CHI Fellow Introduction: Nikki Silva

Hi there! My name is Nikki Silva and I’m a 4th year PhD student in the Department of Anthropology where I focus in archaeology. I received my B.S. in Anthropology from Baylor University in 2012 and my M.A. in Anthropology from MSU in 2014. My research focuses on how cultural interaction affects community organization and the use of space. For my dissertation I will examine the Morton Village site in the Central Illinois River Valley as a case study of cultural interaction.

The Morton Village Archaeological Project is an ongoing collaborative research project between MSU and the Dickson Mounds Museum in Lewistown, IL (near the site). For the past three summers I helped supervise a ‘Taste of Archaeology’ camp, which allowed the public to experience 4 days of the excavations at Morton Village. This experience has shown me the importance of public archaeology and I will use my CHI project to make some of the Morton Village research accessible to the public. I look forward to an exciting year as a CHI fellow!