Investigators Thomas J. Zych

Thomas J. Zych, M.S., R.P.A.
Assistant Lecturer, Department of Sociology, and Anthropology, University of Toledo.

My research interests lie at the intersection of human interactions, particularly at the crossroads of culture as experienced through practice, through doing. Born and raised in Suburban Chicago, the youngest son of immigrant parents from Poland, I grew up in a world of diverging and crisscrossing ‘ways of being’ (Polish, and Midwest-American). Thus, as an anthropologically trained archaeologist, I find myself turning my curiosity towards a broader understanding of cultural interaction(s) and the negations of alternate cultural identities that are actuated through human action. In the more than a decade of Midwestern archaeological experience, I find myself exploring events of culture contact, most recently aimed at the Aztalan site in Wisconsin. There I’ve focused on the cultural interactions of local Late Woodland culture that came into contact with Middle Mississippian ‘ways of being’ in the 12th century B.C.E. More recently, I’ve working on extending this focused interest into the Central Great Lakes.
I hold a Master’s Degree in Anthropology and certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I have over 12 years of experience in Midwestern cultural resource management having conducted excavations in Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin. My expertise includes prehistoric and historic archaeology, ceramic analysis, and GIS-based analyses.