Braden Dison earned an M.A. in anthropology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). His primary research interests include the development of social complexity throughout the Southeast, with particular focus on the rise of monumentality and the cultural augmentation of landscape.

Kate Manning earned her M.A. in anthropology from Mississippi State University. Kate has over a decade of experience on all phases of archaeological investigations in the southeast with extensive work in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. She is an FAA Part 107 sUAS licensed drone operator, with over six years of experience in drone photography and mapping. Kate’s primary research interests are lithic technologies, prehistory of the southeast with a focus along the Tennessee River Valley, and the application of GNSS and RTK mapping in Cultural Resource Management.

Kristen Koors received her B.A. in anthropology and a Master of Library Information Studies from The University of Alabama. Ms. Koors has 24 years of experience in the Cultural Resources Management field and has facilitated government-to-government consultations between 19 sovereign American Indian nations and tribes and various federal agencies (National Guard, Dept. of Defense, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority) since 2007. Ms. Koors has experience working with the National Park Service; the U.S. Corps of Engineers, Mobile and Savannah Districts; and the Alabama Department of Transportation, as well as managing cultural resources projects for the Army Environmental Command; Army Medical Command, Hampton Roads Naval Museum; Great Lakes Naval Museum; Fort Benning and Fort Stewart Military Installations; and several private engineering and environmental companies. She brings her experience, organizational skills, and reputation as a well- respected advocate for American Indian issues. She has also served as lead co-author on one of the first Traditional Cultural Properties (TCP) identification studies in the State of Alabama. The study resulted in the location and documentation of five TCPs along with a written record of the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century history of a little studied area in the state.

Alysia Leon earned her M.A. in archaeology from Southern Illinois University of Carbondale. Alysia has over a decade of experience on all phases of archaeological investigations throughout the United States and Latin America with extensive work in federal NHPA Compliance. Her archaeological interests include mortuary archaeology, ancestral veneration, and agricultural subsistence practices.

Ross is an Afghanistan war veteran who served as an infantryman in the US Army.  He received his B.A. and M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Ross has experience working on CRM projects in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. His regional areas of interest include the Tennessee River Valley and the northern Gulf Coastal Plain. His topical areas of interest include Mississippian archaeology, social organization, geoarchaeology, lithic technology, political economy, and the history of archaeology.

Rebekah Dutton received her M.A. in ancient Near Eastern archaeology from Wheaton College and has over 9 years of experience in all levels of archaeological excavation throughout Israel, as well as the southeastern United States. Rebekah has published research on ritual zoomorphic figurines in Palestinian Exploration Quarterly, as well as presented at various conferences. Her research interests include domestication as a technology, the chaîne opératoire of equid culture in the ancient world, as well as the use of animals in divine symbolism and ritual.

James Roncki earned his B.A. in anthropology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He serves as a field director for TVAR. James has worked on archaeological projects of various phases across the southeastern United States.

Keenan Drake received his B.A. in anthropology from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Keenan has over two years of CRM experience in all levels of archaeological field work across the southeastern United States while working with TVAR. Keenan spends his summers in Greece on the Mochlos Archaeological Project and his primary interest is prehistoric Aegean civilizations.

Jonah Vitollo has over four years of CRM experience. He has worked on all levels of archaeological field work, including cave mapping and shoreline investigations, throughout the southeastern United States. Jonah’s interests include prehistory of the southeast and historical archaeology.

Roberto Ortega received his B.A. in classics and anthropology from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. His interests lie primarily in Mesoamerican, Ancient Near Eastern, and Medieval Spanish art, architecture, and ethnography.

Jarod Duke received his B.A. in anthropology from Mississippi State University. His interests are primarily in the prehistory of Mississippi and Alabama. He is also interested in in the prehistory of both the southeastern and southwestern United States.

Kassandra Ayala earned a B.A. in anthropology with minors in religious studies and Latin American and Caribbean studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Their interests include Mesoamerican history/ethnohistory and intersectionality in prehistoric, historical, and contemporary societies.

Logan Ostrom earned a B.A. in anthropology with a minor in GIS at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He has an interest in the effects of climate change to prehistoric societies. He is also interested in historic archaeology from the 19th century.

Scott Shaw received a B.S. degree in geography from the University of North Alabama and completed numerous graduate courses in geography at the University of Alabama. He worked as an archaeologist between 1989 and 1995 on survey and excavation projects throughout the southeastern United States. Scott has been active in recording, mapping, photographing, and researching caves for over 30 years. He currently serves as cave file director and board member of the Alabama Cave Survey and is presently Archives Division Chief for the National Speleological Society.

Michael Lee worked for 30 years in construction before joining TVAR as an Archaeological Mechanical Excavator. He has eight years of experience in mechanical stripping and trenching at over 40 Native American, African American, and Euroamerican sites in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Preservation & Research Team

Jillian Rael received a B.A. in art history/photography and a M.A. in history, concentrated in domestic architecture of the antebellum South, from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Jill is a Certified Archives Manager, awarded from the Tennessee State Library and Archives where she worked as Assistant Director of the Stones River Regional Library. She has a strong background in public service, providing a wide range of experience collaborating with government agencies and non-profits. Jill’s M.A. thesis and continued personal research centers on the relationship between architectural expression and class-identity in the South.

Brittney Carnell received a B.A. in international relations and global affairs with minors in French and anthropology from Eckerd College. She also received a M.A. in history with a concentration in secondary education from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and taught Advanced Placement world history prior to joining TVAR. Brittney’s research interests include southern history, historical archaeology, and mortuary practices.

Shanda Davidson received her M.A. in history with a concentration in public history and historic preservation from the University of West Georgia. Ms. Davidson was the Historic Programs Assistant at the Alabama Historical Commission before moving to the private sector of cultural resource management. Ms. Davidson’s professional experience covers an array of survey and Section 106 compliance projects for federal, state, and local entities as well as private sector clients. Ms. Davidson also worked as a docent at the Frank Lloyd Wright-Rosenbaum House in Florence, Alabama where she researched and studied the Usonian architectural style and the concept of organic architecture. Her other research interests include the development of Ranch house subdivisions after World War II and transportation architecture including buildings and structures related to both the automobile and railroads.

Richard Krause received his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and archaeology from Yale University in 1967. He serves as a Research Affiliate at TVAR. Dr. Krause has taught anthropology at the University of Nebraska, The Ohio State University, and University of Missouri as well as the University of Alabama where he chaired the anthropology department from 1974 to 1981. He has conducted field research in the Great Plains, Alaska, South Africa, Yucatán, and the southeastern United States. He has also done ethnographic research among American Indians and several South African Bantu speaking groups. Dr. Krause has served on the boards of directors of a number of scholarly associations, including the Plains Anthropological Society, the Council on Alabama Archaeology, and the Alabama Historical Commission. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Plains Archaeological Society in 2011. Dr. Krause receives infrastructure and staff support from TVAR while conducting his research in the Tennessee Valley, serves as a company advisor, and occasionally participates in cultural resource management projects for TVAR.

Laboratory Team

Heather Bass received a B.A. in anthropology from Mississippi State University. Her interests center on the prehistory of southeastern North America with a primary focus on ceramics.

Mindy Rogers received her M.A. in anthropology from Texas State University. Mindy has five years of combined forensic and archaeological experience in both the field and lab in Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, and the Dutch Caribbean. Her research interests include biological anthropology with an emphasis in forensic and dental anthropology, as well as bioarchaeology. GIS, Remote Sensing &

GIS & Mapping Team

Katie Weis received a B.S. in anthropology from Troy University and minored in GIS. Her primary interests are GIS applications in anthropology.

Katie Breiding received a B.S. in earth systems science with a concentration in human dimensions and societal impacts from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Her main interest is in the use of GIS technologies in monitoring resource management and the interactions between societies and their environments.