Since 2014, I have studied archaeological ceramics using elemental methods: laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (p-XRF). My primary interest is understanding clay pastes, which are the materialization of the recipes and geological landscape knowledge that potters use to craft their wares. Characterizing the geochemical "signature" of clay pastes allows me to trace this landscape knowledge and the sociopolitical relationships of the people who made and used ceramics in the archaeological past.

In 2017, I added thin section petrography to my methodological toolkit, which focuses on characterizing the mineralogy of clay pastes. Together, geochemistry and mineralogy provide invaluable information about intergenerational knowledge transmission, engagements with environmental landscapes, and the sociopolitical dynamics that undergird these processes.