Robert J. Stark is a bioarchaeologist whose research focuses on the excavation and investigation of human skeletal remains from archaeological contexts. To date he has been involved with archaeological projects in Canada, Jordan, Egypt, Italy, and Sudan. Robert has an educational background in Near Eastern archaeology, with graduate specializations in human skeletal osteology, paleopathology, and stable isotopes (18O, 87Sr/86Sr, 13C, 15N), with a particular focus on human mobility in the past.
Role in the Ghazali Project:
Robert is a bioarchaeologist on the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology (PCMA) Ghazali project. In this capacity he is involved with excavation of the cemeteries identified to date at this site. Within the Ghazali project Robert is focussed on documentation and excavation of graves and associated analyses of the human skeletal remains. This entails documenting burial styles, contexts, and positions of interment, as well as establishing osteobiographies for the individuals excavated from these graves (i.e. age, sex, pathological conditions, and skeletal anomalies). Beyond excavation and documentation Robert is undertaking isotopic research to examine the diets of the individuals interred at Ghazali (13C, 15N), and potential instances of mobility (18O, 87Sr/86Sr).
Publications:
Stark RJ, Ciesielska J. in preparation. A Proposed Case of Inter-Vertebral Disc Infection in a Monastic Individual from Deir Ghazali.
Stark RJ., Ciesielska J. Accepted for Publication. Cemetery 4 at Ghazali (Sudan): Excavations during the Fall 2016 Season. Archaeological Bayuda Conference Proceedings.
Ciesielska J., Obluski A., Stark RJ. Accepted for Publication. The Cemeteries of Ghazali, Season 2015/2016. Archaeological Bayuda Conference Proceedings.
Conferences Ghazali Material Presented At:
Stark RJ, Ciesielska J. 2017. Oroantral Fistulae at the Monastic Settlement of Ghazali, Sudan (ca. 670–1270 C.E.). 44th North American Meeting of the Paleopathology Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 17–19.
Ciesielska J, Stark RJ. 2017. Reconstructing the Monastic Lifestyle: Bioarchaeological Investigation of Living Conditions in a Religious Community Based on Human Skeletal Remains from El-Ghazali, Sudan. 86th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 19–22.
Stark RJ, Ciesielska J. 2017. Ghazali Cemetery Project (GCP) Field Report 2015/2016. Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, 5–8 January 2017, Toronto, Canada.
Stark RJ, Ciesielska J. 2016. The Monastic Cemetery (Cemetery 2) at Deir el-Ghazali, Sudan. Research on Human Remains from Polish Excavations in Africa and the Near East, 9 December 2016, Warsaw, Poland.
Stark RJ, Ciesielska J. 2016. A possible intervertebral disc infection in an individual buried in the monastic cemetery at Deir Ghazali, Sudan. 21st European Meeting of the Paleopathology Association, 15–19 August, Moscow, Russian Federation.