The Archaeology Program provides broad education and training in theory and method, with ample opportunities for student research. The faculty are highly diverse in their theoretical perspectives, areas of methodological expertise, and regional specializations. The latter span the range from Stone Age hunter-gatherers to the origins and functioning of complex societies in both the New and Old Worlds. Archaeology faculty members currently are conducting research in Europe, the US Middle West and Southwest, Mesoamerica, and South America, with secondary interests in Africa and the Near East. These research foci are reflected in highly diverse course offerings. Besides major emphasis on current theory and method, the archaeology program also offers training in research design, quantitative methods, lithics, ceramics, faunal, and mortuary analyses, geoarchaeology, and spatial archaeology.

Archaeology faculty regularly conduct field research in the US and abroad. Students have the opportunity to undertake research in conjunction with these projects as well as on an independent basis in a region of the student's choice. Two archaeological field schools, one of them among the oldest in the United States, are also carried out every summer. These field schools have been conducted in the US Southwest, US Middle West, and Mexico, and there are plans for future field schools in other regions. Students are encouraged to participate in the field schools and to use information collected from them for presentations at professional meetings and for articles published in professional journals. The Office of Contract Archaeology, the archaeological cultural resource management arm of the program, provides additional research opportunities in the US Southwest. The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology houses many important collections from the US Southwest and other areas which are available for advanced study. The director of the Office of Contract Archaeology, the director of the Maxwell Museum, and their associates are closely affiliated with the Archaeology Program.

Graduate degrees offered: MA or MS in Anthropology; PhD in Anthropology.

Archaeology Faculty
Below is a description of each faculty member. More information about each faculty member can be found by clicking the profile link below each faculty's description.

Boone, James (PhD, SUNY-Binghamton) Research interests include complex societies, evolutionary ecology; Europe, Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, Medieval Period.
Boone Profile >>

Crown, Patricia (PhD, Arizona)
Research interests include ceramic analysis, gender studies, early agricultural societies; US Southwest
Crown Profile >>

Graves, Michael (PhD, Arizona)
Research Interests include Archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, evolution of social complexity, quantitative analysis; U.S. Southwest, Oceania.

Huckell, Bruce (PhD, Arizona)
Research interests include geoarchaeology, lithic analysis; Paleoindian and Archaic periods, US Southwest
Huckell Profile >>

Ramenofsky, Ann (PhD, Washington)
Research interests include analytical methods, Spanish colonization, epidemic disease; US Middle West and Southwest. Also see UNM Field school at San Marcos Pueblo, New Mexico
Ramenofsky Profile >>

Straus, Lawrence (PhD, Chicago)
Research interests include paleolithic prehistory, paleoanthropology, lithic analysis; Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium
Straus Profile >>

Stuart, David
Research interests include: Evolutionary Anthropology, Power and efficiency in Cultural Evolution, Southwestern Archaeology, South American Archaeology, Contemporary Mexico/Ethnology/Social Conditions.
Stuart Profile >>

Wills, Wirt (PhD, Michigan)
Research interests include foraging and early farming societies, cultural ecology; US Southwest
Wills Profile >>