Frank J. Feeley is an archaeologist and graduate student in the Anthropology Department of the CUNY Graduate Center. Despite a life-long distrust of any fish not breaded and fried, his dissertation research focuses primarily on the origins and development of the medieval commercial cod trade in Iceland. His field work centers on the farm of Gufuskálar in Western Iceland. During the Medieval Era (circa 1450CE) the site housed a large fishing station whose scale is best described as proto-industrial (i.e. real big). Once caught and dried these fish had a shelf-life of about seven years and were sent off to Europe as a cheap source of protein.

His other research interests include stone tool technologies in the Caribbean where he has analyzed the Saladoid Era lithic artifacts from the site of Seaview on the Island of Barbuda. Barbuda has no native sources of lithic material so every bit of siliceous stone (stone that is suitable for making sharp tools) was imported from other islands. While the Saladoid stone tool reduction techniques are considered crude when compared to that of earlier Caribbean populations Frank has always had a soft spot for the underdog and finds studying these tools fascinating.

Research Interests

• Zooarchaeology
• The origins of Icelandic commercial fishing
• Medieval trade between Iceland the rest of Europe
• Caribbean stone tool technologies

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