Madeleine McLeester

I am an environmental archaeologist investigating foodways, human-environment entanglements, and early colonial encounters in eastern North America. My current research focuses on how power dynamics and ceremonialism are embedded into land use practices during the 15th through 20th centuries in the Eastern Woodlands and Prairie Peninsula.  I specialize in pollen and stable isotopic analyzes and use historical records, like aerial photography and ethnobotanical texts, to locate otherwise invisible aspects of past communities. I currently direct a public archaeological project at an early 17th century Native American village at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in northern Illinois.