Joyce Marcus is a well known American archaeologist, who has published extensively in the field of Latin American archaeological research. Her particular focus has been on the pre-Columbian cultures and civilizations of Mesoamerica, where much of her fieldwork has been concentrated on the Maya civilization and the cultures of southern-central Mexico in the Valley of Oaxaca and surrounds. Marcus has also conducted and published research into the Andean civilizations of pre-Columbian Peru. Marcus obtained her Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard in 1974. As of 2007) Marcus is a professor in the Department of Anthropology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She also holds the position of Curator of Latin American Archaeology, U-M Museum of Anthropology, and is the Elman R. Service Professor of Cultural Evolution. In 1997 she was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
