Academic Writing
Death and Dying in the Margins of Rome
2021 Scholar of the College Project
[Google Drive]
[Photo src: Victoria and Albert Museum]
Death and Dying in the Margins of Rome was my 2021 undergraduate Honors Dissertation supervised by Professors Robin Fleming and Gail Hoffman.
The project uses archaeological grey literature and material culture to explore expressions of identity in Late Antique Egyptian and British burial practices.
Beyond a study of burial culture itself, it also served to demonstrate the utility of grey literature for undergraduate research.
After multiple rounds of review, Death and Dying the status of a Scholar of the College project, honoring me as one of the dozen or so "exceptional students
who have excelled academically in their undergraduate studies and who have done substantial, independent work of the highest quality for a significant part of
their senior year under the supervision of faculty scholars." I'm not sure I would go that far, but I was honored to have been awarded the title, and am eternally
grateful to Professors Fleming and Hoffman for their mentorship and guidance. I've since grown beyond it, but this project and its reception made me who I am today.
A Self-Made End: Liberti and their Funerary Portraits
Writing sample
[Google Drive]
[4 page sample]
[Photo src: Wikimedia]
A Self-Made End was one of the last term papers I wrote at York, at the conclusion of Maureen Carroll's class on Roman Burial. (Notice a pattern here?)
It was in response to a fairly complex question regarding the funerary art of the Liberti of Rome and their unique funerary quirks.
I found it frustrating to navigate at first, but it ended up becoming a fairly solid paper I'm quite proud of.
I should also mention this was the last course Maureen taught before her retirement.
I understand her work with regional dress still marches on, so all the best to Maureen! I really enjoyed your class.
By Daylight, By Lamplight: Digital Methods in the Exploration of Historic Lighting
Masters Dissertation
[Google Drive]
[Youtube]
This is the big one— at least as of now. By Daylight, By Lamplight is the thesis project I made during my year at York, under the supervision of Peter Schauer.
I was struggling to think of a compelling research question, and then I realized we had an extremely expensive terrestrial laser scanner sitting around.
I realized it could synergize nicely with my existing interest in photography and 3D modeling, and in creating distributable, artistic archaeological data.
The result was a months-long goose chase of trying to marry structure-from-motion photogrammetry from Agisoft with laser scans from Cyclone, and to then produce a child from that marriage who could grow up in Blender.
I flew by the seat of my pants, but it ended up being good work. It was the highest-scoring dissertation of my Digital Archaeology cohort, and among the highest in the department.
I was later chosen to present it at the 2024 UK chapter meeting of Computer Applications in Archaeology, in Canterbury. I flew back over from Boston and gave a 15-minute talk that was selected as the year's Master's Award winner
by near-unanimous decision. Or so I was told. When the recording of that lecture is finally uploaded to the internet, I'll make a link. My fellow presenters were all great as well, and when the contents of the conference are available
I recommend watching the other Masters presentations over mine. After all, you'll have already read my paper by then, right?
3D Models
I happen to model in my free time. I mostly like making buildings and designing my own procedural materials. I think 3D models are very important communication tools for archaeologists, and they also give us ways to reapproach our research subjects.
If I was born a decade or so sooner, I would've liked to become a sculptor or architect instead. I would also be taller and more handsome. And I'd drive a big red car with flames on it. Too bad!
A Divine Comedy
Video Game
[Itch.io]
This game was an attempt by myself and two friends to participate in the 2025 Game Maker's Toolkit Summer Game Jam, where you make a small video game over the course of a weekend.
We ended up narrowly missing the deadline by seconds, but we did technically finish an entire video game in a few days, which is nothing to sneeze at. I edited the audio, and made
nearly all of the visuals except for a few of the 2D puzzle graphics. You might be able to tell that I wrote the copy as well.
I'm especially proud of the fleshy membrane texture used in the game's walls, which I improvised in Blender's visual coding system.
Nirou Chani
Archaeological Reconstruction
[Youtube]
[Google Drive]
As part of my Virtual Reality and 3D modeling course at York I researched and reconstructed the Minoan mansion of Nirou Chani. This work was specifically inspired by the paper
"From Tholos to Throne Room: Some considerations of dawn and light and directionality in Minoan buildings" by Lucy Goodinson. [JSTOR]
It's a particularly inspired piece of archaeological research, and played a key role in shaping my own ideas during my research for Daylight/Lamplight. I literally built the mansion from the ground up using the existing sketches
and had a hell of a time finding the original 1922 excavation record in Greek to check their more mundane illustrations. It's an interesting site, and the project taught me a lot about what not to do with a Blender workflow.
Work on "Reyeval"
"Reyeval"
Roleplaying game
[Imgur]
[Youtube]
Work on "Reyeval"
A dear friend of mine runs a tabletop roleplaying campaign (for those of you not in the know, this means "Dungeons and Dragons"-esque activities) about adventures through time.
It's a very creative story that weaves loops around itself and incorporates a lot of striking setpieces. I signed on not as a participant in the roleplay, but as the resident artist. They send me a sketch or two and a pitch,
and we kick drafts and revisions back and forth ("Aifwen, there's no way a gun could fit there"//"But it's important for the story") until we settle on something we can both be happy with. It's a genuine exercise in creative collaboration.
I use the time-traveling setting as a premise to explore new styles. Each time period in the story is depicted in a drastically different manner, and I emphasize different aspects of my Blender technique, from procedural geometry to character rigging.
GIS
GIS Sample
"Building a new hotel, Hawaii"
Mapping exercise
[Imgur]
GIS Sample
A map I made for one of my GIS classes with the certification program from CSU Fullerton.
We were given a set of specific conditions to fulfill as part of a hypothetical professional assignment.
Something feels a little wrong about slating a parcel of Hawaiian coastal brushland for development, but it's just pretend.
I mostly used spatial joins and buffers to depict the listed factors for development, and it was a good exercise in organically identifying the necessary functions.
Photography and Baking
Why are these two grouped together, you ask? Well, if I don't take a picture of my cooking, it doesn't really exist, does it?
Bread
Sourdough Pain d'Epi
Fun to make, fun to eat.
[Imgur]
My first and only beef wellington
I won a competition with this one. Did I mention I don't even like steak?
I think this one is a sparrow
Montreal
Bread
