Contact Us

Postal Address
School of Anthropology
University of Arizona
P.O. Box 210030
Tucson, AZ 85721-00030

Delivery Address
School of Anthropology
1009 East South Campus Drive
Tucson, AZ 85721

Tel: 520.621.2585
Fax: 520.621.2088
Anthro@email.arizona.edu

School Director

Dr. Barbara Mills
Haury Anthropology Building,
Room 210
Tel: 520.621.6298
Fax: 520.621.2088
bmills@arizona.edu

News
  • Parezo to Be Distinguished Lecturer at University of New Mexico
    04/19/2013 - 10:14

    Professor of American Indian Studies and Anthropology Nancy Parezo will be the distinguished lecturer at the University of New Mexico Department of Anthropology next week. Sponsored by the Journal of Anthropological Research, she will present a talk entitled “Stereotype Transference: Fighting Cultural Stereotypes with Gender” on Thursday night and on Friday will hold a seminar for graduate students on collaborative research with indigenous communities, a topic chosen by the cultural anthropology students. Last year Parezo as awarded the UA Graduate College’s Outstanding Faculty Teaching and Mentorship award.

     

     

  • T. Patrick Culbert, 1930–2013
    04/19/2013 - 10:12

    T. (Thomas) Patrick Culbert was born in Minneapolis, MN, June 13, 1930. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1951, majoring in chemistry, and worked at 3M Corporation from 1951–1953. After service in the US Army, 1953–1955, he entered the graduate program in anthropology at the University of Chicago and received his Ph.D. (The Ceramic Sequence of the Central Highlands, Chiapas, Mexico), supervised by Robert McC. Adams, in 1962. He taught at the University of Mississippi in the Fall of 1960, at SIU Edwardsville, 1962–1964, and at the University of Arizona, 1964–2000. To read the full obituary, click here.

     

     

     

     

  • SBSRI Pre-Doctoral Grants for Two SoA Grad Students
    04/12/2013 - 11:15

    Congratulations to Brandi Ellen Bethke and Victor Castillo-Aguilar! Each has been awarded a Spring 2013 pre-doctoral research grant by the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute. SBSRI awarded 12 pre-doctoral grants in all for this semester. The titles of Brandi and Victor’s projects appear below, with abstracts.
     
    Brandi Bethke: Dogs at Dinner: Preliminary Observations of the Role of Canids in Subsistence Patterns Among Plains Village Groups
     
    Abstract: Drawing on a combination of archaeological, historical, and ethnohistorical data, this project seeks to better understand the existence and possible motivations behind the eating of dogs at prehistoric village sites located in the Northern Plains region in order elucidate what these results may mean in terms of cultural significance. While the remains of dogs from prehistoric archaeological sites are relatively common in this region, archaeologists have conducted little actual analysis on the significance and cultural implications of dog consumption in the Plains. Funding will support travel to the State Historical Society of North Dakota in Bismarck, ND to research their collections in attempts to add new data on canid consumption to the existing published record.
     
    Victor Castillo: The Politics of Pre-Columbian Pilgrimage at Chaculá, Guatemala
     
    Abstract: This summer I will be doing fieldwork at Chaculá, an intermediate region between the Maya lowlands and the highlands of Guatemala. The long-term aim of my research is to address the politics of pilgrimage in ancient Maya culture through the comparative analysis of settlement patterns among sites in a defined region, and through the examination of power relations between pilgrimage centers and regional capitals on the basis of material-culture networks. I intend to show that pilgrimage centers created a politically neutral space that provided a setting for inter-polity interaction, multi-ethnic interplay, and cultural identity negotiation. A pivotal question that I expect to answer is to what degree polity capitals near pilgrimage centers exerted control over the pilgrimage flow. My research intends to offer new venues for discussion about how pilgrimage processes were triggered and shaped by inter-polity strategies as a means to provide a neutral political sphere for social interaction.
     

  • Ashley Stinnett Is Recognized for Leadership
    04/12/2013 - 11:12

    Congratulations to Ashley Stinnett, Ph.D. candidate, for receiving Honorable Mention for Outstanding Graduate/Professional Student Leadership from the Graduate and Professional Student Council!! To see an example of Ashley's leadership, check out the new Seed Library video she directed for the Pima County Public Library.

     

     

     

  • Fellowship, Scholarships for Andrew Richard
    04/12/2013 - 11:09

    Andrew Richard, who will graduate in May with a B.A. and return in the fall for a Masters in Applied Archaeology, has been awarded a prestigious University of Arizona Graduate Access Fellowship of $4,000 for the 2013–2014 academic year. Andy is also the recipient of both a Byron Cummings Memorial Scholarship and an Emil W. Haury Education Fund for Archaeology Scholarship for Summer/Fall 2013.

     

     

  • Guest Opinion by Tom Sheridan in AZ Daily Star
    04/12/2013 - 10:58

    Thomas Sheridan, Professor of Anthropology, recently contributed a guest opinion to the Arizona Daily Star. Dr. Sheridan’s thoughtful piece enumerates reasons for opposing a proposed natural gas pipeline through the Altar Valley west of Tucson, and was written in his capacity as a community representative for the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance. Read the April 10 essay here.

     

     

  • Luis Barros’ Fieldwork on Kristi’s Kids, Channel 4
    04/05/2013 - 10:33

    Luis Barros, Ph.D. candidate at the School of Anthropology (BARA) and volunteer for the Native American Advancement Foundation, is working on participatory approaches to community-driven development in Native American contexts. His fieldwork is on the Tohono O'odham reservation. KVOA Channel 4 News did a report on the foundation's project, which you can check out here.

     

     

  • Donelle Huffer Receives Scholarship from Grand Canyon Historical Society
    04/05/2013 - 10:31

    Applied M.A. student Donelle Huffer was awarded a scholarship from the Grand Canyon Historical Society. The $1500 scholarship is given for research contributing to an understanding of the cultural or natural history or historic or environmental preservation of the Grand Canyon. Donelle’s research focuses on the application of zooarchaeology and paleozoology to wildlife management of the southern Colorado Plateau. Traditionally, wildlife management policies are based on historical records and observations of species distributions. Relying solely on historic accounts as documentation of pristine landscapes on which to base the establishment of an ecological benchmark, however, may be problematic for a variety of reasons. By synthesizing previously collected paleofaunal and archaeofaunal data, Donelle’s research will provide wildlife scientists with a more empirical and deeper temporal perspective on the distribution of mammals in the Grand Canyon region.

  • In Memoriam Patrick Culbert
    04/05/2013 - 10:29

    Professor Emeritus T. Patrick Culbert passed away on Thursday, March 28 surrounded by his family in Santa Fe, NM. Dr. Culbert will be remembered not only as a great scholar of Mayan ceramics but also as a kind and humble person. A celebration of his life was held at the Rivera Family Chapel in Santa Fe on Monday, April 1. To read an obituary, click here.

  • Seibert Secures Funding for Borderlands Restoration and Research
    04/04/2013 - 12:33

    Doctoral candidate David Seibert is co-author and -P.I. of a $260,000 ecological restoration grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation along with Dr. H. Ronald Pulliam, Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology, and former Director of the National Biological Service and Science Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Seibert is the first Conservation Director hired by the new non-profit Borderlands Habitat Restoration Initiative to oversee the initiative. He will coordinate cross-border landowner and agency needs with ecosystem science guided by USGS and USDA’s LiDAR and other technologies in order to improve restoration tool and technique effectiveness. The work will also demonstrate best restoration practices to the Department of Homeland Security along the socially and ecologically destructive border wall, and contribute to the development of a regional “restoration economy” in direct response to current life and labor conditions in the borderlands.
     
    Contact Seibert at 520-882-8202/dseibert@email.arizona.edu for more information, and to contribute to ongoing research, education, and hands-on restoration work in the area.