tgarriso@usc.edu / (213) 740-1980 / AHF B40
2007 Ph.D., Anthropology, Harvard University
2003 M.A., Anthropology, Harvard University
2000 B.A., Anthropology, Connecticut College
Thomas Garrison is an anthropological archaeologist specializing in Mesoamerica and the application of spatial technologies to the archaeological record. Since 1999, he has conducted fieldwork in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, and Honduras with a particular emphasis on the ancient Maya. Garrison’s doctoral dissertation at San Bartolo, Guatemala, helped contextualize the famous murals from that site within the broader framework of lowland Maya settlement patterns.
He also works in the application of digital spatial technologies in archaeology. He has been involved in developing the use of high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery and radar elevation data to discover archaeological sites in dense sub-tropical forest environments. He continues to form partnerships with scholars in the fields of spatial sciences and remote sensing with the goal of finding new technologies to reduce the time and cost of conducting jungle survey.
In 2007, Garrison began a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University where he continued to develop uses for remote sensing technologies in Maya archaeology. In 2009, he joined Brown colleague Stephen Houston at the site of El Zotz, Guatemala. Garrison served as the director of regional investigations for three years before taking over as director of the Proyecto Arqueológico El Zotz in 2012.
