Sarah Kurnick
Biographic Data
| ID | 191017 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sarah Kurnick |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sarah |
| FAMILY NAME | Kurnick |
| SIGNATURE | KURNICK S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Colorado Boulder |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8232-8047 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Beyond Leaky Pipelines: Feminist Inequality Critiques in Archaeology
Gender inequality carries high social costs, and understanding its causes and consequences remains a pressing concern. Numerous policymakers and academics have taken on this challenge, including anthropological archaeologists. Because archaeologists create narratives about the past that can justify or question current and future actions, contemporary archaeological practice impacts everyone. This themed issue builds on recent documentations of di…
The Names We Know: The Complexities of Coauthorship and Gender in Archaeology Peer-Reviewed Journals
Authorship metrics are a key component of academic advancement. Given recent increases in the publication of collaborative, multiauthored articles, we examine patterns in the perceived gender of authors of peer-reviewed journal articles with five or more coauthors in 11 academic archaeology journals. Our results suggest consistent patterns in lead and last authors and in coauthors. Men are more likely to serve as both lead and last authors and to…
From Leaky Pipelines to Watering Cans: Feminist Recommendations for Change
Despite improvement over the past few decades, particularly for white, cisgender women, intersectional gender-based inequality remains prominent within anthropological archaeology and beyond. Building on critiques of the leaky pipeline metaphor laid out in the introduction to this themed issue, and drawing on Black, Indigenous, and Posthumanist Feminisms, we advocate for a metaphorical shift focused on care, inclusivity, and diversity—that of a g…
Maya Roads as Kuxansumob: Analyzing an Intrasite Sak-Be Assemblage at Punta Laguna, Yucatán, Mexico
In the early nineteenth century, foreign explorers traveling throughout Mexico and Central America began documenting sites, structures, and monuments then unknown in the United States and Europe. These explorers depicted the ruins they encountered as deserted and lifeless and suggested that the passage of time had rendered them ineffective. This article challenges such a Western, Romantic understanding of Maya ruins. Drawing on ruination studies …
Postclassic Maya Manipulation of Dimensions: Miniature Stelae at Punta Laguna, Yucatán, Mexico
Individuals have long manipulated the dimensions of architecture, vessels, and monuments. Although scaled-up objects are often conspicuous parts of communities, this article instead considers scaled-down objects, specifically Postclassic Maya small, uncarved stelae. After presenting previously documented examples of these monuments from the Maya lowlands, the article introduces two recently recorded examples from Punta Laguna in Mexico’s Yucatán …
A preliminary revised life history of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico: A persistent place
This article presents a preliminary, revised life history of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico, and considers in detail the site's relationship to nearby communities. More specifically, this article presents the results of a type-variety analysis of the cumulative palimpsest of ceramics excavated at the site between 2017 and 2022. Unlike initial studies conducted in the 1980s, the current study suggests that Maya peoples occupied Punta Laguna continu…
Photographic Insights from Engaged Archaeology: Yucatan and Beyond
Photography has been a particularly important though often under-theorized aspect of archaeological research. Although seemingly simple representations, photographs are simultaneously objective and subjective, truthful and creative. This article considers the contradictory nature of photography generally and the specific relationship between photography and archaeology. It then looks at the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and examines how individuals…
Recommendations for Safety Education and Training for Graduate Students Directing Field Projects
Graduate schools provide students opportunities for fieldwork and training in archaeological methods and theory, but they often overlook instruction in field safety and well-being. We suggest that more explicit guidance on how to conduct safe fieldwork will improve the overall success of student-led projects and prepare students to direct safe and successful fieldwork programs as professionals. In this article, we draw on the experiences of curre…
The Contradictions of Engaged Archaeology at Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico
Engaged archaeology, like other forms of research, is replete with contradictions. Over the last several years, members of the Punta Laguna Archaeology Project—a community-based endeavor in Yucatan, Mexico—have encountered and sought to address several paradoxical questions. Do attempts to mitigate certain forms of inequality unintentionally sustain other forms of inequality? Can the production of capital alleviate rather than exacerbate unequal …
Maya cartographies: Two maps of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico
It is common to view maps as simple reflections of the world. Maps, however, are more complex and dynamic. They are a potent form of spatial imagination and a powerful means of producing space. This article encourages archaeologists to experiment with, and to produce a multiplicity of, maps and other spatial images. As an example, this article juxtaposes two previously unpublished maps of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico: a site map created using tr…
Navigating the past in the aftermath of dramatic social transformations: Postclassic engagement with the Classic period past in the northeast Yucatan peninsula
Creating Nature in the Yucatan Peninsula: Social Inequality and the Production of Eco-Archaeological Parks
Over the last several decades, scholars have reexamined the importance of spatiality to human life and argued that space produces and is produced by social relationships. This article adopts such a relational understanding of space to examine the production of eco-archaeological tourist attractions in the eastern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and beyond. Specifically, this article considers the common practice of declaring areas encompassing archae…
Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica
Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica
It has been a pleasure to work
Competition and conflict in the Upper Belize River Valley: Insights from the ancient Maya minor center of Callar Creek, Belize
Political relationships typically entail competition and conflict. Within the ancient Maya world, the Upper Belize River Valley (UBRV) offers one example of an arena of intense political contestation, and recent investigations at the minor center of Callar Creek offer insights into this complex and occasionally antagonistic political landscape. During the Late and Terminal Classic periods (a.d. 600–900), for example, those living at the Callar Cr…
The Origins of Extreme Economic Inequality: An Archaeologist’s Take on a Contemporary Controversy
Natives, Europeans, and Africans in Colonial Campeche: History and Archaeology
In 1540, 30 Spanish conquistadors founded the municipality of Campeche as part of the Spanish Crown’s colonization of the Yucatán Peninsula. In 2000, a team of multinational, multidisciplinary researchers excavated the recently discovered church and associated cemetery that ministered to the residents of Campeche from its founding until the early seventeenth century. This edited volume details those excavations and the results of the ensuing deca…
Creating Nature in the Yucatan Peninsula: Social Inequality and the Production of Eco-Archaeological Parks
Over the last several decades, scholars have reexamined the importance of spatiality to human life and argued that space produces and is produced by social relationships. This article adopts such a relational understanding of space to examine the production of eco-archaeological tourist attractions in the eastern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and beyond. Specifically, this article considers the common practice of declaring areas encompassing archae…
Navigating the past in the aftermath of dramatic social transformations: Postclassic engagement with the Classic period past in the northeast Yucatan peninsula
The Contradictions of Engaged Archaeology at Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico
Engaged archaeology, like other forms of research, is replete with contradictions. Over the last several years, members of the Punta Laguna Archaeology Project—a community-based endeavor in Yucatan, Mexico—have encountered and sought to address several paradoxical questions. Do attempts to mitigate certain forms of inequality unintentionally sustain other forms of inequality? Can the production of capital alleviate rather than exacerbate unequal …
Maya cartographies: Two maps of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico
It is common to view maps as simple reflections of the world. Maps, however, are more complex and dynamic. They are a potent form of spatial imagination and a powerful means of producing space. This article encourages archaeologists to experiment with, and to produce a multiplicity of, maps and other spatial images. As an example, this article juxtaposes two previously unpublished maps of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico: a site map created using tr…
Competition and conflict in the Upper Belize River Valley: Insights from the ancient Maya minor center of Callar Creek, Belize
Political relationships typically entail competition and conflict. Within the ancient Maya world, the Upper Belize River Valley (UBRV) offers one example of an arena of intense political contestation, and recent investigations at the minor center of Callar Creek offer insights into this complex and occasionally antagonistic political landscape. During the Late and Terminal Classic periods (a.d. 600–900), for example, those living at the Callar Cr…
Recommendations for Safety Education and Training for Graduate Students Directing Field Projects
Graduate schools provide students opportunities for fieldwork and training in archaeological methods and theory, but they often overlook instruction in field safety and well-being. We suggest that more explicit guidance on how to conduct safe fieldwork will improve the overall success of student-led projects and prepare students to direct safe and successful fieldwork programs as professionals. In this article, we draw on the experiences of curre…
The Origins of Extreme Economic Inequality: An Archaeologist’s Take on a Contemporary Controversy
Photographic Insights from Engaged Archaeology: Yucatan and Beyond
Photography has been a particularly important though often under-theorized aspect of archaeological research. Although seemingly simple representations, photographs are simultaneously objective and subjective, truthful and creative. This article considers the contradictory nature of photography generally and the specific relationship between photography and archaeology. It then looks at the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and examines how individuals…
Natives, Europeans, and Africans in Colonial Campeche: History and Archaeology
In 1540, 30 Spanish conquistadors founded the municipality of Campeche as part of the Spanish Crown’s colonization of the Yucatán Peninsula. In 2000, a team of multinational, multidisciplinary researchers excavated the recently discovered church and associated cemetery that ministered to the residents of Campeche from its founding until the early seventeenth century. This edited volume details those excavations and the results of the ensuing deca…
The Origins of Extreme Economic Inequality: An Archaeologist’s Take on a Contemporary Controversy
Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica
Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica
It has been a pleasure to work
Competition and conflict in the Upper Belize River Valley: Insights from the ancient Maya minor center of Callar Creek, Belize
Political relationships typically entail competition and conflict. Within the ancient Maya world, the Upper Belize River Valley (UBRV) offers one example of an arena of intense political contestation, and recent investigations at the minor center of Callar Creek offer insights into this complex and occasionally antagonistic political landscape. During the Late and Terminal Classic periods (a.d. 600–900), for example, those living at the Callar Cr…
Navigating the past in the aftermath of dramatic social transformations: Postclassic engagement with the Classic period past in the northeast Yucatan peninsula
Creating Nature in the Yucatan Peninsula: Social Inequality and the Production of Eco-Archaeological Parks
Over the last several decades, scholars have reexamined the importance of spatiality to human life and argued that space produces and is produced by social relationships. This article adopts such a relational understanding of space to examine the production of eco-archaeological tourist attractions in the eastern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and beyond. Specifically, this article considers the common practice of declaring areas encompassing archae…
The Contradictions of Engaged Archaeology at Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico
Engaged archaeology, like other forms of research, is replete with contradictions. Over the last several years, members of the Punta Laguna Archaeology Project—a community-based endeavor in Yucatan, Mexico—have encountered and sought to address several paradoxical questions. Do attempts to mitigate certain forms of inequality unintentionally sustain other forms of inequality? Can the production of capital alleviate rather than exacerbate unequal …
Maya cartographies: Two maps of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico
It is common to view maps as simple reflections of the world. Maps, however, are more complex and dynamic. They are a potent form of spatial imagination and a powerful means of producing space. This article encourages archaeologists to experiment with, and to produce a multiplicity of, maps and other spatial images. As an example, this article juxtaposes two previously unpublished maps of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico: a site map created using tr…
Recommendations for Safety Education and Training for Graduate Students Directing Field Projects
Graduate schools provide students opportunities for fieldwork and training in archaeological methods and theory, but they often overlook instruction in field safety and well-being. We suggest that more explicit guidance on how to conduct safe fieldwork will improve the overall success of student-led projects and prepare students to direct safe and successful fieldwork programs as professionals. In this article, we draw on the experiences of curre…
Photographic Insights from Engaged Archaeology: Yucatan and Beyond
Photography has been a particularly important though often under-theorized aspect of archaeological research. Although seemingly simple representations, photographs are simultaneously objective and subjective, truthful and creative. This article considers the contradictory nature of photography generally and the specific relationship between photography and archaeology. It then looks at the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and examines how individuals…
A preliminary revised life history of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico: A persistent place
This article presents a preliminary, revised life history of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico, and considers in detail the site's relationship to nearby communities. More specifically, this article presents the results of a type-variety analysis of the cumulative palimpsest of ceramics excavated at the site between 2017 and 2022. Unlike initial studies conducted in the 1980s, the current study suggests that Maya peoples occupied Punta Laguna continu…
Maya Roads as Kuxansumob: Analyzing an Intrasite Sak-Be Assemblage at Punta Laguna, Yucatán, Mexico
In the early nineteenth century, foreign explorers traveling throughout Mexico and Central America began documenting sites, structures, and monuments then unknown in the United States and Europe. These explorers depicted the ruins they encountered as deserted and lifeless and suggested that the passage of time had rendered them ineffective. This article challenges such a Western, Romantic understanding of Maya ruins. Drawing on ruination studies …
Postclassic Maya Manipulation of Dimensions: Miniature Stelae at Punta Laguna, Yucatán, Mexico
Individuals have long manipulated the dimensions of architecture, vessels, and monuments. Although scaled-up objects are often conspicuous parts of communities, this article instead considers scaled-down objects, specifically Postclassic Maya small, uncarved stelae. After presenting previously documented examples of these monuments from the Maya lowlands, the article introduces two recently recorded examples from Punta Laguna in Mexico’s Yucatán …
Beyond Leaky Pipelines: Feminist Inequality Critiques in Archaeology
Gender inequality carries high social costs, and understanding its causes and consequences remains a pressing concern. Numerous policymakers and academics have taken on this challenge, including anthropological archaeologists. Because archaeologists create narratives about the past that can justify or question current and future actions, contemporary archaeological practice impacts everyone. This themed issue builds on recent documentations of di…
The Names We Know: The Complexities of Coauthorship and Gender in Archaeology Peer-Reviewed Journals
Authorship metrics are a key component of academic advancement. Given recent increases in the publication of collaborative, multiauthored articles, we examine patterns in the perceived gender of authors of peer-reviewed journal articles with five or more coauthors in 11 academic archaeology journals. Our results suggest consistent patterns in lead and last authors and in coauthors. Men are more likely to serve as both lead and last authors and to…
From Leaky Pipelines to Watering Cans: Feminist Recommendations for Change
Despite improvement over the past few decades, particularly for white, cisgender women, intersectional gender-based inequality remains prominent within anthropological archaeology and beyond. Building on critiques of the leaky pipeline metaphor laid out in the introduction to this themed issue, and drawing on Black, Indigenous, and Posthumanist Feminisms, we advocate for a metaphorical shift focused on care, inclusivity, and diversity—that of a g…
History (11 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (10 works) · Geography (10 works) · Archaeology (8 works) · Maya (8 works) · Latin American history and culture (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Ecology (6 works) · Ethnology (6 works)