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Barbara Stark

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School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Professor Emeritus
Faculty,
Emeritus College
Emeritus Professor
Biography: 

Barbara L. Stark specializes in the origins and developmental trajectories of complex societies in Mesoamerica. Prehistoric economy and sociopolitical organization in tropical lowland areas have been the focus of her field projects on the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala and the Gulf lowlands of Mexico.

The Gulf lowlands have been the focus of a long-term survey and settlement pattern investigation with departmental, university, National Science Foundation and National Geographic Society support, with permission from the Instituto Nacional de Antropologé Historia of Mexico. This project has included multiple students and archaeological professionals. The artifact and feature data are incorporated into a Geographical Information Systems format and have been used in thematic maps for statistical and interpretive analyses. The project maintains a laboratory in Jalapa, Mexico, for continuing analyses of collections.

Stark's publications have dealt with coastal adaptations, settlement patterns, tropical urbanism, ceramics, crafts and long-term economic and political change. She has served as a member of the executive boards of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for American Archaeology and as editor for archaeology for the American Anthropologist. She currently serves as an advisor for Arqueología and Arqueología Mexicana. Stark has been a guest instructor at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología and at the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

CV
Binary Data Curriculum Vitae
Education: 
  • Ph.D. Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 1974
  • M. Phil. Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 1970
  • B.A. Anthropology and History, Rice University, Houston, Texas1966
Research Interests: 

Research Projects:
Proyecto Arqueologico La Mixtequilla

Publications: 

  • Recent Books:

    2008  Ethnic Identity in Nahua Mesoamerica: The View from Archaeology, Art History, Ethnohistory, and Contemporary Ethnography, by Frances F. Berdan, John K. Chance, Alan Sandstrom, B. L. Stark, James Taggart, and Emily Umberger.  University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. 

    2010  Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies, ed. by Christopher P. Garraty and Barbara L. Stark, University of Colorado Press, Boulder

     

  • Recent Articles and Chapters:

    2007   Inter-Regional and Intra-regional Scale Compositional Variability in Pottery from South-central Veracruz , Mexico.  Latin American Antiquity 18:44-58.    (Barbara L. Stark, Robert J.Speakman, and Michael D. Glascock)

    2007 Diachronic Change in Crafts and Centers in South-central Veracruz, Mexico. In Craft Production in Complex Societies:  Multi-craft and Producer Perspectives, edited by Izumi Shimada, pp. 227-261.  University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. 

    2007 Out of Olmec.  In The Political Economy of Ancient Mesoamerica:  Transformations during the Formative and Classic Periods, ed. by Vernon L. Scarborough and John E. Clark, pp. 47-63.  University of  New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. 

    2007 Estrategias Empleadas en las Provincias Imperiales:  Perspectivas Prehispánicas y Coloniales en Mesoamérica. Revista Española  de Antropología Americana 37:2:203-233.  Special Aztec section edited by José Luís de Rojas and Michael E. Smith.  (John K. Chance and Barbara L. Stark)

    2007 Ancient Settlement, Urban Gardening, and Environment in the Gulf Lowlands of Mexico.  Latin American Antiquity 18:385-406.  (Barbara L. Stark and Alanna Ossa) 

    2007 Pottery Production and Distribution in the Gulf Lowlands of Mesoamerica.  In Pottery Economics in Mesoamerica, ed. by Christopher A. Pool and George J. Bey, III, pp. 147-183.  University of Arizona Press, Tucson. 

    2008 Polity and Economy in the Western Lower Papaloapan Basin.  In Classic Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central Veracruz, ed. by Phillip J. Arnold, III, and Christopher A. Pool, pp. 85-119.  Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. 

    2008 Archaeology and Ethnicity in Postclassic Mesoamerica .  In Ethnic Identity in Nahua Mesoamerica: The View from Archaeology, Art History, Ethnohistory, and Contemporary Ethnography, by Frances F. Berdan, John K. Chance, Alan Sandstrom, Barbara L. Stark, James Taggart, and Emily Umberger, pp. 38-63.  University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. 

    2008  Diachronic and Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Mesoamerican Ethnicity.  In Ethnic Identity in Nahua Mesoamerica: The View from Archaeology, Art History, Ethnohistory, and Contemporary Ethnography, by Frances F. Berdan, John K. Chance, Alan Sandstrom, Barbara L. Stark, James Taggart, and Emily Umberger, pp. 1-37.  University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.  (Barbara L. Stark and John K. Chance). 

    2008  Parallel Archaeological and Visibility Survey in the Western Lower Papaloapan Basin, Veracruz, Mexico.  Journal of Field Archaeology 33:2:177-196.  (Barbara L. Stark and Christopher P. Garraty)

    2008  Patrones Espaciales Cerámicas en la Cuenca Baja Oeste del Río Papaloapan, Veracruz, México.  Dossier Dedicado a Alfonso Medellín Zenil. Contrapunto vol. 3:7:35-51.  Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, Xalapa, Veracruz. 

    2010  Detecting Marketplace Exchange in Archaeology: A Methodological Review. In Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies, ed. by Christopher P. Garraty and Barbara L. Stark, pp. 33-58.  University of Colorado Press.  (Barbara L. Stark and Christopher P. Garraty)

    2010  Origins and Development of Mesoamerican Marketing: Evidence from South-central Veracruz, Mexico. In Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies, ed. by Christopher P. Garraty and Barbara L. Stark, pp. 99-126.  University of Colorado Press.  (Barbara L. Stark and Alanna Ossa) 

    2010  Cerro de las Mesas.  In La morada de nuestros ancestros: Alternativas para la conservación, coordinated by Sergio Vásquez Zárate, Henri Noel Bernard Medina, and Sara Ladrón de Guevara, pp. 139-146.  Consejo Veracruzano de Investigación Científica y Desarrollo Tecnológico, Mexico City. 

    2010  Nopiloa.  In La morada de nuestros ancestros: Alternativas para la conservación, coordinated by Sergio Vásquez Zárate, Henri Noel Bernard Medina, and Sara Ladrón de Guevara, pp. 147-152.  Consejo Veracruzano de Investigación Científica y Desarrollo Tecnológico, Mexico City. 

    2011 Ethnic and Class Clustering through the Ages:  A Transdisciplinary Approach to Urban Neighborhood Social Patterns.  Urban Studies 48(11):2399-2415.  (Abigail  M. York, Michael E. Smith, Benjamin W. Stanley,  Barbara L. Stark, Juliana Novic, Sharon L. Harlan, George L. Cowgill, and Christopher G. Boone)

    2012  The Strategies of Provincials in Empires. In The Comparative Archaeology of Complex Societies, ed. by Michael E. Smith, pp. 192-237.  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.  (Barbara L. Stark and John K. Chance). 

    2012  Change, Scale, and Goals in the Study of Power and Identity in Mesoamerica.  In Power & Identity in Archaeological Theory and Practice: Case Studies from Ancient Mesoamerica , edited by Eleanor Harrison-Buck, pp 120-123.  The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. 

    2012  Urban Open Spaces in Historical Perspective:  A Transdisciplinary Typology and Analysis.  Urban Geography 33(8):1089-1117.  (Benjamin W. Stanley, Barbara L. Stark, Katrina L. Johnston, and Michael E. Smith)

    2014 Urban Gardens and Parks in Pre-modern States and Empires.  Cambridge Journal of Archaeology 24:1:87-115.

    2014  Ancient Open Space, Gardens, and Parks:  A Comparative Discussion for Mesoamerican Urbanism.  In Making Ancient Cities:  Space and Place in Early Urban Societies, edited by Andrew T. Creekmore III and Kevin D. Fisher, pp. 370-406. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.

    2016 Conceptual Aproaches to Service Provision in Cities throughout History. Urban Studies 53(8) 1574–1590.  (Michael E. Smith, Benjamin W. Stanley, April Kamp-Whittaker, Timothy Dennehy, and Barbara L. Stark)  DOI: 10.1177/0042098015577915

    2016 Urban Service Access in Premodern Cities: An Exploratory Comparison of Spatial Equity.  Journal of Urban History 42(1): 121-124.  (Benjamin W. Stanley, Timothy J. Dennehy, Michael E. Smith, Barbara L. Stark, Abigail M. York, George L. Cowgill, Juliana Novic, and Jerald Ek)  DOI: 10.1177/0096144214566969

    2016 Economic Growth in Mesoamerica:  Obsidian Consumption in the Coastal Lowlands.  Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 41:263-282. (B. L. Stark, Matthew A. Boxt, Janine Gasco, Rebecca B. González Lauck, Jessica D. Hedgepeth Balkin, Arthur A. Joyce, Stacie M. King, Charles L. F. Knight, Robert Kruger, Marc N. Levine, Richard G. Lesure, Rebecca Mendelsohn, Marx Navarro-Castillo, Hector Neff, Michael Ohnersorgen, Christopher A. Pool, L. Mark Raab, Robert M. Rosenswig, Marcie Venter, Barbara Voorhies , David T. Williams, and Andrew Workinger)

    2016 Comparative Methods for Premodern Cities: Coding for Governance and Class Mobility.  Cross-cultural Research 50(5) 415–451.  (Michael E. Smith, Barbara L. Stark, Wen-Ching Chuang, Timothy Dennehy, Sharon L. Harlan, April Kamp-Whittaker, Benjamin W. Stanley, and Abigail York)  DOI:10.1177/1069397116665824

    2016 Central Precinct Replications.  In Alternative Pathways to Complexity:  A Collection of Essays on Architecture, Economics, Power, and Cross-Cultural Analysis, edited by Lane F. Fargher and Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza, pp. 105-130.  University Press of Colorado, Boulder. 

    2017 Aztec Imperialism and Gulf Ceramic Emulation:  Comparison with Teotihuacan.  In Objects and Economy in the Aztec Empire, edited by Deborah L. Nichols, Frances F. Berdan, and Michael E. Smith, pp. 248-277.  University of  Arizona Press, Tucson. 

    2017 Figuring Out the Early Formative Period.  In The San Lorenzo Olmec and Their Neighbors:Material Manifestations, edited by Jeffrey P. Blomster and David Cheetham, pp. 288-311.  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 

    2017 El Colapso en la Tierras Bajas del Golfo.  Arqueología de la Costa del Golfo. Dinámicas de la Interacción Política, Económica e Ideológica, edited by Lourdes Budar, Marcie L. Venter, and Sara Ladrón de Guevara, pp. 141-158.  Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa.  (B. L. Stark y Krista L. Eschbach)

    2017 Watching the Game:  Viewership of Architectural Mesoamerican Ball Courts.  Latin American Antiquity 28(3):409-430.  (B.L.Stark and Wesley D. Stoner)

 

  • Hector Neff, Arthur Joyce, Carl Lipo, Barbara Stark, Marcus Winter, Jeffrey Blomster, Michael Glascock, Ronald Bishop, M Blackman, Michael Coe, George Cowgill, Richard Diehl, Stephen Houston. Methodological Issues in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics. Latin American Antiquity (2006).
  • Thanet Skoglund, Barbara Stark, Hector Neff, Michael Glascock. Compositional and Stylistic Analysis of Aztec Era Ceramics: Provincial Strategies at the Edge of Empire, South-central Veracruz, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity (2006).
  • Stark, Barbara L (Author) . Systematic Regional Survey in the Gulf Lowlands in a Comparative Perspective. Managing Archaeological Data: Essays in Honor of Sylvia W. Gaines (2006).
  • Barbara Stark, Alanna Ossa. Los Asentamientos Urbanos Huertos-jardines en la Planicie Costera de Veracruz. Anales de Antropología (2005).
  • Cobean, Robert, Stark, Barbara. Alba Guadalupe Mastache, 1942-2004. Archaeological Record (2005).
  • Stark, Barbara, Cobean, Robert. Alba Guadalupe Mastache, 1942-2004. Archaeological Record (2005).
  • Stark, Barbara. Las Jerarquías en Patrones de Asentamiento en el Sur-central de Veracruz, Mexico. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (2005).
  • Robert Cobean, Barbara Stark, Eric Taladoire. Alba Guadalupe Mastache (1942-2004). Journal de la Societé des Americanistes (2004).
  • Stark, Barbara L (Author) . Prefacio. Por el Camino de Ixte: Explotación, Minería, y Comercio Prehispánico (2004).
  • Stark, Barbara, Johns, Kevin. Veracruz sur-central en tiempos Teotihuacanos. Centro de Estudios Teotihuacanos (2004).
  • Stark, Barbara. El urbanismo y la jerarquía en el patrón de asentamiento de las tierras bajas tropicales de Mesoamérica: comparación de la costa del golfo y la zona maya. (2003).
Research Activity: 
  • Stark,Barbara L*. Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Colonial Persistence and Transformation of Social and Economic Relations: Veracruz Port to Pensacola Presidio. NSF-SBE(8/1/2012 - 1/31/2015).
  • Stark,Barbara L*, Cowgill,George Lewis. Doc.Diss. Improvement Grant: Power Relations and Urban Landscape Formation: A Study of Construction Labor and Resources in Teotihuacan, Mex. NSF-SBE(9/15/2008 - 8/31/2010).
  • Stark,Barbara L*. Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Economic Organization of a Postclassic Center in its Hinterlands in Veracruz, Mexico. NSF-ENG-BCS(12/1/2007 - 11/30/2008).
  • Stark,Barbara L*. Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Interregional Interaction and Social Identity in Mesoamerica, 1200-1000 BC: A Possible Olmec Enclave on the. NSF-SBE(7/1/2005 - 5/31/2006).
  • Stark,Barbara L*. Canton Caralito, Chiapas: Social Identity at a Potential Olmec Enclave. FDN ADVANCE MESOAMER(2/15/2005 - 12/31/2006).
  • Stark,Barbara L*. DOCTORAL DISSERTATION IMPROVEMENT GRANT: UTILITARIAN PLAINWARE CERAMIC PRODUCTION AND EXCHANGE AND THE EVOLUTION OF MARKET SYSTEMS IN T. NSF-SBE(10/15/2003 - 9/30/2005).
  • Stark,Barbara L*. SCALE AND HIERARCHY AMONG ARCHITECTURAL CENTERS IN THE MIXTEQUILLA. NATL GEOGRAPHIC SOC(8/1/1999 - 12/31/2002).
  • Stark,Barbara L*. SCALE & HEIRARCHY AMONG ARCHITECTURAL CENTERS IN THE MIXTEQUILLA, SOUTH-CENTRAL VERACRUZ, MEXICO. NSF-SBE(6/1/1998 - 9/30/2005).
  • Stark,Barbara L*. NSF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION IMPROVEMENT GRANT: COTAXTLA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY. NSF-SBE(3/1/1998 - 2/28/1999).
  • Stark,Barbara L*. TRACE ELEMENTAL SOURCE CHARACTERIZATION OF LA MIXTEQUILLA. NSF(7/1/1990 - 12/31/1991).
Spring 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
ASB 493Honors Thesis
ASB 499Individualized Instruction
ASB 580Practicum
ASB 592Research
ASB 790Reading and Conference
ASB 799Dissertation
Fall 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
ASB 584Internship
Spring 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
ASB 493Honors Thesis
ASB 499Individualized Instruction
ASB 580Practicum
ASB 592Research
ASB 790Reading and Conference
ASB 799Dissertation
Fall 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
ASB 584Internship
Presentations: 
  • Chance, John, Stark, Barbara. Strategies Employed in Imperial Provinces: Prehispanic and Colonial Perspectives in Mesoamerica. Southwestern Council on Latin American Studies (Mar 2007).
  • Stark, Barbara. Patrones Espaciales Cerámicas en la Cuenca Baja Oeste del Río Papaloapan, Veracruz, México. Simposio Alfonso Medellín Zenil, Museo de Antropología (Sep 2006).
  • Stark, Barbara. Perspectives Concerning Urban Gardens in Mesoamerica. 71st annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (Apr 2006).
  • Stark, Barbara. Comments on Symposium The Olmec and their Early Formative Neighbors. 71st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (Apr 2006).
  • Stark, Barbara. Discussion of Symposium Late Classic Maya Sociopolitical Organization, Insights from Recent Investigations at Aguateca and the Petexbatun Region. 71st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (Apr 2006).
  • Stark, Barbara. The Gulf Olmecs and Economic and Social Change in Early Mesoamerica. Colloquium, Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University (Feb 2006).
  • Stark, Barbara. Perspectivas en Torno al Estudio de los Jardines y Huertos Urbanos en Mesoamérica. Homenaje a la Dra. Alba Guadalupe Mastache Flores, Auditorio Jaime Torres, Bodet, Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Oct 2005).
  • Stark, Barbara. Strategies in an Empire from the Bottom Up: An Aztec Province in the Gulf Lowlands. 6th Complex Society Group Conference, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ (Aug 2005).
  • Stark, Barbara. Mesoamerican Archaeological Research. Colloquium, Department of Anthropology (Mar 2005).
  • Stark, Barbara. Ancient Tropical Urbanism in Mesoamerica: New Discoveries after the Olmec. Central Arizona Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (Feb 2005).
  • Stark, Barbara. El Posclásico de la Mixtequilla. Lecture for Linea de Veracruz Licenciatura students, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Ja (Aug 2004).
  • Stark, Barbara. Divided Power: Settlement and Society in the Prehispanic Gulf Lowlands. Colloquium
Service: 
  • Personnel Committee, SHESC, Co-Chair (2008 - 2009)
  • Arqueologia, Editorial Committee (1999 - 2007)
  • Arqueologia Mexicana, Scientific (editorial) committee (1993 - 2007)
  • Latin American Antiquity, Reviewer (2006 - 2006)
  • National Science Foundation, Reviewed (2006 - 2006)
  • Electronic Advisory Committee for the Committe on the Americas, Society for American Archaeology, Member (2002 - 2006)
  • Anales de Antropologia, Reviewer (2006 - 2006)
  • Journal of Field Archaeology, Reviewer (2006 - 2006)
  • American Anthropologist, Reviewer (2006 - 2006)
  • Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Reviewer (2006 - 2006)
  • Personnel Committee, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Member (2005 - 2006)
  • Undergraduate Committee, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, member (2005 - 2006)
  • Ancient Mesoamerica, Reviewer (2006 - 2006)
  • Journal of Archaeological Research, reviewer (2006 - 2006)
  • Graduate Division, Faculty Development Program, Mentor for Danwen Jiang (2005 - 2005)
  • Personnel Committee, Member (2005 - 2005)
  • Undergraduate Committee, member (2005 - 2005)
  • Arizona Arts, Sciences and Technology Academy Program Committee, member (2005 - 2005)
  • Alumni Relations Committee, Member (2004 - 2005)
  • Comité Editorial, Arqueología, member (2003 - 2005)
  • University of Colorado, Member of two-person committee (2005 - 2005)
  • Ruppe Prize Committee, Member (2004 - 2005)
  • Faculty Development Program, Mentor for juniior faculty member Pamela Sterling (2004 - 2004)
  • Comité Científico, Arqueología Mexicana, member (2003 - 2004)
  • Committee on the Americas Electronic Advisory Network, Society for American Archaeology, Member (2003 - 2004)
  • Nominations Committee member, American Anthropological Association, member (2003 - 2004)
  • Advisory Group, Proyecto Urbanismo en Mesoamerica, directed by William T. Sanders and Angel Garcia C, member (2004)
  • Alumni Relations Committee, member (2004)
  • British Archaeological Reports, evaluator of monograph (2004)
  • Civilizations of Antiquity Group, coordinator (2004)
  • Current Anthropology, ms evaluator (2004)
  • Departmental Promotion and Tenure Committee, Leif Jonsson, member (2004)
  • Departmental Promotion and Tenure Committee, Nora Haenn, member (2004)
  • Dumbarton Oaks, evaluator of 4 proposals (2004)
  • Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, evaluator of 2 proposals (2004)
  • Fulbright, proposal evaluation (2004)
  • Journal of Field Archaeology, ms evaluation (2004)
  • Latin American Relations, member (2004)
  • National Science Foundation, senior research proposal evaluation (2004)
  • National Science Foundation, dissertation aid, evaluator of proposal (2004)
  • Ruppe Prize Committee, member (2004)
  • Univ. of California Santa Barbara, promotion evaluation (2004)
  • 5 Year Planning Committee, Chair (2003)
  • Advisory Group, Proyecto Urbanismo en Mesoamerica, directed by William T. Sanders and A. Guadalupe M, member (2003)
  • Program evaluation, anthropology program, University of Pittsburgh, Outside reviewer (2003)
  • Publisher's review of The Lowland Maya Area: Three Milennia at the Human-Wildlife Interface, reviewer (2003)
  • Undergraduate Committee, member (2003)
Expertise Areas: 
Archaeology
Complex Systems
Economic Anthropology