Current Research

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My current research involves work as the principle investigator for two major archaeological projects. The projects focus on understanding the early inhabitants of North America, dealing with issues of hunter-gatherer mobility, diet, stone tool technology, and social organization.

The first involves over a decade of excavation at the Mountaineer Folsom site in Colorado. The site contains evidence of the oldest habitation structures in North America – stone ringed structures dating to 10,450 years before present. The work is the subject of a forthcoming manuscript detailing the archaeology (lithic technology, mobility, diet, social organization) of the site’s prehistoric inhabitants. (Expected publication date in 2020). Previous publications on the site include a 2008 article in American Antiquity, my dissertation, and numerous conference presentations.

The second project is in its initial stages, and involves excavation and analysis of Goodson Shelter – a rockshelter overhang site located near Chelsea Oklahoma, and regional archaeological investigations in the northeastern Oklahoma area. Excavations of the site began in 2012 and continued through the present. The site contains stratified evidence of over 7,000 years of human occupation. RSU students have been heavily involved in both excavation and analysis of the artifacts recovered. Work at the site has been funded through grants obtained from the Quest Archaeological Research Fund – a research endowment managed through the Southern Methodist University department of Anthropology. Future work at the site will focus on continued excavation and thorough dating of the site using radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating techniques.