Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Email: massonma@albany.edu
Phone: (518) 442-5199
Office:Arts & Sciences 109

Curriculum Vitae | Publications | Grant Activity | Personal Website

Recent Scientific Accomplishments

Dr. Masson is an archaeologist whose research contributes to the theme of spatial demography. In the most recent period, she has focused on the Postclassic period of the Maya lowlands as Principal Investigator of the Economic Foundations of Mayapán Project. This project analyzes the social and economic dimensions of production and exchange for Mayapán, the largest city of the Postclassic Maya world and one of the most highly urbanized political centers in ancient Mesoamerica. Along with colleagues Carlos Peraza Lope of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and Dr. Timothy Hare (Morehead State University), Masson is analyzing GIS mapping, surface collection, and excavation data from over 160 residential houselots distributed across the city’s 4.5 square kilometer walled area. The team’s surveys outside of the city walls have also revealed that Mayapán was larger and more diverse than previously thought. This research directly pertains to the organization of labor, occupational specialization, health, wealth disparities, and class structure in a crowded demographic setting.
Masson and Peraza are currently preparing a book, Kukulkan’s Realm: The Postclassic Maya City of Mayapán, under contract with the University of Colorado Press, and a data monograph, Urban Life at Mayapan, to be submitted to the University of Pittsburgh Press. Recent publications from these projects have appeared or will soon appear in the journals, Mexicon, Ancient Mesoamerica, and Latin American Antiquity (2005). Numerous books chapters have been written during this period.

Funded Research

During 2003-2005, Masson was the sole PI of a National Science Foundation grant, “The Economic Foundations of Mayapán.” In 2005, she received a grant from Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (“Isotopes and Ethnicity at Mayapán) for skeletal isotope studies of Mayapan.

Future Plans

With the monographs from the Mayapán work well underway, Masson will shortly submit grants for a new cycle of field research at Mayapán. Currently under preparation are proposals to the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Subsequently, proposals will be prepared to the National Endowment for Humanities, the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, and the Wenner Gren Foundation. The proposals are for fieldwork that will take place starting in the spring of 2008.