Marissa Bovie, of Vassalboro, a double major in anthropology and earth science at the University of Maine, traveled to Croatia in 2014 as part of a team to help build a collaborative network of colleagues from different fields in relation to an archaeological study on urban transformation and landscape change along the Adriatic Sea.

This summer, Bovie returned to Croatia as a research assistant with Gregory Zaro, an associate professor and chairman of the department of anthropology, as well as researchers from the University of Zadar, Croatia, and students from both the University of Zadar and UMaine.

The majority of UMaine student participation comes through an archaeological field school and travel course directed by Zaro. Eleven students were enrolled in the course that ran from May 15 to June 11.

The excavation, which is funded by the National Geographic Society, is the next phase in building a long-term program of study concerning human society, environment and climate in the eastern Adriatic region. The initiative to study at the Nadin archaeological site grew out of Zaro’s Fulbright experience at the University of Zadar in 2013.

The project work will generate archaeological data related to urban form, spatial organization, economy, subsistence and environment from the site’s inception in the Iron Age. The project also will work to more precisely delineate the site’s chronology, an essential prerequisite to articulating changes in urban form with broader changes in landscape and environment.

Bovie plans to graduate in May 2016.

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