The department has unique strengths in the fields of Mesoamerican (Ashmore, Taube, Fedick, Patterson), Paleolithic (Wilke), Andean (Patterson), and Southwestern (Taube, Patterson, Fedick) archaeology; lithic technologies (Fedick, Wilke); evolution, fossil records, and material artifacts (Lee, Wilke); critical and historical ethnography (Sutherland, Ryer, Gailey, Schwenkel, Ossman, Fay); commodities and their circulation (Ryer, Schwenkel); colonialism and postcolonialism (Patterson, Ossman, Gailey); imperialism and empire (Schwenkel, Patterson); capitalism and state formation (Gailey, Patterson).