anatomical Votive Offering,” investigates examples of anatomical votive offerings in ancient and modern traditions, and their roles in religious rituals and health-seeking. Congratulations, Emily!

RLA had an amazing time at the Science Expo on April 11, 2026!

Hosted annually by Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill, this event brings our community together for a full day of hands-on science and learning.

We loved introducing archaeology to you and exploring how archaeologists analyze animal bones, ceramics, and plant remains to understand the past.

Huge shoutout to our graduate student volunteers Joy Mersmann, Cole Warlick, Jackson Clark, and Theo Kassebaum for bringing their expertise and enthusiasm!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by! We can’t wait to see you at next year’s Science Expo!