Areas of Expertise
- Colorado Plateau and Great Basin Archaeology
- Range Creek Canyon
- Experimental Archaeology
- Geographic Information Systems
- Farming in the Southwest
- Fremont Food Storage
Background
Shannon Boomgarden began working in archaeology nearly two decades ago and has been involved in Range Creek Canyon since the early 2000s. Shannon’s dissertation summarizes much of the archaeological and experimental research conducted by the field school over the past 16 years. Working with reconstructions of the canyon’s environment around 950 years ago and using experimentally derived data on the costs and benefits of irrigation in Range Creek, Shannon has developed a formal model that predicts when and where irrigation is expected and where it isn’t based on data from experimental fields in Range Creek. This general model is applicable to studying early farmers throughout the American Southwest and is the foundation for studying prehistoric farmers throughout the semi-arid regions of the world. Shannon is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, the Director of the Archaeological Field School, and the Director of the Range Creek Field Station.
Recent Publications
Boomgarden, Shannon A., Duncan Metcalfe, and Ellyse Simons
2019 An Optimal Irrigation Model: Theory, Experimental Results, and Implications for Future Research, American Antiquity (in press).
Boomgarden Shannon A.
2015 Experimental Maize Farming in Range Creek Canyon, Utah. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Boomgarden, Shannon A., Duncan Metcalfe, and Corinne Springer
2014 Prehistoric Archaeology in Range Creek Canyon, Utah: A Summary of Activities of the Range Creek Field Station. Utah Archaeology 27(1): 9-32.
Boomgarden, Shannon A.
2009 An Application of ArcGIS Viewshed Analysis in Range Creek Canyon. Utah Archaeology. Vol. 22(1):15-29.
Posters Presented
Boomgarden, Shannon A., Duncan Metcalfe, Ellyse Simons, and Jared Jackson
2018 Drought Related Site Distribution of Prehistoric Irrigation Farmers. Poster presented at the 2018 Great Basin Archaeological Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Boomgarden, Shannon A., Ellyse Simons, Joel Boomgarden, and Duncan Metcalfe
2018 Costs and Benefits of Fremont Food Storage: Granary Construction Experiments in Range Creek Canyon. Poster presented at the 2018 Great Basin Archaeological Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Boomgarden, Shannon A., Duncan Metcalfe, Elizabeth J. Baldwin, Ellyse Simons, and Corinne Springer
2017 Cist Building Experiment: Investigating Food Storage Costs in Range Creek Canyon, Utah. Poster presented at Archaeology Day, a Natural History Museum of Utah and Utah Division of State History event.
Boomgarden, Shannon A., Duncan Metcalfe, Corinne Springer, Ellyse Simons, and Elizabeth Baldwin
2017 Four Years of Maize Farming Experiments in a Semi-Arid Environment. Poster presented at the Utah Professional Archaeological Counsel, Spring Meeting, Price, Utah.
Boomgarden, Shannon A., Corinne Springer, Isaac Hart, Michelle Knoll, David Potter
2014 Experimental Maize Farming in Range Creek Canyon, Utah: Year One. Poster presented at the 2014 Society for American Archaeology meetings, Austin TX.
Boomgarden, Shannon A.
2008 Investigating Storage Strategies in Range Creek Canyon. Poster presented at the 2008 Great Basin Archaeological Conference. Portland, Oregon
Boomgarden, Shannon A.
2008 Viewshed Analysis of Stored Resources in Range Creek Canyon. Poster presented at the 2008 Society for American Archaeology meetings, Vancouver B.C.