Martin Gallivan, Professor, Anthropology, William & Mary
Email: mdgall@wm.edu
Dr. Gallivan studies Native American archaeology in the Chesapeake region, focusing on collaborative partnerships with Virginia Indian tribes. His current research centers on the Kiskiak Project, investigating Algonquian settlements along the lower York River. This work examines deeply-stratified archaeological sites that reveal how Native communities managed coastal landscapes before colonial contact. Dr. Gallivan co-directs the Chesapeake Archaeology Laboratory with Dr. Jessica Jenkins, bringing together students and scholars to study human-environmental relations in the Virginia Tidewater. The lab collaborates with interdisciplinary partners including marine ecologists from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and local tribal communities. His research has received over $1 million in external funding from prestigious sources. Dr. Gallivan’s book The Powhatan Landscape: An Archaeological History of the Algonquian Chesapeake, received the Southern Anthropological Society’s James Mooney Award.
Jessica Jenkins, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Flagler College
Email: JAJenkins@flagler.edu
Dr. Jenkins’ research bridges the social and natural sciences to explore past practices of resource sustainability and grassroots movements for social change. Her current work focuses on dispersed creek-side villages along the lower York River, Virginia, where she collaborates with Dr. Gallivan and students from William & Mary and Flagler College to investigate archaeological shell middens and associated features at sites such as Kiskiak in York County, as well as Poropotank and Catauncack in Gloucester County. This research is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, involving marine ecologists from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), the Fairfield Foundation, Chartrand Geoarchaeological Solutions, geologists at William & Mary, and local tribal partners. It has been supported by grants from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Dr. Jenkins’ first book, An Archaeology of Woodland Transformation: Social Movements, Identities, and Pottery Production on the Gulf Coast, was recently published by the University Press of Florida.
Taylor Callaway, Anthropology Doctoral Candidate, M.A. ’20
Email: tbgolding@wm.edu
John Henshaw, Anthropology Doctoral Student
Email: jphenshaw@wm.edu
Samantha Melvin, Anthropology M.A. Student
Email: scmelvin@wm.edu
Samantha Melvin’s research is generally concerned with geophysical archaeology and cultural resource management in the Middle Atlantic. She is particularly interested in ethical praxis, reflected in finding new ways to conduct non-invasive archaeological research and serving the interests of descendant communities through engaged archaeology. She is trained with a background in historic preservation, history, and historical archaeology. At CAL she is continuing to explore Chesapeake archaeology from these perspectives, focused on Native American history and culture.