Geoffrey McCafferty

Geoffrey McCafferty (PhD SUNY Binghamton, 1993) is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology. His specialization is the archaeology of Mesoamerica and Central America, with ongoing research in Pacific Nicaragua. Other research projects include urbanism and complexity at the pre-Columbian religious center of Cholula (Mexico), and issues of social identity (especially gender) in ancient Mesoamerica. He is on the Executive Board of the Canadian Latin American Archaeology Society, and is past editor of the Cambridge University Press journal Ancient Mesoamerica. Since coming to the University of Calgary in 1999, Dr. McCafferty has directed a series of excavation projects along the shore of Lake Cocibolca in Nicaragua to investigate ethnohistorical accounts of migration and colonization by ethnic groups from central Mexico. Results challenge the entrenched cultural identity of 'mexicanized' Nicaragua in the final centuries before European contact. Instead, the material culture indicates a broad interaction sphere including parts of Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. In the process of conducting these investigations, more than 100 undergraduate students have been introduced to Nicaraguan archaeology, and numerous graduate students have produced MA and PhD theses. Another ongoing research project is done in collaboration with Sharisse McCafferty, focusing on pre-Columbian textile production and its relationship to engendered practice. This has been the topic of more than a dozen publications using data from both Mesoamerica and Central America. Gender research integrates archaeological evidence with ethnohistory and art history, especially imagery from Mixtec pictorial manuscripts. Cholula is widely regarded as the site of the largest pyramid in ancient Mesoamerica, with an occupation history of over 3000 years. Dr. McCafferty's long research interest has included questions of ethnic change and settlement sustainability, architectural history, household organization, native resistance to the Spanish colonial occupation, and the Cholula religious system. In addition to his scholarly research, he is also actively involved with community groups seeking to preserve the archaeological site from destructive development projects.