Erin Benson is a Midwestern archaeologist whose current dissertation research at the University of Illinois, under Dr. Timothy Pauketat, focuses on rural Late Mississippians and changes in their relationships with Cahokia during the Moorehead phase (AD 1200-1300). She is also an established field and CRM archaeologist, having worked for the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) for over 6 years, including 3 years as a field assistant and supervisor at the internationally recognized East St. Louis excavations. In addition to working at numerous Midwestern sites, she has also done fieldwork and research in Central Belize, and will return in the summer of 2016 to supervise salvage excavations at Late to Terminal Late Classic Maya sites. She currently oversees the analysis of the Late Woodland to Mississippian period Pfeffer site at the North American Archaeology lab at UIUC.

Photo courtesy of Robert Rohe