Jessome MacKenzie

Masters Student, University of British Columbia
BA Political Science (International Relations), St. Francis Xavier University 2004
BA Anthropology (Archaeology), St. Francis Xavier University 2008

Supervisor: Dr. Michael Blake

Research Interest: Latin American archaeology, focusing on early socially complex Central American societies, ethno-archaeology, household archaeology, regional settlement patterns, material correlates of shamanistic rituals and feasting, the political ecology and chiefly-level societies.

Kenzie has worked for the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq as a researcher during excavations of a Paleoindian site in Debert, Nova Scotia and gained important experience during his participation in archaeological excavations of a pre-expulsion Acadian site at Grand Pre National Historic Site, also in Nova Scotia. His current research is being conducted in the central region of Panama under an international and multi-institutional team of archaeological researchers, Proyecto Arqueologia Rio Parita (PARP). One of the objectives of PARP is to provide insight on formative trends in early socially complex societies. Kenzie's upcoming fieldwork for his MA Thesis which will explore and test material correlates of wealth and status in pre-conquest Panama through conducting intensive surface collections and archaeological excavations of small site near the modern town of Llano de la Cruz, Panama.