John Douglass
About John Douglass
John Douglass is an archaeologist with decades of experience conducting household, settlement pattern, and colonial era research in Mesoamerica, the US American Southwest, and California. His current interests include better understanding the nature and relationship between colonists and indigenous peoples in colonial contexts and the broad and deep connection between different regions of colonial worlds. He is a Vice President for Research and Standards at Statistical Research, Inc. in Tucson, Arizona and a Registered Professional Archaeologist. At SRI, Dr. Douglass works closely with staff to ensure high standards of archaeological research in the company as well as with a large number of state, federal, and private clients to satisfactorily comply with regulations such as Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the California Environmental Quality Act, among others. Prior to joining SRI in 2001, he held faculty positions at the University of California, Riverside and Pomona College. Dr. Douglass has been elected, or appointed, to the board of directors of numerous regional, national, or international organizations, including: the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (of which he also has served as President); Leaders in Energy and Preservation; the Register of Professional Archaeologists; the Society for American Archaeology; and Xela AID (a non-profit aid organization based in Guatemala).
In the School of Anthropology, Dr. Douglass teaches the Cultural Resource Management course each fall, works with students, and is the chair of the University Indian Ruin committee.
I am also general editor of the Global Colonialism book series with the University Press of Colorado. More information on the series is available here: https://upcolorado.com/global-colonialism
Want to learn more about my background as an archaeologist? Check out this interview with Tea and Trowels here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xZMRO1OuwA
Selected Publications
BOOKS
Christine Beaule and John G. Douglass, eds. 2020 The Global Spanish Empire: Five Hundred Years of Place Making and Pluralism. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Available as an Open Access document here: https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/the-global-spanish-empire
Kathleen L. Hull and John G. Douglass, eds. 2018 The Forging of Communities in Colonial Alta California. The Archaeology of Colonialism in Native North American series. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/forging-communities-in-colonial-alta-ca...
John G. Douglass and William M. Graves, eds. 2017 New Mexico and the Pimería Alta: The Colonial Period in the American Southwest. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Available as an Open Access document at http://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/3128-new-mexico-and-the-pimeria-alta.
John G. Douglass and Nancy Gonlin, eds. 2012 Ancient Households of the Americas: Conceptualizing What Households Do. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Available as an Open Access document here: https://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/1958-ancient-ho...
John G. Douglass 2002 Hinterland Households: Rural Agrarian Household Diversity in the Naco Valley, Northwest Honduras. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. https://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/3087-hinterland... ; Available as a PDF here: https://core.tdar.org/document/426138/hinterland-households-rural-agrari...
SELECTED JOURNAL ARTICLES
John G. Douglass and Shelby Manney 2020 Creative Mitigation: What is Best for the Resource, Stakeholders, and the Public? Advances in Archaeological Practice 8(3): 213-219 [invited special issue of the journal, edited by the authors, on creative mitigation] Available as an Open Access document here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-archaeological-pract...
Seetha N. Reddy and John G. Douglass 2018 Native Californian Persistence and Transformation in the Colonial Los Angeles Basin, Southern California. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 38(2):235-259. [Invited article in special issue on Colonial California]
Richard Ciolek-Torello, Jeffrey A. Homburg, Seetha N. Reddy, John G. Douglass, and Donn R. Grenda 2013 Living in the Ballona Wetlands of the Southern California Coast: Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction and Human Settlement. Journal of Wetland Archaeology 13(1): 1-28.
Kathleen L. Hull, John G. Douglass, and Andy York 2013 Recognizing Ritual Action and Intent in Communal Mourning Features on the Southern California Coast. American Antiquity 78(1):24-47.
SELECTED BOOK CHAPTERS
Christine Beaule and John G. Douglass 2020 Cultural Persistence and Cultural Transformation in the Global Spanish Empire. In The Global Spanish Empire: Five Hundred Years of Place Making and Pluralism, edited by Christine Beaule and John G. Douglass. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
John G. Douglass, William M. Graves, David T. Unruh, Phillip O. Leckman, and Richard Ciolek-Torello 2019 Household Ritual and Communal Ritual: Kivas and the Making of Community on the Tohatchi Flats. In Interaction and Connectivity in the Greater Southwest, edited by Karen G. Harry and Barbara J. Roth, pp. 223-250. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. https://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/3358-interactio...
John G. Douglass, Kathleen L. Hull and Seetha N. Reddy 2018 The Creation of Community in the Colonial-Era Los Angeles Basin. In The Forging of Communities in Colonial Alta California, edited by Kathleen L. Hull and John G. Douglass, pp.35-61. The Archaeology of Indigenous-Colonial Interaction in the Americas series. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Kathleen L. Hull and John G. Douglass 2018 Community Formation and Integration in Colonial Contexts. In The Forging of Communities in Colonial Alta California, edited by Kathleen L. Hull and John G. Douglass, pp.3-32. The Archaeology of Indigenous-Colonial Interaction in the Americas series. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
John G. Douglass and William M. Graves 2017 Spanish Colonialism and Indigenous Peoples of the American Southwest: Conceptualizations and Comparisons. In New Mexico and the Pimería Alta: The Colonial Period in the American Southwest, edited by John G. Douglass and William M. Graves, pp. 3-48. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Available as an Open Access document at http://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/3128-new-mexico-and-the-pimeria-alta.
John G. Douglass, Jeffrey H. Altschul, Donn R. Grenda, Seetha N. Reddy and Richard Ciolek-Torello 2015 People of the Ballona: Their Land and Lives. In Coastal California: A Land of Diversity, edited by Lynn H. Gamble, pp. 59-66. School of Advanced Research, Santa Fe. https://sarweb.org/first-coastal-californians/
John G. Douglass and Nancy Gonlin 2012 The Household as Analytical Unit: Case Studies from the Americas. In Ancient Households of the Americas: Conceptualizing What Households Do, edited by John G. Douglass and Nancy Gonlin, pp. 1-46. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
John G. Douglass and Robert Heckman 2012 Pots and Agriculture: Anasazi Rural Household Ceramic Production, Long House Valley, Northern Arizona. In Ancient Households of the Americas: Conceptualizing What Households Do, edited by John G. Douglass and Nancy Gonlin, pp. 189-220. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
John G. Douglass 2007 Smoke, Soot, and Censers: A Perspective on Commoner Household Ritual Behavior from the Naco Valley, Northwest Honduras. In Commoner Ritual, Commoner Ideology: A View from Households and Beyond Across Mesoamerica, edited by Nancy Gonlin and Jon Lohse, pp. 123-142. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. https://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/1813-commoner-r...
SELECTED WRITING FOR THE PUBLIC
Kathleen L. Hull and John G. Douglass 2020 Conceptualizing Community to Connect Past and Present: Making the Case in Forging Communities in Colonial Alta California. The SAA Archaeological Record 20(2): 12-14, 19-20.
John G. Douglass and Sarah H. Herr 2020 Cultural Resource Management during the Early Days of a Global Pandemic. The SAA Archaeological Record 20(4): 21-25.
John G. Douglass 2019 Holy Week, Easter, and Religious Syncretism in Guatemala. https://upcolorado.com/about-us/news-features/item/3678-holy-week-easter-and-religious-syncretism-in-guatemala
John G. Douglass 2018 Thanksgiving Turkey and Connections to the Past. https://upcolorado.com/about-us/news-features/item/3567-thanksgiving-turkey-and-connections-with-the-past
John G. Douglass 2017 Batman and the Authenticity of Material Culture. https://upcolorado.com/about-us/news-features/item/3349-batman-and-the-authenticity-of-material-culture
John G. Douglass, Cindi Alvitre and Jeffrey H. Altschul 2005 The Politics of Archaeology: Diverse concerns and Interests at the West Bluffs Project, Los Angeles, California. The SAA Archaeological Record 5(2): 11-15
Courses Taught
ANTH 440A/540A Cultural Resource Management
Research Interests
California, the US American Southwest, and Mesoamerica
Household Production and Organization
Colonialism and Indigenous/Colonial Interaction
Community Formation
Settlement Patterns
State, Chiefdom, and Hunter/Gather Societies