Katelyn J. Bishop

I am an anthropological archaeologist who studies human-animal relationships throughout the Americas, with a specific focus in the United States Southwest. My research has spanned the last 4,000 years of the human past, ranging geographically from New Mexico, Arizona, California, Guatemala, and Mexico. The majority of my research focuses on (1) the many ways that animals were a part of the ritual lives of people, their symbolic value, and their place in worldview, and (2) the active role that living animals and animal products played in situations of emerging social complexity.

Much of my work has focused specifically on the importance of birds in the lives of past peoples. My current research examines their value in the Pueblo region of the United States Southwest, specifically in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (800-1150 CE). I approach my research from a zoontological perspective, acknowledging the mutually-influential nature of human-animal interactions in the past. Consequently, I have also explored the ways in which animal agency constrained and affected human-bird interactions. In addition to conducting fieldwork, I am dedicated to working extensively with museum collections, archival documents, and legacy data. My research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society.

I am fortunate to be involved in many collaborative projects, on such topics as agricultural strategies, soil salinity, and water control in Chaco Canyon; the value of historic legacy collections and archival data in archaeological research; the pan-Southwest significance of macaws; and the Agricultural Demographic Transition in the New World.