Hector Neff
Hector Neff earned his Ph.D. at UC Santa Barbara, spent four years at the Smithsonian as a post-doc, and 12 years at the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center before returning to California for a position at ºÚÁÏÍø in 2002. He is an archaeologist whose research has emphasized application of neutron activation analysis and other characterization techniques to artifact provenance studies, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and the archaeology of southern Mesoamerica. Most of his fieldwork has been on the Pacific coast of southern Mexico and Guatemala, although he has worked in Pacific Nicaragua since 2016. In Nicaragua, a recent project confirmed a Middle Archaic period date for the famous Acahualinca footprints. He lives in Diriamba, Carazo, Nicaragua, and occasionally welcomes student visitors who gain fieldwork experience on his projects.
application of elemental characterization to trade and exchange studies in archaeology; scientific approaches to the archaeological record; evolutionary theory; chronometric analysis; archaeology and prehistory of southern Mesoamerica
ANTH 140: Introduction to Archaeology
ANTH 313: World Prehistory
ANTH 448: Prehistory of Mesoamerica
ANTH 450: Artifact Analysis
ANTH 405: Principles of Archaeology
ANTH 451: Artifact Analysis
ANTH 453: Physical Science Techniques in Archaeology
ANTH 478: Cultural Resource Management
ANTH 592: Thesis
Neff, Hector (2024) Fire and Salt: Human Niche Construction and Holocene Landscape Evolution on the Pacific Coast of Southern Mesoamerica. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Neff, H. (editor) (1992) Chemical Characterization of Ceramic Pastes in Archaeology. Prehistory Press, Madison, WI.
Neff, Hector, Heather Thakar, John G. Jones, and Brendan Culleton (in preparation) An environmental record from Ometepe Island, Nicaragua. For submission to Quaternary Science Reviews.
McCafferty, Geoffrey, Andres Mejia Ramón, and Hector Neff (in preparation) Pacific Nicaragua radiocarbon dates: a new chronology and cultural sequence. For submission to Ancient Mesoamerica.
Glascock, Michael D., Hector Neff, and Darlene R. Moore (2023) Compositional characterization of potter and clays from Guam by NAA. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 50 (2023) 104098. ;
Renson, Virginie, Hector Neff, Antonio MartÃnez-Cortizas, Jeffrey P. Blomste, David Cheetham , and Michael D. Glascock (2021) Lead and strontium isotopes as tracers for Early Formative pottery exchange in Ancient Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science, February 2021, 105307. .
Adolf, C., C. Tovar, N. Kuhn, H. Behling, J. C. BerrÃo, G. Dominguez-Vásquez, B. Figueroa-Rangel, Z. Gonzalez-Carranza, G. A. Islebe, H. Hooghiemstra, H. Neff. M. Olivera-Vargas, B. Whitney, M. J. Wooler, and K. J. Willis (2020) Identifying drivers of forest resilience in long-term records from the Neotropics. Biology Letters 20200005. .
Navarro-Castillo, Marx y Hector Neff (2020) Identificando áreas de actividad a través del uso de GPR en la Costa del Soconusco Estudios de Cultura Maya, volumen LV, primavera-verano 2020.
Renson, Virginie, Marx Navarro-Castillo, Andrea Cucina, Brendan J. Culleton, Douglas J. Kennett, and Hector Neff (2019) Origin and diet of inhabitants of the Pacific Coast of Southern Mexico during the Classic Period-Sr, C and N isotopes. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 27 (2019): 101981.
Jadot, Elsa Jadot, Grégory Pereira, Hector Neff, and Michael D. Glascock (2019) Diffusion and imitation of Plumbate ceramics during the Early Postclassic Period (AD 900 – 1200 at the MalpaÃs of Zacapu, Michoacan, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 30(2): 318-332.
Neff, Hector, Frederick W. Lange, Marty Kooistra, Carlos Caro, and Chad Rankle (2019) Sub-tephra archaeology and geochemistry at La Arenera, Managua, Nicaragua form a record of human activity before the Asososca Maar eruption of 2130 B.P. Geoarchaeology DOI: 10.1002/gea.21733.
Neff, Hector, Paul Burger, Brendan J. Culleton, Douglas J. Kennett, and John G. Jones (2018) Izapa’s industrial hinterland: the eastern Soconusco mangrove zone during Archaic and Formative times. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:395-411.
Hill, Mark A., Diana M. Greenlee, and Hector Neff (2016) Assessing the provenance of Poverty Point copper through LA-ICP-MS compositional analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 6: 351-360.
Neff, Hector, Scott J. Bigney, Sachiko Sakai, Paul R. Burger, Timothy Garfin, Richard G. George, Brendan J. Culleton, and Douglas J. Kennett (2016) Characterization of archaeological sediments using FTIR and pXRF: An application to Formative Period pyro-industrial sites in Pacific coastal southern Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Applied Spectroscopy 70(1): 110-127.
Neff, Hector (2006a) OrÃgenes y Evolución de las Tradiciones Cerámicas del Periodo Clásico en la Costa del PacÃfico de Guatemala. En "IconografÃa y Escritura Teotihuacana en la Costa Sur de Guatemala y Chiapas", editado por Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos y Bárbara Arroyo. U TzÃb, Serie Reportes, Volumen 1, Número 5, pp. 17-34. Guatemala: Asociación Tikal.
Neff, Hector (2006b) The Olmec and the origins of Mesoamerican civilization. Antiquity 80: 714-716.
Neff, Hector, Jeffrey Blomster, Michael D. Glascock, Ronald L. Bishop, M. James Blackman, Michael D. Coe, George L. Cowgill, Ann Cyphers, Richard A. Diehl, Stephen Houston, Arthur A. Joyce, Carl P. Lipo, and Marcus Winter (2006) Smokescreens in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 17(1):104-118.
Neff, H., J. P. Blomster, R. L. Bishop, M. J. Blackman, M. D. Coe, G. L. Cowgill, R. A. Diehl, S Houston, A. A. Joyce, C. P. Lipo, B. L. Stark, and M. Winter (2006) Methodological issues in the provenance investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 17(1):54-76.
Neff, H. D. M. Pearsall, J. G. Jones, B. Arroyo, S. Collins, and D. E. Freidel (2006) Early Maya adaptive Patterns: Mid – Late Holocene Paleoenvironmental Evidence from Pacific Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 17(3):287-315.
Neff, H., D. M. Pearsall, J. G. Jones, B. Arroyo, and D. E. Freidel (2006) Climate change and population history in the Pacific Lowlands of southern Mesoamerica. Quaternary Research 65(3):390-400.
