Biography
Dr. Walker is an associate professor specializing in archaeology. He received his Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include political and social organization, landscape archaeology, common poor resources, the relationship between nature and culture, complex societies and agricultural intensification in the Amazon Basin, the Andes, and Bolivia. Dr. Walker currently works in the Amazon Basin and studies how pre-Columbian farmers engineered that environment, showing that the pristine Amazon has in fact been managed and cultivated for thousands of years. He joined the UCF faculty in 2006 and teaches Environmental Anthropology, Anthropology of the Amazon, and Landscape Archaeology.
Island, River, and Field (UNM Press)
Project Archives (STARS at UCF Library)
GIS Graduate Certificate at UCF
Research Specialization
- Political and social organization
- Landscape archaeology
- Environmental archaeology
- Common pool resources
- The relationship between nature and culture
- Complex societies
- Agricultural intensification
- Geographic Information Systems
- Ceramic analysis
- Experimental archaeology
- Amazon Basin
- The Andes
- Bolivia
Highlights
Please visit the News section for Dr. Walker to find the latest information on his accomplishments.
2012:
Dr. John Walker worked with a team that assisted Bolivia with their application to UNESCO for the Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Congratulations on making the list. http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=00011&RL=00627
August 2012:
Congratulations to Dr. John Walker on being promoted to the rank of Associate Professor effective Fall 2012!
March 2010:
Congratulations to Dr. Walker for being awarded an in-house grant of $7,500 in support of his research entitled, “How the Amazon was Built: Reconstructing an Archaeological Landscape in Eastern Bolivia”
December 2009:
April 2009:
Congratulations to the following undergraduate students for winning first place in the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence yesterday:
- Michael Napolitano
- Lourdes Villalta
- Jordon Munizzi
- Trent McRae
- Sara Scott
The students were supervised by Dr. John Walker (see faculty page for profile). Their poster (which will be displayed at the UCF Library) is entitled: Archaeological GIS of the Beni. They were awarded first prize in the Social Sciences II category, which includes a $600 scholarship.
Working with Dr. Walker
My research is located in the Llanos de Mojos, a seasonally flooded savanna in the Bolivian Amazon, but I also use satellite and aerial photographs to study the Amazon from the air. I enjoy working with PhD, MA, and HIM students as they develop research projects that introduce them to graduate scholarship, help them develop their own professional skills, and advance our knowledge of the Amazon. My students have presented their work at professional conferences, and gone on to success in graduate school, and working in a variety of other careers. I can be reached at John.Walker@ucf.edu.
Dr. Walker is looking for graduate students with an interest in:
- Geographic Information Systems
- Archaeology of Amazonia
- Landscape archaeology
- Agricultural intensification
- Political and social organization
- Ceramic analysis
- Experimental archaeology
Examples of research projects conducted by Dr. Walker’s students:
- Analysis of residues from archaeological ceramics in Mojos
- Spatial patterns of raised fields and social organization in the Amazon
- Participatory GIS and flooding in Miami-Dade County, Florida
- LANDSAT data analysis over 50 years to understand changes in wetlands