My enthusiasm for anthropology has its roots in my childhood, living adjacent to groups of First Americans.  The Americanist bent continues, with my research area of choice being the high Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile. 
      Issues and implications of increasing sedentism, as viewed from the grass-roots level, define much of my current research foci.  These devolve into focus upon such questions as the origins of plant and animal domestication, and the formation of the pristine state.  The Andean region serves as the venue for many of my studies.  In the altiplano, plant agriculture is a critical supplement to the exploitation of patchy resources through mobility, earlier via hunting and fishing, more recently in herded animals.  My interest in camelid pastoralism is one component of research on longitudinal interrelatedness of management techniques related to production and reproduction in areas where aridity and altitude limit cultural options.  
      While the central Andes are my primary regional focus, topical questions I research are obviously not limited by geography.  I have active research interests in prehistoric archaeological areas of Missouri and adjacent areas, as well as an expanding interest in historical archaeology, and the intellectual history of archaeology. 
       I serve as chairman of the Department of Archaeology, coordinating activities of five archaeologists from anthropology, two from art history and archaeology, one from classics, and one from geology. 

Courses 

Roots of Andean Archaeology, Ancient Civilizations of the New World, Prehistory of North America, Archaeological Research Techniques, Historical Archaeology, Cultural Resource Management, Seminars on Selected Topics in American Archaeology 

Selected Publication Topics 
 

1993	(with J. Gunderson)  Altiplano comestible earths: prehistoric and historic geography of highland Peru and Bolivia.  Geoarchaeology 8(5):413-425.
1994	Titicaca Basin archaeolinguistics:  Uru, Pukina, and Ayamara AD 750-1450.  World Archaeology 26:234-250.
1998	Lithic provenience analysis and emerging material complexity at Formative Period Chirpia, Bolvia.  Andean Past 5:301-324.
1998	Pastoral risk perception and risk definition for altiplano herders.  Nomadic Peoples  33:22-36.
2001	(with S. Williams).  New Perspectives on the history of Americanist archaeology.  University of Alabama Press.
2002	The Peabody Museum. Frederic W. Putna,, and the rise of U.S. anthropology: 1866 - 1903. American Anthropologist 1-4(2): 508-519