Journal Editors

Sara Halwas is an Archaeological Anthropologist who focuses on plant use by past peoples. She began archaeobotanical studies during the second year of her undergraduate studies, when she was forced to select a minor to continue registering for classes. One botany class led to another resulting in a BA in Anthropology with a Minor in Botany from the University of Manitoba in 2003. This snowballed into a Master’s degree in Archaeology at Memorial University in Newfoundland (2006) and a doctorate in Biological Sciences and Anthropology, University of Manitoba (2017). Sara’s research focuses on the myriad ways people have interacted with plants particularly cultivation of native species and the process of domestication. Excavating at the important and complex archaeological sites at the Forks and Lockport are careers highlights. Sara is currently beginning postdoc research with Dr. Mary Malainey, Brandon University and is a sessional lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Manitoba.

Alicia Gooden fell in love with archaeology at a young age, spending all her childhood summers exploring the Manitoba Parkland looking for “treasures” near her parent’s cabin while dreaming of becoming a real-life Indiana Jones. When she started school at Brandon University (BU) in 2006, Alicia began with a BA in English (2010), but found that it was the ancient cultures she was researching that she was truly interested in, and not so much the literature itself. After taking a few ancient language and linguistic classes, and accidentally happening upon the BU archaeology lab, Alicia decided to continue on at BU, completing a BA in Anthropology (2012). After traveling the world and living abroad for a few years, Alicia was accepted to the University of Leicester (U of L) in the United Kingdom and attained her MA Archaeology (2015) under the supervision of the team who excavated and analyzed King Richard III in 2012. Alicia is proud to note that all three of her degrees were earned summa cum laude. Since 2011, Alicia has excavated in Canada, England, and Croatia in a variety of temporal contexts that range from the pre-Hellenistic era to the modern period; however, she is currently concentrating on Precontact sites in southwest Manitoba, and teaches the Archaeology Field School and other sessional Anthropology courses at BU.