Gary Feinman

Education:
Ph.D., Anthropology, City University of New York-Graduate Center, 1980.
B.A., Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1972.
Research, Academic, Editorial Positions:
MacArthur Curator of Mesoamerican, Central American, and East Asian Anthropology, The Field Museum
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois-Chicago
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University
Joint Faculty, Archaeology Center, Shandong University, China
CASE Senior Scholar, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Coeditor, Journal of Archaeological Research
Chief Editor, Frontiers in Human Dynamics, Institutions and Collective Action
Editorial Board, Human Ecology
Advisory Editor, Cross-Cultural Research
Consejo de Asesores, Arqueología Mexicana
Series Co-editor, Fundamental Issues in Archaeology, Springer
Series Co-editor, Foundations of Archaeology, Eliot Werner Publications
Series Co-editor, Principles of Archaeology, Eliot Werner Publications

I presently co-direct two international archaeological field projects.  My principal research area is Mesoamerica, where Linda Nicholas and I led four seasons of excavations (following excavations at Ejutla, El Palmillo, and the Mitla Fortress).  At the most overarching level, this research, mostly focused on domestic contexts, has been designed to examine the Classic period economy in the Valley of Oaxaca, the functioning and eventual collapse of the Classic period polity centered at Monte Albán, and the reorganization of the region in the subsequent Postclassic period.  Specifically, we are interested in how people made a living and were organized at nucleated settlements, such as Lambityeco, the Mitla Fortress, and El Palmillo, all situated in semi-desert environments.  This household archaeology research fits into a career-long effort to contribute to our understanding of the prehispanic Mesoamerican economic and political organization through a multiscalar focus on highland Oaxaca.  At Lambityeco, we also investigated civic-ceremonial contexts.

For the last 20+ years, I also have been involved in a systematic, full-coverage settlement pattern survey in coastal Shandong Province, China. Here, Linda Nicholas and I, for much of the project, collaborated with Dr. Anne Underhill, and scholars from Shandong University and the Rizhao Museum. But we are now teaming principally with colleagues from Shandong University (mainly Dr. Fang Hui and his students) and the Jiaozhou Museum, Jiaonan Museum, and Qingdao Institute of Archaeology.  This study is focused on the rise of hierarchical polities in the region, the eventual incorporation of this area into empires centered to the west of Shandong, and the documentation of settlement and demographic change in this coastal setting over millennia.  We also aim to illustrate through our findings the key role that a systematic regional perspective can have for our understanding of the past, and how this approach can be useful for documenting China’s significant history. 

In Chicago, I am collaborating on several ongoing investigations that are focused on Field Museum collections.  In conjunction with my colleagues, Dr. Dean Arnold and Dr. Ryan Williams, and others, one project is studying the production of Maya Blue pigment. Another collaborative effort, with Dr. Mark Golitko and others, is sourcing the obsidian from J. Eric Thompson's excavations at the San José site (Belize). With Mark, Linda Nicholas, and other colleagues from the U.S. and Mexico, we expanded this study to the sourcing of archaeological obsidian samples from the Valley of Oaxaca and pan-Mesoamerican patterns of exchange.

I am curator of the Field Museum's permanent Ancient Americas exhibition, which highlights the peoples in the Western Hemisphere prior to the late 15th century.  I am a co-curator (with Dr. Deborah Bekken and Dr. Lisa Niziolek) of the permanent Cyrus Tang Hall of China that explores the History and Culture of China. I also have collaborated on numerous temporary exhibitions.

The focal threads that link my research include ancient economies, human political and economic networks and coalitions through history, human-environmental interactions over time and space, inequality and its underpinnings, and comparative/cross-cultural approaches that endeavor to account for societal diversity, parallels, and change.
Address: Social Science (Anthropology)
Negaunee Integrative Research Center
Science & Education
The Field Museum
1400 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60605-2496
USA

Curatorial Ranges: Mesoamerica, Central American, and East Asian Anthropology and Archaeology, Western North American Archaeology