Dr. Benjamin D. Siegel

About

Education:

• Ph.D. Anthropology, 2024, University of California, Berkeley
• M.A.  Anthropology, 2019, University of California, Berkeley
• M.A.  Maritime Studies, 2011, East Carolina University
• M.A.  History, 2007, Emory University
• B.A.   History (cum laude) & Philosophy, 2007, Emory University

Professional Registration: Registered Professional Archaeologist (since 2012)

Experience: 17 years in cultural resource management, 20 years of historical, archaeological, and cultural research 

Dr. Benjamin D. Siegel is the Director of the ASC and a faculty member within Sonoma State University’s Anthropology Department. Dr. Siegel meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Prehistoric Archaeology, Historical Archaeology, and History and he has extensive experience serving as an Archaeological Principal Investigator for projects requiring compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Over the past two decades Dr. Siegel has directed a diverse range of compliance-based and grant-funded cultural heritage projects across California, the eastern United States, the Caribbean, Central America, and Europe. Through these efforts he has gained a great deal of experience developing and managing large-scale archaeological and cultural investigations, coordinating and mobilizing interdisciplinary research teams, and facilitating consultations between project proponents, government agencies, and community stakeholders. 

Dr. Siegel’s doctoral research focused on the outcomes of long-term interactions between humans and the environment of St. Croix, a US Virgin Island. Supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and other granting institutions, this work explores the impacts of centuries of intensified sugarcane planting to the hydrological and soils systems of the island through the archaeological survey of the island’s colonial-era water-management features, geoarchaeological analyses of soils from Estate Little Princess (an active plantation for over 200 years), and community-based ethnographic research with contemporary Crucian farmers. Other grant-based cultural studies Dr. Siegel has directed include the submerged and coastal archaeological investigation of the colonial-era maritime cultural landscape of Bluefields Bay, Jamaica, and archival research at the British Library and British National Archives at Kew Gardens to chronicle the development of Anglo-American Trade Policy in the years following the American Revolution. Findings from these research efforts have been published in the Oxford Handbook of Island and Coastal Archaeology, Springer Publications, and university-based journals. Dr. Siegel’s current research interests include the study of long-term human/environmental interactions, various topics in island, coastal, and underwater archaeology, and the application of archaeological methodologies to address contemporary environmental concerns. 

Throughout his career, Dr. Siegel has remained dedicated to the development of hands-on learning opportunities for students, volunteers, and early career archaeologists. Supported by grants and funding from institutions including the Wenner-Gren Foundation, University of California Berkeley, East Carolina University, the Perseus Book Group, and the UC Hastings Natural History Reservation Dr. Siegel has developed and directed archaeological field schools, apprenticeship programs, and cooperative research laboratory spaces. In these settings Dr. Siegel regularly takes on the role of teacher, supervisor, and mentor for program participants as they practice skills including independent and advanced research and writing, archaeological survey, excavation, and site recordation, ethnographic survey, and laboratory analysis.