Sheryl Luzzadder Beach

Professor and Associate Chair Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Telephone: (703) 993-1213 Email: slbeach@gmu.edu Office: 238 Research Hall

Expertise

• Physical Geography
• Earth Systems Science
• Hydrology
• Water Chemistry
• Geoarchaeology
• Spatial Statistics
• Global and Environmental Change

Recent Publications

• Sh. Luzzadder-Beach and T. Beach. 2009. Arising from the Wetlands: Mechanisms and Chronology of Landscape Aggradation in the Northern Coastal Plain of Belize, Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Vol. 99(1):1-26.
• T. Beach, Sh. Luzzadder-Beach, N. Dunning, J. Jones, J. Lohse, T. Guderjan, S. Bozarth, S. Millspaugh, and T. Bhattacharya. (2009). A Review of Human and Natural Changes in Maya Lowlands Wetlands over the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews. Vol. 28:1710-1724.
• N. Dunning, T. Beach, and Sh. Luzzadder-Beach. 2009. Creating a stable landscape: soil conservation among the ancient Maya. Chapter 4 in: The Archaeology of Environmental Change: Socionatural Legacies of Degradation and Resilience. Chris. T. Fisher, J. Brett Hill, and Gary M. Feinman (eds.), University of Arizona Press, Tucson AZ, pp. 85-105.
• T. Guderjan, T. Beach, Sh. Luzzadder-Beach, S. Bozarth. 2009. Understanding the Causes of Abandonment in the Maya Lowlands. Archaeological Review from Cambridge. Vol. 24(2): 119-122.
• Sh. Luzzadder-Beach and T. Beach, 2008. Water Chemistry Constraints and Possibilities for the Ancient and Contemporary Maya Wetlands. The Journal of Ethnobiology: The Mesoamerican Landscape/Legacy of the Maya Forest, Vol. 208 (2):211-230.
• T. Beach and Sh. Luzzadder-Beach, 2008. Geoarchaeology and Plain Aggradation around Kinet Höyük, an Archaeological Mound in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey. Geomorphology. Vol. 101(3): 416-428.
• T. Beach, Sh. Luzzadder-Beach, N. Dunning, and D. Cook. 2008. Human and Natural Impacts on Fluvial and Karst Depressions of the Maya Lowlands, Geomorphology. Vol. 101(1-2): 308-331.
• Sh. Luzzadder-Beach and T. Beach, 2006. Wetlands as the Intersection of Soils, Water, and Indigenous Human Society: Patterns in the Americas. Chapter 5 in: Soils and Societies: Perspectives from Environmental History, (J. McNeill and V. Winiwarter, eds.). The White Horse Press: Isle of Harris, UK. pp. 90-117.
• T. Beach, Sh. Luzzadder-Beach, and N.P. Dunning. 2006. Soils and History in Meso- and North America. Chapter 4 in: Soils and Societies: Perspectives from Environmental History. John McNeill and Verena Winiwarter (eds), The White Horse Press, Isle of Harris, UK., pp. 51-90.
• N. Dunning, T. Beach, and Sh. Luzzadder-Beach. 2006. Environmental Variability Among Bajos in the Southern Maya Lowlands and its Implications for Ancient Maya Civilization and Archaeology. Chapter 5 in: PreColumbian Water Management: Ideology, Ritual, and Power. Lisa Lucero and Barbara Fash (eds.), University of Arizona Press, Tucson AZ, pp. 81-99.
• T. Beach, N. Dunning, Sh. Luzzadder-Beach , J. Lohse, D.E. Cook. 2006. Impacts of the Ancient Maya on Soils and Soil Erosion in the Central Maya Lowlands. Catena 65(2): 166-178.
• T.H. Guderjan, T. Beach, S. Bozarth, C. Hanratty, Sh. Luzzadder-Beach, and T. Preston. n.d. New Information about the Demise of a Maya City: Fieldwork at Blue Creek, Belize, 2006 and 2007. Accepted for publication by Mexicon. In Press for 2009.
• N. Dunning, D. Wahl, T. Beach, J.G. Jones, Sh. Luzzadder-Beach, C. McCormick. n.d. The End of the Beginning: Drought, Environmental Change, and the Preclassic to Classic Transition in the Maya Lowlands. Ch. 3 in: The Great Maya Droughts in Cultural Context, Gyles Iannone (Ed.), accepted for publication by University Press of Colorado. Expected in 2011.

Research

• Ancient Maya Land and Water Use in Central America: Belize and Guatemala:
• 2009-2012. "Collaborative Research: Perennial Wetland Formation and Human Adaptation in NW Belize.” PIs: Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach (GMU), and Tim Beach (Georgetown University). National Science Foundation- BCS-Geography and Geospatial Sciences. Award # 0924501. NSF Weblink: NSF Awards
• 2009-2011. “Landscape Succession in Lowland Maya Archaeology.” PIs: Stephen Houston and Tom Garrison, Brown U. National Science Foundation- BCS-Archaeology. Award # 840930.
• Reconstructing Human-Environment Interactions in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey. Geomorphology Article
• Earth Science Education: "Project GeoSTART: Geospatial Thinking and Resources for Teachers of Earth Science and Physical Geography" Weblink: GeoSTART

Academic and Professional Activities

• Dynamic Atmosphere and Hydrosphere
• Spatial Analysis
• Reconstructing Past Environments/Geoarchaeology
• Hydrosphere
• Earth Systems Science Seminar
• Physical Geography
• Geographic Thought
• Human Geography