Research Overview

My research specializes in historical archaeology, indigenous archaeology, archaeological studies of colonialism, decolonizing methods, and social theory in Native North America and beyond. I have interests in practice theory, identity, labor, colonialism, post-colonial theory, and collaborative indigenous archaeology. My main focus is the impact of post-Columbian European colonialism on Native American peoples as part of a simultaneously local and global historical archaeology and the social, cultural, and political trajectories of indigenous societies in Western and Eastern North America. To complement my general interests in material culture analyses, I have focused most of my analytical attention on field methods, stone tools, colonial-period artifacts, and geophysical surveying. I have conducted field research in Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, Oregon, Texas, and Japan, and I currently have a bi-coastal geographical focus in both California and southern New England with an annual archaeological field school in southeastern Connecticut. You will find more information on these projects below.

A large portion of this research takes place in the context of the University of Massachusetts Boston, M.A Program in Historical Archaeology. Feel free to contact me as the Graduate Program Director if you have interest in applying to the graduate program.

You can find more details on the two general projects areas by following the links below:

• Northeastern North America
• West Coast of North America

Department of Anthropology
University of Massachusetts, Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393

Office: 617-287-6854
Fax: 617-287-6857

Stephen.Silliman@umb.edu