Michael Blake

  • Associate Professor
  • Member, Laboratory of Archaeology
  • (604) 822-3124 (AnSo 1211)
  • tmblake(at)mail.ubc.ca
  • Ph.D. Michigan, 1985

Research Interests

I joined the faculty at UBC in 1986, a year after completing my PhD in Anthropology, with a specialization in Archaeology, at the University of Michigan. Since then I have been studying the archaeology of Chiapas, Mexico and British Columbia, Canada. My doctoral research in the early 1980s examined the household archaeology of the Postclassic period Maya site of Canajasté on the Lagartero River near the Chiapas-Guatemala border in the Upper Grijalva Tributaries region of Mexico. That research has recently been published as a monograph in the research Papers series of the New World Archaeological Foundation. 

Soon after completing my doctoral research, I joined Dr. John Clark, former Director of Brigham Young University's New World Archaeological Foundation, to begin a research project investigating the emergence of complex social and political systems in the Soconusco region of Chiapas, Mexico dating between about 4000 and 3000 years ago. These Early Formative period societies (that we have dubbed the Mokaya) comprised some of Mexico's earliest villages, and developed practices that later became common throughout Prehispanic Mesoamerica (for example, they built Mesoamerica's earliest known ballcourt--the subject of Warren Hill's UBC PhD dissertation in 1999). Our ongoing research documents the changes that took place as people became increasingly dependent on agriculture (including maize cultivation), lived in permanent settled communities, and developed complex social and political hierarchies. Our work in Chiapas has been funded by the generous support of SSHRC Canada, and the BYU-New World Archaeological Foundation.

Between 1992 and 2007, I conducted archaeological research in the Fraser River Valley of Southwestern British Columbia in partnership with members of Sto:lo Nation and Sto:lo Tribal Council as well as research partners from a number of universities. One long-term project concentrated on the ancient village site of Scowlitz (Qithyil), located 100 km east of Vancouver within the traditional territories of the Sto:lo Coast Salish peoples. Working with Dr. Dana Lepofsky (Simon Fraser University), our project team--which has included many UBC, SFU, and UCLA archaeology fieldschools--has investigated how both households and cemeteries formed an integral part of Coast Salish social, political and economic organization. More recently our research team (Fraser Valley Archaeological Project--FVAP), including Dr. Dave Schaepe (Sto:lo Nation), Dr. Anthony Graesch (Connecticut College), and Dr. Jeanne Arnold (UCLA) has surveyed, mapped, and excavated at a series of archaeological sites within Sto:lo Traditional Territory. This project has as it main goal the exploration of Coast Salish identities as expressed in house structures and village settlement layouts extending from about 3000 years ago to the beginning of European colonization of the region in the mid-1800s [link to FVAP SAA research posters].

My most recent work, since 2007, has focused on the origins and spread of maize agriculture in the Americas.  Working with Dr. Bruce Benz (Texas Wesleyan University), Dr. Lori Baker (Baylor University), and Dr. Hendrik Poinar (McMaster University) our research team is studying archaeological maize collections stored in museums and other institutions in about eight different countries throughout the Americas.  Our research goals are to directly date the samples using AMS radiocarbon dating, conduct detailed morphological analyses of maize cobs, and extract and characterize ancient maize DNA. For more information about this project, please visit our on-line database and interactive mapping website: Ancient Maize Map.

Recent and Current Research Projects

  • The evolution and dispersal of maize in Latin America (SSHRC funded, with Bruce Benz, Texas Wesleyan University).
  • Coast Salish Identities - Fraser Valley Archaeological Project (SSHRC funded, with Dana Lepofsky, Simon Fraser University).
  • The Rise of Complex Society in the Mazatan region, Mexico (SSHRC funded, with John E. Clark, Brigham Young University).

Recent Publications (last 5 years)

    • Hart, J. P., R. G. Matson, R. G. Thompson and M. Blake (2011) "Teosinte Inflorescence Phytolith Assemblages Mirror Zea Taxonomy." PLoS ONE 6(3):e18349. PDF
    • Blake, M. (2011) Building History in Domestic and Public Space at Paso de La Amada: An Examination of Mounds 6 and 7. In Early Mesoamerican Social Transformations: Archaic and Formative Lifeways in the Soconusco Region, edited by R.G. Lesure, pp. 97-118. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    • Blake, M. and H. Neff (2011) Evidence for the Diversity of Late Archaic and Early Formative Plant Use in the Soconusco Region of Mexico and Guatemala. In Early Mesoamerican Social Transformations: Archaic and Formative in the Soconusco Region, edited by R. G. Lesure, pp. 47-66. University of Callifornia Press, Berkeley.

    • Blake, M. (2011) Comment on David L. Webster's "Backward Bottlenecks: Ancient Teosinte/Maize Selection." Current Anthropology 52(1):94-95. Link to Webster 2011 on JSTOR

    • Blake, M. (2010) Colonization, Warfare, and Exchange at the Postclassic Maya Site of Canajasté, Chiapas, Mexico.  Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 70.  Brigham Young University Press, Provo. Link to BYU Bookstore

    • Blake, M. and R. G. Lesure (2010) "Chapter 12. Radiocarbon Dates."  In Settlement and Subsistence in Early Formative Soconusco: El Varal and the Problem of Inter-Site Assemblage Variation, edited by R. G. Lesure. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
    • Blake, M. (2010) "Navegación y definición de territorios en la Costa Noroeste de Norteamérica. Un ejemplo Coast Salish." In La excepción y la norma: las sociedades indígenas de la Costa Noroeste de Norteamérica desde la arqueología, edited by A. Vila and J. Estévez, pp. 84-93. Treballs d'Etnoarqueologia No. 8, CSIC-U.A.B, Barcelona. PDF-(English version)

    • Lepofsky, D., D. Schaepe, A. Graesch, M. Lenert, J. Arnold, K. Carlson, M. Blake, P. Ormerod, J. Clague, and P. Moore (2009)  "Exploring Stó:lō-Coast Salish interaction and Identity in Ancient Houses and Settlements in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia."  American Antiquity 74(4):595-626. Link to article in JSTOR
    • Powis, T. G., W. J. Hurst, M. d. C. Rodríguez, P. Ortíz C., M. Blake, D. Cheetham, M. D. Coe and J. G. Hodgson (2008) "The origins of cacao use in Mesoamerica." Mexicon 30(2):35-38. PDF
    • Blake, M., R.G. Lesure, W. D. Hill, L. Barba, and J. E. Clark (2006). "The Residence of Power at Paso de la Amada, Mexico." In Elite Residences in the New World, edited by J. Christie and P. Sarro, pp. 191-210.  University of Texas Press, Austin. PDF
    • Blake, M. (2006) "Dating the Initial Spread of Zea mays." In: Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Biogeography, Domestication, and Evolution of Maize. Edited by John E. Staller, Robert H. Tykot, Bruce F. Benz, pp. 55-72. Elsevier, San Diego and New York. Reprinted (2009) PDF
    • Chisholm, B. and M. Blake (2006) "Diet in Prehistoric Soconusco." In: Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Biogeography, Domestication, and Evolution of Maize. Edited by John E. Staller, Robert H. Tykot, Bruce F. Benz, pp. 161-172. Elsevier, San Diego and New York. Reprinted (2009) PDF

     

    Selected Publications (>6 years)

    • Blake, M., D. D. Bryant, T. A. Lee, Jr., P. Agrinier, and S. M. Ekholm (2005) "Late Classic Ceramics." In Ceramic Sequence of the Upper Grijalva Region, Chiapas, Mexico, Vol. 2. Edited by D.D. Bryant, J.E. Clark, and D. Cheetham, pp 415-547. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, no. 67. Brigham Young University, Provo. Link to PDF on BYU Website.
    • Bryant, D. D., T. A. Lee, Jr., and M. Blake (2005) "Postclassic Ceramics." In Ceramic Sequence of the Upper Grijalva Region, Chiapas, Mexico, Vol. 2. Edited by D.D. Bryant, J.E. Clark, and D. Cheetham, pp 549-625. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, no. 67. Brigham Young University, Provo. Link to PDF on BYU Website.
    • Blake, Michael (2004) "Fraser Valley Trade and Prestige as seen from Scowlitz." In Complex Hunter-Gatherers; Evolution and Organization of Prehistoric Communities of the Plateau of Northwestern North America, edited by William C. Prentiss and Ian Kuijt, pp. 103-112. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake. PDF
    • Smalley, John and Michael Blake (2003) "Sweet Beginnings: Stalk Sugar and the Domestication of Maize." Current Anthropology 44 (5): 675-703. PDF
    • Lepofsky, D., M. Blake, D. Brown, S. Morrison, N. Oakes and N. Lyons (2000). "The Archaeology of the Scowlitz Site, Southwestern British Columbia." Journal of Field Archaeology 27(4):391-416. PDF
    • Lesure, R. and M. Blake (2002). "Interpretive Challenges in the Study of Early Complexity: Economy, Ritual, and Architecture at Paso de la Amada, Mexico." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 21(1):1-24. PDF
    • Blake, M. (Ed.) (1999). Pacific Latin America in Prehistory: The Evolution of Archaic and Formative Cultures. WSU Press, Pullman. Link to WSU Press.
    • Blake, M. (1999). "Introduction to the Archaeology of Pacific Latin America." In Pacific Latin America in Prehistory, edited by M. Blake, pp. 1-10. WSU Press, Pullman.
    • Blake, M. and J. E. Clark (1999). "The Emergence of Hereditary Inequality: the Case of Mazatan, Chiapas." In Pacific Latin America in Prehistory, edited by M. Blake, pp. 69-83. WSU Press, Pullman.
    • Hill, W. D., M. Blake, and J. E. Clark (1998). "Ball Court Design Dates Back 3,400 Years." Nature 392:878-879. PDF
    • Clark, J. E. and M. Blake (1994). "The Power of Prestige: Competitive Generosity and the Emergence of Rank Societies in Lowland Mesoamerica." In  Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World, edited by E.M. Brumfiel and J. W. Fox, pp. 17-30. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.  PDF
    • Blake, M., B. S. Chisholm, J. E. Clark, B. Voorhies and M. W. Love (1992). "Prehistoric Subsistence in the Soconusco Region." Current Anthropology 33(1):83-94. PDF
    • Blake, M. (1991).  "An Emerging Formative Chiefdom at Paso de La Amada, Chiapas, Mexico." In The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica, edited by W.L. Fowler, pp. 27-46. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
    • Blake, M., S. A. LeBlanc and P. E. Minnis (1986). "Changing Settlement and Population in the Mimbres Valley, SW New Mexico." Journal of Field Archaeology 13(4):439-464. PDF

     

    (last updated Oct. 5, 2011)

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