Mona Charles - Archaeological Field School Director

Visiting Instructor of Anthropology

Fort Lewis College


 

 

 

I am the director of the FLC archaeological field school and a visiting faculty member of the Department of Anthropology.  I have over 35 years of professional experience in archaeology. I have technical and management experience in remote sensing (electrical resistance and fluxgate magnetometer), Total Station and Theodolite mapping, digital photography, GIS, and computer database management. I have extensive skills in the areas of geoarchaeological interpretation, laboratory analysis, report writing and production, large and small-scale inventory projects, large and small-scale testing projects, large and small-scale excavation projects, grant writing, teaching, and public outreach.

I am a  member of the Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, the Society for American Archaeology, and the Rocky Mountain Anthropological Association. Most recently I am a member of the Council for the Status of Women in Archaeology, a committee of the Society of American Archaeology. I have authored or co-authored over 30 archaeological reports and has presented results of her research nation-wide. My latest publications include The Earliest Mesa Verdeans, Hunters, Foragers, and First Farmers, a chapter in The Mesa Verde World, edited by David Grant Noble and two articles in a special edition of KIVA (Vol.72:No.2) on Basketmaker II.  

I have been conducting research in the mountains in and around Southwest Colorado for over 20 years. My research currently emphases the origins and nature of the Colorado Basketmakers from indigenous hunters and gatherers to horticulturalists. This research involves examining archaeological, geological and paleoenvironmental data to interpret the prehistory of the area around Durango during this time period. 

Most recently, I have become involved with the Old Fort Lewis Task Force. This task force is dedicated to the preservation of the cultural and natural recourses at the Old Fort Lewis Campus, near Hesperus, CO. The Archaeological Field School operates from the Old Fort Lewis Campus. The field school instructs students in general archaeological methods and techniques including; Total Station Mapping, Remote Sensing, Cultural Resource Survey, Artifact Identification, GPS and GIS.   

In addition to teaching the Fort Lewis College archaeological field school, I also teaching the following classes:  Archaeological Lab Techniques, Advanced Archaeological Lab Techniques and Geoarchaeology.

Interests:

Basketmaker II culture

Geoarchaeology

Archaeometry

Geographical Information Systems

Replicative Ceramics

 

 

 

Current Projects:

  • Geoarchaeology and GIS of the Darkmold Site, 5LP4991
  • Old Fort Lewis Preservation Plan
  • Basketmaker II Database
  • Cultural Variation among the Basketmaker II        

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Fort Lewis with La Plata Mountains in background

 

 

 

Office Hours for 2009

   
 
 

* Or By Appointment

Telephone: (970) 247-7295
E-mail: charles_m@fortlewis.edu

 

 

 

 

 

Visit the Fort Lewis College Field School Web Site

Back to the Anthropology Department Faculty Web Site
 

Other Links:

Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists

 www.coloradoarchaeologists.org/

Society for American Archaeology

www.saa.org/