James Allison Brown

Professor Emeritus of Anthropology. Leader in archaeology, enhancing understanding of the indigenous societies that flourished in North America before the arrival of Europeans, with particular attention to the rise of religious and social complexity. Developed new methods to study symbols and motifs, which in turn shed light on beliefs and religious practices. Helped explain a series of social changes that took place during the past thousand years. Led in the study of the social dimensions of archaeological mortuary practices. Research projects have involved the Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma, Mound City in Ohio, and the Koster site and Cahokia Mounds in Illinois. Other sites researched are Fort Michilimackinac in Michigan and the Grand Village of the Kaskaskia in Illinois. Recent research at Cahokia demystified the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex of artifacts and art, making it intelligible from a cross-cultural perspective by relating it to political, religious, and economic changes taking place at the site. Books include Pre-Columbian Shell Engravings from the Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma (with Philip Phillips, 1975-1982), Ancient Art of the American Woodland Indians (1985), Prehistoric Hunters-Gatherers: The Emergence of Cultural Complexity (1985), and The Spiro Ceremonial Center: The Archaeology of Arkansas Valley Caddoan Culture in Eastern Oklahoma (1996).