Staff News - Arkansas Archeological Survey

Marshall Purvis begins work as the archeological assistant at the Arkansas Archeological Survey's HSU Research Station in Arkadelphia on May 16th, 2022. Mr. Purvis is a Choctaw Native American and member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He was born in Texas and grew up there. He recently graduated with his Master’s Degree in Native American Leadership from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. His museum and public outreach experience includes working at the Museum of East Texas. He interned with the Choctaw Nation in 2021 and 2022, most recently doing field studies at the Cultural Center.

Tommie N. Cotton (MSc, University of Edinburgh, 2016) was the Arkansas Archeological Survey HSU research station’s archeological assistant from September 2019 to September 2021, when she transitioned into the role as Digitization Specialist. She is an Arkansas native with cultural resource management experience in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Illinois. She got her start in anthropology with a BA from Lyon College in Batesville, during which she attended field schools in Bulgaria and Spain. Now, she is the Survey's Digitization Specialist and works with staff to develop digitization plans of their hardcopy materials and implements those plans for material preservation and accessibility.

Angela Gore (PhD, Texas A&M University, 2022) started her position as the new Archaeological Assistant for the WRI station on April 4th, 2022. She specializes in Beringian archaeology, North American Paleoindian culture, environmental archaeology, lithic analysis, and geochemical sourcing. She conducted her dissertation research in interior Alaska studying late Pleistocene and Holocene assemblages using geochemical (pXRF) sourcing to reconstruct raw material procurement, land-use patterns, and behavioral response to environmental change. Before coming to the Survey, Angela worked in interior Alaska for eleven years and has participated in projects in central Texas, Belize, and Russia. She has experience directing site excavations, teaching field schools and undergraduate courses, managing collections, and working in cultural resource management on Alaskan military lands. Angela moved from Alaska to Arkansas during the pandemic and is excited to learn more about archaeology in the region.

Dr Jeffrey M. Mitchem retired as the Parkin Archeological State Park Research Station Archeologist for the Arkansas Archeological Survey and Research Associate Professor of Anthropology for the University of Arkansas at the end of March 2022. Dr. Mitchem was hired in 1990 to establish the the Parkin Station and his research interests have focused on early Spanish/Native American contact in the southern United States, including the study of glass beads, and European weapons and armor.

READ MORE: Parkin Research Station Archeologist Dr. Jeffrey M. Mitchem Retiring

Virginia O'Connor started as the new Archeological Assistant at the University of Arkansas Monticello station on December 1, 2021. She graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2021 with a bachelor's degree in Anthropology, with a focus in archeology and a minor in geography. Virginia grew up in the foothills of the Ozarks between Ozark, Arkansas and Stilwell, Oklahoma. She moved to Fayetteville to attend the University of Arkansas. During a gap in her undergraduate studies, she volunteered with numerous organizations and ended up attending the 2016 Society/Survey Training Program near Parkin Archeological State Park. After getting firsthand lab and field experience in archeology, she returned home to Fayetteville and enrolled in anthropology courses. At the end of her undergraduate degree, O'Connor attended a field school through the University of Arkansas led by the Survey's Fayetteville Station Archeologist, Dr. Jessica Kowalski. The field school was on a multicomponent site in northwest Arkansas and included field excavations and lab analysis. Virginia recently moved to Monticello with her dog, Rylie, and is very excited to continue learning about archeology in the Southeast.

Dr. George Sabo III retired as Director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey and Professor in the University of Arkansas’s Department of Anthropology at the end of June 2021. He began work as station archeologist at the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s University of Arkansas research station in Fayetteville (ARAS-UAF) in 1979 and became Director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey in 2013. Here is a look back on some of his accomplishments and contributions to Arkansas archeology as we wish him a happy retirement.

READ MORE: ARAS Director Dr. George Sabo III Retires

Julia Fan (MA, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2005, MSc, Durham University, 2005) started as the new Publications Editor for the Arkansas Archeological Survey on September 1, 2021. She succeeds Deborah Sabo, who retired in June 2021. Julia hopes to continue her predecessor’s work and increase the visibility of the Publications Program, as well as expand its Popular Series for the general public.

Prior to joining the Survey, Julia worked in communications and public outreach for the ECEP Alliance and CAITE, two National Science Foundation-funded projects dedicated to K-12 computer science education reform and increasing diversity in computing and information technology. Julia was previously a bioarcheologist and taught undergraduate courses in anthropology and archeology throughout Massachusetts. She conducted her dissertation research on Bronze Age human skeletal remains from northwest China and worked on forensic archeological excavations with the former Joint POW/ MIA Accounting Command’s Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. She has also conducted research and fieldwork in southeast Asia, China, England, Jordan, and Sudan. Julia is excited to be joining the Arkansas Archaeological Survey and is looking forward to contributing her editorial and public outreach experience to promoting archeology in Arkansas.

John R. Samuelsen (PhD, University of Arkansas – Fayetteville, 2020) started as the new Science and Technology Administrator (Asst. Archeologist) for the Arkansas Archeological Survey on July 1, 2021. This promotion allows the Survey to take advantage of his years of research and training in archeological science and technology, both as a student at the University of Arkansas and in his years of experience at the Survey.

READ MORE: John R. Samuelsen Appointed Science and Technology Administrator

Paige A. Ford (PhD, University of Oklahoma, 2021) will start as the new Station Archeologist for the Toltec Mounds research station on August 2, 2021. She succeeds the work done by Dr. Liz Horton and plans to utilize her experiences in public outreach and research to continue fostering a community of folks interested in learning about and doing archeology. Working alongside colleagues at the Arkansas Archeological Survey as well as state park officials, interpreters, and avocational archeologists, she will build a program balanced between research, education, and outreach that will further our understandings of the archeology of this station’s area as well as teach the public how we learn about the past.

READ MORE: New Toltec Station Archeologist Paige Ford

Madelyn Rose graduated from the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History and Cultural Anthropology in May of 2018. She started as a work study student with the University Museum in 2014 and moved to the Survey in 2015, working for various grants. For the past two years she has been working under an ANCRC grant helping to develop the computerized database system. In her new position as Collections Technician, Madelyn will be continuing work with collections care, preservation, and access to the Arkansas Archeological Survey Collections through various avenues.