Medieval Stable Isotope Analysis
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Hello gofundme patrons and donors! My name is Maddeline Voas and I am currently a bioarchaeology master's student at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, FL. I have been granted the wonderful opportunity to have access to a skeletal collection from a Medieval Transylvanian cemetery! Fortunately, bone samples from this skeletal assemblage have been flown in to the United States already and I will therefore have no need to travel back to Transylvania to extract/obtain the samples myself. 
A little bit about me and why such financial assistance is trying to be obtained on my part: I currently work for a non-profit called History Flight. Our mission is to bring back WWII fallen that have been missing in action for over 70 years. We are contracted by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to do this work on the island of Tarawa. I decided to put my masters degree on hold in January 2016 so that I may commit full time to this mission. In the meantime, I have been preparing for my masters thesis project, because I would like to streamline the process to completing my master's.
On the matters of personal hardships and grief, I am interested in working in a field such as this because of what transpired in 2010; something that would change my life forever, shape my goals, and make me focus on a just cause. My father died in a horrible Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crash in Afghanistan in April of 2010.
I was so lucky to be able to say goodbye to his mortal remains in a stip-mall funeral home and that day sticks with me every day I am in the field working for History Flight (& so does the day we buried him at Arlington National Cemetery). It was probably the worst day of my life, but I am so very lucky. Here is a video montage documenting his life, and another who died that fateful day.
The families of these WWII heroes never got the closure that I did, and they have yet to be buried on U.S soil as promised by our country. So, that is part of why I am obtaining an education in biological anthropology. I want to bring closure to families and help them with grief in any capacity. But, I also am in this field because I have an immense love for history, human anatomy, and culture.
The reason I have come to this page is because I need some additional financial support for my thesis research. This project is going to be privately funded, after numerous setbacks in trying to obtain public grants for the sort of research I plan on doing. I am starting to realize that international research projects of master's students (specifically for topics like stable isotope analysis) have very limited funding opportunities!
What is my thesis project about?
I plan on using stable isotope analysis to answer questions about childhood diet and stress in Medieval Translyvania. This includes tracing the process of breastfeeding, weaning, and total introduction of foods through biochemical analysis of bone samples obtained from the juvenile skeletal remains. I will be specifically analysing the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in these collagen samples using a university laboratory in Florida. General costs for this sort of analysis run from $2,000-4,000 dollars (including travel and hotel costs). I plan on conducting this analysis sometime during the Spring 2017 semester. Generally, results of δ13C, ‰C, δ15N, ‰N take a period of up to four months to be processed in totality.
I will be sampling the collagen from 24 non-adult individuals ranging in age from 36 weeks to 18 years of age. Pathologies have been documented on numerous sets of remains in this population, specifically regarding the children and infants. I will be using this form of chemistry to answer questions about culture, Medieval period childcare, childhood stress, and adolescent identity.
Helping me with this research is helping me achieve my dream. If I obtain the funding I need to conduct this analysis, I can finish a thesis project and then finish my Master's program. I can then continue to chase my dreams. If I finish my master's degree I will become more qualified for higher positions, such as forensic archaeologist. With this job title, I also become more involved in my current job: bringing the remains of these MIA service-members home to their families...and their home, the United States of America.
A little bit about me and why such financial assistance is trying to be obtained on my part: I currently work for a non-profit called History Flight. Our mission is to bring back WWII fallen that have been missing in action for over 70 years. We are contracted by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to do this work on the island of Tarawa. I decided to put my masters degree on hold in January 2016 so that I may commit full time to this mission. In the meantime, I have been preparing for my masters thesis project, because I would like to streamline the process to completing my master's.
On the matters of personal hardships and grief, I am interested in working in a field such as this because of what transpired in 2010; something that would change my life forever, shape my goals, and make me focus on a just cause. My father died in a horrible Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crash in Afghanistan in April of 2010.
I was so lucky to be able to say goodbye to his mortal remains in a stip-mall funeral home and that day sticks with me every day I am in the field working for History Flight (& so does the day we buried him at Arlington National Cemetery). It was probably the worst day of my life, but I am so very lucky. Here is a video montage documenting his life, and another who died that fateful day.
The families of these WWII heroes never got the closure that I did, and they have yet to be buried on U.S soil as promised by our country. So, that is part of why I am obtaining an education in biological anthropology. I want to bring closure to families and help them with grief in any capacity. But, I also am in this field because I have an immense love for history, human anatomy, and culture.
The reason I have come to this page is because I need some additional financial support for my thesis research. This project is going to be privately funded, after numerous setbacks in trying to obtain public grants for the sort of research I plan on doing. I am starting to realize that international research projects of master's students (specifically for topics like stable isotope analysis) have very limited funding opportunities!
What is my thesis project about?
I plan on using stable isotope analysis to answer questions about childhood diet and stress in Medieval Translyvania. This includes tracing the process of breastfeeding, weaning, and total introduction of foods through biochemical analysis of bone samples obtained from the juvenile skeletal remains. I will be specifically analysing the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in these collagen samples using a university laboratory in Florida. General costs for this sort of analysis run from $2,000-4,000 dollars (including travel and hotel costs). I plan on conducting this analysis sometime during the Spring 2017 semester. Generally, results of δ13C, ‰C, δ15N, ‰N take a period of up to four months to be processed in totality.
I will be sampling the collagen from 24 non-adult individuals ranging in age from 36 weeks to 18 years of age. Pathologies have been documented on numerous sets of remains in this population, specifically regarding the children and infants. I will be using this form of chemistry to answer questions about culture, Medieval period childcare, childhood stress, and adolescent identity.
Helping me with this research is helping me achieve my dream. If I obtain the funding I need to conduct this analysis, I can finish a thesis project and then finish my Master's program. I can then continue to chase my dreams. If I finish my master's degree I will become more qualified for higher positions, such as forensic archaeologist. With this job title, I also become more involved in my current job: bringing the remains of these MIA service-members home to their families...and their home, the United States of America.
Organizer
Maddeline Voas
Organizer
Santa Rosa Beach, FL