Archaeology
This department provides continuous geographic coverage of ancient societies from the Plains of North America through the Southwest and Mesoamerica to the Intermediate Area. The native societies focused on range from egalitarian hunter-gatherers through middle range societies to the city-states and empires of Mesoamerica. The faculty’s theoretical and topical interests include:
- human ecology
- ethnoarchaeology
- agency and social theory
- lithic and ceramic analyses
- remote sensing
- disasters in ancient and modern times
- geophysical applications in archeology
Profiled Faculty Accepting Students
Arthur Joyce
Arthur Joyce’s research focuses on two interrelated issues: the origins, development, and collapse of complex societies and the archaeology of landscape and space.
Catherine Cameron
Professor Cameron works in the American Southwest and has focused especially on the Chaco Phenomenon.
Douglas B. Bamforth
Professor Bamforth's research focuses on the archaeology of the Great Plains, with a technical emphasis on lithic and microwear analysis.
Payson Sheets
Professor Sheets main areas of research are the Arenal region of Costa Rica and the Ceren site in El Salvador.
