Dr. Ana Navas Mendez
Assistant Professor
Office
SCH Schroeder Hall 332
Office Hours
Friday 10:00 am – 12:00 pm and by appointment.
Office Phone
Email
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Selected Research
Biography
I am a historical archaeologist interested in studying colonization processes in Latin America founded on theories about materiality and agency from a postcolonial perspective. My research addresses questions about the differential impact of European commodities on local communities, and the political, economic, social, and symbolic repercussions triggered by the adoption of foreign materials and technologies.
Current Courses
ANT 486.001 Advanced Archaeological Theory
ANT 386.001 Archaeology Theory
ANT 197.001 Lost Continents and Alien Pyramids
Research Interests & Areas
Historical archaeology, material culture, technology, colonialism and postcolonialism, communities of practice, cultural heritage, indigeneity, metals and ceramics; Venezuela and Panama.
Post-Doc
New College of Florida
Sarasota, FL
PhD
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
MS
Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC)
Caracas, Venezuela
BA
Universidad Central de Venezuela
Caracas, Venezuela.
New Faculty Initiative Grant
Illinois State University
2025
College of Arts and Science Travel Fund
Illinois State University
2024
Consortium for Faculty Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship
Consortium for Faculty Diversity
2021
University Graduate Continuing Fellowship
University of Texas at Austin
2020
Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant (Number 1811858)
National Science Foundation NSF
2018
Global Research Fellowship
The University of Texas at Austin
2017
NSF-Subsidy Program for Geoarchaeological Analysis (Grant # 1912776)
Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Missouri Research Reactor
2017
Tinker Field Research Grant
Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
2017
Graduate Recruitment Fellowship
The University of Texas at Austin
2014
First Place in Subarea of Archaeology and Paleontology
XV Venezuelan Conference of Microscopy and Microanalysis (CONVEMI)
2012
R.F. Tylecote Memorial Fund for research and travel
The Historical Metallurgy Society (HMS)
2011
Newsletter
In the Lab - Florida Style: Analyzing Panamanian majolica production in the lab
Ana M Navas Mendez, Ariana Guerrin.
Time Sifters Newsletter, (2023)
Presentations
The paradox of secrecy: Pottery in the Archaeology of Colonial Panama.
Ana Navas Mendez.
2025 Latinx Heritage Month, Normal, October, 2025
Challenging the Tales of Extinction: Natives in Historical Representations and the Analysis of Panama Viejo Ceramic Collections.
Ana Navas Mendez.
90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), Denver, CO., April, 2025
Characterization of Mendoza and Cortezo pigments: communities of practice and ceramic production in pre-Columbian Panama (AD 1300-1500)
Ana M Navas Méndez, Brandi MacDonald, Daniel Pierce.
89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), New Orleans, April, 2024
Communities of practice and Panamanian majolica production
Ana María Navas Méndez, Daniel Pierce, Mary Ownby, Brandi MacDonald, Michael Glascock.
88th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), Portland, March, 2023
Communities of practice during the Late Pre-Columbian period in the Gran Coclé and Gran Darién, Panama.
Ana María Navas Méndez, Daniel Pierce, Brandi MacDonald, Michael Glascock, Mary Ownby, Richard Cooke.
Paper presented at the 87th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), Chicago, March, 2022
Colonial utilitarian wares and the configuration of constellations of practice in Panama.
Ana María Navas Méndez.
86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), Austin, April, 2021
Arqueología en tiempos de pandemia: retos y estrategias desde la perspectiva de una arqueóloga venezolana.
Ana M Navas Méndez.
Testimonios de la Arqueología en Tiempos de Pandemia: comentarios reales, Perú, September, 2020
Pinturas y cerámica: Caracterización química con LA-ICP-MS de los pigmentos de la cerámica Mendoza y Cortezo Red-Buff del Centro de Panamá.
Ana M Navas Mendez.
II Congreso de Antropología e Historia de Panamá,, Panamá, June, 2019
Tales of extinction: Natives in the narratives of early colonial Panama, historical representations, and archaeology.
Ana M Navas Méndez.
84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), Albuquerque, April, 2019