Anna Cohen

Anna Cohen, Ph.D. 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, 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.