John H. Blitz (Ph.D., City University of New York, 1991) is Associate Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama. Dr. Blitz is an anthropological archaeologist whose research interests include the origins of rank, class, and complex societies, the formation and decline of nonstate political organizations, the cultural dynamics of frontiers and boundaries, material expressions of identity, and the political economy of ancient households and communities. Most of his research is focused on precolumbian Mississippian (Native American) societies in the American Southeast. In addition, Dr. Blitz has been involved in archaeological investigations in Mexico, Ecuador, and Belize. Currently, Dr. Blitz directs the Early Moundville Archaeological Project (EMAP) at the prehistoric site of Moundville, Alabama, assisted by undergraduate and graduate students in the ANT 269 Field Archaeology class offered every fall semester. Dr. Blitz also participates in excavations at Actuncan, an Early Classic period Maya political center in Belize, Central America, a project headed by Dr. Lisa J. LeCount, also of the University of Alabama. Please see selected publications below.
For more information on Field Archaeology ANT 269 and Research at Moundville,click here
Contact Dr. Blitz at: jblitz@as.ua.eduOffice: 25-E ten Hoor HallPhone: (205) 348-4074
2009
Blitz, J. H. New Perspectives in Mississippian Archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Research. Available online at http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s10814-009-9033-y
2008
Blitz, J.H. Moundville. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.
2006
Blitz, J.H. and K.G. Lorenz. The Chattahoochee Chiefdoms. The University of Alabama Press,Tuscaloosa.
2004
Blitz, J.H. and P. Livingood. Sociopolitical Implications of Mississippian Mound Volume. American Antiquity 69:291-301.
2002
Blitz, J.H. and K. G. Lorenz. The Early Mississippian Frontier in the Lower Chattahoochee-Apalachicola River Valley. Southeastern Archaeology 21(2):117-135.
2000
Blitz, J.H. and C.B. Mann. Fisherfolk, Farmers, and Frenchmen: Archaeological Explorations on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, with contributions by C.M. Scarry, J.D. Jewell, and J.A. Giliberti. Archaeological Report Series No. 30, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson.
P.S. Bridges, J.H. Blitz, and M.C. Solano. Changes in Long Bone Diaphyseal Strength with Horticultural Intensification in West-Central Illinois. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 112:217-238.
1999
Blitz, J.H. Mississippian Chiefdoms and the Fission-Fusion Process. American Antiquity 64:577-592.
1997
Lindauer, O. and J.H. Blitz. Higher Ground: The Archaeology of North American Platform Mounds. Journal of Archaeological Research 5(2):169-207.
1993
Blitz, J.H. Ancient Chiefdoms of the Tombigbee. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa and London.
Blitz, J.H. Big Pots for Big Shots: Feasting and Storage in a Mississippian Community. American Antiquity 58(1):80-96.
1991
DeBoer, W.R. and J.H. Blitz. Ceremonial Centers of the Chachi. Expedition 33(1):53-62.
1988
Blitz, J.H. Adoption of the Bow in Prehistoric North America. North American Archaeologist 9(2):123-145.
Voss, J. and J.H. Blitz. Archaeological Investigations in the Choctaw Homeland. American Antiquity 53(1):125-145.
