Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology
About
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropological Archaeology and my primary research interests centers on the role that cultural interaction plays in initiating and constraining social change.
My current geographic region of interest is the southeastern U.S., specifically the Appalachian Summit, during the Pisgah phase of Cherokee prehistory (AD 1000–1500). For my dissertation, I directed a multi-phase research program in the Appalachian Summit of North Carolina to explore how pre-Columbian mountain communities adopted, integrated, and modified Mississippian practices. Through geophysical remote sensing, targeted excavations, and a variety of laboratory analyses at the Cane River and Garden Creek sites, I consider the ways that Mississippian social relationships and interactions generated diverse local communities and identities.
Previous research has included bioarchaeology and mortuary analysis at the Late Woodland site of Donnaha, NC, and the study of Border Patrol material culture along the U.S.-Mexico border. Field experience includes work in Portugal, New Mexico, Arizona, Illinois, northern Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
