Charles Koenig
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Sul Ross State University
Center for Big Bend Studies
Ferguson Hall, Suite 114A, Box C-71
Alpine, TX 79832
Phone: 432-837-8366
Fax: (432) 837-8381
Email: charles.koenig@sulross.edu
Charles Koenig, PhD
Charles joined the Center for Big Bend Studies in Fall of 2023. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Wyoming (2023), MA from Texas State University (2012), and BA from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2009). Charles’ research is focused on Indigenous earth oven technology, rock art, caves/rockshelters, and applying photogrammetry to archaeological research. He directed excavations at Eagle Cave, a deeply stratified rockshelter near Langtry, Texas with a 13,000-year record of Indigenous lifeways. Charles is passionate about Indigenous centered projects, teaching mentorship, and collaboration.
Upcoming Courses
Spring 2024: ANTH 1302 (Introduction to Archaeology)
Summer 2024: ANTH 3601 (Archaeological Field School)
Selected Publications
Koenig, Charles W., and Myles R. Miller
2023 Earth Ovens and Desert Lifeways: 10,000 Years of Indigenous Cooking in the Arid Landscapes of North America. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Koenig, Charles W., and Myles R. Miller
2023 Lighting the Fire: An Earth Oven Introduction. In Earth Ovens and Desert Lifeways: 10,000 Years of Indigenous Cooking in the Arid Landscapes of North America, edited by Charles W. Koenig and Myles R. Miller, pp. 1-6. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Koenig, Charles W., Emily R. McCuistion, Stephen L. Black, Charles D. Frederick, J. Phil Dering, J. Kevin Hanselka, Leslie Bush, and Ken L. Lawrence
2023 Using Fire-Cracked Rock to Evaluate Earth Oven Intensification in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas. In Earth Ovens and Desert Lifeways: 10,000 Years of Indigenous Cooking in the Arid Landscapes of North America, edited by Charles W. Koenig and Myles R. Miller, pp. 41-65. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
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.
Pelton, Spencer R., Lorena Becerra-Valdivia, Alexander Craib, Sarah Allaun, Chase Mahan, Charles Koenig, Erin Kelly, George Zeimens, and George C. Frison
2022 In situ evidence for Paleoindian hematite quarrying at the Powars II site (48PL330), Wyoming, USA. PNAS 119(20):e2201005119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201005119
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
Mead, Jim I., Charles W. Koenig, Stephen L. Black, and Christopher J. Jurgens
2021 Late Pleistocene Bighorn Sheep Dung from Eagle Cave, Lower Pecos River, Texas. Southwestern Naturalist 65(2):152-160. https://doi.org/10.1894/0038-4909-65.2.152
Koenig, Charles W., and Stephen L. Black
2019 Plant Baking and Hunter-Gatherer Mobility in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Southwest Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 90:123-150.
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
Koenig, Charles W., Mark D. Willis, and Stephen L. Black
2017 Beyond the Square Hole: Application of Structure from Motion Photogrammetry to Archaeological Excavation. Advances in Archaeological Practice 5(1):54-70. https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2016.8
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