Claire Milner

Professional Bio

Research Activities and Interests:

Claire McHale Milner is a North American archaeologist who focuses on the Late Prehistoric period of the Upper Great Lakes. Her current research combines ethnohistorical and ceramic style data to investigate the adaptation of forager-farmer populations to high-risk environments. Her interests include tribal societies, ethnohistory, ceramic analysis, and museum studies.

Courses Taught:

• Anth 380 Museology
• Anth 146 North American Indians

Recent Publications:

• Milner, C.M. and John M. O'Shea 1998.  The socioeconomic role of Late Woodland enclosures in northern Lower Michigan.  InAncient Earthen Enclosures of the Eastern Woodlands, edited by R.C. Mainfort, Jr. and L.P. Sullivan, pp. 181-201.  University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
• Milner, C.M. 1998.  Ceramic Style, Social Differentiation and Resource Uncertainty in the Late Prehistoric Upper Great Lakes.  Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
• 2005. The next generation: Museum techniques at Penn State's Matson Museum of Anthropology. In Engaged Anthropology: Research Essays on North American Archaeology, Ethnobotony, and Museology, edited by M. Hegmon and B. S. Eiselt, pp. 238-254. Anthropological Papers, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, No. 94.

Matson Museum Exhibits:

• 1995 - Hieroglyphic Bench at Copan, Honduras

• 1995 - Corn Agriculture in the Americas (with Joshua Borstein)
• 1995 - Weaving in Latin America (with Susan Barsom)
• 1995 - El Dia de Los Muertos: Day of the Dead (with Emily Cierpilowski)
• 1995 - DNA: Blueprint for Life (with Anne Stone)
• 1995 - Evolution Timeline (with Anth 100 students)
• 1996 - DeForest Pottery Collection
• 1997 - Tracking Human Evolution (with Anth 100 students)
• 1997 - Studies in Genetics
• 1997 - The Piltdown Hoax: Triumph of the Scientific Method
• 1997 - Laetoli Footprints
• 1998 - Images of Ourselves (with Carla Ricci)
• 1998 - Rural Crafts in Ethiopia (with Zakia Posey)
• 1998 - Expressing Culture through Style (with Erika Pell)
• 1998 - Windows into the Past (with Maria Gablan)
• 1999 - Jydepotter (with Jaimin Weets)
• 1999 - Sananguatavut: from the real to the unreal (with Sarah Renish)
• 1999 - Afghanistan: Land of Discord (with Anth 100 students)
• 1999 - Life in the Birthplace of Storms: Ancient People of the Aleutian Islands (with Jane LeGrow)
• 1999 - Secrets of the Human Skeleton (with Jaimin Weets)
• 2000 - Expressing Culture Through Music (with Eric Carbonara)
• 2000 - Our Brutish Ancestors? (with Jaimin Weets)
• 2000 - Encountering the Taino
• 2001 - Glimpses into the Pacific (with Anth 100 students)
• 2001 - Pottery and the Dawning of Civilization (with Laura Strauss)
• 2001 - A Tour of Masks (with Elizabeth Nolan)
• 2001 - Congo Images (with Sarah Bent)
• 2001 - The Lingis Collection
• 2001 - Continuity and Change in Native American Commerce (with Anth 100 students)
• 2002 - Adapting to the Rain Forest: People of Lowland South America (with Shelly Becker)
• 2002 - My Legacy Will Be My Student (with Scott Hammerstedt)
• 2003 - Artisans in Afghanistan: Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Skills (with Anth 380 students)
• 2003 - A Journey Across Asia: Enduring Traditions and Customary Goods (with Anth 380 students)
• 2003 - Tameran and Tumbuan Carvings of New Guinea (with Anth 380 students) - -
• 2003 - A Contemporary Cabinet of Anthropological Curiosities
• 2004 - Symbol and Sustenance: Pottery of North Africa (with Anth 380 students)
• 2004 - Time in a Bottle: Uncorking the Cultural History of Beer and Wine (with Erin Lindsay)
• 2004 - Valuing the Creative Expressions of Women's Work (with Katie Greenleaf)
• 2005 - Cross-Cultural Kitsch (with Anth 380 students)
• 2005 - Anthropologists as Crime Scene Investigators (with Adam Klein)
• 2005 - Obsidian in Ancient Mesoamerica (with Jason DeLeon)
• 2005 - Fossil Evidence of Hominin Evolution (with Holly Dunsworth)
• 2005 - Stone Tools and Hominin Evolution (with Holly Dunsworth)
• 2005 - Adapting to the Peruvian Andes(with Caryn Piorkowski)
• 2005 - Wearing Your Identity
• 2005 - Mexican Talavera (with Jeremy Zukas)
• 2006 - Shrinking the Heads of My Enemies: Securing Souls and Seeking Revenge in the Western Amazon Basin (with Anth 380 students)
• 2007 - From Foragers to Factory Workers: Adaptive Strategies Around the World (with Anth 380 students)

• 2007 - Sacred Ritual Objects and Profane Souvenirs (with Tracy Peshoff)

• 2007 - Children's Play (with Tracy Peshoff)

• 2007 - Walk a Mile in My Shoes (with Tracy Peshoff)

• 2007 - Colonial Images of the "Dark Continent" (with Tracy Peshoff)

• 2008 - So You Want to Be an Archaeologist! / Exploring History in the Ground (with Anth 380 students)

• 2008 - The Ceramic Legacy of Dr. Frederick R. Matson (with Tracy Peshoff)