David Okanlawon

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First Name:
David
Last Name:
Okanlawon

David is one of the new Postdoctoral Research Associates at the Laboratory of Archaeology. He has worked extensively in West Africa and has a doctorate from Syracuse University. He is interested in Black Atlantic archaeology, historical archaeology, foodways, and cultural entanglements.

Fun fact: David loves Afrobeats and believes he makes the best Nigerian jollof.

Jackson DeWitt

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First Name:
Jackson
Last Name:
DeWitt

I am a PhD student in the Anthropology program. I graduated from Wake Forest University in 2024 with a B.A. in anthropology with an archaeology concentration, before interning with the National Park Service at both the Vicksburg National Military Park and the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.

Annabelle Hartley

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First Name:
Annabelle
Last Name:
Hartley

Annabelle graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology with minors in Biological and Medical Anthropology and Biology as part of the University of Georgia Class of 2026. She is working to complete her M.A. in Anthropology, with a focus on zooarchaeology and bioarcheology research. 

Hannah Combs

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First Name:
Hannah
Last Name:
Combs

As a Double Dawg at the University of Georgia, I completed my undergraduate studies in Anthropology and International Affairs, where I developed a passion for legal anthropology and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding social and environmental issues. My research centers on legal anthropology, examining how law, culture, and governance shape social relationships and institutions across diverse communities.

Lulu Castro

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First Name:
Lulu
Last Name:
Castro

I am a first-year PhD student in Anthropology, working alongside Dr. Don Nelson on an NSF-funded project in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The project focuses on developing impact-based flood forecasts for the San Juan Estuary by incorporating local experiences and future-visioning to inform these forecasts.

Abigail Higgins

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First Name:
Abigail
Last Name:
Higgins
Phone Number:
706-542-3922

My main interests are bioarchaeology and skeletal ethics. My undergraduate thesis focused on the ethical stewardship of human remains in university teaching collections. I have also worked on archaeological projects in Transylvania, Romania, studying juvenile osteology, and in North Carolina with the Lumbee Tribe.

Outside of academics I enjoy crafting, hiking, and and waching F1 and hockey. 

Salina Hebert

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First Name:
Salina
Last Name:
Hebert
Phone Number:
706-542-8737

Salina Hebert is a collections manager at the UGA Laboratory of Archaeology. She earned her MA from the University of Leicester and her BA from the University of West Florida.  Before coming to UGA, she was the Director of Archaeological Collections at Mississippi Department of Archives and History, where she oversaw both federal and state archaeological collections. She is interested in advancing the care and commitment to collections.  

Simon Paul Sherman III

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First Name:
Simon
Last Name:
Sherman
Phone Number:
706-542-8737

Simon P. Sherman is a postdoctoral researcher in archaeology at the University of Georgia, Laboratory of Archaeology, specializing in geoarchaeology and archaeometry. His research uses non-destructive spectroscopy (VNIR/FTIR reflectance spectroscopy) to source geologic outcrops and quarries, matching these sources to chipped stone tools and debitage, as well as lapidary artifacts, to address raw material provenance at Poverty Point (16WC5), Watson Brake (16OU175), and related precontact archaeological sites in present-day Louisiana.

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