Jason Yaeger

Jason Yaeger is a Senior Associate Dean for Research and UTSA President's Endowed Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at San Antonio's College of Liberal and Fine Arts. With a career spanning over three decades, Dr. Yaeger has established himself as a leading anthropological archaeologist specializing in Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations.

Dr. Yaeger's educational background includes an A.B. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan (1991) and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania (2000). His distinguished academic career has been recognized with numerous honors including membership in Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Phi Kappa Phi, as well as receiving the President's Distinguished Achievement Award for Advancing Globalization from UTSA in 2017.

Dr. Yaeger's research interests focus on the organization of ancient households and communities, urbanism, landscapes and environments, the relationship between climate change and culture change, material culture and identity, ethnohistory, and Maya epigraphy and iconography. His work has significantly contributed to our understanding of Maya and Inka civilizations, particularly through extensive fieldwork in Belize's Mopan River valley where he has surveyed countryside, mapped hundreds of houses and agricultural terraces, and excavated rural houses and monumental structures at sites like Xunantunich.

His current research has two primary foci: documenting the changing relationships between Xunantunich and Buenavista to understand how competition between these polities impacted rural populations, and examining sustainability and resilience in Maya society through the complex relationships between community-level economic and agricultural adaptations, climate and environmental change, and political dynamics. This research incorporates high-resolution LiDAR data analysis and household group excavations.

Dr. Yaeger has secured numerous research grants from prestigious organizations including the Alphawood Foundation, National Geographic Society, and National Science Foundation. His scholarly contributions include editing significant volumes such as "Classic Maya Provincial Politics: Xunantunich and Its Hinterlands" (2010) and "The Archaeology of Communities: A New World Perspective" (2000), along with numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

• Founding Member, University of Texas at San Antonio Chapter of Sigma Xi (2023)
• President's Distinguished Achievement Award for Advancing Globalization, UTSA (2017)
• Richard S. Howe Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, UTSA (2014)
• NEH Resident Scholar, School of American Research (2003-04)
• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship (1991-94)

As an educator, Dr. Yaeger teaches a variety of courses ranging from introductory archaeology to advanced seminars on Maya and Mesoamerican civilizations. He co-leads a summer archaeological field school in Belize that provides students with hands-on research experience. Dr. Yaeger is currently accepting MA and PhD students whose research interests align with his ongoing projects in Belize.