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GRIIT
Jacqueline “Jacque” Kocer is an Indigenous archaeologist and the founder and CEO of the Gallina Research Institute for Indigenous Technology (GRIIT). She has mixed Spanish and Indigenous ancestry, with maternal roots in Picuris Pueblo and Northern New Mexico, and is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Her approach to archaeology and cultural heritage management is grounded in respect for Indigenous sovereignty, Ancestral knowledge, and research that directly benefits Indigenous communities.
Jacque earned her PhD in Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeology from the University of New Mexico in 2026. Her dissertation examined ceramic production practices among Gallina communities in northwestern New Mexico between 1100 and 1300 CE. Through the study of technological choices, learning networks, and decorative practices, her research explored how Gallina potters shared knowledge and expressed community identity at household, village, zonal, and regional scales.
Her broader research interests include Indigenous archaeology, Ancestral Puebloan communities, ceramic technology, identity, interregional interaction, and the complex histories of Native New Mexican communities before and after colonial invasion. She has conducted archaeological research throughout the Puebloan Southwest and Great Plains, including work in the Gallina area and Chaco Canyon. Through GRIIT, she leads Native directed archaeological research, provides field training and mentorship for undergraduate students, and works to expand educational and professional pathways for Native American young adults and New Mexico students. Her work reflects a commitment to community-centered cultural heritage stewardship and to strengthening Indigenous representation within archaeology.
Thaddeus Liebert, M.S. Public Archaeology UNM
GRIIT Field Director
Thaddeus has deep roots from Northern New Mexico that includes mixed Indigenous and Spanish ancestry. Thaddeus received his Master’s in Public Archaeology in 2016 with Dr. Bruce Huckell at the University of New Mexico, and a BA in Anthropology from Western State College with Dr. Bonnie Pitblado. He has worked on numerous projects throughout the West, with a specific interest in hunter-gatherer archaeology in the Southwest.
Thaddeus has deep roots from Northern New Mexico that includes mixed Indigenous and Spanish ancestry. Thaddeus received his Master’s in Public Archaeology in 2016 with Dr. Bruce Huckell at the University of New Mexico, and a BA in Anthropology from Western State College with Dr. Bonnie Pitblado. He has worked on numerous projects throughout the West, with a specific interest in hunter-gatherer archaeology in the Southwest.
Thaddeus has extensive experience recording as well as excavating sites ranging from high elevation Ute and Apache hunting camps to Archaic and Paleoindian sites from southern Arizona and New Mexico to the Great Basin and Northern Plains. These undertakings have resulted in numerous CRM reports and academic pieces. His most recent endeavors in New Mexico have consisted of surveys within the Middle Rio Grande Valley, Estancia Basin and the Valles Caldera. This range of field experience ensures that cultural remains and features are documented with accuracy and with a passionate dedication and respect for the ancestors who lived and flourished on this unpredictable landscape in the past.
Thaddeus has extensive experience recording as well as excavating sites ranging from high elevation Ute and Apache hunting camps to Archaic and Paleoindian sites from southern Arizona and New Mexico to the Great Basin and Northern Plains. These undertakings have resulted in numerous CRM reports and academic pieces. His most recent endeavors in New Mexico have consisted of surveys within the Middle Rio Grande Valley, Estancia Basin and the Valles Caldera. This range of field experience ensures that cultural remains and features are documented with accuracy and with a passionate dedication and respect for the ancestors who lived and flourished on this unpredictable landscape in the past.
Joseph Birkmann, PhD
University of New Mexico
Adams State University
GRIIT Director of Technology
Joseph M. Birkmann is lithicist, flintknapper and archaeologist with interests in the cultures and lifeways of the preceramic southwest, traditional farming societies and the reconstruction of past environments. He received his PhD in 2025 from the University of New Mexico and has participated in survey and excavation work throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and the Hawaiian Islands with projects ranging from the Paleoindian through Historic periods. Joe is interested in the myriad ways that past peoples of the desert west modified, adapted to and interacted with their environment across time.
Joe also serves as adjunct faculty at Adams State University within the Master of Arts (MA) in Cultural Resource Management (CRM) program and as a Visiting Assistant Professor for the University of New Mexico in the Department of Anthropology.
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