Casey R. Barrier

Casey Barrier an archaeologist trained in the four-field anthropological tradition. His research focuses on major world-historical transitions, including the development of farming economies, the emergence of village life, and the rise of early urban societies. More broadly, it contributes to cultural-evolutionary approaches to long-term changes in human social organization.

Anthropological archaeologists investigate human societies across all world regions and time periods, from the earliest foraging communities to complex urban civilizations and the very recent historical past. Students at Bryn Mawr can study archaeology through the Anthropology major and regularly participate in field excavation, survey, and laboratory research, including artifact and GIS analysis in the Frederica de Laguna Laboratory of Anthropology. The Anthropology Department supports student research in archaeology across all world regions, and Barrier has mentored students whose research has taken place in Pennsylvania, Alaska, Illinois, and Tennessee, as well as Belize, Kenya, and the Mediterranean region.

Barrier’s research combines archaeological excavation, regional survey, and artifact analysis, and involves close collaboration with specialists in geophysics, geoarchaeology, and paleoethnobotany. He also has professional experience in Cultural Resource Management (CRM), which informs his teaching and mentoring of students interested in applied, public-sector, and heritage careers in archaeology and related fields. 

Barrier is currently co-director of the New Cahokia Atlas Project, which is mapping the full urban landscape of Cahokia (Illinois, USA), the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Central Mexico. This work is producing the most extensive archaeological geophysical survey yet conducted in the Americas and has been featured in PBS’s Overview (What Happened to America’s First Megacity?), in a Bryn Mawr News feature on the project, and in xyHt magazine (The Cahokia Mounds).

Barrier’s research in the Cahokia region has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, the National Geographic Society, and the American Museum of Natural History.

He is also interested in the history of anthropological theory, particularly the reception and suppression of materialist and evolutionary approaches in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

A full list of publications is available on Casey Barrier's Google Scholar profile.