Loyola University Chicago

Loyola University of Chicago
Department of Anthropology
Lake Shore Campus, Damen Hall-813
6525 N. Sheridan
Chicago, Illinois 60626
(312) 508-3475
E-mail: parnold@luc.edu

Philip J. Arnold, III received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico. He has conducted and/or directed archaeological fieldwork in New York, New Mexico, Florida, Illinois, and Mexico. Dr. Arnold's research interests are in the origins of complex society, ancient technological systems, and economic behavior in precolumbian Mexico. Dr. Arnold's current fieldwork investigates the formation of early social complexity along the South Mexican Gulf Coast.

Current Research

Dr. Philip Arnold recently completed two seasons of archaeological fieldwork at the Formative Period (ca. 1000-100 BC) site of La Joya, in southern Veracruz, Mexico. This project is designed to gather information on land use, subsistence activities, and incipient craft production within the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Verzcruz. A second goal of the research is to explore and define socio-economic variation exhibited by the Gulf Olmec culture, considered to be one of the earliest complex societies within Mesoamerica.

This current project constitutes part of a long-term, collaborative research program designed for the Tuxtla Mountain region. Begun in the early 1980s, this program has investigated site-specific issues of domestic and civic-ceremonial occupation, region-wide settlement distributions, and precolumbian as well as contemporary craft production. Analysis of current archaeological data and future field projects will continue for several years.

Recent Publications

P. J. Arnold III

1991/2004 Domestic Ceramic Production and Spatial Organization: A Mexican Case Study in Ethnoarchaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (Reissued in paperback, 2004). book info: http://booktrade.cambridge.org/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521391997

2003a Early Formative Pottery from the Tuxtla Mountains and Implications for Gulf Olmec Origins. Latin American Antiquity 14:29-46. abstract: http://www.saa.org/publications/LatAmAnt/14-1/Arnold.html

2003b Back to Basics: The Middle-Range Program as Pragmatic Archaeology. In Essential Tensions in Archaeological Method and Theory, ed. by T. VanPool and C. VanPool, pp 55-66. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. book info: http://www.uofupress.com/store/product163.html

P. J. Arnold III and B. Wilkens

2001a On the VanPools' "Scientific Postprocessualism." American Antiquity 66:361-366. abstract: http://www.saa.org/publications/AmAntiq/66-2/Arnold.html

P. J. Arnold III

2001b When Day Turned to Night: Volcanism and the Archaeological Record from the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. In Environmental Disaster and the Archaeology of Human Response, ed. by G. Bawden and R. Reycraft, pp. 143-162. Anthropological Papers No. 7, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (R. Santley, S. Nelson, B. Reinhardt, C. Pool, and P. Arnold III). book info: http://www.unmpress.com/Book.php?id=2043

2000a Sociopolitical Complexity and the Gulf Olmecs: A View from the Tuxtla Mountains, Veracruz, Mexico. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, ed. by J. Clark and M. Pye, pp. 117-135. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. book info: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300085222/002-4805384-8672046

2000b Working Without a Net: Recent Trends in Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology. Journal of Archaeological Research 8:105-133. abstract: http://ipsapp007.kluweronline.com/IPS/content/ext/x/J/4822/I/2/A/1/abstract.htm

1999a Tecomates, Residential Mobility, and Early Formative Occupation in Coastal Lowland Mesoamerica. In Pottery and People: A Dynamic Interaction, ed. by J. Skibo and G. Feinman, pp. 157-170. University of Utah Press. book info: http://www.uofupress.com/store/product139.html

1999b On Typologies, Selection, and Ethnoarchaeology in Ceramic Production Studies. In Material Meanings: Critical Approaches to the Interpretation of Material Culture, ed. by E. Chilton, pp. 103-117. University of Utah Press. book info: http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/UU-press&CISOPTR=1643

1998 Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology: Caught Between "Coming of Age" and "Showing Its Age." Reviews in Anthropology 27:17-32.

Stark, B. L., and P. J. Arnold III, eds

1997 Olmec to Aztec: Settlement Patterns in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands.University of Arizona Press, Tucson. : http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/books/bid1068.htm

Santley, R. S., and P. J. Arnold III

1996 Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 23:225-249.

P. J. Arnold III

1994 Southern Veracruz Archaeology. Special Section. Ancient Mesoamerica 5:213-287. journal info: http://uk.cambridge.org/journals/journal_catalogue.asp?mnemonic=ATM

Opportunities for Students

Participants on previous archaeological field seasons in Mexico include several undergraduates from Loyola University as well as graduate students from departments across the country. The current analysis phase of research also provides opportunities for student involvement. Computer entry, drafting, and data analysis are among those activities students might conduct on-campus. If you are interested in any of these opportunities or would simply like additional information, please contact Dr. Arnold at parnold@luc.edu