Julie A. Hoggarth, PhD
Associate Professor

Research Profile
I am a Maya archaeologist with general interests in ancient Maya development and decline, the relationship of climate change on in ancient societies, societal collapse, sustainability, environmental archaeology, and chronology-building. If you are a student interested in applying to our PhD program and you would be interested in working with me, see the section on Prospective Students below.
My research applies an interdisciplinary approach that integrates history, demography, archaeology, and climate research to understand the impacts of abrupt climatic change from the Classic to Colonial Periods in the Maya Lowlands. Over the past several years, I have worked to compile archaeological and historic datasets from across the region to understand the effects of prehistoric and historic drought episodes on agricultural production and health for Maya populations. My new project (funded by the National Science Foundation) focuses on building lake core vegetation reconstructions for the Belize River Valley and comparing those data to archaeological information on resource allocation strategies of rulers. The project will explore the impacts of drought on agricultural production, demography, and political decision-making processes.
Baylor Anthropology offers a variety of research experiences in archaeology, including experience excavating at Maya sites in Belize through the BVAR field school, laboratory experience in the BEAR lab, and other research projects such as the Mesoamerican Radiocarbon Database. To learn more about these and other projects, see the links below.
Please visit the following websites:
- BVAR Field School
- Baylor Environmental Archaeology & Radiocarbon (BEAR) Lab
- Mesoamerican Radiocarbon Database
Degrees
PhD in Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, 2012
BA in Anthropology (Archaeology) & Latin American Studies, University of California, San Diego, 2004
Teaching
As an anthropological archaeologist, my teaching seeks to cultivate an understanding of the distinct ways of life of ancient populations, identified through a lens of cultural process. My teaching integrates interdisciplinary approaches and examples to highlight the diverse information and tools that archaeologists use in their research, including paleoenvironmental reconstructions, historical texts, art history, geoscience studies, and biochemistry and associated analytical methods.
My teaching emphasizes students learning practical critical thinking skills through an exploration of real archaeological datasets and examples. In this manner, students learn the steps to conduct archaeological research, construct their own archaeological research designs, analyze data, and interpret archaeological contexts to describe results of their own and others’ analyses. These skills include basic archaeological field and laboratory methods, such as setting up archaeological units, drawing profile and plan view maps, using a compass, and classifying artifacts (Introduction to Archaeology). More advanced skills include developing basic quantitative methods to answer distinct research questions about cultural change. For example, students in Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica analyze real archaeological datasets on artifact totals to tabulate the artifact counts, and use those data to answer questions about the origins of social inequality in Formative Mesoamerica. In the same course, students examine maps on settlement patterns to reconstruct settlement hierarchies, answering questions about the nature of state formation. Students in Environmental Archaeology use information from paleoecological and archaeological databases to explore questions on the nature of human-environmental relationships across time and space. Together, these examples highlight my commitment to actively engage students, to challenge them to explore real empirical datasets, and to integrate information from a variety of different fields to answer questions about the human past through an anthropological lens.
I believe that all students interested in archaeology should participate archaeological field school training. I have mentored dozens of students for more than a decade through my archaeological field school in Belize, with many former students going to on graduate school and employment in Cultural Resource Management. Students interested in gaining archaeological field experience in Belize can find additional information at the website above. I am especially interested in working with students with interests in Mesoamerican archaeology, societal collapse, paleoclimate and ancient civilization, environmental archaeology, radiocarbon dating, and human paleoecology.
Prospective Graduate Students
I am generally accepting applications from students interested in working with me in our PhD program in Anthropology. Note that you can enter the PhD program straight from undergrad, or come with a Masters degree (and apply some of your previous coursework towards our requirements). Many topics that I would be particularly interested in mentoring students in would be focused in Maya archaeology, although I would be open to mentoring students in other areas (especially on environmental archaeology, climate change and sustainability, and radiocarbon projects). Methodologically, I can teach students a great deal about radiocarbon dating and isotopic analysis (see the BEAR lab), Bayesian chronological modeling, human-climate interactions, Maya settlement archaeology, Maya urbanism, Maya land use, societal collapse, and sustainability. If you are interested in Maya archaeology, you would work with me on the field school in Belize that I co-direct, the BVAR project (see website above).
At Baylor, you would also get mentorship by other professors in the department who have research experience on the ancient and modern Maya (among other societies). Dr. Sara Alexander, who is an applied social anthropologist, has worked on modern communities in Belize. Dr. Garrett Cook, who is a cultural anthropologist, has worked on modern Maya communities in Guatemala. Dr. Sam Urlacher has previously worked on biocultural projects of the modern Maya. There are also several other archaeologists on campus working in other regions, as well as cultural and biological anthropologists that you can take classes from.
The Baylor Anthropology PhD program is a 5 year program (very short comparatively), with full funding (very competitive stipend, tuition remission, and health insurance) for all 5 years. It is focused in the Anthropology of Health, but we define that broadly (contact me to see how your project might be placed in that topic). We are focused on training students broadly, so that they can go into academia if they choose, but that they have practical skills in the case that they pursue other areas (the academic job market is very competitive, so having other skills is essential). As such, you will be expected to take several health classes (which can include some of our osteology and bioarchaeology classes), statistics classes (which can include GIS), and communications and management (so that you can lead your own projects). You are also required to do an internship, which is supposed to give you practical skills that lead to some sort of product (like a publication, for example), which can be set up with a data repository, a CRM firm, museum, or other archaeological entity (lots of possibilities exist). You also take a professional development course to learn skills that will make you marketable in academia and beyond. See the website on our graduate program for more information about the specific requirements.
If you are interested in working with me, it is essential that you email me to have a conversation about your research interests and background. That helps me get to know you and help guide you in your interest in the program. I want to see all students thrive, so this is the first step in allowing me to help you. My email is Julie_Hoggarth@baylor.edu
Recent Publications
2023
Biggie, M., J.P. Walden, K. Shaw-Müller, M.L. Petrozza, O.P. Ellis, I.N. Roa, N. Stanchly, R.A. Guerra, C.E. Ebert, J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Awe. Shell Games: A Middle Preclassic Shell Deposit at the Minor Center of Tutu Uitz Na in the Upper Belize River Valley. Latin American Antiquity (2023), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2023.15
Walden, J.P., J.A. Hoggarth, C.E. Ebert, K. Shaw Muller, M. Biggie, B. Meyer, Y. Qiu, R. Weiyu, O.P. Ellis, T.B. Watkins, R.A.Guerra, C. Helmke, and J.J. Awe. Classic Maya Settlement Systems Reveal Differential Land Use Patterns in the Upper Belize River Valley. Land 12(2):483. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020483
2022
Bird, D., L. Miranda, M. Vander Linden, E. Robinson, R.K. Bocinsky, C. Nicholson, J.M. Capriles, J.B. Finley, E. M. Gayo, A. Gil, J. d’Alpoim Guedes, J.A. Hoggarth, A. Kay, E. Loftus, U. Lombardo, M. Mackie, A. Palmisano, S. Solheim, R.L. Kelly, and J. Freeman. p3k14c - A synthetic global database of archaeological radiocarbon dates. Scientific Data 9(1):1-19. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.15152097
Hoggarth, J.A., C. Freiwald, C.E. Ebert, C. Helmke, J.J. Awe, K. Green, P. Powess, J.P. Walden, R.A. Guerra, and A.H. McKeown. (In Press) As the b’ak’tun turned: Reconstructing Classic to Postclassic population dynamics in the Belize River Valley. In G. Braswell (ed.) Power, Politics, Violence, and Identity: 3,000 Years of War and Peace in Central America, pp. 209-240. Routledge Archaeology of the Ancient Americas series. Routledge, London.
Kennett, D.J., M. Masson, C. Peraza Lope, S. Serafin, R.J. George, T.C. Spencer, J.A. Hoggarth, B.J. Culleton, T.K. Harper, K.M. Prufer, S. Milbrath, B.W. Russell, E. Uc González, W.C. McCool, V.V. Aquino, E.H. Paris, J.H. Curtis, N. Marwan, M. Zhang, Y. Asmerom, V.J. Polyak, S.A. Carolin, D.H. James, A.J. Mason, G. Henderson, M. Brenner, J.U.L. Baldini, S.F.M. Breitenbach, D.A. Hodell. 2022. Drought-Induced Civil Conflict Among the Ancient Maya. Nature Communications 13:3911. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31522-x
Jordan, J.M., J.A. Davenport, W.A. Goodwin, B.L. MacDonald, C.E. Ebert, J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Awe. Volcanic Ash Tempered Pottery Production in the Late to Terminal Belize River Valley, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 33(3):556-574. https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.11
Thompson, A.E., J.P. Walden, A.S.Z. Chase, S.R. Hutson, D.B. Marken, B. Cap, E.C. Fries, M. R. Guzman Piedrasanta, T. Hare, S. Horn III, G.J. Micheletti, S. Montgomery, J. Munson, H. Richards-Rissetto, K. Shaw-Müller, T. Arden, J.J. Awe, M. K. Brown, C. E. Ebert, A. Ford, J.A. Hoggarth, B. Kovacevich, H. Moyes, T. Powis, J. Yaeger, B. A. Houk, K. M. Prufer, A.F. Chase, and D. Z. Chase. Ancient Maya Neighborhoods: Testing Average Nearest Neighbor Analysis and Kernel Density for Neighborhood Identification Across the Maya Lowlands. Plos ONE 17(11):e0275916. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275916
Walden, J.P., M. Biggie, K. Shaw-Müller, A. Levin, Qiu Y. (邱益嘉), A. Nachamie, O. P. Ellis, V. S.R. Izzo, J.A. Hoggarth, C.E. Ebert, R.A. Guerra, and J.J. Awe. 2022 Intermediate Elites and the Shift from Communities to Districts in the Formation of a Late Classic Maya Polity. In The Socio-Political Integration of Ancient Neighborhoods: Perspectives from the Andes and Mesoamerica, edited by Gabriela Cervantes and John P. Walden. University of Pittsburgh Center for Comparative Archaeology Press, Pittsburgh, PA.
Walden, J.P., R.A. Guerra, J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Awe. Examining the Political Dynamics Underlying the Rise of the Late Classic Maya Polity of Lower Dover, Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 18:43-55.
2021
Bermingham, A., B.S. Whitney, N.J.D. Loughlin, and J.A. Hoggarth. Island resource exploitation by the ancient Maya during periods of climate stress, Ambergris Caye, Belize. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 37:103000.
Ebert, C.E. A. Rand, K. Green-Mink, J.A. Hoggarth, C. Freiwald, J.J. Awe, W.R. Trask, C. Helmke, R.A. Guerra, M. Danforth, and D.J. Kennett. Applying Sulfur Isotopes to Paleodietary Reconstruction and Human Mobility from the Preclassic through Colonial Periods in the Eastern Maya Lowlands. PLOS ONE. e0254992. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254992
Helmke, C., J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Awe. Deciphering the collapse: An account of kingship in the Terminal Classic. In T. Okoshi, A. Chase, P. Nondedéo & M.-Charlotte Arnauld (eds.), Rupture or Transformation of Maya Kingship? From Classic to Postclassic Times, pp. 106-130. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
Hoggarth, J.A., S. Batty, V.Bondura, E. Creamer, C.E. Ebert, K. Green-Mink, C.L. Kieffer, H. Miller, C.V. Ngonadi, S.E. Pilaar Birch, C. Pritchard, K. Vacca, T.B. Watkins, Emily Zavodny, and A.R. Ventresca Miller. Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women and Early Career Researchers. Heritage 4: 1681–1702. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4030093
Hoggarth, J.A., B.J. Culleton, J.J. Awe, C. Helmke, S. Lonaker, J.B. Davis, and D.J. Kennett. Building high-precision AMS 14C Bayesian models for the formation of peri-abandonment deposits at Baking Pot, Belize. Radiocarbon 63(3):977-1002.
Hoggarth, J.A. C.E. Ebert, V. Castelazo-Calva. MesoRAD: A New Radiocarbon Dataset for Archaeological Research in Mesoamerica. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 9:10. http://doi.org/10.5334/joad.83
Hoggarth, J.A., C. Freiwald, and J.J. Awe. Classic and Postclassic Population Movement and Cultural Change in the Belize River Valley. In C. Arnauld, G. Pereira, and C. Beekman (eds.), Ancient Mesoamerican Cities: Populations on the Move, pp. 43-58. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.
Kwiecien, O., T. Braun, C.F. Brunello, P. Faulkner, N. Hausmann, G. Helle, J.A. Hoggarth, M. Ionita, C.S. Jazwa, S. Kelmelis, N. Marwan, C. Nava-Fernandez, C. Nehme, T. Opel, J.L. Oster, A. Persoiu, C. Petrie, K. Prufer, and S.F.M. Breitenbach. 2021. What we talk about when we talk about seasonality – A transdisciplinary review. Earth-Science Reviews 225:103843. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103843
Price, M., J. Capriles, J.A. Hoggarth, K. Bocinsky, C.E. Ebert, and J.H. Jones. End-to-end Bayesian analysis for summarizing sets of radiocarbon dates. Journal of Archaeological Science. 135:105473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2021.105473
Wrobel, G. J.A. Hoggarth, and A. Marshall. Before the Maya: A Review of Paleoindian and Archaic Human Skeletons Found in the Maya Region. Ancient Mesoamerica 32(3):475-485.
2020
Aimers, J.J., J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Awe. Archaeological Significance of Terminal “Problematical” Deposits in the Maya Lowlands. Ancient Mesoamerica 31(1):67-75
Awe, J.J., J.A. Hoggarth, J.J. Aimers, C. Helmke, J. Stemp. Knocking on Heaven’s Door: Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 31(1):109-126
Awe, J.J., J.A. Hoggarth, C.E. Ebert, and J.J. Aimers. The Last Hurrah at Cahal Pech: Examining the Nature of Peri-Abandonment Deposits and Activities in a Belize Valley Center. Ancient Mesoamerica 31(1):175-187.
Burke, C.C., K.K. Tappan, G.B. Wisner, J.A. Hoggarth, J.B. Davis, and J.J. Awe. To eat, discard, or venerate: Faunal remains as proxy for human behaviors in Lowland Maya peri-abandonment deposits. Ancient Mesoamerica 31(1):127-137
Helmke, C., C.E. Ebert, J.J. Awe, and J.A. Hoggarth. The lay of the land: A political geography of an ancient Maya kingdom in west-central Belize. Contributions in New World Archaeology 12:9-54. DOI: 10.33547/cnwa.12.01
Hoggarth, J.A. J.B Davis, C. Helmke, and J.J. Awe. Reconstructing the Formation of Peri-abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 31(1):139-149.
Hoggarth, J.A., J.J. Awe, C.E. Ebert, R.A. Guerra, A. Beardall, T.B. Watkins, and J.P. Walden. Thirty-Two Years of Integrating Archaeology and Heritage Management in Belize: A Brief History of the BVAR Project’s Research and Public Archaeology Outreach Programs. Heritage 3(3):699-732
Jordan, J.M., J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Awe. Pottery, Practice, and Place: A Communities of Practice Approach to Commoner Interaction in the Late to Terminal Classic Belize River Valley. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 58:101148.
2019
Akers, P.D., G.A. Brook, L.B. Railsback, A. Cherkinsky, F. Lian, C.E. Ebert, J.A. Hoggarth, J.J. Awe, H. Cheng, and R.L. Edwards. Integrating U-Th, 14C, and 210Pb methods to produce a chronologically reliable isotope record for the Belize River Valley Maya from a low-uranium stalagmite. TheHolocene 29(7):1234-1248.
Ebert, C.E., J.A. Hoggarth, J.J. Awe, B.J. Culleton, and D. J. Kennett. The role of diet in resilience and vulnerability to climate change among early agricultural communities in the Maya lowlands. Current Anthropology 60(4):589-601.
Ebert, C.E., J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Awe. The Climatic Context for the Formation and Decline of Maya Societies in the Belize River Valley. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 16:75-89.
Gregorio de Souza, J., M. Robinson, S.Y. Maezumi, J. Capriles, J.A. Hoggarth, U. Lombardo, V. Felipe Novello, J. Apaéstegui, B. Whitney, D. Urrego, D. Travassos Alves, S. Rostain, M.J. Power, F.E. Mayle, F. William da Cruz Jr.,H. Hooghiemstra, J. Iriarte. Climate change and culture in late Pre-Columbian Amazonia. Nature Ecology and Evolution 3:1007-1017.
Walden, J.P., C.E. Ebert, J.A. Hoggarth, S.M. Montgomery, and J.J. Awe. (2019) Modeling variability in Classic Maya intermediate elite political strategies through multivariate analysis of settlement patterns. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 55:101074.
2018
Helmke, C., J.A. Hoggarth, J.J. Awe. A reading of the Komkom Vase discovered at Baking Pot, Belize. Monograph 3. Precolumbia Mesoweb Press, San Francisco.
2017
Hoggarth, J.A., M. Restall, J.W. Wood, and D.J. Kennett. Drought and its Demographic Effects in the Maya Lowlands. Current Anthropology 58(1):82-113.
Helmke, C., J.A. Hoggarth, J.J. Awe, S. Bednar, A. Lopez Johnson. Some Initial Comments on the Komkom Vase and its Discovery at Baking Pot, Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 14:227-240.
Awe, J.J., J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Aimers. Of Apples and Oranges: The Case of E-Groups and Eastern Triadic Architectural Assemblages in the Belize River Valley. In D.A. Freidel, A.F. Chase, A. Dowd, and J. Murdock (eds.), Early Maya E Groups, Solar Calendars, and the Role of Astronomy in the Rise of Lowland Maya Urbanism, pp. 412-449. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
2016
Hanna, J.A., E.A. Graham, D.M. Pendergast, J.A. Hoggarth, D.L. Lentz, and D.J. Kennett. A New Radiocarbon Sequence from Lamanai, Belize: Two Bayesian Models from One of Mesoamerica’s Most Enduring Sites. Radiocarbon 58(4):771-794.
Ebert, C.E., J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Awe. Integrating Quantitative Lidar Analysis and Settlement Survey in the Belize River Valley. Advances in Archaeological Practice 4(3):284-300.
Ebert, C.E., J.A. Hoggarth, and J.J. Awe. Classic Maya Water Management and Ecological Adaptation in the Belize River Valley. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 13:109-119.
Hoggarth, J.A., S.F.M. Breitenbach, B.J. Culleton, C.E. Ebert, M.A. Masson, and D.J. Kennett. The Political Collapse of Chichén Itzá in Cultural and Climatic Context. Global and Planetary Change 138:25-42.
Hoggarth, J.A. and J.J. Awe. Household Adaptation and Reorganization in the Aftermath of the Classic Maya Collapse at Baking Pot, Belize. In R.K. Faulseit (ed.) Beyond Collapse: Archaeological Perspectives on Resilience, Revitalization, and Reorganization in Complex Societies, pp. 853-886. Occasional Paper 42, Center for Archaeological Investigations. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
2015
Awe, J.J., C.E. Ebert, and J.A. Hoggarth. Three K’atuns of Pioneering Settlement Research: Preliminary Results of the Lidar Survey in the Belize River Valley. In Breaking Barriers: Proceedings of the 47th Annual Chacmool Conference, pp. 57-75. University of Calgary: Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
2014
Hoggarth, J.A., B.J. Culleton, J.J. Awe, and D.J. Kennett. Questioning Postclassic Continuity at Baking Pot, Belize, Using AMS 14C Direct Dating of Human Burials. Radiocarbon 56(3):1057-1075.
Awe, J.J., J.A. Hoggarth, and C. Helmke. Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Upper Belize River Valley and Their Implications for Models of Low-Density Urbanism. Acta Mesoamericana 27:263-286.
Hoggarth, J.A. and J.J. Awe. Strategies of Household Adaptation and Community Organization at Classic and Postclassic Baking Pot. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 11:31-42.
2012
Hoggarth, J.A. Social Reorganization and Household Adaptation in the Aftermath of Collapse at Baking Pot, Belize. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh.
2010
Hoggarth, J.A., J.J. Awe, E. Jobbová, and C. Sims. Beyond the Baking Pot Polity: Continuing Settlement Research in the Upper Belize River Valley. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 7:171-182.