Izzy Osmundsen portrait
  • Graduate Teaching Assist (TA), Anthropology Department

Research Summary

My master's thesis is to examine extant plant patches as a result of past human niche construction to provide evidence of cultural modification for designation as traditional cultural places/landscapes.

Education

  • Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, Indiana University

Biography

Prior to beginning her graduate education, Izzy Osmundsen spent 5 years working in the private and public sectors of cultural resource management, her last position prior to school being a seasonal archaeological technician at Capitol Reef National Park. From these experiences, she set out to be a "jack of all trades" but decided to become a master of one through human niche construction using human behavioral ecology. Broadly, her archaeological interests include geoarchaeology, landscape perspectives, spatial modeling, and now, plant patches/gardens as indentification markers relating to archaeological sites. In her personal life, she also enjoys most anything outdoors without ticks, films from Salt Lake Film Society, and making things by hand.*

*She appreciates the technique, but is no good at flint-knapping.