Archaeology by Community Mandate: A choose-your-own-adventure story of archaeological research and misadventure in New Mexico

Historical archaeology along what was once the frontier of Colonial New Spain requires a flexible approach to not only collaboration, but also participatory experiences in enduring traditions of agro-pastoral lifeways. Much of what archaeologists do has real-world consequences for communities and their cultural patrimony. My research in historical archaeology includes complementary lines of evidence of varied types and spatial scales. These include analysis of archaeological ceramic and faunal assemblages related to domestic foodways and GIS analysis of remote sensing, survey, and excavation data to reveal tactical, engineering, and ritual patterning of cultural landscapes. By placing these suites of data in dialogue with each other, I have sought more robust explanations of the ways that communities expressed various aspects of their identities in different contexts and scales of social performance.

Related to these research foci are the relationships between colonization and the historical transformation of indigenous landscape, foodways, and identity. As an archaeologist, I am especially interested in the potential for examining these issues through the analysis of material culture and technology. As an anthropologist, I recognize that I am accountable to the descendant communities gracious enough to host me, my students, and other stakeholders from across the Southwest.

Speaker: Dr. Jen Sunseri