Amanda Castaneda recording bedrock mortars.

Amanda Castañeda, M.A.
Assistant Director
Center for Big Bend Studies
Sul Ross State University
Ferguson Hall, Suite 114B, Box C-71
Alpine, TX 79832
Phone: 432-837-8779
Fax: (432) 837-8381
Email: amanda.castaneda@sulross.edu

Amanda Castañeda, M.A.

Amanda joined the Center for Big Bend Studies in Fall of 2023. She holds a M.A. and B.S. in Anthropology from Texas State University-San Marcos. Amanda’s research interests include ground stone technology and plant diet/subsistence and rock art. She has been a professional archaeologist since 2010 working in various capacities including archaeological technician, project archaeologist, subject matter expert, and program manager. Her background includes working in cultural resource management, non-profit, and State Agency settings. Amanda’s ground stone research has been centered on west Texas and the Permian Basin of New Mexico, and she has completed extensive research on the rock art of Texas and the Rocky Mountains/Great Plains. She looks forward to continuing these themes of investigation in the greater Big Bend region.

Selected Publications

Loendorf, Lawrence L., Karen L. Steelman, and Amanda M. Castañeda 

2023   The Archer and the Shield-Bearing Warrior. American Antiquity, 88:252-260.  

Koenig, Charles W., Amanda M. Castañeda, McKenna Litynski, Todd A. Surovell, and Sarah A. Allaun 

2023   The DeBarard Earth Oven: Hot Rock Cooking in the Laramie Basin. The Wyoming Archaeologist 65(2):40-56. 

Koenig, Charles W., J. David Kilby, Christopher J. Jurgens, Lorena Becerra-Valdivia, Christopher W. Ringstaff, J. Kevin Hanselka, Leslie L. Bush, Charles D. Frederick, Stephen L. Black, Amanda M. Castañeda, Ken L. Lawrence, Madeline E. Mackie, and Jim I. Mead 

2022   A Newly Identified Younger Dryas Component from Eagle Cave, Texas. American Antiquity. 87(2):377-388. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2021.126 

Castañeda, Amanda M. and Mark D. Willis 

2021   Investigating Morphological Variation of Ground Stone Bedrock Features at LA 43414 and LA 121668 on the Mescalero Plain, Southeastern New Mexico. Versar Cultural Resources Report No. 872-2EP. Versar, Inc., El Paso, Texas. 

Castañeda, Amanda M., Charles W. Koenig, Jerod L. Roberts, Victoria L. Roberts, Jay D. Franklin, Carolyn E. Boyd, and Karen L. Steelman 

2019   Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of Red Linear Style Figures at 41VV1000. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 90: 19-34.  

Castañeda, Amanda M., Charles W. Koenig, Karen L. Steelman, and Marvin W. Rowe 

2019   Portable X-ray fluorescence of Lower Pecos painted pebbles: New insights regarding pigment choice and chronology. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 25(2019):56-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.03.013  

Willis, Mark D., Charles W. Koenig, Stephen L. Black, and Amanda M. Castañeda 

2016   Archaeological 3D Mapping: The Structure from Motion Revolution. Journal of Texas Archaeology and History 3:1-36. https://jtah.org/2016/06/04/vol3_article1/ 

Koenig, Charles W., Amanda M. Castañeda, Carolyn E. Boyd, Marvin W. Rowe, and Karen L. Steelman 

2014   Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Pictographs: A Case Study from the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, Texas. Archaeometry 56:168-186. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12060 

Boyd, Carolyn E., Amanda M. Castañeda, and Charles W. Koenig 

2013   A Reassessment of Red Linear Pictographs in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas. American Antiquity 78(3): 456-482. https://doi.org/10.7183/0002-7316.78.3.456