Jayur Mehta
Dr. Jayur Madhusudan Mehta is an Assistant Professor in Anthropology at Florida State University, specializing in the study of North American Native Americans, human-environment relationships, and the consequences of French and Spanish colonization in the Gulf South. Dr. Mehta earned his PhD in Anthropology from Tulane University (2015) and his MA (2007) from the University of Alabama. He received his BA from the University of North Carolina (2004) and is an avid Tarheel! Dr. Mehta is also a Registered Professional Archaeologist and he has lead excavations in both the United States and Mexico. He is currently lead investigator for the Carson Mounds Archaeological Project (CMAP), a long-term study on the development of hierarchical and agricultural monument-building societies in the Lower Mississippi Valley, and Resilience in the Ancient Gulf South (RAGS), an interdisciplinary investigation into delta formation, hunter-gather settlement dynamics, and monumentality in the Mississippi River Delta region south of New Orleans. Dr. Mehta is a National Geographic research fellow and he has published research in the fields of environmental archaeology, ethnohistory, and indigenous religious and ritual practices.
He recently starred in a documentary called Keepers of the Mound, a film by Katie Matthews and produced by the New Orleans Video Access Coalition. http://novacvideo.org/keepers-of-the-mound/
Dr. Mehta is also an executive board member of the Gulf Communities Research Institute, a coastal Louisiana based non-profit that conducts research on the Gulf Coast and works to preserve the health, resilience, and lifeways of coastal communities threatened by sea-level rise and climate change.
Press:
World Press.com - Jayur Madhusudan Mehta
https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/653233
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180522114822.htm
http://mississippiriverdelta.org/while-land-washes-away-how-do-we-save-louisianas-cultural-heritage/
http://www2.tulane.edu/liberal-arts/newsletter/dig-it-mehta-oct-2016.cfm
Dr. Mehta will be accepting Master's students for Fall 2019 in the fields of Ethnohistoric archaeology, Mississippian archaeology, and Applied Archaeology (emphasizing environmental research and public education and outreach).
Supervisors: Chris Rodning and Mentor
Address: Department of Anthropology
Florida State University
He recently starred in a documentary called Keepers of the Mound, a film by Katie Matthews and produced by the New Orleans Video Access Coalition. http://novacvideo.org/keepers-of-the-mound/
Dr. Mehta is also an executive board member of the Gulf Communities Research Institute, a coastal Louisiana based non-profit that conducts research on the Gulf Coast and works to preserve the health, resilience, and lifeways of coastal communities threatened by sea-level rise and climate change.
Press:
World Press.com - Jayur Madhusudan Mehta
https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/653233
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180522114822.htm
http://mississippiriverdelta.org/while-land-washes-away-how-do-we-save-louisianas-cultural-heritage/
http://www2.tulane.edu/liberal-arts/newsletter/dig-it-mehta-oct-2016.cfm
Dr. Mehta will be accepting Master's students for Fall 2019 in the fields of Ethnohistoric archaeology, Mississippian archaeology, and Applied Archaeology (emphasizing environmental research and public education and outreach).
Supervisors: Chris Rodning and Mentor
Address: Department of Anthropology
Florida State University
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Journal Articles by Jayur Mehta
the Southeastern United States and Mesoamerica. In the Southeast
United States, precocious earthen and shell monument construction
dates to as early as 4500 BC and precedes agriculture by millennia.
In Mesoamerica, the first public architecture dates to the early-middle
Formative period, at around 1500 BC, after the development of corn
agriculture. Other than differences in agriculture, what else divides these
two regions? What unites these two regions? Most notably, we conclude
that complexity precedes in fits and starts along the northern Gulf Coast
of Mexico, whereas once monument building begins along Gulf Coastal
Mesoamerica, social and cultural development continues unabated. We
hypothesize differences in these two regions may be tied to early developments in horticulture, maize cultivation, and a writing system in the southern Gulf region. We should not and do not intend to make general evolutionary comments using the comparative approach – rather, these two regions have unique histories and sequences of social and cultural development. This paper strives to abandon a culture-historical perspective and consider an “Archaeology of the Americas” united by the Gulf of Mexico and related regions.
research.
Papers by Jayur Mehta
the Southeastern United States and Mesoamerica. In the Southeast
United States, precocious earthen and shell monument construction
dates to as early as 4500 BC and precedes agriculture by millennia.
In Mesoamerica, the first public architecture dates to the early-middle
Formative period, at around 1500 BC, after the development of corn
agriculture. Other than differences in agriculture, what else divides these
two regions? What unites these two regions? Most notably, we conclude
that complexity precedes in fits and starts along the northern Gulf Coast
of Mexico, whereas once monument building begins along Gulf Coastal
Mesoamerica, social and cultural development continues unabated. We
hypothesize differences in these two regions may be tied to early developments in horticulture, maize cultivation, and a writing system in the southern Gulf region. We should not and do not intend to make general evolutionary comments using the comparative approach – rather, these two regions have unique histories and sequences of social and cultural development. This paper strives to abandon a culture-historical perspective and consider an “Archaeology of the Americas” united by the Gulf of Mexico and related regions.
research.
In March 2013, an international conference held at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale brought together scholars with diverse theoretical perspectives to present and synthesize new data and approaches to understanding the collapse and reorganization of complex societies. No restrictions were imposed regarding chronological periods, geographical regions or material specialties, resulting in a wide-ranging potential for comparative analysis. This publication is the outcome of that meeting. It is not organized merely as a collection of diverse case studies, but rather a collaborative effort incorporating various data sets to evaluate and expand on theoretical approaches to this important subject. The works contained within this volume are organized into five sections: the first sets the stage with introductory papers by the editor and distinguished contributor, Joseph Tainter; the second contains works by distinguished scholars approaching collapse and reorganization from new theoretical perspectives; the third presents critical archaeological analyses of the effectiveness of Resilience Theory as a heuristic tool for modeling these phenomena; the fourth section presents long-term adaptive strategies employed by prehistoric societies to cope with stresses and avoid collapse; the final section highlights new research on post-decline contexts in a variety of temporal and geographic ranges and relates these data to the more comprehensive works on the subject.