Scott Van Keuren

Scott Van Keuren is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Vermont, specializing in North American archaeology with a focus on the US Southwest and ceramic analysis. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona (2001) and previously served as Curator of North American Archaeology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

• Education:
  • B.A. in Art History and B.S. in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University
  • M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona

His research explores ritual practices, material culture, preservation archaeology, and the interplay between technology and decorative styles in prehistoric ceramics. He investigates Ancestral Pueblo societies, particularly their economic/political organization and responses to environmental changes like the Sunset Crater eruption.

Key trends in his publications (15 most recent) include ceramic specialization, ritual closure of sacred sites, and settlement pattern analysis. His work combines geoarchaeological methods, chemical analysis of artifacts, and theoretical frameworks from social practice theory.

Dr. Van Keuren teaches courses such as Introduction to Prehistoric Archaeology and various special-topic seminars. His fieldwork spans the U.S. 89 Project area, integrating environmental and cultural data to reconstruct prehistoric adaptations.