News
Updates from the HEVA Lab — fieldwork, publications, awards, and community outreach.
2026
EduceLab launches Virtual Exhibition of Butts Hill Fort for America's 250th anniversary
July, 2026A new interactive 2D & 3D exhibition brings the American Revolution fortification at Butts Hill (Portsmouth, Rhode Island) to life — layering historic maps, LiDAR, and geophysical survey with artifacts and reenactors.
Benítez presents at the 2026 Congreso Colombiano de Arqueología (Manizales)
June, 2026Daniel Benítez presented his research on kinship and post-marital residence among Herrera and Muisca populations at Colombia’s national archaeology congress — held in Manizales for the first time in 27 years.
Brooks and Gilmore present at UK’s 2026 Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars
April, 2026Undergraduate researchers Matthew Brooks and Layla Gilmore presented their projects — on UK’s Webb–Funkhouser anthropological legacy and the First Rhode Island Regiment at Butts Hill Fort — at UK’s 2026 Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars.
Dr. Reyes-Centeno nominated for UK’s 2026 Excellent Undergraduate Research Mentor Award
April, 2026HEVA director Dr. Hugo Reyes-Centeno is a 2026 nominee for UK’s Excellent Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.
HEVA presents two posters at CAA 2026 in Vienna
April, 2026James Keppeler, Samuel Koontz, and Alex Wise presented two posters — on 3D imaging of a tattooed Philippine mummy and geophysical survey at Butts Hill Fort — at CAA 2026 in Vienna.
Keppeler presents UKinSPIRE work at the UK International Center Global Fair
March, 2026James Keppeler presented the UKinSPIRE project on community and collaborative archaeology in the southern Philippines at UK’s inaugural Global Fair.
2025
Phillips presents Denisovan research at the 2025 Kentucky Academy of Sciences meeting
November, 2025Kaitlyn Phillips presented research on the Denisovans and their impact on human evolution at the 2025 Kentucky Academy of Sciences meeting.
Keppeler et al. publish Butts Hill remote-sensing study in Heritage
October, 2025A new peer-reviewed study in Heritage, led by James Keppeler, pairs LiDAR, satellite imagery, and ground-penetrating radar to locate the buried 1777 barracks at Butts Hill Fort.
HEVA presents at the OCSEAN 2025 International Conference (Bali)
July, 2025Dr. Hugo Reyes-Centeno and James Keppeler gave podium talks — on human occupation of Southeast Asia and Oceania, and on the Kandingan Cave excavations in Mindanao — at OCSEAN 2025 in Bali.
Reyes-Centeno wins A&S Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award
May, 2025Dr. Hugo Reyes-Centeno earned the UK College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award for 2024–2025.
