Indigenous Archaeology

My research concerns the role of animal-human relationships in human societies. I work with Picuris Pueblo in northern New Mexico, and my dissertation work centers on a legacy collection of primarily avian remains from the ancestral pueblo dating to 1200-1800 CE excavated in the 1960's. I am interested in decolonial theory and methodologies and community-based work and have been incorporating oral histories and modern-day community perspectives into my interpretations of this archaeological record. 

Peter Nelson (Coast Miwok and tribal citizen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) received his PhD in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and is Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and Ethnic Studies. Professor Nelson works at the intersection of anthropological archaeology, Indigenous environmental studies, and Native American Studies in collaboration with tribal nations and Indigenous peoples in California and abroad on issues of cultural heritage preservation, settler colonialism, climate change, and Indigenous landscape management.