Ben A. Nelson
Professor
Ph.D., Archaeology, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
SHESC Themes: Global Dynamics and Regional Interactions, Societies and their Natural Environments, Urban Societies
Field Specializations: Archaeology, Complex Societies, Ethnoarchaeology, Political Economy
Regional Foci: Mesoamerica, American Southwest
Contact: Ben Nelson, SHESC 112
Research:
Ben A. Nelson is professor of anthropology at Arizona State University. He previously taught at the University of New Mexico and at the State University of New York at Buffalo (Ph.D., Southern Illinois University, 1980). His research focuses on cycles of social complexity and connectivity among the ancient cultures of northwestern Mexico and the American Southwest, especially from A.D. 200-1540, on human roles in and responses to the desertification of grasslands in those regions and on relating archaeology to indigenous cultures of the present day.
His national service includes work for professional associations and agencies such as the American Anthropological Association, the Society for American Archaeology and the National Science Foundation.
Research Projects:
Connections and Impacts of Northern and West Mexican Cultures
Legacies on the Landscape
Long-Term Coupled Socioecological Change in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico
Select Publications:
Nelson, B. A. (2006). Mesoamerican objects and symbols in Chaco Canyon contexts. In S. H. Lekson (Ed.), The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon: An 11th century pueblo regional center. Santa Fe: SAR Press.
Nelson, B. A. & Crider, D. (2005). Posibles pasajes migratorios en el norte de México y el suroeste de los Estados Unidos durante el Epiclásico y el Postclásico. Reacomodos Demográficos del Clásico al Posclásico en el Centro de México. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropólogicas, Universidad Nacional de México, Mexico City (2005).
Nelson, B. A. (2004). Elite residences in west Mexico. In S. T. Evans & J. Pillsbury, Palaces of the Ancient New World. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Dumbarton Oaks Publications.
Nelson, B. A. (2003). A place of continued importance: The abandonment of Epiclassic La Quemada. In T. Inomata & R. W. Webb (Eds.), The archaeology of settlement abandonment in Middle America (pp. 77-89). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.