Matthew Pailes
Matthew joined Archaeology Southwest as a Preservation Archaeologist in 2007. He received his B.A. in anthropology from the University of Oklahoma. Matthew has completed the requirements for a Master’s in Anthropology at the University of Arizona. For his Ph.D,. he plans to continue at the University of Arizona.
Matthew’s interests have largely focused on two lines of research: household organization of prehistoric groups, and modeling of resource-use decisions using applications of Human Behavioral Ecology. His Master’s thesis explored the diversity of household organizational patterns in terms of membership size and expressions of architectural inequality at the Hohokam cerros de trincheras site of Cerro Prieto. Matthew’s work for Archaeology Southwest is currently focused on mapping a xeric farming field system associated with the Early Classic Hohokam of the southern Tucson Basin. The end goal of this project is to reconstruct aspects of shifting Hohokam cultivation and land use strategies.