Field Museum

Faculty Member, Anthropology

Other Affiliations: University of Illinois at Chicago, Anthropology
Northwestern University, Anthropology
Shandong University, Archaeology

Curator of Mesoamerican and Central American Anthropology

About

Education:
Ph.D., Anthropology, City University of New York-Graduate Center, 1980.
B.A., Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1972.

Research, Academic, Editorial Positions:
Curator of Mesoamerican and Central American Anthropology, The Field Museum
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois-Chicago
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University
Faculty, Archaeology Center, Shandong University, China
Coeditor, Journal of Archaeological Research
Editorial Board, Human Ecology
Advisory Editor, Cross-Cultural Research
Series Co-editor, Fundamental Issues in Archaeology, Springer
Series Co-editor, Foundations of Archaeology, Eliot Werner Publications
Series Co-editor, Principles of Archaeology, Eliot Werner Publications

I presently co-direct two international archaeological field projects.  My principal research area is Mesoamerica, where I currently am conducting domestic excavations at the Mitla Fortress, 2-3 kilometers from the famous archaeological site of Mitla.  This is the third Classic period settlement where Linda Nicholas and I have led domestic excavations (following Ejutla and El Palmillo).  At the most overarching level, this research is designed to examine the Classic period economy in the Valley of Oaxaca, the functioning and eventual collapse of the Classic period polity centered at Monte Albán, and the reorganization of the region in the subsequent Postclassic period.  Specifically, we are interested in how people made a living at nucleated, hilltop, terraced settlements, such as the Mitla Fortress and El Palmillo, which are both situated in semi-desert environments, as well as how these hilltop settlements were organized.  This household archaeology project fits into a career-long effort to contribute to our understanding of the prehispanic Mesoamerican economic and political organization through a multiscalar focus on highland Oaxaca.

For the last 16 years, I also have been involved in a systematic, full-coverage settlement pattern survey of two coastal basins in coastal Shandong Province, China. Here, Linda Nicholas and I, for much of the project, collaborated with Dr. Anne Underhill, and scholars from Shandong University and the Rizhao Museum. But we are now teaming principally with colleagues from Shandong University (mainly Dr. Fang Hui and his students) and the Jiaonan Museum and Qingdao Institute of Archaeology.  This study is focused on the rise of hierarchical polities in the region, the eventual incorporation of this area into empires centered to the west of Shandong, and the documentation of settlement and demographic change in this coastal setting over millennia.  We also aim to illustrate through our findings the key role that a systematic regional perspective can have for our understanding of the past, and how this approach can be useful for documenting China’s significant history. 

In Chicago, I am collaborating on several ongoing investigations that are focused on Field Museum collections.  In conjunction with Dr. Dean Arnold (Wheaton College), my colleague, Dr. Ryan Williams, and others, one project is studying the production of Maya Blue pigment. Another collaborative effort, with Dr. Mark Golitko, Ryan Williams and others, is sourcing the obsidian from J. Eric Thompson's excavations at the San José site (Belize).

In conjunction with Dr. Jonathan Haas, I am co-curator of the Field Museum's permanent Ancient Americas exhibition, which highlights the history of peoples in the Western Hemisphere prior to the late 15th century.  I am the curator of the museum's small temporary exhibition, Traditions Retold, which features pieces from artisanal nativity scenes from different regions of Mexico.  In addition, I co-curate the Museum show on Chocolate that has traveled around the country and will re-open as 'Chocolate Around the World' at the Field Museum in October 2011.

Contact Information