Ellie Minette Photo: First Name: Ellie Last Name: Minette Phone Number: 7065428737 Read more about Ellie Minette Ellie Minette is a collections manager at the UGA Laboratory of Archaeology. She earned her MA from the University of West Florida and her BA from Rollins College. Before coming to UGA, she worked with the Florida Public Archaeology Network. She is interested in how we can make archaeology more accessible and engaging to the public.
UGA-Led Project Receives $743,658 NEH Grant to Preserve and Share Georgia’s Colonial History Read more about UGA-Led Project Receives $743,658 NEH Grant to Preserve and Share Georgia’s Colonial History
Celebration of Dr. J. Peter Brosius' Life Please join us on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, 9:00-11:00 am (Baldwin Hall, Punaro Room), to celebrate the life and influence of Pete Brosius. RSVP is not required but is helpful for planning. Light refreshments will be served and a short program will begin at 9:15 AM. Please feel free to drop-in as your schedule allows. Read more about Celebration of Dr. J. Peter Brosius' Life
Dakota Street Photo: First Name: Dakota Last Name: Street Read more about Dakota Street As a PhD student at UGA, I will be studying under Dr. Amanda Roberts Thompson and working closely with Muscogee Nation to study more about the colonial period of Georgia, as well as research how contact with Europeans changed the lifeways of Native peoples via faunal remains. After graduating with my MA from the University of Mississippi, I have worked for the past five years at Mississippi’s State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). My previous work has shown me the importance of collaborating with descendant communities and I hope to pursue that at UGA.
Cayla Colclasure Photo: First Name: Cayla Last Name: Colclasure Read more about Cayla Colclasure I am a post-contact archaeologist doing community-engaged research in Appalachia and the American South. My work explores how labor exploitation, class struggle, and the politics of identity have shaped people’s lives, past and present. I defended my dissertation and graduated with my PhD in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina in May 2026. My dissertation research focused on the incarcerated laborers who built the Western North Carolina Railroad (WNCRR) from 1875-1891.
Michelle M. Pigott Photo: First Name: Michelle Last Name: Pigott Read more about Michelle M. Pigott Michelle Pigott holds a PhD in Anthropology (2024) from Tulane University, an MA in Anthropology (2020) from Tulane University, a MA in Historical Archaeology (2015) from the University of West Florida, and a BA in Anthropology (2010) from the University of Central Florida. Her primary research focuses on how Native America structured the early contact and colonial era of the American Southeast through a combination of radiocarbon, ethnohistoric, and material analyses.
C. Cameron Walker Photo: First Name: C. Cameron Last Name: Walker Read more about C. Cameron Walker I study the role of animals in the foodways and economic systems of the Southeastern United States, particularly by analyzing faunal remains to center human and nonhuman agency in the development of this region’s various cultural and economic systems. My approach to the past highlights the interconnection, or entanglement, of relationships across time and space.
David Okanlawon Photo: First Name: David Last Name: Okanlawon Read more about David Okanlawon David is one of the new Postdoctoral Research Associates at the Laboratory of Archaeology. He has worked extensively in West Africa and has a doctorate from Syracuse University. He is interested in Black Atlantic archaeology, historical archaeology, foodways, and cultural entanglements. Fun fact: David loves Afrobeats and believes he makes the best Nigerian jollof.
Jackson DeWitt Photo: First Name: Jackson Last Name: DeWitt Read more about Jackson DeWitt I am a PhD student in the Anthropology program. I graduated from Wake Forest University in 2024 with a B.A. in anthropology with an archaeology concentration, before interning with the National Park Service at both the Vicksburg National Military Park and the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.
