John Millhauser

Bio

I’m an archaeologist who studies how communities influence both households and economies, focusing particularly on central Mexico during the time of the Aztec and Spanish Empires. My research combines archaeology, historical records, and scientific methods to better understand how communities form, what they do, and how they drive social change. My main focus is on three areas: understanding how local economies function and connect to larger ones, how power is tied to the control of natural resources, and how different economic systems operate at both small and large scales.

Currently, I’m exploring how economies are shaped by social and political factors at multiple levels. Recently, I worked as a guest editor on an article collection that looks at the archaeology of money, debt, and finance for the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. I examine the role of economic institutions in shaping social structures, focusing on how communities engaged with systems of exchange and resource distribution. By studying the archaeological evidence of ancient economies, I investigate how money and debt influenced relationships of power and inequality. This work extends to exploring the root causes of poverty in non-Western and pre-Capitalist societies, providing a long-term perspective on economic disparities and how past systems of finance can shed light on present-day issues of inequality and social justice.

My research also examines how human societies interact with their environments and manage natural resources over time. I investigate how political, social, and economic systems influence environmental change, with a particular focus on ancient and modern resource management practices. By examining how past societies in Mesoamerica tried to control land, water, and other resources, I draw connections to contemporary issues in conservation. This interdisciplinary approach, combining archaeology with ecology and conservation biology, highlights the long-term impacts of human activity on ecosystems and informs current efforts to address environmental challenges in sustainable ways. As a co-editor of an issue of the Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, I helped to assemble the latest research on the links between archaeology and political ecology around the world.

I also work to improve archaeometry, which is the use of scientific techniques to study ancient materials. My main focus is on studying obsidian, a type of volcanic glass that was commonly used for making tools in ancient Mesoamerican societies. As of 2023, I’m using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technology to analyze obsidian from archaeological sites in Guatemala and Mexico. I’ve completed studies on obsidian from several important sites in Mexico, and I’m continuing my research to further expand our understanding of ancient material culture and how these societies used and valued obsidian.

I am a series editor for Elements in Anthropological Archaeology in the 21st-Century published by Cambridge University Press. As part of the editorical team, I help to identify and support authors whose work touches on three themes: 1. new methods and technologies producing fresh understandings of the past; 2. theoretical approaches challenging basic concepts and offering new insights; 3. archaeological responses for the 21st century providing informed choices for the present.

Extension and Community Engagement

This work is documented in John Wall’s “Story Map” about the Oberlin Cemetery Project, hosted by ESRI.

Additional information on the history of the cemetery and the village, and the grass-roots effort to protect it follow:

Community Brightens the Oberlin Cemetery. (NC State Technician, November 20, 2016)

No one owns Raleigh’s historic Oberlin Cemetery (News & Observer, October 3, 2016)

Revealing the Past at Oberlin Cemetery (NC State News, September 21, 2016)

Black Lives Forum – Oberlin: Freedman’s Village (UNC TV, January 15, 2017)

Oberlin Village Inches Closer to Becoming a Historic District (News & Observer, June 7, 2017)

Two Historic Houses will be Preserved in Oberlin Village (News & Observer, July 10, 2017)

Recent Publications

2024 Millhauser, John K. How are you, anthropology? Reflections on well-being and the common good. Economic Anthropology 11(2): 159–67.

2024 Millhauser, John K. and Joanne Baron. “Money and Metaphysics among the Maya and Aztec.” In J.J. Tinguely (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Money: Volume 1: Ancient and Medieval Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 159–80.

2024 Millhauser, John K., Andrea Torvinen, Camilo Mireles, Verenice Heredia-Espinosa, and Ben Nelson. “Assembling Value in Mesoamerica.” In S. Hutson and C. Golden (eds.), Realizing Value in Mesoamerica: The Dynamics of Desire and Demand. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 109–37.

2023 Millhauser, John K. “Slow Violence and Vulnerability in the Basin of Mexico.” In C. Cordova and C. Morehart (eds.), The Legacies of The Basin of Mexico, University Press of Colorado, pp. 348–66.

2023 Bohnenstiehl, Del, Dru McGill, John K. Millhauser, Alicia McGill, Vincent Melomo, and John Wall. A geospatial and archaeological investigation of an African American cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A. Archaeological Prospection.

2022 Millhauser, John K., and Timothy Earle. Biodiversity and the Human Past: Lessons for Decolonizing Conservation. Biological Conservation, 272: 109599.

2021 Baron, Joanne, and John Millhauser. A place for archaeology in the study of money, finance, and debt. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 62: 101278.

2020 Millhauser, John K. Let’s get fiscal: The social relations of finance and technological change in Aztec and Colonial Mexico. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 60: 101196.

2020 Millhauser, John K., and Lisa Overholtzer. Commodity Chains in Archaeological Research: Cotton Cloth in the Aztec Economy. Journal of Archaeological Research 28.

2018 Millhauser, John K. and Christopher T. Morehart. Sustainability as a relative process: A long‐term perspective on sustainability in the northern Basin of Mexico. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 29: 134-156.

2017 Millhauser, John K. Debt as a double-edge risk: A historical case from Nahua (Aztec) Mexico. Economic Anthropology 4: 263-275.

Recent Public Scholarship

2022 How Can Societies Decolonize Conservation? September 18. Sapiens.

2019 Landscapes of Care: Affect and Emotion in the 16th-Century Testimonies of the Congregation of Xaltocan. Engagement, a blog of the Anthropology and Environment Society.