Associate Professor Undergraduate Coordinator The major impacts of Dr. Birch’s research have been on understanding the development of organizational complexity and diversity in Indigenous Pre-Columbian eastern North America and in non-state societies globally. Her work as an archaeologist is inherently comparative and multi-scalar. Her research has evolved from the study of settlement aggregation in eastern North America to the development of theories, models, and approaches that productively interrogate the nature of premodern social and political organization across the globe. Her most recent contributions focus on the themes of Northern Iroquoian archaeology and radiocarbon chronology building, social network analysis and regional geopolitics, and institutional complexity and comparative governance in pre-modern societies. Of note: 2021 Richard B. Russell Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, UGA 2019 Jacques Dalibard Award, ICOMOS Canada 2013 Award for Excellence in Publishing, Ontario Archaeological Society Research Research Areas: Archaeology Research Interests: Archaeology of eastern North America Settlement patterns Archaeology of households and communities Organizational complexity Archaeology of warfare Multi-scalar analyses Social network analysis Radiocarbon dating and chronological modeling Geophysics Social theory Heritage Cultural resource management Selected Publications Selected Publications: Birch, Jennifer, Turner Hunt, Louis Lesage, Jean-Francois Richard, Linda A. Sioui, and Victor D. Thompson. 2022. The role of radiocarbon dating in advancing Indigenous-led archaeological research agendas. Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 9, 228. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01249-7 Birch, Jennifer. 2022. Premodern Confederacies: Balancing Strategic Collective Action and Local Autonomy. Frontiers in Political Science 4: 807239. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2022.807239 Birch, Jennifer, Sturt W. Manning, Samantha Sanft, and Megan Anne Conger. 2021. Refined Radiocarbon Chronologies for Northern Iroquoian Site Sequences: Implications for coalescence, conflict, and the reception of European goods. American Antiquity 86(1): 61-89. doi:10.1017/aaq.2020.73 Birch, Jennifer and John P. Hart. 2018. Social Networks and Northern Iroquoian Confederacy Dynamics. American Antiquity 83(1): 13-33. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2017.59 Grants Grants: 2023 Senior Research Grant, National Science Foundation, "Evaluating the Depopulation of the St. Lawrence Valley Integrating Radiocarbon Dating and Indigenous-centered Research Perspectives," PI: Jennifer Birch, Co-PIs: Sturt W. Manning and Brita Lorentzen, $365,726 2022 Riksbankens Jubileumsfond Research Initiation Grant, “Beyond ‘Barbarians': Premodern polities in comparative perspective.” Uppsala Sweden, $12,600 2017 Senior Research Grant, National Science Foundation, "Establishing a High-Resolution Framework for Age Determination," PI: Jennifer Birch, Co-PI: Sturt W. Manning, $200,794 Education Education: PhD, Anthropology, McMaster University, 2010
