Gyles Iannone
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Research Fellow, Trent University Archaeological Research Centre
Education:
Ph.D. Prehistory, University College London (University of London), 1996
M.A. Anthropology, Trent University, 1992
B.A. Honours (first Class) archaeology, anthropology minor, Simon Fraser University, 1990
Faculty Profile
Research Interests:
The Archaeology of Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Human Impact on Ancient Environments, and Collapse; Resilience Theory; Settlement Archaeology; Early Tropical State Formations; Mesoamerica (especially Maya); South and Southeast Asia (especially Myanmar and Cambodia).
Current Research Projects:
Professor Iannone is looking for students interested in the archaeology of resilience with a focus on: early tropical state formations, climate change, human impacts on ancient environments, societal collapse, water management, agroecosystems, settlement studies, societal integration, and urbanization. His three current projects include:
1. Socio-Ecological Entanglement in Tropical Societies (SETS) Project (ongoing)
This project is aimed at mobilizing knowledge concerning socio-ecological issues in the world’s tropical zones, past and present. Such issues include, but are not limited to: population growth, increasing disease rates (e.g., malaria and dengue), growing poverty, deforestation, expansion of agricultural production and monocropping, diminishing biodiversity, food and water security, and the effects of climate change. Archaeologists have a significant role to play in this important research endeavor because the many issues that are impacting contemporary tropical societies are historically contingent. Some of them may have even emerged with the earliest examples of state formation. We therefore require a comprehensive understanding of their root causes if effective mitigation strategies are to be developed. https://www.facebook.com/setsproject/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
2. Integrated History of Residential Patterning, Agricultural Practices, and Water Management at Bagan (IRAW @Bagan) Sub-Project (new)
The ultimate goal of this new research program is to examine shifting levels of household and community resilience at the ancient Burmese (Bamar) capital of Bagan, Myanmar (ca. 9th-late 13th century CE), across a range of significant ecological, climatic, economic, socio-political, and religious changes. This objective will be achieved through a settlement archaeology approach explicitly designed to develop an integrated socio-ecological history for residential patterning, agriculture practices, and water management within the peri-urban (mixed urban-rural) settlement zone immediately surrounding Bagan’s regal-ritual epicenter, which is still clearly defined by remnants of its original wall and moat. This study will provide a necessary counterbalance to our current understanding of this agrarian-based, dispersed urban community, which continues to be biased towards elite-focused monumental architecture, artwork, inscriptions, and historic chronicles.
3. Ongoing Analysis of Data from the Ancient Maya Kingdom of Minanha, Belize (ongoing)
Selected Publications
Macrae, Scott, and Gyles Iannone
*2016 Understanding Ancient Maya Agricultural Terrace Systems through Lidar and Hydrological Mapping. Advances in Archaeological Practice 4(3):371-392.
Akers, Pete D., George A Brook, L. Bruce Railsback, Fuyuan Liang, Gyles Iannone, James W. Webster, Philip P Reeder, Hai Cheng, and R. Lawrence Edwards
*2016 An Extended and Higher-Resolution Record of Climate and Land Use from Stalagmite Mc01 from Macal Chasm, Belize, Revealing Connections Between Major Dry Events, Overall Climate Variability, And Maya Sociopolitical Changes. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 459:268-288.
Iannone, Gyles, Brett Houk, and Sonja Schwake (editors)
*2016 Ritual, Violence, and the Fall of the Classic Maya Kings. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.
McAnany, Patricia A., Jeremy A. Sabloff, Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, and Gyles Iannone
*2016 Leaving Classic Maya Cities: The Potential of Agent-Based Modeling to Provide an Alternative to Apocalyptic Narratives. In Social Theory in Archaeology and Ancient History: The Present and Future of Counternarratives, edited by Geoff Emberling, pp. 259-288. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Isendahl, Christian, Karla Davis Salazar, Nicholas Dunning, Scott Fedick, Joel Gunn, Gyles Iannone, Lisa Lucero, and Vernon Scarborough
*2016 Applied Perspectives on Pre-Hispanic Water Management in the Maya Lowlands: Lessons for the Future. In Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology, edited by Christian Isendahl and Daryl Stump, pp. 1-14. DOI:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199672691.013.22 Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Iannone, Gyles
*2016 Release and Reorganization in the Tropics: A Comparative Perspective. In Beyond Collapse: Archaeological Perspectives on Resilience, Revitalization, and Transformation in Complex Societies, edited by Ronald K. Faulseit, pp. 179-212. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Occasional Paper No. 42. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Helmke, Christophe, Jaime J. Awe, Shawn G. Morton, and Gyles Iannone
*2015 The Text and Context of the Cuychen Vase, Macal Valley, Belize. Maya Archaeology 3, edited by Charles Golden, Stephen Houston, and Joel Skidmore, pp. 8-29. Precolumbia Mesoweb Press, San Franscisco.
Iannone, Gyles, Kendall B. Hills, and Scott Macrae (editors)
2015 Framing a Comparative Analysis of Tropical Civilizations: SETS Project – Phase I (Volume 2). Occasional Papers in Anthropology No. 18, Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough.
Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Maxime, Scott Macrae, Carmen A. McCane, Evan A. Parker, and Gyles Iannone
*2015 The Last Groups Standing: Living Abandonment at the Ancient Maya Center of Minanha, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 26:550-569.
Iannone, Gyles (editor)
2014 Framing a Comparative Analysis of Tropical Civilizations: SETS Project – Phase I (Volume 1). Occasional Papers in Anthropology No. 17, Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough.
Iannone, Gyles (editor)
*2014 The Great Maya Droughts in Cultural Context: Case Studies in Resilience and Vulnerability. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.