Area of Interest:

Regional Focus: Southwestern United States (emphasis on the Chaco region)

Topical Interests: Ritual and cosmology, social and political organization and differentiation, legitimization and naturalization of power, landscapes and the built environment, public archaeology.

Education:

B.A. Anthropology and Biology, University of Virginia, 2006

Senior Honors Thesis:  Precious Color, Primacy, and Fertility: The Role of Turquoise in Ritual and Political Authority and Legitimization in the Chacoan World

Research & Activities:

 
My current research focuses on the intersections of ritual and cosmology with power and sociopolitical organization in the prehispanic American Southwest.  Specifically, I am interested in these issues at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (850-1150 C.E.), and I am currently exploring them through detailed patterns of intentional deposition of turquoise and other objects in ritual caches as well as artifact assemblages found in Chacoan small kivas.  My goal is to help better understand the specific nature of organization and power in the Chaco world.  My previous work and continued association with the Chaco Digital Initiative project (see link below) has allowed me to gain an intricate understanding of the history of research and available data from Chaco Canyon, including unpublished excavation data from the earliest excavations which I utilize in my research.

Papers and Presentations:

2009.  Charged Chaco: Exploring Organization and Power at Chaco Canyon Through Variation in Small Kiva Ritual.  Paper presented at the 74^th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Atlanta, Georgia.

2007.  Precious Color, Primacy, and Fertility: The Role of Turquoise in Ritual and Political Authority and Legitimization in the Chacoan World.  Paper presented at the 72^nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas.

2005.  (with Carrie C. Heitman and Phil R. Geib.)  The Bluff Great House Platform and Mounds: Intentional Creations or Simply Disposal Areas?  Poster presented at the 70^th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City, Utah.