B. Jacob Skousen

I am a North American archaeologist with research interests ranging from pilgrimage, religion, identity, landscapes, and movement. Most of my work focuses on Late Precontact cultures throughout the Midwest, with an emphasis on the Native American city of Cahokia in southwestern Illinois. My current research involves the intersection of place, movement, and identity. I’m particularly interested in how moving through, dwelling in, and modifying certain spaces, places, and landscapes shapes emotions, memories, identities, and relationships with the wider world. My overall goals as an archaeologist are to make archaeology accessible and beneficial to descendant groups and local communities, disseminate archaeological and historical knowledge, and demonstrate the importance of the past in the present.