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Position

Associate Professor

Contact

Email: vforbes [@] mun.ca
Office: QC 4014
Phone: 709-864-8311

Research Interests 

My research centres on the archaeology and ecology of northern communities™ changing relationships with subarctic and arctic environments. My methodological expertise is in environmental archaeology, and I specialize in the analysis of insect remains and the excavation of sod/turf-built dwellings, which allows me to examine past lifeways and living conditions as well as long-term human-mediated landscape and biodiversity change.

Most of my fieldwork experience involved excavating turf and sod houses (and associated middens) and undertaking small-scale surveys of modern beetles in Iceland (2006-2013), southwestern Alaska (2013-2017) and Newfoundland (2018-today). Over the last few years I have begun to turn my attention to peat bogs as archives of long-term biocultural footprints and biodiversity data, which led me to begin developing, in collaboration with colleague Paul Ledger, a methodology to effectively excavate, record and sample peat for high-resolution palaeoecological analyses.

I am currently leading the SSHRC-IG-funded project ˜Biocultural and Archaeological Legacies at L™Anse aux Meadows™, which aims to revitalize research at this UNESCO World Heritage site through an examination of legacy data combined with cutting-edge environmental-archaeological analyses. I am also maintaining international collaborations through involvement in interdisciplinary projects focusing on the Yup™ik site of Nunalleq in southwestern Alaska, and my involvement in an NSF-funded project focusing on southern Greenland. For more information on these projects, I invite you to have a look at the PEAT Lab web page.

Publications 

• _{Speller, J. &  Forbes, V. (2022) . Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 54 (1): 96-110.}
• _{Kuitems, M., Wallace, B.L., Lindsay, C., Scifo, A., Doeve, P., Jenkins, K., Lindauer, S., Erdil, P., Ledger, P.M., Forbes, V., Vermeeren, C., Friedrich, R. & Dee, M.W. (2021) . Nature.}
• _{Forbes, V., Huchet, J.-B., McManus-Fry, E., Gómez Coutouly, Y.A., Masson-MacLean, J., Masson-MacLean, É. Ledger, P.M., Britton, K., Hillerdal, C. & Knecht, R. (2019) . Études Inuit Studies 43 (1-2): 197-221.}
• _{Ledger, P.M. & Forbes, V. (2019) . Arctic Anthropology 56 (2): 39-51.}
• _{Ledger, P.M., Girdland-Flink, L. & Forbes, V. (2019) . PNAS 116 (31): 15341-15343.}
• _{Forbes, V., Ledger, P.M., Cretu, D. & Elias, S. (in press) . Quaternary International.}
• _{Ledger, P.M., Forbes, V., Masson-Maclean, E., Hillerdal, C., Hamilton, W.D., McManus-Fry, E., Jorge, A., Britton, K., Knecht, R. (2018). . American Antiquity 83 (3): 505-524.}
• _{Forbes, V. & Sikes, D. (2018) . Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e22788.}
• _{Forbes, V., Dussault, F., Lalonde, O. & Bain, A. (2017) . Recherches Amérindiennes au Québec XLVII (2-3): 11-21.}
• _{Roy, N., Woollett, J., Bhiry, N., Haemmerli, G., Forbes, V. & Pienitz, R. (2017) . Boreas 47 (2): 671-686.}
• _{Ledger, P.M., Forbes, V., Masson-Maclean, E. & Knecht, R.A. (2016) . Arctic 69 (4): 378-390.}
• _{Forbes, V., Dugmore, A.J & Ólafsson, E. (2016) . Ecological Entomology 41: 480-499.}
• _{Forbes, V. (2015) . Journal of Archaeological Science 61: 105-111.}
• _{Forbes, V., Britton, K. & Knecht, R. (2015) . Environmental Archaeology 20 (2): 158-167.}
• _{Forbes, V., Dussault, F. & Bain, A. (2014) . Journal of the North Atlantic 26: 1-24.}
• _{Forbes, V. & Milek, K.B. (2014) . Quaternary International. 341: 195-215.}
• _{Dussault, F., Forbes, V. & Bain, A. (2014) . Journal of the North Atlantic 6, Special Volume, In the footsteps of Vebæk, Vatnahverfi Studies 2005-2011: 14-28.}
• _{Forbes, V., Dussault, F. & Bain, A. (2013) . International Journal of Paleopathology 3: 158-164.}
• _{Forbes, V., Bain, A., Gísladóttir, G.A. & Milek, K.B. (2010) . Archaeologia Islandica 8: 77-110.}