As an archaeological anthropologist I am broadly interested in the ways societies shaped, and were shaped by, the landscapes they inhabited. My research is primarily focused on eastern North America, where I use methods that include geophysics, geoarchaeology, and chronological modeling to examine pre-Contact Native American landscape modification within the interconnected contexts of social, economic, and political institutions. My current research examines long-term human/landscape interactions across the Pinson Mounds landscape, as well as the shifting nature of landscape use within the urban context of Cahokia. I have conducted research on Late Archaic period (ca. 3000-1000 B.C.) hunter-gatherers in the Lower Mississippi Valley, Middle Woodland era (200 B.C.-A.D. 500) interaction and ceremonialism in the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, as well as on early forms of urbanism at the Mississippian site of Cahokia (ca. A.D. 1050-1350) outside present-day St. Louis, Missouri. I have also worked in the highland regions of Uzbekistan on Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Medieval pastoral communities. At CSU, I serve as founder and director of the CRAG (Center for Research in Archaeogeophysics and Geoarchaeology).

Research Interests
Organization and historical trajectories of small-scale societies; Monumentality; Landscapes; Memory and archaeology; Ritual & religion; Human-environment interaction; Archaeology of Eastern North America; Social complexity; Social change; Social theory; Geoarchaeology; Remote sensing; Bayesian chronological modeling

Prospective Students
I am always looking to work with highly motivated and passionate students at the M.A. and Ph.D. levels. Please contact me before applying to our programs of study to ensure our research interests align and I have space for new students in my lab.