Timothy Parsons

PhD candidate, advisor Dr. William Parkinson; BA (2003) Millsaps College, Jackson, MS

Hello! My primary research interests lie in eastern European prehistory, although I spent two years prior to beginning my graduate work creating interpretive programs based around historic archaeology in northwestern Virginia, not far from DC. These days, I'm specifically interested in studying the kurgan pit burials in eastern Hungary. The goal is to determine if the distribution of kurgans and their potential cultural and temporal identification represents a long-range, long-term patterned migratory behavior into the region, and to determine if patterns of spatial relationship reflect origins or align with cultural phases. This will help us understand the social and political transformations that took place at the end of the Copper Age, and could shed light on the spread of the Indo-European language family into the European continent.

I have done previous field research in southeastern Hungary, Albania, and Loudoun Country, Virginia. My other interests include techniques in large-scale regional research, prehistoric imperial economies, environmental degradation and its societal and cultural impact, and the archaeology of post-colonial Mid-Atlantic North America.