Jeffrey P. Blomster

Assistant Professor of Anthropology
E-mail blomster@gwu.edu
Office: Hortense Amsterdam House 301 / (202) 994-4880

Dr. Blomster is an anthropological archaeologist specializing in social complexity, interregional interaction and approaches to style, ritual and ideology.

Dr. Blomster's regional and spatial research interests lie primarily in Mesoamerica, where he has focused on Mixtec, Zapotec and Olmec cultures. He has conducted archaeological and laboratory fieldwork at Etlatongo, in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico, which examines the emergence of social complexity in the Nochixtlán Valley, and explores the impact of interregional interaction in this area. His academic writings have focused on manipulation and movement of style, looking at both traditional stylistic analyses as well as compositional approaches.

Current Research Projects

1. Early Formative socio-political complexity and interaction. Ongoing laboratory analyses, with additional excavations to come, to understand the nature of both local and non-local ceramic and figurine traditions, and interaction's impact on socio-political complexity.
   
2. Ceramic production, urbanism, and the Yucuita phase. Research devoted to defining a new ceramic phase, the Yucuita (from 500 – 300 BCE), for the Mixteca Alta, and investigate the related but different processes of urbanism, specialization, and standardization.

Selected Publications

See Dr. Blomster's complete CV, click here.

Books

2008	Blomster, J.P., ed. After Monte Albán: Transformation and Negotiation in Oaxaca, Mexico. Mesoamerican Worlds Series. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado.
2004	Blomster, J.P. Etlatongo: Social Complexity, Interaction and Village Life in the Mixteca Alta of Mexico. Florence, KY: Wadsworth Publishing.

Articles & Book Chapters

2006	Neff, H., J. Blomster, M. Glascock, R. Bishop, M. Blackman, M. Coe, G. Cowgill, R. Diehl, S. Houston, A. Joyce, C. Lipo, B. Stark, and M. Winter. "Methodological Issues in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics," Latin American Antiquity 17(1): 54-76.
2005	Blomster, J., H. Neff and M. Glascock. "Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mexico Determined through Elemental Analysis," Science 307: 1068-1072.
2002	Blomster, J. "What and Where is Olmec Style? Regional Perspectives on Early Formative Hollow Figurines in Mesoamerica," Ancient Mesoamerica 13(2): 171-195.

Courses Taught

Anth 118: Theory and Practice in Archaeology
Anth 180: Power and Violence in New World Societies: The Aztecs of Mexico
Anth 185: Archaeology of Mesoamerica
Anth 186: Rise of the State and Urban Society
Anth 189: Topics in Archaeology: The Olmecs and Their Neighbors
Anth 203: Proseminar in Archaeology
Anth 282: Problems in New World Archaeology: The Cloud People of Oaxaca