Education
Below are the major milestones of my education (so far).
I've provided the abstracts and titles.
Click on the title for the corresponding document.
Earthlodges and Log Cabins: Continuity and Change in Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Domestic Space in the Mid-to-Late 19th Century​
Approved Dissertation Proposal
For hundreds of years the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara lived in circular earthlodges in their homelands within what is currently North Dakota. Construction, layout, and use of these structures were imbued with ceremonial significance. In the mid-1800s, some families began constructing cabins alongside earthlodges, but it is unclear what this transformation looked like archaeologically. Due to the construction of the Garrison Dam (1947-1953), many villages with cabins were inundated by what would become Lake Sakakawea. The resulting salvage archaeology operated within ongoing settler colonial structures and used acculturation as the theoretical framework for the analysis of historic Native sites. This has left Plains historical archaeologists with an incomplete and biased archaeological record; cabins at village sites were rarely excavated, and if so, were not studied as deeply as earthlodges because of perceived notions of acculturation and inauthenticity. This research seeks to address these processes of Indigenous erasure by reexamining salvaged materials using contemporary theoretical concepts to explore both change and continuity in the use of domestic space to provide a more comprehensive and complex understanding of Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara life over time.
On- and Off-Reservation Life: A Reexamination of Salvage Archaeology from Crow-Flies-High Village
Master's Thesis
Crow-Flies-High Village (32MZ1), occupied between 1884 and 1893, was the second locale of the Crow-Flies-High band of Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara that resisted reservation life for over two decades. Due to the construction of the Garrison Dam in 1949, the site was excavated by the Smithsonian’s River Basin Surveys, part of their Interagency Archaeological Salvage Program, before it was inundated by what would become Lake Sakakawea. Though this research relies heavily on the River Basin Surveys, they are now problematic historical documents and must be recognized as such. Salvage archaeology operated within ongoing settler colonial structures and used acculturation as the theoretical foundation for the analysis of historic Native sites. The subsequent reports have left lasting implications for descendent communities still mourning the loss of these ancestral sites. This research reexamines the River Basin Survey report on Crow-Flies-High Village and its excavated materials using contemporary theoretical concepts such as survivance, residence, practice, memory, and futurity to provide a more comprehensive and complex understanding of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara experience.
This study investigates technological change in Hidatsa ceramic production following two catastrophic smallpox epidemics on the North American northern Plains in 1781–1782 and 1837–1838. These epidemics profoundly affected the demographic and cultural structures of Native American communities, including the transmission of specialized craft knowledge. Focusing on ceramic firing temperatures—a proxy for potter skill, labor availability, and fuel resources—this research explores how pottery production practices shifted in the wake of widespread population loss and the resulting strain on surviving labor forces. The analysis centers on 100 ceramic sherds from five archaeological components at four sites in present-day North Dakota: Lower Hidatsa (32ME10), Sakakawea (32ME11), Taylor Bluff (32ME366), and Like-a-Fishhook (32ML2). These sites span both pre- and post-epidemic periods, providing a temporal framework for identifying change. Step-wise clay oxidation analysis and magnetic susceptibility testing are used to estimate the original firing temperatures of the pottery. These complementary methods enable the detection of subtle shifts in production techniques that may reflect broader social and economic transformations. By focusing on a rarely examined ceramic attribute, this research offers new insights into how Indigenous communities navigated post-disaster realities, providing a nuanced understanding of continuity and change in the material expressions of Hidatsa life.
