Amanda D. Roberts Thompson, Ph.D., is the Director of the Laboratory of Archaeology and Georgia Archaeological Site File at the University of Georgia and also facilitates the NAGPRA program. She specializes in historical archaeology, ethnohistory, landscape archaeology, archaeological collections and digital curation, and heritage preservation. Specifically, she combines archaeological, historical, spatial, and digital approaches to investigate colonial and plantation landscapes and the relationships between people, environments, and economies. My current research includes projects on the Georgia Coast where I focus on dynamic economies that emerged as a result of colonialism and the establishment of the plantation system in the Southeast.
In addition to traditional anthropological archaeology, her recent scholarship also examines the responsibilities of archaeological institutions toward the collections they steward and the ways engagement are reshaping curation and collections management practices but more specifically how institutional authority can be transformed through stewardship, collaboration, Indigenous knowledge, and descendant-community participation.
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