Elsbeth L. Dowd is a doctoral candidate in the Anthropology Department at the University of Oklahoma, focusing on the archaeology of the ancestral Caddo in southeastern Oklahoma. Her dissertation chair is Dr. Patrick Livingood. Dowd received a B.A. in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University in 2004 and a M.A. in Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma in 2008. Her research interests include archaeology in the southeastern United States, Caddo history and heritage, complex societies, ceramic analysis, iconography, geoarchaeology and paleoclimate, and archaeological ethics.

Dowd’s proposal is titled The Mountain Fork Caddo: Subsistence and Sociopolitical Dynamics. Traditionally, archaeologists have characterized Caddo political organization using a chiefdom model, in which a powerful leader exercised coercive power over a number of surrounding communities. It is becoming clear, however, that more organizational diversity existed than has previously been recognized. Dowd is examining the archaeological history of communities living along the Mountain Fork River from ca. a.d. 1200–1600, analyzing the relationship between sociopolitical dynamics, ceremonial practices, and maize production. Specifically, she is testing the hypothesis that the Mountain Fork communities encompassed an integrated political entity characterized by decentralized leadership, in which maize was cultivated primarily for household consumption. In this scenario, leaders would have depended more on controlling ritual activities than on manipulating maize surpluses to maintain their authority. Dowd’s research methods will include paleobotanical analysis, ceramic residue analysis, stylistic pottery analysis, and radiocarbon dating.

Following the completion of her dissertation research, Dowd will develop a traveling exhibit to increase public understanding of both Caddo heritage and of archaeological methods. It also will promote archaeological stewardship by emphasizing continuities between the past and present. The exhibit will focus on food, home, and social life. Community consultation, particularly with the Caddo, will be an integral aspect of exhibit development. The exhibit will be displayed at multiple locations in southeastern Oklahoma before heading to central Oklahoma, where it will conclude its journey at the Caddo Heritage Museum. The exhibit will be accompanied by public presentations, handouts, and pamphlets for local libraries and schools.

D. Shane Miller is a doctoral student in School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona as well as a part-time GIS Analyst at William Self and Associates in Tucson, Arizona. His dissertation co-chairs are Drs. Vance Holliday and Steve Kuhn. Miller received his B.A degree in 2004 and M.A. 2007 in Anthropology from the University of Tennessee. His M.A. thesis documented the Clovis deposits at the Topper Paleoindian site in Allendale, South Carolina, where he was the senior field director for three years. With Dr. David Anderson, he is co-director of the online Paleoindian Database of the Americas project (http://pidba.utk.edu) and the Cumberland/Midsouth Paleoindian Project (http://bellsbend.pidba.org). His research interests include hunter-gatherer archaeology, ecological anthropology, lithic technology and spatial analysis.

Miller’s dissertation project, entitled From Colonization to Domestication: A Behavioral Ecological Analysis of Paleoindian and Archaic Landscape Use in Central Tennessee, seeks to understand how prehistoric hunter-gatherers were able to successfully colonize the Lower Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys and adapt to subsequent climate change during the late Pleistocene through mid-Holocene. In particular, he will examine the trajectory in prehistoric subsistence that led to the domestication of indigenous plants, such as goosefoot and maygrass, roughly 5,000 calendar years ago. Because a major handicap for exploring prehistoric subsistence in eastern North America is the rarity of sites with preserved flora and fauna, Miller proposes to use stone tool assemblages as an alternative means for evaluating models that have been proposed for the emergence of domesticated plants.

The Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys are well known for their abundant stone tools.  Moreover, many historic preservation projects have been conducted in the region. Miller pans to use site location information and lithic assemblages from sites excavated as part of Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) sponsored projects to track variation in technological organization and landscape use. The areas used to analyze site distributions will consist of locations surveyed at the behest of the TVA, Army Corp of Engineers, and other state and federal agencies. Miller will communicate his results through peer-reviewed journal articles, public lectures, and a publication written for a general audience.

Mark A. Hill was the single recipient of the first SRI Foundation Research Scholarship in 2007. Mark defended his dissertation in April 2009 and is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and Director of its Archaeological Resource Management Program. His 2009 Washington State University dissertation is entitled, The Benefit of the Gift: Exchange and Social Interaction in the Late Archaic Western Great Lakes. Mark developed a sophisticated exchange model guided by evolutionary theory on cooperative behavior for Late Archaic foraging societies using data from multiple archaeological sites and anthropological theory. Mark is working on his public-oriented products, which include an interpretive plan for the Ottawa National Forest and a booklet that describes the Duck Lake Site and the copper trade in ancient North American societies.

Kojun “Jun” U. Sunseri and Amber N. Wiley were the recipients of the second SRI Foundation Research Scholarship in 2008. Jun defended his University of California at Santa Cruz dissertation in June 2009, held a post-doctoral position at the University of California (UC)–Berkeley between 2009 and 2011, and accepted an Assistant Professorship in the Department of Anthropology, UC-Berkeley beginning in August 2011. His 2009 dissertation is entitled, Nowhere to Run, Everywhere to Hide: Multi-Scalar Identity Practices at Casitas Viejas. Jun used archaeological analyses of foodways and cultural landscape creation to explore how hidden dimensions of multiculturalism on the 18th-century northern frontier of Spanish Colonial New Mexico were expressed in the material remains. He was able to document that cultural heritage was not a fixed identity but rather a situational identity used to defuse dangerous situations or unstable conditions. Jun has spent time in northern New Mexico in 2010 and 2011, working with the Mesa Vista Consolidated District to undertake the educational projects he detailed in his proposal. These projects include the creation of learning modules with interactive computer components for use in the public schools.