Board of Directors

Jill Taylor-Hollings

Currently, Jill is an adjunct professor and postdoctoral fellow in the Dept. of Anthropology at Lakehead University, as part of the Six Seasons of the Asiniskaw Ithiniwak SSHRC partnership grant project centred in Manitoba Rocky Cree communities and the University of Winnipeg. Since moving to NW Ontario in 2001, she has been working for Lakehead in different capacities and has been on the OAS Thunder Bay Chapter executive since 2007.
Jill is passionate about studying, protecting, and promoting Canada’s heritage. Her PhD (University of Alberta, 2017) focused on archaeological research with Lac Seul, Little Grand Rapids, and Pikangikum Anishinaabe communities and Ontario Parks personnel along the Miskweyaabiziibee (Bloodvein River) in Woodland Caribou Provincial Park, which is now part of the Pimachiowin Aki UNESCO World Heritage site. She also completed a Masters of Arts at the University of Saskatchewan and Bachelor of Arts Honours at Brandon University in archaeology. Her research interests include precontact pottery, Indigenous archaeology, and lithic raw material studies. She has over 25 years of academic, CRM, and museum experience in four Canadian provinces and Tasmania.

When not working, Jill enjoys raising champion Standard Long-haired Dachshunds and replicating traditional crafts such as pottery, textiles, and beading. Her other passion is drivable artifacts, as she owns a rare 1969 Acadian 350 SS car. She is married to Peter Hollings, who is a geology professor at Lakehead University. Jill has a mixed Euro-Canadian and Indigenous background, originally hailing from southern Manitoba.

Abbey Flower

Abbey fell in love with history while listening to her great-grandmother (who lived to be 110) tell stories around the kitchen table on Manitoulin Island. After discovering archaeology there was no turning back. Abbey has a BA in Archaeology and Anthropology from Memorial University in Newfoundland, and a MA in Medieval Archaeology from the University of York in the UK. Originally from Kingston Ontario, Abbey has been an active member of the OAS for many years, and has worked closely with various people and groups within the broader cultural heritage industry. She worked for several years in consulting archaeology, with public archaeology programs, and at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, before taking on her current role as Heritage Specialist at Infrastructure Ontario (aka IO). Abbey is committed to help promote understanding, preservation and overall community engagement in Ontario’s archaeology and heritage. In her other passions, Abbey can be found chasing her energetic toddler, working with horses, and playing competitive baseball.

Jake Cousineau

Jake currently works for the Lands and Resources Department of Mississauga First Nation. He graduated with an M.E.S. at Lakehead University and a B.A. in archaeology at Laurentian University. His previous research focused on archaeobotany and zooarchaeology in Northwestern Ontario and recovery bias. He previously worked for the OAS assisting in the training of First Nation archaeological monitors. Although the majority of his current work focuses on modern land use and geomatics, his side projects include initiatives to build archaeological capacity within the community and maintaining a spatial database of traditional land use values to aid the Nation in protecting their traditional territory. When not working he enjoy cooking, gardening, kayaking in the summer and snowshoeing in the winter.

Craig Ramsoomair

Craig received his B. A. (Hons) from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2011, double majoring in Archaeology and History. During his time there, he worked extensively with the Wadi-ath Thamad Project in the lab and two field seasons in Jordan. Craig also spent a field season in Israel with the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project.
He went on to obtain his M. A. from University of Toronto in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations in 2014. Craig’s work primarily focused on analysis of Northern Levantine ceramics. He also had the opportunity to work with the CRANE Project, an international multi-university collaboration concentrated on developing a platform for extensive data integration and analysis between researchers. His task focused on the integration of the Tell Tayinat Project data into the OCHRE Database and assisting with the development of the ceramic recognition tool.
Since 2008, Craig has also worked with numerous Cultural Resource Management firms throughout Ontario including as a Field Archaeologist at Archaeological Services Inc, Field Director at Archaeological Research Associates Ltd., and most recently as an Archaeologist at WSP Canada Inc. When Craig is not digging all over Ontario, he is most likely found with his Wife and three cats, making and selling soap.

Greg Braun