News

sandy landscape with blue sky
Azraq Basin, Jordan. Photo Credit: Alexis Pantos/Shubayqa Archaeological project.

RLEA news will be posted here. You can also check our Publications page.

2024

Award Announcement: Ramsey Laboratory for Environmental Archaeology Secures Major Funding
 
We are excited to announce that the Ramsey Laboratory for Environmental Archaeology (RLEA) at the University of Toronto has been awarded significant funding from two major sources: the CFI John Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) and the Ontario Research Fund – Research Infrastructure (ORF-RI) Small Infrastructure Fund. These grants will propel the lab’s cutting-edge research on human-environment interactions and the evolution of plant-food production in the Southern Levant.
 
Led by Prof. Monica Ramsey, this funding will enable the integration of state-of-the-art microscopy and artificial intelligence (AI) systems to revolutionize the study of ancient plant remains. Employing deep learning algorithms and AI assisted workflows, the lab is creating large-scale phytolith datasets, and aim to offer unprecedented insights into the emergence of agriculture and long-term human-environment dynamics. (Posted October, 24th) 

Melanie Pugliese was awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Award for New Paleoethnobotanical Methodology: Using Artificial Intelligence to Illuminate Plant Use in the Past. (Posted May, 2024)

The RLEA presented their current Lab Updates IN PROCESS: The Development of an Automatic Deep-Learning Phytolith Analysis Workflow at the SAA's in New Orleans. (Posted April 20 2024)

Lachlan Kyle-Robinson was awarded a CGS M Award for Resiliency: Pre-Pottery Neolithic Plant Use and Resource Selection During Regional Decline. (Posted April, 2024)

Lachlan Kyle-Robinson was awarded a research fellowship grant through the University of Toronto Archaeology Center to support upcoming work with Dr. Donald Butler. This research focuses on developing understandings of how growth/collapse cycles in transnational exchange networks shaped emergent rural economies along the Incense Road in the Negev Desert, Israel between the 3rd century BCE and 8th century CE. The Incense Road connecting Arabia and the Mediterranean was established as the main artery for delivering goods such as frankincense, perfumes, oils, and fish from production centers in Arabia to the Mediterranean. (Posted March 20, 2024)

2023

Dr. Monica Ramsey has published a new academic paper that sheds light on the fascinating evolution of human food production in the southern Levant. Using a multi-proxy archaeobotanical dataset and niche construction theory, the study explores the impact of human impacts on wetland ecosystems and the transition to plant food production. Shareit link: https://rdcu.be/c8lAm. (Posted March 24, 2023)

Dr. Monica Ramsey was awarded $9,270.00 in credit with the AWS (Amazon Web Services) Cloud Credit for Research program to help cover costs associated with the implementation of the RLEA database currently in development with the DSI. (Posted February 8, 2023)

Dr. Monica Ramsey was recently selected as a recipient of the U of T Data Sciences Institute Research Software Development Support Program. This program will enable Dr. Ramsey to work with a professional software developer in order to build a customized lab database in support of her archaeological research program at UTM. (Posted February 8, 2023)