Investigators Leslie Drane

Leslie Drane’s anthropology education began while an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois. During this time, she experienced her first fieldwork in Trempealeau, WI under the direction of Timothy R. Pauketat, Robert Boszhardt, and Danielle Benden. Previously, she worked at Cahokia and Emerald Mounds and she will continue her research about Mississippian people in northwestern Illinois in the Apple River region. Her research interests include the relationships between people near/at Cahokia with those in the northern Apple River region, how identity and remembrance of landscape interplay and can be understood through architecture and material remains, and how contemporary people understand and interact with archaeology. She is also very intrigued and involved with issues regarding public outreach, pedagogy, ethics, and Indigenous rights.