Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
M.A. Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
B.A. Archaeology, Boston University

Illinois Experts Profile

Alleen Betzenhauser joined the American Bottom Field Station in 2006 and has served as the Field Station Coordinator since January 2018. She had the opportunity to supervise field survey, testing, and data recovery efforts at several Late Woodland and Mississippian period sites located throughout the American Bottom region. Most notable is her role in the field work, analysis, and reporting stemming from the large-scale investigations at the East St. Louis Precinct as part of the New Mississippi River Bridge project.

Alleen developed an interest in the complex societies of the Western Hemisphere as an undergraduate studying Mayan archaeology at Boston University. She decided to shift focus to Mississippian archaeology in Illinois for her graduate studies under the guidance of Dr. Timothy Pauketat. Alleen completed her dissertation titled, “Creating the Cahokian Community: The Power of Place in Early Mississippian Sociopolitical Dynamics,” in 2011. She incorporated geophysical survey, GIS, excavation, and ceramic and lithic analysis to address how local groups within the American Bottom region negotiated and helped contribute to the construction of the Cahokian community and polity at the beginning of the Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 1050). She maintains an interest in field methods, mapping, spatiality, ceramic and lithic analysis, and public outreach. 

Journal Articles and Letters

2023  Timothy R. Pauketat, Susan M. Alt, Alleen M. Betzenhauser, Jeffery D. Kruchten, and Erin M. Benson. Cahokia as Urban Anomaly. Journal of Urban Archaeology.

2019  Thomas E. Emerson, Kristin M. Hedman, Tamira K. Brennan, Alleen Betzenhauser, Susan M. Alt, and Timothy R. Pauketat. Interrogating Diaspora and Movement in the Greater Cahokian World. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-019-09436-8/

2017  Timothy A. Kohler, Michael E. Smith, Amy Bogaard, Gary M. Feinman, Christian E. Peterson, Alleen Betzenhauser, Matthew Pailes, Elizabeth C. Stone, Anna Marie Prentiss, Timothy J. Dennehy, Laura J. Ellyson, Linda M. Nicholas, Ronald K. Faulseit, Amy Styring, Jade Whitlam, Mattia Fochesato, Thomas A. Foor, and Samuel Bowles. Greater Post-Neolithic wealth disparities in Eurasia than in North America and Mesoamerica. Nature Letter. doi:10.1038/nature24646.

2017  Alleen Betzenhauser and Steve Boles. Creatures and the Cosmos: Images in Clay and Stone. Illinois Antiquity 52(3):5–9.

2016  Michael Brent Lansdell, Alleen Betzenhauser, and Tamira Brennan. Wings, Warriors, and Weeping Eyes: Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Ramey Incised Motifs at the East St. Louis Precinct. Illinois Archaeology Vol. 28.

2015  Alleen Betzenhauser, Timothy R. Pauketat, Elizabeth Watts Malouchos, Neal H. Lopinot, and Dan Marovitch. The Morrison Site: Evidence for Terminal Late Woodland Mound Construction in the American Bottom. Illinois Archaeology, Illinois Archaeological Survey, Springfield.

2008  Alleen Betzenhauser. Washausen Site Investigations. Illinois Antiquity, 43(2):8.

2005 Alleen Betzenhauser. The Old Man Site #3 (11MS342): A Lohmann Phase Farmstead.  Illinois Archaeology 14:73–89.

Edited Volumes

2023  Alleen Betzenhauser. Nixtamalization and Cahokian Cuisine. In Cuisine in the Ancient Midcontinent, edited by Susan M. Kooiman, Jodie A. O’Gorman, and Autumn M. Painter. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa. 

2021  Elizabeth Watts Malouchos and Alleen Betzenhauser, Editors. Reconsidering Mississippian Communities and Households. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.

2021  Elizabeth Watts Malouchos and Alleen Betzenhauser. Unpacking Storage: Implications for Community-Making during Cahokia’s Mississippian Transition. In Reconsidering Mississippian Communities and Households, edited by Elizabeth Watts Malouchos and Alleen Betzenhauser. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.

2019  Alleen Betzenhauser and Timothy R. Pauketat. Elements of Cahokian Neighborhoods. In Neighborhoods from the Perspective of Anthropological Archaeology, edited by David Pacifico and Lise Truex. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C.

2018  Alleen Betzenhauser. Exploring Measures of Inequality in the Mississippian Heartland. In Ten Thousand Years of Inequality, edited by Timothy Kohler and Michael E. Smith. Amerind Studies in Archaeology Series. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

2018  Alleen Betzenhauser, Tamira Brennan, Michael Brent Lansdell, Sarah Harken, and Victoria Potter. Chronological Implications and External Connections within the East St. Louis Precinct Ceramic Assemblage. In Revealing Cahokia’s Urbanism: Rediscovery and Large-Scale Excavations of the East St. Louis Precinct, edited by Thomas E. Emerson, Brad H. Koldehoff, and Tamira K. Brennan. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

2017  Alleen Betzenhauser. Cahokia’s Beginnings: Mobility, Urbanization, and the Cahokian Political Landscape. In Mississippian Beginnings, edited by Gregory D. Wilson, University of Florida Press, Gainesville.

Edited Reports

2019  Alleen Betzenhauser. East St. Louis Precinct Terminal Late Woodland Features. Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report No. 46, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

2019  Tamira K. Brennan, Michael Brent Lansdell, and Alleen Betzenhauser. East St. Louis Precinct Mississippian Ceramics. Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report No. 45, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

2018  Alleen Betzenhauser. East St. Louis Precinct Terminal Late Woodland Ceramics. Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report No. 42, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Reports and Report Contributions

2020 Alleen Betzenhauser and Brent Lansdell, Editors. Archaeological and Geomorphological Testing for the Dupo Interchange Project: Report #1 Area West of I-255. Archaeological Testing Short Report prepared for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

2020 Alleen Betzenhauser. Summary of Excavations at 11S2090 for ISAS Log 18056, IDOT Seq. 18729A/B, St. Clair County, Illinois. Memo prepared for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

2020 Alleen Betzenhauser. Summary of Excavations at 11S870 and 11S2178 for the Lakeside Estates Archaeological Project, St. Clair County, Illinois. Memo prepared for Lakeside Estates, LLC.

2020 Alleen Betzenhauser. Burial Mitigation and Preservation Field Summary for HSRPA #2020-5, Lakeside Estates Archaeological Project, St. Clair County, Illinois. Memo prepared for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

2012  Alleen Betzenhauser. The Prehistory of Turkey Hill: Archaeological Investigations along Illinois Route 13/15 (FAP-103) Belleville to Freeburg, St. Clair County, Illinois. Transportation Archaeological Research Reports, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, University of Illinois, Champaign.

2011  Alleen Betzenhauser. Archaeological Testing Short Report for the Perrackson Site (11PY198), Perry County, Illinois. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, University of Illinois, Champaign.

2010  Alleen Betzenhauser. Archaeological Testing Short Report for the Crowley Site (11MS2208), Madison County, Illinois. Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana.

2008  Jennifer Howe and Alleen Betzenhauser.  Archaeological Testing Short Report No. 344 for the Halloween Site (11J1196), Jackson County, Illinois. Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign 

2010 Midwest Archaeological Conference Student Paper Competition– 1st Place

2006 Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology Permanent Fund

2001 Alice M. Brennan Humanities Fellowship, Boston University.

Society for American Archaeology
Southeastern Archaeological Conference
Midwest Archaeological Conference
Illinois Archaeological Survey