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M.A. Student Matt Borden Won the Gloria King Research Fellowship

Matt Borden, an M.A. student in William & Mary’s Department of Anthropology, was awarded the Gloria S. King Research Fellowship. Matt is studying and conducting research in the field of archaeology. He studies social complexity, trade, and exchange, with a specific regional interest in pre-historic Mid-Atlantic region. The Gloria King Research Fellowship is a scholarship program that supports prominent archaeological researchers who study the over-ten-thousand-year history of human occupation in the Mid-Atlantic region. Named after Gloria Shafer, a renowned contributor to the study of Maryland’s history, the fellowship program is one of the research programs initiated by the Maryland Archaeological Conservation (The MAC). The awardees of the fellowship will be encouraged to conduct archaeological research in Maryland and curate the collections of archaeological artifacts under the MAC’s custody. Around 8 million artifacts recovered in Maryland are currently sitting in the MAC’s depository. The fellowship package Matt received will support him to use the MAC’s type collection to assist his research on archaeological sites in Upper Potomac. In this research project, Matt plans to adopt the method of accumulations research, which calculates the relationship between population size, occupation length, and artifact discard rates, to identify trends among different cultural traditions in the area. According to Matt, the broader goal is “to calculate demographic information for Precontact Upper Potomac River Valley.” Congratulations, Matt!