Undergraduate Apprentices
Ruby Bracher
Ruby Bracher is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Anthropology and minoring in Art History at UC Berkeley. She enjoyed working in the East Asian Archaeology Lab last semester and is excited to continue as an apprentice remotely this Fall!
Rosalyn (Rosie) Macon
Rosie (she/her/hers) is a third year undergraduate at UC Berkeley studying anthropology and education. From Fresno, California and Taipei, Taiwan, Rosie is interested in how education is practiced and valued in different countries and how anthropology can be incorporated into middle and high school curricula in the United States. Rosie is also Co-President for Anthropology Undergraduate Association, an organization for all undergraduates interested in anthropology at UC Berkeley.
Haruka Saito
Haruka Saito, Anthropology undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. As a student of this URAP, I enjoy analyzing artifacts and floral remains of professor Habu’s lab excavated from Jomon period sites in Japan.
Jerry Wong
Jerry is a student studying Business Administration and East Asian Religion, Culture, and Thought. He enjoys sifting through sediment samples to find charcoal, nutshell, and seeds!
Graduate Student Mentors
Sandra Oseguera Sotomayor
Anthropology Ph.D student at the University of California, Berkeley, and UCMexus-CONACYT Doctoral fellow. Sandra obtained her BA in Latin American Studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and her MA at Stanford University. Her doctoral research focuses on the study of long-term human-environmental interactions. Using a mix of archaeological methods and ethnographic technics Sandra’s research looks at traditional ecological and agricultural knowledge of Indigenous communities in Morelos, Mexico in order to learn about sustainable-resilient landscape management practices and food sovereignty. Other research interests are: Agroecology, indigenous knowledge, and decoloniality. In the summer of 2019 Sandra traveled to Japan, thanks to the CJS Graduate Student Funding, to participate in professor Habu’s exploratory research of the Goshono Archaeological site located in Iwate Prefecture. During this field season the East Asian laboratory team sampled previously collected macroremains from the site to do an analysis of long-term changes in subsistence practices among the Jomon people. Since the fall of 2019 until now, Sandra has been assisting the ongoing Goshono project as the archaeobotany assistant and URAP mentor.
For more information: https://soseguera.wordpress.com
Kazuyo (Kaz) Nishihara
Archaeology Ph.D student at Kyoto University, and visiting student at the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Kazuyo conducts archaeological research in Japan and China. Since 2011, she has participated in excavations and laboratory analysis of the archaeological sites dated primarily to the Neolithic era. Her main research interest is in human-environmental interaction from a long-term perspective. Focusing on basketry from archaeological and ethnographical viewpoints, she aims to incorporate ethnographical records, folklore material collections, and traditional ecological knowledge in her archaeological interpretations. She is working her dissertation project on hunter-gatherer subsistence and land management strategies with a focus on the use of plant resources in the Neolithic era. Outreach activities are also her passion: she has engaged in workshops and lectures to bridge the gap between local communities and researchers back in Japan. Personal Website: https://wordpressn4.wordpress.com
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Junko Habu's Website (UC Berkeley) 