Of the nearly 200 Washington State University students presenting at the Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities 2023 event on March 27, 49 received a total of 43 awards totaling $9,200.
The Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities is an annual event where over 100 undergraduate students present their research publicly. The event is hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research, part of the WSU Division of Academic Engagement and Student Achievement. Policing Through the Optimization of Empathy Senior psychology and criminal justice major Olivia Sciumbato.
The development of projectile technology was a fundamental step in the transition from scavenging to hunting, providing hunters with more reliable access to meat, enabling killing at greater distances and a potential broadening of the human niche. Understanding when and where projectile innovations occurred remains a challenge, as organic components of projectile technology seldom preserve. Consequently, archaeologists have explored tip fractures as a potential means of identifying the speed of projectile impacts and thus the likely weapon systems employed in the past. This paper introduces a novel approach to experimental projectile fractures, employing near-identical vitrified porcelain points to better understand the variables affecting formation, type and length of so-called ‘diagnostic impact fractures’ (DIFs). Using the largest sample of its kind to date (n = 570), we compare DIF type and length for thrusted spear, simple stone tipped projectiles (hand thrown) and complex pro