Distinguished Research Professor Director, Georgia Museum of Natural History Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science I study big turning points in human history, especially how people have come together to form societies and how they've interacted with their environments over time. I focus on wetland and coastal areas, mainly along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S., where I use archaeology to understand how people and climate have shaped each other over thousands of years. A big part of my work looks at how Indigenous communities governed themselves, highlighting the many different ways democratic systems can look beyond what we’re used to today. I'm also actively involved in efforts to ensure that Native American ancestors and cultural items held by the University of Georgia are treated with respect and returned to their descendant communities, in line with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). STUDENTS* If you are interested in joining our program as one of my PhD students, I encourage you to have a clear idea of the larger anthropological questions you aim to address through archaeology. Having an idea about this is critical towards a pathway to completion of the program here. At the Laboratory of Archaeology, we engage with a number of cutting-edge methods and techniques. Students often develop specialties in these. However, the goal of our methods is to reveal knowledge. That’s why having a larger question in mind at the outset of your graduate career is critical. My current students engage in a wide variety of topics, geographic regions, and theoretical perspectives, from human dynamics to the study of governance in the past. The Laboratory also takes great care to connect with descendent communities whose ancestral lands we work on and study. In some cases, like the Enfulletv-Mocvse (Muskogee for “new ways”) in Archaeology of Field School https://studyaway.uga.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgramAngular&id=13572 , we work in the field together instructing students and gaining knowledge. If you are interested and possess good writing skills, the ability to see projects through to completion, and a desire to learn about the past in a structured graduate program, please contact me and provide the following: a CV and a short description (no more than 500 words) of your interests in anthropological archaeology. Research Research Interests: Collective action Indigenous governance Historical ecology Heritage management and science Radiocarbon dating Shell midden archaeology Stable oxygen isotopes Remote sensing Geographic Information Systems Southeastern Archaeology Selected Publications Selected Publications: Thompson, Victor D., Jennifer Birch, Raelynn Butler, Alex Cherkinsky, Carey Garland, Greg Luna Goya, Carla Hadden, Turner Hunt, and Mark Williams. 2025. Collaborative Archaeology, Public Parks, and the Importance of Chronology at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park. American Antiquity. Published online 2025:1-24. doi:10.1017/aaq.2025.10106. Thompson, Victor D., 2025. A Comparative Consideration of the Institutions of Governance of the Native American Polities of La Florida. Understanding Early Large-Scale Collectives: A Global Perspective, edited by Justin Jennings, pp. 93-120. Routledge Press, London. Thompson, Victor D., 2025. Collective Action, Transport Costs, Watercraft Technologies, and the Engineered Ancestral Landscapes of Southern Florida. Negotiating Watery Worlds: Impacts and Implications of the Use of Watercraft in Small-Scale Societies, edited by Colin Grier, Albert Garcia Piquer, and Mikael Fauvelle. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Grants Grants: 2025 $697,001. Survey and Testing of the Oconee Valley Pre-Contact Landscape. United States Forest Service. Victor Thompson (P.I.), co-P.I. Amanda Roberts Thompson. Total awarded to UGA. 2025 $200,000. Relocating Fort Henderson and the “Second Creek War” Landscape of Southwestern Georgia and Southeastern Alabama. American Battlefield Grant. National Park Service. Victor Thompson (P.I.), co-P.I. Amanda Roberts Thompson, co-P.I. Carey Garland. Total awarded to UGA. 2025 $317,265. US Army Fort Benning Task Order: Cultural Resources Management Plan (ICRMP). Jay Pippin (P.I.) Victor Thompson (co- P.I.), Amanda Thompson (co-P.I.) and Daniel Wyatt (co-P.I.), Shana Jones (co-P.I.), Clark Nesbit (co-P.I.). Total awarded to UGA. Education Education: PhD, Anthropology, University of Kentucky, 2006
