Samuel M. Wilson
Professor Emeritus — Ph.D., University of Chicago

Contact
- E-mail: s.wilson@austin.utexas.edu
Interests
Archaeology, ethnohistory; Caribbean, US Southeast
Biography
I'm an archaeologist and historical anthropologist interested in processes of cultural interactions in "contact situations", some of the most difficult and consequential moments in human experience. I am interested in the origins complex forms of social and political organization and the development of governing institutions. I have also studied the relationship of different kinds of information technologies and information flows to social and political structures, from the beginning of writing systems to the impact of information technologies over the last 40 years. My most focused area of specialization is the prehistory, history, and culture of the indigenous people of the Caribbean and the events that took place after the arrival of Europeans. I carried out archaeological research on the small Caribbean island of Nevis for several years.
The expanding impact of the latest revolution in information technology is being felt nearly everywhere, and I have occasionally been surprised at how little attention social scientists have paid to this civilization-changing process. I am a past Director of the University of Texas's program in Technology, Literacy, and Culture, which under Elizabeth Keating's leadership has become the program in Science, Technology, and Society. This program addresses the social impacts of digital technology and aims to enrich higher education and equip students to be thoughtful, broadly educated, and humane citizens and leaders of a world of increasing technological and socio-political complexity.
CV URL
Courses taught: Undergraduate:
Cultures in Contact
Graduate:
Archaeology, Anthropology, and History
The Archaeology of Complex Societies
Quantitative Methods in Archaeology
Recent Publications:
The Archaeology of the Caribbean (2007, Cambridge University Press)
The Prehistory of Nevis(2006, Yale University Publications in Anthropology)
The Emperor's Giraffe (Westview 2000)
The Indigenous People of the Caribbean (1997 University Press of Florida)
Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus (1990, Alabama Press)
Courses
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
31350 • Spring 2017
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM WEL 2.308
CD
(also listed as LAS 324L)
ANT 383M • Quantitative Meths In Archaeol
31435 • Spring 2017
Meets F 10:00AM-1:00PM SAC 5.124
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
31315 • Fall 2016
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM WEL 2.246
CD
(also listed as LAS 324L)
UGS 302 • Archaeology, Science, Humanism
61820 • Fall 2016
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM SAC 5.118
Wr
ID
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
30455 • Spring 2016
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM ART 1.102
CD
(also listed as LAS 324L)
UGS 302 • Archaeology Science & Humanism
61445 • Spring 2016
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM SAC 5.118
Wr
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
30700 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM MEZ 1.306
CD
(also listed as LAS 324L)
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
31560 • Fall 2014
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM BEL 328
CD
(also listed as LAS 324L)
UGS 302 • Archaeology, Science, Humanism
63805 • Fall 2014
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM MAI 220E
Wr
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
31715 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM PAI 3.02
CD
(also listed as LAS 324L)
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
31440 • Fall 2013
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM PHR 2.110
CD
(also listed as LAS 324L)
UGS 302 • Archaeology, Science, Humanism
64820 • Fall 2013
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM MAI 220A
Wr
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
31315 • Spring 2013
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM UTC 4.134
CD
(also listed as LAS 324L)
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
31225 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM GAR 0.102
CD
(also listed as LAS 324L)
UGS 302 • Archaeology: Sci & Humanities
63420 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM SAC 4.120
Wr
ANT 380K • Ethnohistory And Archaeology
31435 • Spring 2011
Meets F 9:00AM-12:00PM SAC 5.124
ANT 398T • Supv Teaching In Anthropology
31585 • Spring 2011
ANT 398T • Supv Teaching In Anthropology
30675 • Spring 2010
Meets T 5:00PM-8:00PM EPS 1.130KA
ANT 398T • Supv Teaching In Anthropology
30785 • Fall 2009
Meets W 9:00AM-12:00PM EPS 1.128
ANT 398T • Supv Teaching In Anthropology
30210 • Spring 2009
Meets T 5:00PM-8:00PM EPS 1.130KA
ANT 398T • Supv Teaching In Anthropology
30945 • Fall 2008
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
30410 • Spring 2008
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM GAR 0.102
(also listed as LAS 324L)
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
29990 • Spring 2007
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM ESB 115
(also listed as LAS 324L)
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact-W
29155 • Spring 2006
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM EPS 1.128
C2
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact
27780 • Spring 2005
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM MEZ 1.306
ANT 326L • Cultures In Contact-Honors-W
26750 • Spring 2004
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM EPS 1.128
C2
Books
The Archaeology of the Caribbean
The Prehistory of Nevis, a Small Island in the Lesser Antilles

Samuel M. Wilson with contributions by Elizabeth Wing, Laura Kozuch, Lee Newsom, and J. Daniel Rogers.
The Prehistory of Nevis, a Small Island in the Lesser Antilles
2006
Yale University Publications in Anthropology
The Emperor's Giraffe and Other Stories of Culture Contact

Samuel M. Wilson
The Emperor's Giraffe and Other Stories of Culture Contact
March 1999
Westview Press
The Indigenous People of the Caribbean

Samuel M. Wilson (editor)
The Indigenous People of the Caribbean
1997
The University Press of Florida
Ethnohistory and Archaeology: Approaches to Postcontact Change in the Americas

J. Daniel Rogers and Samuel M. Wilson (eds.)
Ethnohistory and Archaeology: Approaches to Postcontact Change in the Americas
January 1993
New York: Plenum Press
Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus

Samuel M. Wilson
Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus
October 1990
Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press
Publications
Wilson, S. (2007) The Archaeology of the Caribbean. Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, S., Wing, E., Kozuch, L., Newsom, L. & Rogers, J.D. (2006) The Prehistory of Nevis, a Small Island in the Lesser Antilles. Yale University Publications in Anthropology.
Wilson, S. (1999) The Emperor's Giraffe and Other Stories of Culture Contact. Westview Press.
Wilson, S. & Peterson, L. (2002, September) The Anthropology of Online Communities. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31, 449-467.
Wilson, S. (2001) The prehistory and early history of the Caribbean. In C. Woods (Ed.), The Biogeography of the Caribbean (pp.519-528). Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Wilson, S. (2001) Determinism, Uncertainty, and the Origins of States. In I. Prigogene (Ed.), L'homme devant l'incertain (pp.171-194). Paris: Editiones Odile Jacob.
Wilson, S., Iceland, H.B. & Hester, T.R. (1998, September) Preceramic connections between Yucatan and the Caribbean. Latin American Antiquity, 9(4), 342-352.
Wilson, S. (1997) The Indigenous People of the Caribbean. The University Press of Florida.
Wilson, S. (1993) Ethnohistory and Archaeology: Approaches to Postcontact Change in the Americas. New York: Plenum Press.
Versteeg, A. & Schinckle, K. , and Wilson, S.,(1993, September) Large-scale excavations versus surveys: examples from Nevis, St. Kitts, and St. Eustatius in the Northern Caribbean. Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia, 26, 139-161.\
Wilson, S. (1993) The Cultural Mosaic of the Prehistoric Caribbean. Proceedings of the British Academy Proceedings of the British Academy.
Wilson, S. (1990) Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.