Wednesdays from 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
The aim of this series is to hear about the innovative and exciting research that is taking place within our college, thus both faculty and students are encouraged to give a colloquium presentation. Talks should be either 40 - 50 minutes in length for a single presenter colloquium or 20 - 25 minutes in length for a joint colloquium event. If you would like to sign-up to give a CNHS Colloquium Talk, email Efren Ruiz.
Date: 25 February 2026
Where: STB 118
Speaker: Dr. Jillian Swift, UHH Anthropology Department
Title: Nibbling at the Past: What rat diet says about long-term island sustainability
Abstract: The diminutive Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) may seem an unlikely source for understanding the archaeological history of the Pacific. However, the rat’s commensal relationship with humans, omnivorous diet, and ubiquity in Polynesian archaeological sites positions this species at unique nexus between interconnected social and environmental systems. Reconstructing the diet of archaeologically-recovered Pacific rat remains via carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis provides a semi-quantitative method for tracing resource flows across centuries of human-environment interaction and landscape transformations. This talk will highlight the utility of archaeological datasets towards understanding past land management strategies across millennia-long time scales, and show how big insights can sometimes come from small, furry, adorable sources.