Tulane University

Graduate Student, Anthropology

Ph.D. Candidate

Liberal Arts

Thesis Title: COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AFTER STATE COLLAPSE: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF LATE CLASSIC/EARLY POSTCLASSIC RESIDENTIAL TERRACES ON CERRO DANUSH, OAXACA, MEXICO

About

I conduct archaeological fieldwork in the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico.

My current research is at the site of Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl (DM), an important secondary center under the Monte Albán state during the Classic period (A.D. 200 - 900). After the collapse of the centralized system, DM played a role in the Early Postclassic (A.D. 900 -1300) socio-political reorganization of the valley, emerging as a prominent community within the Late Postlcassic (A.D. 1300 - 1521) system of city-states.

My work is focused on the Late Classic and Early Postclassic settlement at the site. I am interested in comparing changes and continuities in behavioral patterns at the household and community level before and after the collapse.

Theoretically, I am interested in how secondary centers reorganize and which social institutions are maintained or altered after the decline of the state. I study this by comparing pre-collapse and post-collapse ritual and economic behavior, as well as abandonment patterns.

Outside of my particular research focus, I also have an interest in Archaeoastronomy, especially in Mesoamerica. I maintain a very skeptical disposition, however, about how such research is often carried out and how conclusions are drawn. Following the model of Anthony Aveni or Ivan Sprajc, I prefer to propose hypotheses not only based on physical alignments, but also on the cultural significance of such alignments.