Anna Cohen

Dr. Anna Cohen is an anthropological archaeologist who focuses on human-environmental interactions and ancient urbanism in the Americas. She uses remote sensing techniques like lidar and ceramic analyses to investigate how precontact communities adapted to political changes in the centuries before European arrival in the Americas. Her fieldwork is in western Mexico, non-Maya Honduras, and the U S. Southwest. This research has implications for understanding the history of humans in the Americas, and for reassessing ideas about pre-European pathways to social complexity.

As part of a commitment to equitable research practices, Dr. Cohen also examines the process of scientific archaeological research. This includes study of the ethics of remote sensing/lidar and descendant communities near archaeological sites, assessment of who conducts scientific research, and the kinds of research claims that they make.

Dr. Cohen received her PhD and MA in Anthropology from the University of Washington, an MA from the University of Chicago, and a BA from McGill University. In addition to Latin America, she has worked in various parts of Europe, India, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Basin, the Southwest, and the Southeastern U.S.