Joseph Birkmann is a Ph.D student at UNM with interests in the Preceramic southwest. He received his Master's in 2014 and has participated in survey and excavation work throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and the Hawaiian Islands with projects ranging from the Paleoindian through post-contact periods. Joseph’s primary research interests include the Middle Archaic adoption of agriculture in the southern southwest, the analysis of flaked stone technologies, paleoenvironmental reconstruction and hunter-gatherer lifeways. Most recently he has been seen wandering through the deserts of Southeast Arizona, conducting survey and excavation work in the Chiricahua Mountains and Fishhooks Wilderness Area.