D.r. Turner Mphil

Biography

Daniel R. Turner holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Alabama (2010) with specializations in medieval history and the archaeology of complex societies. He received an M.Phil in Archaeological Research from the University of Cambridge (2012) after completing a dissertation on comparative labor costs of early medieval earthwork enclosures in the British Isles. Prior to joining the SETinSTONE project in January 2016, he served as a Staff Archaeologist for Panamerican Consultants, Inc. (PCI), one of the largest cultural resource management firms in the United States. As Field Director of the PCI Tuscaloosa office, Daniel completed 53 technical reports on surveys covering over 4,000 acres, as well as salvage excavations on sites spanning 12,000 years of human habitation in the U.S. Southeast. He has successfully completed heritage management contracts for eight federal agencies, three state departments of transportation, and two branches of the U.S. Military, as well as several municipal and private engineering offices.

Research Interest

Daniel’s research interests focus primarily on labor and demography in preindustrial societies, with particular emphasis on architectural energetics of earthworks. Broad themes that continue to fascinate him include warfare, monumentality, and responses to environmental change. Previous case studies have included the former wooden palisade at the paramount chiefdom of Moundville in western Alabama, defensive networks in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in southern Turkey, and Viking Age earthworks in the United Kingdom and Ireland.