Dr Asta Rand

(she/her)

BSc (Hons), MA, PhD

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

My research focuses on mortuary practices, subsistence strategies, and mobility patterns among Prehispanic Maya communities in Mesoamerica. Currently, my MSCA-UKRI-funded PHEMOR project combines bone histology with multiple isotopic techniques (carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, and strontium) to delve deeper into the various body treatments utlised by Maya communities in the past and to better understand the postmortem movement of human remains across Maya archaeological sites. 

Biography

I am a Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions - United Kingdom Research and Innovation (MSCA-UKRI) Guarantee Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Archaeology and Conservation in Cardiff University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion. My current PHEMOR (PostHumous Exhumation and Movement of Osteological Remains) project combines isotopic and histological analyses to provide new insight into mortuary practices and the movement of human remains after death among the Prehipsanic Maya.

Prior to this, I completed my PhD in Archaeology at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, during which I established the use of sulphur isotope analysis in Maya archaeology. This stemmed from my MA research at Trent University, Canada, where I combined anthropological, archaeological, palaeopathological, and isotopic evidence into a multi-disciplinary assessment of Maya subsistence practices at the Classsic period site of Caledonia, Cayo District, Belize. My interests in Maya archaeology and biological anthropology were first piqued during my undergraduate studies at Trent University, where I completed my BSc in the Honours Programme in Anthropology.

I enjoy teaching and during my doctoral studies I also worked as a Per Course Instructor teaching courses at the undergraduate level in the Department of Archaeology at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. In addition to my academic career, I have experience working as a commercial archaeologist in Ontario Canada and I have excavated at the Colony of Avalon, the first permanent English settlement in Newfoundland, as well as at both an Early Modern cemetery and Lusatian culture urn field in Poland.  

Honours and awards

• Seal of Excellence, European Commission Horizon Europe, 2022
• Fellow of the School of Graduate Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2021
• The Ochinsky-McKern Award, Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, 2020
• Recognition of Excellence, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2014-2017
• Dean's Honour Roll, Trent University, 2011
• Dean’s Honour Roll, Trent University, 2008

Professional memberships

• American Association of Biological Anthropology (AABA)
• Association for Environmental Archaeology (AEA)
• British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO)
• Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology (CABA)
• Canadian Latin American Archaeology Society (CLAAS)
• Graduate Women in Science (GWS) 
• Society for Archaeological Sciences (SAS)

Academic positions

• Per Course Instructor, Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2018-2021
• Graduate Tutor, Writing Centre, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2015-2019 
• Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2013-2018 
• Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology, Trent University, 2009-2011

Speaking engagements

• Isotopes and archaeology: Changing perspectives of ancient Maya diet and migration. Invited by Dr hab. Jarosław Źrałka to present the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, 13/01/2023
• Multi-isotopic insights into Maya subsistence practices and migration. Invited by Prof. Keith Prufer to present synchronically to the Center for Stable Isotopes Brown Bag Lecture Series, University of New Mexico, USA, Online. 28/02/2022.
• Isotope Analysis of Past Foodways. Invited by Dr Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire to present ANT-277 class, Davison College, USA, Online. 31/03/2021.
• Isotopic Insights into Archaeological Diet and Migration. Invited by Chapter President Victoria Elder-Brooks to present synchronically to the Ontario Archaeological Society: London Chapter, Online. 10/11/2021.
• Isotope Analysis in Forensic Anthropology. Invited by Dr Vaughan Grimes to present to ARCH 2492, Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, Canada. 25/10/2017
• The Skeletons from Drawsko, Poland. Invited by Dr Megan Bower to present to ARCH 3040, Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, Canada. 30/03/2017
• Bioarchaeology: From Human Skeletons to Cultural Processes. Invited by Dr Megan Bower to presented to ARCH 1030 class, Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, Canada. 23/11/2016
• Archaeological Field Techniques and Concerns. Invited by Dr Megan Bower to present to ARCH 2492 class, Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, Canada. 06/10/2014
• Archaeology in Ontario. Volunteered to present to Grade 1 Class at Huntsville Public School, Huntsville, ON, Canada. 10/04/2012.

Committees and reviewing

• Committee Member, SHARE Ethics Committee, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, 2023-present
• Second Marker, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, 2023
• Review Panel Convenor, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, 2023
• Abstract Reviewer, Aldrich Conference, 2019-2020 
• Session Judge, Aldrich Conference, 2019 
• Ethics Subcommittee Member, Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, 2015