Barbara L. Stark
Professor
Ph.D., Archaeology, Yale University
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
SHESC Themes: Urban Societies
Field Specializations: Archaeology, Complex Societies, Economic Anthropology, Human Settlement, Political Organization, Social Organization
Regional Focus: Mesoamerica
Contact: Barbara L. Stark, SHESC 158
Research:
Barbara L. Stark specializes in the origins and developmental trajectories of complex societies in Mesoamerica. Prehistoric economy and sociopolitical organization in tropical lowland areas have been the focus of her field projects on the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala and the Gulf lowlands of Mexico.
The Gulf lowlands have been the focus of a long-term survey and settlement pattern investigation with departmental, university, National Science Foundation and National Geographic Society support, with permission from the Instituto Nacional de Antropologé Historia of Mexico. This project has included multiple students and archaeological professionals. The artifact and feature data are incorporated into a Geographical Information Systems format and have been used in thematic maps for statistical and interpretive analyses. The project maintains a laboratory in Jalapa, Mexico, for continuing analyses of collections.
Stark's publications have dealt with coastal adaptations, settlement patterns, tropical urbanism, ceramics, crafts and long-term economic and political change. She has served as a member of the executive boards of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for American Archaeology and as editor for archaeology for the American Anthropologist. She currently serves as an advisor for Arqueología and Arqueología Mexicana. Stark has been a guest instructor at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología and at the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Research Projects:
Proyecto Arqueologico La Mixtequilla
Select Publications:
Stark, B. L. (in press). Polity and economy in the western lower Papaloapan Basin. In P. A. Arnold & C. A. Pool (Eds.), Cultural currents in Classic Veracruz. Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks.
Berdan, F. F., Chance, J. K., Sandstrom, A. R., Stark, B. L., Taggart, J. M. & Umberger, E. (2008). Ethnic identity in Nahua Mesoamerica: The view from archaeology, art history, ethnohistory, and contemporary ethnography. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
Stark, B. L. (2007). Out of Olmec. In V. L. Scarborough & J. E. Clark (Eds.), The political economy of ancient Mesoamerica: Transformations during the Formative and Classic periods (pp. 47-63). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Stark, B. L. & Garraty, C. P. (2004). Evaluation of systematic surface evidence for pottery production in Veracruz, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity, 15(2), 123-143.