Gregory D. Wilson Ph.D.
Ph.D. 2005 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
M.A. 1998 University of Oklahoma, Norman
B.A. 1994 Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Research Interests
My archaeological research is concerned with issues of social inequality, identity politics, and violence in pre-Columbian North and South America. My perspective is informed by contemporary theoretical research on human agency, practice, and political economy. I investigate these issues through a household and community-centered archaeology with an emphasis on the methodologically rigorous analysis of large and diverse datasets.
My current research consists of a collaborative project that explores the catastrophic and wide-ranging consequences of war on Mississippian period communities in the Central Illinois River Valley. This three-year National Science Foundation funded project has revealed that Mississippian groups in the region sacrificed important dimensions of food security and health in order to minimize their exposure to inter-group violence.
I am also investigating issues of identity politics in the context of the northern expansion of the Mississippian cultural frontier culture, a complex multiregional phenomenon linked to the 11th century regional consolidation of Cahokia, the largest and most complex Native American polity in North America. My exploration of this topic has revealed that Cahokia’s northern hinterlands were defined by a surprising juxtaposition of cultural change and continuity.
Links
Living with War Archaeological Project
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-with-War-Archaeological-Project/203528656326012?fref=ts
Dickson Mounds Museum
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