Rachel Horowitz

  1. Assistant Professor
Email Addressrachel.horowitz@wsu.edu
LocationCollege Hall 208
Phone509-335-4204

Biography

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Education

PhD, Tulane University

Research Interests

Organization of technology, lithic technology, Mesoamerica, Maya, economic organization, political economy, lithic sourcing, experimental archaeology

Current Research

I am an anthropological archaeologist whose research examines ancient Maya economic organization and the role of different actors in these economic activities.  I specialize in the study of lithic technology, using organizational approaches to link tool production to economic organization.  I am currently conducting research in western Belize and eastern Guatemala, although I have previously conducted research in other areas of the Maya world as well as the western and southeastern United States and southern Africa.

My current research combines ongoing investigations in western Belize and eastern Guatemala to develop a multi-sited perspective on Classic period Maya lithic economies. Through this analysis, I will provide a more comprehensive reconstruction of lithic economies and their variability in the Maya lowlands. By analyzing lithic production areas and the household assemblages from households of different socio-economic classes, this project provides a comprehensive overview of production and use activities and their role in broader economies.

Methodologically, my research draws on detailed analyses of lithic production activities and experimental archaeology. I am also beginning a sourcing project, which will attempt to explore chert source variability throughout the region.

Courses

ANTH 101

Introduction to Anthropology Explores what it means to be human through the major subfields of anthropology, including biological anthropology (human evolution and variation.

ANTH 130

Great Discoveries in Archaeology Impact of great archaeological discoveries and the work of archaeologists on our sense of the past.

ANTH 135

Mythbusting in Archaeology A critical exploration of pseudo-scientific claims and fantastical interpretations of archaeological sites and objects in popular media.

ANTH 340

Maya, Aztec, Inka Examination of the great prehistoric civilizations of Mesoamerica and South America. Recommended preparation: ANTH 101, 330, or 336.

ANTH 490

Integrative Themes in Anthropology; 3 Course Prerequisite: ANTH 203; ANTH 230; ANTH 260; ANTH 390; junior standing (senior standing strongly recommended). Current research crosscutting traditional subdisciplines of anthropology. 

ANTH 513

Lithic Technological Organization Methods and theory of lithic technology.

ANTH 545

Political Economy 3 An exploration of anthropological and archaeological approaches to the study of political economy, including theoretical and methodological perspectives. 

Representative Publications

  • Horowitz, Rachel A., And Bernadette Cap, eds. 2026. Ancient Maya Embedded Economies. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Book Cover:Ancient Maya Embedded Economies
  • Horowitz, Rachel A., Marcello A. Canuto, Tomás Barrientos, and Jocelyne M. Ponce. 2025. Production in Urban Spaces: Lithic Production and Economic Organization at La Corona, Guatemala. In The Urban Question: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Investigating the Ancient Mesoamerican City. Lisa Johnson and Arianna Campiani, eds., pp 59-75. Utah of University Press.
  • Horowitz, Rachel A. and Marieka Brouwer-Burg. 2024    Lithics in the Maya Region: Gendered Trends in the Last Decade. Latin American Antiquity 35(2): 348-363.
  • Horowitz, Rachel A., M. Kathryn Brown, Jason Yaeger, and Bernadette Cap. 2024   Animate Stone: Maya Chert ‘Debitage’ and Ontological Perspectives. Archaeologies 20: 177-213.
  • Horowitz, Rachel A., Damien B. Marken, and Juan Carlos Meléndez. 2024 Identifying Elite Crafting: An Assemblage of Stone Modifiers from the Ancestral Maya Site of El Perú-Waka’. Antiquity, 98(402): 1624-1640.
  • Horowitz, Rachel A. (2021). Reducing Risk: Maya Lithic Production and Economic Diversification at Callar Creek Quarry Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica. doi: 10.1017/S0956536120000462
  • Horowitz, Rachel A., Mary E. Clarke, and Kenneth E. Seligson.  (2021). Querying Quarries: Stone Extraction Practices and Socioeconomic Organization in Three Sub-Regions of the Maya Lowlands. Journal of Field Archaeology 46(8): 551-570.
  • Horowitz, Rachel A. and David J. Watt (2020). Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Gunflint Assemblages: Understanding Use, Trade, and Variability in the Southeastern United States. International Journal of Historic Archaeology 24(1): 95-114.
  • Book cover with stone tools and text, Lithic Technologies in Sedentary Societies, Rachel A. Horowitz and Grant S. McCall, editors

    Horowitz, Rachel A. and Grant S. McCall (eds.) (2019). Lithic Technologies in Sedentary Societies. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.