Cahokian Dispersions (eBook)

Dr. Sarah E. Baires is an accomplished Associate Professor of anthropological archaeology at Eastern Connecticut State University.  Her research focuses on the pre-Columbian (AD 1050-1400) Native American city of Cahokia, which is located near St. Louis, MO and concerns how cities are built, what draws people to cities, and the role religion plays in the organization of political governments. Dr. Baires has published multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books: Land of Water City of the Dead: Religion and Cahokia's Emergence (University of Alabama Press), and The Global Middle Ages: Cahokia and the North American Worlds (Cambridge University Press). Dr. Baires is also featured in two documentary series: Native America (episode 3, PBS), and Ancient Mysteries: Cahokia (Smithsonian Channel). She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Jayur Madhusudan Mehta is an Assistant Professor in Anthropology at Florida State University, specializing in the study of North American Native Americans, human-environment relationships, and the consequences of French and Spanish colonization in the Gulf South. Dr. Mehta earned his PhD in Anthropology from Tulane University (2015) and his MA (2007) from the University of Alabama. He received his BA from the University of North Carolina (2004) and is an avid Tarheel!  Dr. Mehta is also a Registered Professional Archaeologist and he has lead excavations in both the United States and Mexico. He is currently leading two major investigations: 1) the Gulf Resilience Hub, an interdisciplinary study of climate hazard impacts on Indigenous communities of the Gulf Coast, and 2) the Evergreen Plantation Archaeological Survey, a multidisciplinary archaeological investigation into the lives of free and enslaved Africans at a Louisiana sugar plantation. Dr. Mehta's research is funded by NSF, LEH, and National Geographic, and he has published research in the fields of environmental archaeology, ethnohistory, and indigenous religious and ritual practices.