Margaret C. Nelson
Professor
Vice Dean, Barrett, the Honors College
Ph.D., Archaeology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
SHESC Theme: Societies and their Natural Environments
Field Specializations: Archaeology, Ecology, Gender, Land Use, Social Organization
Regional Focus: North America (Southwest)
Contact: Margaret C. Nelson, SHESC 162
Research:
Margaret C. Nelson conducts research on long-term cycles of change in human organization and land use. Her current interest is on changing economic and social strategies associated with population aggregation and dispersion among pueblo dwellers of the 11th through 14th centuries in the Mogollon Region. This research has been funded by NGS, NIH, U.S. Department of Education and private foundations. Nelson is lead PI of an interdisciplinary research group from ecology and anthropology examining cycles of stability and transformation across the last 1,000 years in the North American Southwest and Northern Mexico.
In addition, she has examined aspects of the current status of women in archaeology. She has served on the Executive Board of the Society for American Archaeology and as treasurer for the Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association. She is a member and past chair of the Society for American Archaeology's Committee on the Status of Women in Archaeology.
Research Projects:
AOC: Archaeological Data Integration for the Study of Long-Term Human and Social Dynamics
Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project
Long-Term Coupled Socioecological Change in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico
Teaching:
Nelson's teaching emphasizes critical thinking and effective communication. In 2001, she was named Centennial Professor by the Associated Students of ASU. In 2005, she was selected Parents Association Professor of the Year. She is the president of the Distinguished Teaching Academy at ASU.
Select Publications:
Hegmon, M. & Nelson, M. C. (2007). In sync, but barely in touch: Relations between the Mimbres Region and the Hohokam Regional system. In A. P. Sullivan & J. M. Bayman (Eds.), Hinterlands and regional dynamics in the ancient Southwest (pp. 70-96). Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Nelson, M. C., Hegmon, M., Kulow, S. & Schollmeyer, K. G. (2006). Archaeological and ecological perspectives on reorganization: A case study from the Mimbres Region of the U.S. Southwest. American Antiquity, 71(3), 403-432.
Nelson, M. & Schollmeyer, K. (2003). Game resources, social interaction, and the ecological footprint in southwest New Mexico, 1000-1150. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 10(2), 69-110.
Nelson, M. & Schachner, G. (2002). Understanding abandonments in the North American Southwest. Journal of Archaeological Research, 10(2), 167-206.
