Heather McKillop

PERSONAL INFORMATION

William G. Haag Professor of Archaeology
Department of Geography and Anthropology
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Phone: 225-578-6178 ~ Fax: 225-578-4420
E-mail: hmckill@lsu.edu


EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Ph.D., University of California-Santa Barbara, 1987.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Ancient Coastal Maya

Maya Archaeology
Ancient Trade/Economics and Salt Workshops
Sea-level Rise and Coastal Adaptations
Ongoing Fieldwork in Southern Belize
Historic Cemeteries
Prehistoric Burials

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

McKillop, Heather. 2005 “Finds in Belize Document Late Classic Maya Salt Making and Canoe Transport.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102: 5630-5634.

McKillop, Heather. 2005 “Classic Maya Workshops: Ancient Salt Works in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize.” Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, volume 2. edited by Jaime Awe, John Morris, Sherilyne Jones, and Christophe Helmke, pp. 279-289. Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belmopan, Belize.

Somers, Bretton, and McKillop, Heather. 2005 “Hidden Landscapes of the Ancient Maya on the South Coast of Belize: Discovering ‘Invisible’ Settlement at Arvin’s Landing.” In Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, volume 2. edited by Jaime Awe, John Morris, Sherilyne Jones, and Christophe Helmke, pp. 291-300. Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belmopan, Belize.

McKillop, Heather. 2005. In Search of Maya Sea Traders. College Station: Texas A & M University Press.

McKillop, Heather. 2004. The Ancient Maya. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO Publishers (paper and e-book).

McKillop, Heather. 2004. "The Classic Maya Trading Port of Moho Cay." In The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half A Century of Archaeological Research, James F. Garber, ed. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
 
McKillop, Heather, and Terance Winemiller. 2004. "Ancient Maya Environment, Settlement, and Diet: Quantitative and GIS Analyses of Mollusca from Frenchman's Cay." In Maya Zooarchaeology, Kitty Emery, ed., pp. 57-80. Los Angeles: UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

McKillop, H., A. Magnoni, R. Watson, S. Ascher, B. Tucker, and T. Winemiller. 2003. "The Coral Foundations of Coastal Maya Architecture." In  Archaeological Investigations in the Eastern Maya Lowlands: Papers of the 2003 Belize Archaeology Symposium, Jaime Awe, John Morris, and Sherilyne Jones, eds., pp. 347-58. Belize: Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History.

McKillop, H. 2002. Precolumbian Jade and Stone Carvings from Costa Rica. Catalog for Exhibition. Baton Rouge: Museum of Art, Louisiana State University.

McKillop, Heather. 2002. Salt, White Gold of the Ancient Maya. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Braswell, Geoffrey E., J.E. Clark, K. Aoyama, H.I. McKillop, and M.D. Glascock. 2000. "Determining the Geological Provenance of Obsidian Artifacts from the Maya Region: A Test of Efficacy of Visual Sourcing." Latin American Antiquity 11: 269-82.

McKillop, Heather. 1996. "Ancient Maya Trading Ports and the Integration of Long-Distance and Regional Economies: Wild Cane Cay in South-Coastal Belize." Ancient Mesoamerica 7: 49-62.

McKillop, Heather. 1996. "Prehistoric Maya Use of Native Palms: Archaeobotanical and Ethnobotanical Evidence," in The Managed Mosaic: Ancient Maya Agriculture and Resource Use, Scott L. Fedick, ed., pp. 278-94. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.


HONORS AND ACTIVITIES

National Science Foundation (Archaeology Program). $136,000 grant awarded (3 years beginning 1 June 2005). “Mapping Ancient Maya Wooden Architecture on the Seafloor.”

Faculty Research Grant, LSU, $10,000. 1 July 2005- 30 June 2006: “Isotope Analyses of Human Bone from Wild Cane Cay and Moho Cay for Dietary and Trade Information.”

National Geographic Society Grant “Paddling the Ancient Maya Universe: Mapping Wooden Structures in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize.” $24,996 grant awarded March 2005.

Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI) $9400 grant awarded: “Mapping and conservation at K’ak’ Naab’ Underwater Maya site, Belize.” Jan 2005-2006.

CHOICE (American Library Association) selected Salt: White Gold of the Ancient Maya, as an “outstanding academic book” of 2003.

Lecturer, Archaeological Institute of America, 2006.

To be honored at first LSU home football game Sept 24, 2005 with video tribute during halftime.

2003-2005. Sigma Xi, National Lecturer, College of Distinguished  Lecturers.

2002-present. William G. Haag Professor of Archaeology, endowed professorship, Louisiana  State University.

2002. Guest Curator, Museum of Art, Louisiana State University, for "Costa Rican Jade and  Stone Artifacts" exhibition, August 27 ­ December 15.

2000-2002, NSF Dissertation Award, "Water Management by the Ancient Maya of Yucatan, Mexico." Heather McKillop (principal investigator), Terance Winemiller (student).

September 1996-present. Chair, Archaeological Survey and Antiquities Commission, State of Louisiana.

In Development. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between LSU and Toledo Institute for Development and the Environment (TIDE), Belize.


COURSES TAUGHT

Introduction to Archaeology
Indian Civilizations of Middle & South America
The Archaeology of Death
Field Methods in Archaeology (in Belize, 2003, 2005, etc.)
Method & Theory in Archaeology
Mesoamerican Archaeology Graduate Seminar (The Ancient Maya)

Click here for Dr. McKillop's Maya Night Website

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