Curator of Latin American Archaeology; Robert L. Carneiro Distinguished University Professor of Social Evolution: Professor of Anthropology
About
Research interests: Comparative states, chiefdoms; early villages and household archaeology; origins of complexity and hereditary inequality; writing systems; gender, craft specialization; urbanism; political economy
Joyce Marcus works on cycles of change in chiefly societies, first- and second-generation states, as well as expansionist empires. She combines ethnohistory, ethnography, art, and hieroglyphic writing to shed light on ancient societies. She has excavated in the USA, Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru.
Books:
2023 The Burials of Cerro Azul, Peru. Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. No. 65.
2020 Zapotec Monuments and Political History. Memoirs of the Musuem of Anthropology, University of Michigan. No. 61.
2016 Coastal Ecosystems and Economic Strategies at Cerro Azul, Peru: The Study of a Late Intermediate Kingdom, edited by Joyce Marcus. Memoir 59, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan
2015 Excavations at San José Mogote 2: The Cognitive Archaeology (with Kent V. Flannery). Memoir 58, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
2014 General editor of The Northern Titicaca Basin Survey, by Charles Stanish, C. Chávez Justo, K. LaFavre, and A. Plourde. Memoir 56, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
2014 General editor of Regional Archaeology in the Inca Heartland, by R Alan Covey. Memoir 55, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
2012 The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire (with Kent Flannery). Harvard University Press.
2012 General editor of Advances in Titicaca Basin Archaeology-III, by Alexei Vranich, E. Klarich, and C. Stanish. Memoir 51, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
2011 General editor of Yuthu: Community and Ritual in an Early Andean Village, by Allison R. Davis. Memoir 50, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
2009 General editor of Domestic Life in Prehispanic Capitals, by L. Manzanilla and C. Chapdelaine. Memoir 46, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
2009 Andean Civilization (co-editor, Patrick Ryan Williams). Cotsen Institute, UCLA.
2008 Monte Albán. El Colegio de México, Fondo de Cultura Económica.
2008 The Ancient City (co-editor, Jeremy A. Sabloff). SAR Press, Santa Fe, NM.
2008 General editor of Imperial Transformations in Sixteenth-Century Yucay, Peru, transcribed and edited by R. A. Covey and D. Amado González.
Memoir 44, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
2008 Excavations at Cerro Azul, Peru: The Architecture and Pottery. Cotsen Institute, UCLA.
2006 Agricultural Strategies (co-editor, Charles Stanish). Cotsen Institute, UCLA.
2005 Excavations at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology (with Kent V. Flannery). Memoir 40, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
2003 The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations (co-editor, Kent Flannery). Percheron Press, Clinton Corners, NY.
2001 La Civilización Zapoteca: Como Evolucionó La Sociedad Urbana en el Valle de Oaxaca (with Kent Flannery). Fondo de Cultura Económica.
1998 Women's Ritual in Formative Oaxaca: Figurine-making, Divination, Death and the Ancestors. Memoir 33, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
1998 Archaic States (co-editor, Gary M. Feinman). School of American Research, SAR Press.
1996 Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley (Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery). Thames & Hudson, London.
1994 Caciques and their People (co-editor, J. F. Zeitlin). Anthropological Paper 89, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
1994 Early Formative Pottery of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico (with Kent Flannery). Memoir 27, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
1992 Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
1990 Debating Oaxaca Archaeology (editor). Anthropological Paper 84, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
1989 The Flocks of the Wamani: A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru (Kent V. Flannery, Joyce Marcus, and Robert G. Reynolds). Academic, NY.
1987 The Inscriptions of Calakmul: Royal Marriage at a Maya City in Campeche, Mexico. Technical Report 21, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
1987 Late Intermediate Occupation at Cerro Azul, Perú. A Preliminary Report. Technical Report 20, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
1983 The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations (co-editor, Kent V. Flannery). SAR, Academic Press, NY.
1976 Emblem and State in the Classic Maya Lowlands: an epigraphic approach to territorial organization. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
Affiliation(s)
- Museum of Anthropological Archaeology
Award(s)
- Elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1997)
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1997)
- Elected to the American Philosophical Society (2008)
- Cotsen Book Prize for Excavations at Cerro Azul, Peru: The Architecture and Pottery (2008)
- Shanghai Award for contributions to archaeology (2013)
- Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, University of Michigan (2007)
- Mentor Recognition Award, University of California at San Diego
