Popejoy Dissertation Prize: Dr. Amy E. Thompson

Dr. Amy E. Thompson is an anthropological archaeologist whose research evaluates inequality and human-environment interactions among the Classic Maya (250-900 CE) through settlement patterns, spatial modeling, remote sensing, and household archaeology. For over a decade she has conducted research in southern Belize working alongside indigenous Mopan Maya communities. Her work relies heavily on geospatial methods, including GIS and lidar, and multi-proxy chronology building to understand household decision-making and inherited inequality through a lens of Human Behavioral Ecology. She explores how people move across the landscape, models ancient neighborhoods, and analyzes differential access to resources. Dr. Thompson is first-author on five peer-reviewed articles, published in PLOS One, the Journal of Archaeological Science, the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, and Remote Sensing; co-author on six additional peer-reviewed articles; and has authored several conference proceeding chapters and book chapters. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Explorer’s Club, the Society for American Archaeology, the Copan Maya Foundation, and the University of New Mexico.

Dr. Thompson earned her BA in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities in 2009. She earned her MSc in 2011 and PhD in 2019, both from the Department of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. From 2020-2021, she was a Bass Postdoctoral Fellow at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Thompson is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas at Austin.