Current Position:

Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Description:

Kelly J. Dixon (PhD, University of Nevada) is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at The University of Montana. 

Kelly J. Dixon specializes in archaeology in the American West, with interests in archaeologies of adaptation, colonization, colonialism, landscapes, landscape transformations, human-environment interactions, boomtowns, extractive industries, marginalized populations, and text-aided approaches to archaeology. Among Dixon’s recent publications are: An Archaeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party's Alder Creek Camp, University of Oklahoma Press (2012), co-editor and contributing author (winner of the Society for Historical Archaeology's 2013 James Deetz Book Award); "A Place of Recreation of Our Own": Archaeology of the Boston Saloon, in The Materiality of Freedom: Archaeologies of Post-Emancipation Life (2012); "Verily the Road was Built with Chinaman's Bones": Archaeology of Chinese Line Camps in Montana, International Journal of Historical Archaeology (2012), co-author; “'Men, Women, and Children Starving': Archaeology of the Donner Family Camp,” American Antiquity (2010), co-author; “When Fancy Gets The Upper Hand of Fact: Historical Archaeology and Popular Culture in the American West,” Archaeological Record (2007); "Survival of Biological Evidence on Artifacts: Applying Forensic Techniques at the Boston Saloon," Historical Archaeology (2006); Sidling Up to the Archaeology of Western Saloons: Historical Archaeology Takes on the Wild of the West, World Archaeology (2006); Saloons in the "Wild" West and Taverns in Ancient Mesopotamia: Explorations Along the Timeline of Public Drinking, in Between Dirt and Discussion (2006); Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City, University of Nevada Press (2005).

Dr. Dixon is currently developing student-oriented interdisciplinary archaeological research at historic-period sites throughout Montana; she is mentoring PhD, MA, and Undergraduate students who are working on applied and academic archaeological topics in the American West and throughout the world.  

 

 

Office Hours:

Please see posting on SS 232 door.

Courses:

Anthropology 252 Archaeological Wonders of the World http://www.cas.umt.edu/departments/anthropology/courses/anth252/default.htm

Anthropology 455 Artifact Analysis http://www.cas.umt.edu/anthropology/courses/anth455/

Anthropology 395 The Archaeology and Anthropology of Olduvai Gorge http://www.cas.umt.edu/anthro/courses/olduvai/default.htm

Anthropology 466 Archaeological Survey Methods http://www.anthro.umt.edu/notes/466/

Anthropology 456 Historical Archaeology http://www.cas.umt.edu/anthro/courses/anth456/default.htm

Anthropology 487 Anthropological Field Experience

Anthropology 495 Landscape Archaeology

Anthropology 495 Archaeological Field School

Coloma Ghost Town Field School: http://www.cas.umt.edu/mtcoloma/default.htm

Terrace Garden Field School and related projects: www.cas.umt.edu/anthro/anth495cim/

Anthropology 503 Graduate Seminar in Cultural Resource Interpretation

Anthropology 551 Graduate Seminar in Historical Archaeology: http://www.cas.umt.edu/departments/anthropology/courses/anth551/

Specialized Skills:

Archaeology, Historical Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology

Selected Publications:

In Review. “Rock Hearths and Rural Wood Camps of Gold Mountain: Chinese Woodchoppers in the Lake Tahoe Basin.” Chapter in an edited volume entitled Historical Archaeology of the American West, co-authored with Carrie Smith [2013].

In Review. Historical Archaeologies in the American West. Journal of Archaeological Research.

In Review. Coloma Mining District: Gold Mining and Community in Western Montana's Garnet Range. Industrial Archaeology. 

2012 “Verily the Road was Built with Chinaman's Bones": Archaeology of Chinese Line Camps in Montana.  International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Fall 2012, co-authored with Christopher Merritt and Gary Weisz.

 2012 The Anthropology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party’s Alder Creek Camp. (editor and contributing author to three chapters, Julie M. Schablitsky and Shannon A. Novak, co-editors), University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Winner of the Society for Historical Archaeology's James Deetz Book Award.

 2012 "A Place of Recreation of Our Own": Archaeology of the Boston Saloon. In The Materiality of Freedom: Archaeologies of Post-Emancipation Life, edited by Jodi Barnes, University of South Caroline Press, Columbia, pp. 115-135.

2011 “The Signature of Starvation: A Comparison of Bone Processing at a Chinese Encampment in Montana and the Donner Party Camp in California.”  Historical Archaeology 45(2):97-112. Co-authored with M. Ellis, C. Merritt, and S. Novak. 

2010  “’Men, Women, Children Starving’: Archaeology of the Donner Family Camp.” American Antiquity, 75(3):627-656. Co-authored with S. Novak, G. Robbins, J. Schablitsky, G. R. Scott, and G. Tasa.

2007 “The Donner Party: An Archaeological Perspective on a Tragedy in the Sierras.” Historical Methods, 40(4):179-181. 

2007 “When Fancy Gets The Upper Hand of Fact: Historical Archaeology and Popular Culture in the American West.” SAA Archaeological Record, 7(3):19-25.

2006 “Sidling Up to the Archaeology of Western Saloons: Historical Archaeology Takes on the Wild of the West.” World Archaeology, 38(4):576-585.

 2006 “Saloons in the Wild West and Taverns in Ancient Mesopotamia: Explorations Along the Timeline of Public Drinking.” In Between Dirt and Discussion: Methods and Methodology in Historical Archaeology, edited by Steven Archer and Kevin Bartoy, pp. 61-79. Springer [Academic] Press, New York and London.  

2006 “Archaeology of the Boston Saloon.” African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter, June 2006.  http://www.diaspora.uiuc.edu/news0606/news0606.html#2

2006 “Survival of Biological Evidence on Artifacts: Applying Forensic Techniques at the Boston Saloon.”  Historical Archaeology 40(3):20-30.

2006 “Forensic Technology and the Historical Archaeologist.” Historical Archaeology 40(3):1-7. Co-authored with Julie Schablitsky and Mark Leney.

 2005  Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City, Nevada.  University of Nevada Press, Reno.