Dr. Shawn Morton

Areas of Interest
Community Engaged Approaches; Archaeoinformatics/Visualization; State-Level Societies/Civilizations; Urbanism; Religion & Ritual; Mesoamerica & Caribbean; HRM/CRM

Education
Ph.D. (2015) – Archaeology & Anthropology – University of Calgary
M.A. (2007) – Archaeology – University of Calgary
Hon. B.A. (2003) – Archaeology – Wilfrid Laurier University

Shawn is an anthropological archaeologist whose research focuses predominantly on complex societies of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. Additionally, he has extensive experience in plains/boreal forest and hunter-gatherer archaeology through two decades of employment in HRM/CRM. In addition to a continuing focus on methods in archaeoinformatics (in particular, comparative urban morphometrics and space syntax), Shawn is committed to community-based research and public outreach. Recent funded projects include the development of digital educational materials related to his ongoing research at the Late Classic Maya centre of Alabama, and he is eagerly awaiting the results of an upcoming LiDAR survey at the neighbouring site of Pearce. While his current research does not actively involve cave studies, he remains interested in this subject and this is reflected in several recent publications. He is co-Principal Investigator of the Stann Creek Regional Archaeology Project <scraparchaeology.com>.

Select Recent Publications
In Press S.G. Morton & M. Peuramaki-Brown (eds.)
Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica: Operational, Cognitive, and Experiential Approaches. University Press of Colorado, Boulder — Scheduled, July 2019.

In Press M.M. Peuramaki-Brown & S.G Morton
Maya Monumental ‘Boom’: Rapid Development, Hybrid Architecture, and Pretentious Place-Making at Alabama, East Central Belize. Journal of Field Archaeology — Scheduled, July 2019.

2018 S.G. Morton
Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Ancient Maya Underworld: Exploring the Rise and Fall of Maya Centres in Central Belize from the Cave Context. Archaeology of the Maya. BAR Publishing, Oxford.

2017 C.R. Andres, C. Helmke, S.G. Morton & G.D. Wrobel
Two Ballplayer Panels from Tipan Chen Uitz, Cayo District, Belize. Antiquity, 91 (359): 1285-1298

2015 C. Helmke, J.J. Awe, S.G. Morton & G. Iannone.
The Text and Context of the Cuychen Vase, Macal Valley, Belize. Maya Archaeology, 3: 8-29
Also, published in Spanish as “El texto y context del Vaso de Cuychén, del Valle del Macal, Belice.”

2015 S.G. Morton
The Táino Use of Caves. Caribbean Connections: A Publication of the Field Research Centre. 4 (1): 1-16.