Biography

Karen Harry is an archaeologist who studies the prehistoric Native Americans that lived in Southern Nevada and along the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Additionally, she conducts experiments to replicate and understand prehistoric technologies, and regularly works with specialists in fields as diverse as chemistry, physics, materials science, and geology to understand the artifacts that she recovers.

Harry’s publications have focused on topics as diverse as understanding how Alaskan potters managed to construct vessels in the challenging Arctic environment; why prehistoric people sometimes elected to either emphasize or de-emphasize certain aspects of their heritage or identities; and how and why small-scale craft specializations developed in prehistory.  Her published books include Economic Organization and Settlement Hierarchies: Ceramic Production and Exchange among the Hohokam (2003), Cultural Resources Archaeology: An Introduction (co-author; 2010), Life Beyond the Boundaries: Constructing Identity in Edge Regions of the North American Southwest (co-editor; in press), and Interaction and Connectivity in the Greater Southwest (co-editor; in press).  Additionally, she regularly publishes in top tier journals including American Antiquity, American Anthropologist, Journal of Archaeological Science, and Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. Since joining the UNLV faculty in 2001, Harry has obtained more than $1.6 million dollars in external funding.