91次元

three people kneeling and digging at an artifact site while two others watch

Anthropology

John Douglas

Professor

Contact

Office
Remote (Social Science 233 not in use)
Email
john.douglas@umontana.edu
Office Hours

I have a flexible schedule to meet with students and colleagues on Zoom throughout the academic calender. Please email me a few suggested times, and I will get back to you with a meeting link.

I am not accepting new graduate students.

Curriculum Vitae
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John Douglas

Personal Summary

John Douglas is an anthropological archaeologist specializing in the native people and prehistory of northwest Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. He earned his doctorate at the University of Arizona in 1990 and has been teaching at The 91次元 since 1991.
 
Douglas is a pioneer in the archaeology of northeast Sonora and southeast Arizona, focusing on late prehistoric social complexity and the influence of Paquimé in northwest Chihuahua. His research explores the development of hierarchical societies, particularly the interactions and exchange systems between societies of varying scales in the region.
 
Currently, Douglas is reexamining archaeological and Spanish documentary evidence for Indigenous peoples in present-day northwest Chihuahua during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This research, initiated during a 2021 sabbatical, investigates the origins of the "Suma" in the Casas Grandes Valley, seeking to reframe the narrative surrounding the Indigenous people of the region.
 
His extensive fieldwork outside of northern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest includes co-teaching the UM archaeological field school at Cahal Pech (2011-2019), focused on Maya society of the upper Belize Valley near the end of the Classic Period. Other key projects involved research into ancient cultures of the lower Amazon Basin, Brazil, and historic Virginia City, Montana. His methodological interests include field mapping and artifact analysis.
 
Douglas teaches method and theory courses, as well as regional archaeology courses for North America and Mesoamerica, and advises graduate students on a wide range of anthropological topics.

Education

University of Arizona, Tucson 1990 Ph.D. in Anthropology

University of Arizona, Tucson 1982 M.A. in Anthropology

California State University, Fullerton 1978 B.A. in Anthropology

Courses Taught

Classes AY 24-25:

Autumn 2024: Introduction to Archaeology, ANTY 250 (online)

Spring 2025: North American Archaeology, ANTY 351 (online)

 

Classes AY 25-26:

Autumn 2025: Introduction to Archaeology, ANTY 250 (online)

Spring 2026: North American Archaeology, ANTY 351 (online)

Research Interests

Archaeology; regional systems and exchange; social organization; chronology building; ceramic analysis; the American Southwest and Northwest Mexico; the Maya Lowlands; the Americas

Selected Publications

2023 (J.E. Douglas, L.J. Brown) "Reevaluating the Suma Occupation in the Casas Grandes Valley, Chihuahua, Mexico." American Antiquity 88(2):125-143.

2021 (J.E. Douglas, B.L. MacDonald, C.E. Ebert, J.J. Awe, L.Dussubieux, and C.E. Klesner) "Fade to Black: The implications of Mount Maloney Black pottery from a Terminal Classic deposit, Cahal Pech, Belize, using a comparative multi-method compositional approach." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Vol. 35.

2020 (J.J. Awe, C.E. Ebert, J.A. Hoggarth, J.J. Aimers, C. Helmke, J. Douglas, and W.J. Stemp). “The Last Hurrah: Examining the Nature of Peri-Abandonment Deposits And Activities At Cahal Pech, Belize.” Ancient Mesoamerica, 31, 175-187.

2016 (J. Douglas and A. MacWilliams) “Casas Grandes and Its More Distant Neighbors.” In Discovering Paquimé, edited by Paul E. Minnis and Michael E. Whalen, pp. 47-52. University of Arizona Press, Tucson

2015 (J. Douglas and A. MacWilliams) “Society and Polity in the Wider Casas Grandes Region.” In Ancient Paquimé and the Casas Grandes World, edited by Paul E. Minnis and Michael E. Whalen, pp. 126-148. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

2015 (J. Douglas, L Brown, and J. Awe) “The Final Occupation: The Terminal Classic Evidence from Plaza H, Cahal Pech, Belize” In Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, Vol. 12, pp. 217-225.

2011 (A.C. Roosevelt, J. Douglas, and others) Early New World Monumentality, Edited by R.L. Burger and R.M. Rosenswig, p. 255-288, University of Florida Press, Gainesville.

2007 “Making and Breaking Boundaries in the Hinterlands: The Social and Settlement Dynamics of Far Southeastern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico.” In Hinterlands and Regional Dynamics in the Ancient Southwest, edited by Alan P. Sullivan III and James M. Bayman, pp. 97-108. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

1995 “Autonomy and Regional Systems in the Late Prehistoric Southern Southwest.” American Antiquity 60(2):240-257.

Affiliations

Society for American Archaeology

Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society

International Experience

  • Belize (University of Belize, Belize City), as exchange professor and supervising archaeological excavation/field school in San Igancio, Cayo District
  • Mexico (Sonora), as co-Principle Investigator archaeological survey and excavation
  • Brazil (Pará), as Fulbright supported archaeology instructor and specialist/consultant
  • France (Charente) as Excavation Director / Computer Mapping Specialist
  • Central African Republic (Sangha) archaeology specialist/consultant