Board Members

The Denver Society of the Archaeological Institute of America

Erik DeMarche, MA

Erik DeMarche, MA

PRESIDENT

Erik is a field archaeologist and surveyor with experience in Greece, Turkmenistan, and the Americas. He attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and University College London in Qatar. His primary interests include Mycenaean archaeology and archaeology endangered by conflict.

Anne Black

Anne Black

TREASURER/TRANSPORTATION

Not a Pro, but very interested. Has visited many sites from Yucatan to Uzbekistan. Now retired from the corporate world, and keeping busy managing her own business.
Pat Cockerill

Pat Cockerill

TREASURER

Pat is a graduate of Metropolitan State University with degrees in Anthropology and Geography, combining this knowledge to work in sustainable development. She has done studies or related fieldwork in varied locations to include Nepal, Costa Rica and Peru. A longtime member of AIA, Pat has been on the AIA Denver Board since 2002.

Aaron Theis, MA

Aaron Theis, MA

WEBMASTER

Aaron holds degrees in history and archaeology. His interests include application of geographic information systems in archaeology and history, Neolithic Europe, the European Bronze Age, the history of archaeology, and the intersection of archaeology and fiction.

Melissa Logan, MA

Melissa Logan, MA

SECRETARY

 
Melissa Logan holds a graduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Colorado, and was the organic residue analyst for PaleoResearch Institute in Golden, Colorado for five years.  Presently, she is pursuing her research independently and writing manuscripts.  Ms. Logan’s interests include Mesoamerican archaeology with an emphasis on West Mexico, gender and power, development of complex societies, political systems, art and material culture, and paleonutrition. Publications, manuscripts, and presented papers authored or coauthored by her address gender and power in ceramic effigies from Late Formative West Mexico, as well as the application of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for organic residue analysis. Ms. Logan most recently contributed a chapter to the edited volume “Dressing the Part: Power, Dress, Gender, and Representation in the Pre-Columbian Americas edited by Sarahh E.M. Scher and Billie J.A. Follensbee, which was published by the University Press of Flordia in 2017.  Ms. Logan has been on the board of directors for the Denver Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America since 2008. Her professional memberships also include the Register of Professional Archaeologists and the Society for American Archaeology.

 

Dr. M. Dores Cruz

Dr. M. Dores Cruz

EMERITUS ADVISOR

M. Dores Cruz graduated from Binghamton University (SUNY) with a Ph.D. in anthropology. Her interests are interdisciplinary and cross both archaeology and socio-cultural anthropology, focusing particularly in archaeology of the recent past, heritage studies and landscape archaeology in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in Europe. Her research is cross-disciplinary, intersecting with historical archaeology, African Studies and landscape anthropology, and with special interests in landscapes, colonialism, material culture, and social construction of memory. Her current research focuses in the biography of a landscape in Southern Mozambique during the 19th and 20th centuries.

She has held a number of international teaching and research positions, most recently at the Universities of Cologne and Freiburg (Germany), at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Denver. Currently, Dores is the English editor for Nyame Akuma, the Society for Africanist Archaeologists bulletin.

 

Dennis Murphy

Dennis Murphy

AIA LIASON

Dennis Murphy is a long time member of the AIA and an avid “avocational archeologist”. He is focused on the study of ancient water systems, primarily in Southern Turkey, and has presented the results of his work at AIA annual meetings and international conferences. He holds a Liberal Arts Degree from the University of Calif. At Long Beach and is an active member of several European Archaeological Societies (Frontinus Gesellshaft & Deutsche Wasserhistorische Gesellschaft) through which he publishes the results of his studies. When not researching ancient water systems he is engaged in the aerospace industry and is currently a consultant on the NASA Orion Mars Exploration Spacecraft program.

Jim Jansson

Jim Jansson

EMERITUS ADVISOR

Jim is 1967 graduate of the University of New Mexico where he majored in history with minors in biology and anthropology. He served nearly five years in the United States Navy as a Naval Intelligence Officer. Jim has participated in 16 seasons of archaeological excavation and/or survey work in Calabria, Italy working on Hellenized Italic and Greek sites. He has also served twice as the President of the Denver AIA and presently sits on both the board of directors of the Foundation of Calabrian Archaeology and the board of trustees for the Archaeological Institute of America based in Boston. In addition, he serves on the Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Society Committee, Chairman of Outreach Grant sub-Committee, and Nominating Committee for the Archaeological Institute of America. He is a senior vice president of RBC Wealth Management where he oversees a number of investment portfolios.

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