Directory

Biography

Matthew Moriarty serves as Castleton’s Director of Grants and Director of Archaeology. As an archaeologist, Dr. Moriarty has interests in long-distance trade, political economy, and historical ecology. He has participated in archaeological investigations in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Ireland, and various parts of the United States. His long-term investigations in Guatemala at the ancient Maya site of Trinidad de Nosotros highlighted the complexities of Classic Maya trade and the role of the ancient Maya ballgame in daily life. Since 2016, he has directed archaeological investigations in Vermont at the Galick Site, a Precontact Native American and Euro-American historical site at the southern end of Lake Champlain, and at Granger House, a 19^th-century home on the Castleton University campus. Dr. Moriarty recently initiated the Castleton University Digital Archaeology Project (hyperlink to: https://sketchfab.com/CUDAP) to explore the uses of 3D imaging in archaeology.

As Director of Grants, Dr. Moriarty is responsible for coordinating Castleton’s grantmaking efforts, and authors or co-authors institutional or programmatic grants for the university. Recent awards include grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Title III Strengthening Institutions Program, the USDA Community Facilities Program, the Davis Educational Foundation, the J.Warren and Lois McClure Foundation, the Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation, the Bowse Health Trust, the Vermont Community Foundation, the Lake Champlain Basin Program, the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnerships, and various other public and private organizations.

Dr. Moriarty is the coordinator for Castleton’s new Archaeology, Geography, and Applied Anthropology program (hyperlink to: https://www.castleton.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/archaeology-geography-applied-anthropology/). He has been teaching in the Sociology program since 2013.

Education

Ph.D., Tulane University
M.A., Tulane University
B.A., Amherst College

Accomplishments

• Recently initiated the Castleton University Digital Archaeology Project. CUDAP is utilizing 3-D scanning technology to digitally curate precontact and historical period artifacts from Vermont.
• Recent grants include a Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership Collections Grant (2019), the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s Education and Outreach Grant (2017-2019), and the Vermont Community Foundation’s South Lake Champlain Fund Grant (2016-2018).
• The South Champlain Historical Ecology Project has hosted more than 250 adult volunteers, 285 K-12 students, and 70 undergraduates during its three seasons of excavations at the Galick Site.

Selected Papers and Publications

• Moriarty, M.D., E.S. Moriarty, R.Kirk, and B.Garrow. 2018. At the Gateway to Vermont: Recent Investigations at the Galick Site, West Haven, VT.  Poster presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.  Washington, D.C.
• Moriarty, E.S., and M.D. Moriarty. 2018. Kindling Curiosity: Assessing the Early Results of Educational Outreach and Archaeology in the South Champlain Basin, VT.  Paper presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.  Washington, D.C.
• Moriarty, M.D., and E.S. Moriarty. 2017. The Galick Site: Initial Investigations at a Major Precontact Site on the Vermont Shore of Lake Champlain.  Poster presented at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.  Vancouver, BC.
• Moriarty, M.D., A.E. Foias, and E.S. Moriarty. 2016. Articulating Economies in the Land of the Ik’ Lords: Evidence for Markets and Multiple Modes of Exchange in the Motul de San José Polity. Paper presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.  Orlando, FL.
• Moriarty, E.S., and M.D. Moriarty. 2015. A Note on Plaster Floors in an Ancient Maya Port.  Mexicon 37(6):147–153.
• Moriarty, M.D. 2012. History, Politics, and Ceramics: The Ceramic Sequence at Trinidad de Nosotros, El Petén, Guatemala.  In Motul de San José: Politics, History, and Economy of a Late Classic Maya Polity, edited by A.E. Foias and K.F. Emery, pp. 194–228.  Gainesville, University Press of Florida.
• Yorgey, and M.D. Moriarty. 2012. Akté: Settlement, Chronology, and Monuments at the Minor Ceremonial Center of Akté in the Motul de San José Periphery. In Motul de San José: Politics, History, and Economy of a Late Classic Maya Polity, edited by A.E. Foias and K.F. Emery, pp. 250–274. Gainesville, University Press of Florida.
• Dahlin, B.D., D.Bair, T.S. Beach, M.D. Moriarty, and R.E. Terry. 2009. The Dirt on Food: Ancient Feasts and Markets among the Lowland Maya.  In Pre-Columbian Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by J.E. Staller and M. Carrasco, pp. 191–232. New York, Springer.
• Moriarty, and B.R. Just. 2008. A ‘Miniature Stela’ from Trinidad de Nosotros, El Petén, Guatemala. Mexicon 30(3):59–60.
• Cecil, L.G., M.D. Moriarty, R.J. Speakman, and M.D. Glascock. 2007. Feasibility of Field-Portable XRF to Identify Obsidian Sources in Central Petén, Guatemala. In Archaeological Chemistry: Analytical Techniques and Interpretation, edited by M.D. Glascock, R.J. Speakman, and R.Popelka-Filcoff, pp. 506–521. Washington, D.C., American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C.
• Jensen, C.T., M.D. Moriarty, R. Terry, K.D. Johnson, S.D. Nelson, and K.F. Emery. 2007. Settlement Agriculture at a Late Classic Maya Center: Connections Between Soil Classification and Settlement Patterns at Motul de San José, Petén, Guatemala.  Geoarchaeology 22(3):337–357.
• Moriarty, and A.E. Foias. 2007. El Juego de Poder en el Centro del Petén: Evidencia Cerámica sobre Festejos asociados con el Juego de Pelota en La Trinidad de Nosotros, El Petén, Guatemala. In XX Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2006, edited by J.P. Laporte, B. Arroyo, and H. Mejía, pp. 1397–1415. Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Guatemala.
• Webb, E., H.P. Schwarcz, C.T. Jensen, R.E. Terry, M.D. Moriarty, and K.F. Emery. 2007. Stable Carbon Isotope Signature of Ancient Maize Agriculture in the Soils of Motul de San José, Guatemala.  Geoarchaeology 22(3):291–312.