I launched the Eastern Woodlands Household Archaeology Data Project about a month ago. Building that site helped me appreciate how simple it is these days to broadcast information online and interact with people with similar interests. While that site articulates with one of the main thrusts of my current research, however, it is a "stand-alone" effort that is intended to assemble and make available data from a specific class of archaeological remains (residential structures) in a specific part of the world (the Eastern Woodlands).
This site is intended to be much broader. My goal in creating this site is to provide a central place where I can informally discuss ideas that are of interest to me and put into context and tie together my past, present, and future work. I have two audiences in mind: (1) you; and (2) me. This site is intended to serve as both a platform for presenting my ideas, interests, and work and as a tool for helping me organize my thoughts.
I consider myself an anthropological archaeologist. That means that the questions I am interested in are anthropological in nature: they deal with human culture, society, and evolution. The questions I am most passionate about are those that require understanding changes over scales of time and space far in excess of those that can be observed ethnographically. These kinds of questions -- questions of long term social, evolutionary, and adaptational change among hunter-gatherers, for example -- must ultimately be addressed using (among other things) archaeological evidence. How do we do this? Figuring that out is the fun part.
This site is still early in its construction. So far I have focused first on providing background and links to my peer-reviewed publications and my dissertation. I have begun working on the sections that describe some of my research interests, beginning with a page on prehistoric social networks. The text is still a bit rough in places, and the bibliography needs some formatting. I find that I work better, however, if I just get going instead of waiting until everything is polished. It's always a work in progress. My plan for the immediate future is to work on the other pages describing aspects of my research interests, as those will help tie things together.
You may have noticed the sunset photograph that I'm currently using for the header on the Home page. Although I like the sun just as much as the next guy, that will be the first thing on the chopping block when I get the time to design something for that space.
You may have also noticed by now that this site has a blog. That feature will serve as a test of my judgement about when I should speak up and when I should just keep my big mouth shut. If you know me personally, you understand that I don't always make the correct calculation in such matters. Subscribe to this blog by email if you want to make sure not to miss anything.
This site is intended to be much broader. My goal in creating this site is to provide a central place where I can informally discuss ideas that are of interest to me and put into context and tie together my past, present, and future work. I have two audiences in mind: (1) you; and (2) me. This site is intended to serve as both a platform for presenting my ideas, interests, and work and as a tool for helping me organize my thoughts.
I consider myself an anthropological archaeologist. That means that the questions I am interested in are anthropological in nature: they deal with human culture, society, and evolution. The questions I am most passionate about are those that require understanding changes over scales of time and space far in excess of those that can be observed ethnographically. These kinds of questions -- questions of long term social, evolutionary, and adaptational change among hunter-gatherers, for example -- must ultimately be addressed using (among other things) archaeological evidence. How do we do this? Figuring that out is the fun part.
This site is still early in its construction. So far I have focused first on providing background and links to my peer-reviewed publications and my dissertation. I have begun working on the sections that describe some of my research interests, beginning with a page on prehistoric social networks. The text is still a bit rough in places, and the bibliography needs some formatting. I find that I work better, however, if I just get going instead of waiting until everything is polished. It's always a work in progress. My plan for the immediate future is to work on the other pages describing aspects of my research interests, as those will help tie things together.
You may have noticed the sunset photograph that I'm currently using for the header on the Home page. Although I like the sun just as much as the next guy, that will be the first thing on the chopping block when I get the time to design something for that space.
You may have also noticed by now that this site has a blog. That feature will serve as a test of my judgement about when I should speak up and when I should just keep my big mouth shut. If you know me personally, you understand that I don't always make the correct calculation in such matters. Subscribe to this blog by email if you want to make sure not to miss anything.
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