University of Indianapolis

Faculty Member, Department of Physics & Earth Space Science

Other Affiliations: University of Indianapolis, Department of Anthropology

Arts & Sciences

About

    My research interests are diverse but boil down to a desire to understand the social, political, and material consequences of human interactions.  I am currently involved in a number of research endeavors, including the study of Mission period Spanish - Guale interactions on Sapelo Island, Georgia, analysis of Archaic bone and antler technological styles in the Ohio River valley, and the study of the success and failure of early 19th century small towns in northern Indiana.

Since 2005 I have been working with Dr. Richard Jefferies of the University of Kentucky on Sapelo Island, Georgia, where we have been searching for the Mission San Joseph de Sapala.  The Sapelo mission was abandoned in 1684 and since that time historians, explorers, and archaeologists have discussed a number of potential locations for the site.  Currently, we are working in an area at the north end of the island that has yielded numerous examples of Spanish artifacts and Mission period Guale pottery.  My study of the ceramics from the site is geared toward understanding the material consequences of the development of multiethnic communities at mission towns.

    Over the past several years, I have been analyzing bone tools from Indiana and Kentucky in an effort to understand variation in bone and antler tool production and use during the Archaic.  I am using microscopic analysis of bone and antler tool production techniques (i.e., technological styles) to evaluate the social implications of regional distributions of particular kinds of bone tools.  A great deal of variability exists in the ways in which peoples in the Ohio River valley manufactured bone and antler tools through time.  Recording and analyzing this variability is helping me interpret diachronic trends in bone and antler tool production and relationships among regionally and/or temporally distinct populations. 

    Recently, my wife Anne and I began a public archaeology program at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana.  Lew Wallace was a Civil War general, inventor, and politician, but is most famous for having written the book Ben Hur.  Wallace is an important historical figure and an important component of the collective memory of the Crawfordsville community.  Our archaeological research is guided by the Museum's needs and is providing the community an opportunity to participate in the rediscovery of aspects of Wallace's life.

    In the summer of 2011 I will be investigating the town of Xenia in Carroll County, Indiana.  Largely abandoned in the 1870s, the town represents a time capsule of the pioneer through early postbellum periods in northern Indiana.  The major aim of the research is to investigate how small towns in northern Indiana were connected (or not) with larger communities and how these connections change as regional populations grew and economic opportunities expanded.  I am also concerned with understanding the conditions by which some small communities have maintained their distinct identities while many others have since disappeared.

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