I am an anthropological archaeologist with broad interests in hunter-gatherers, lithic technology, human evolution, and complex systems theory. I am particularly interested in understanding processes of long term social, evolutionary, and adaptational change among hunter-gatherers, specifically by using approaches that combine archaeological data, ethnographic data, and computational modeling.
My research involves the application of behavioral ecological models to archaeological problems with a focus on Pacific Island societies.
I am interested in questions of method, and in the application of computational social models to a wide variety of national security questions (such as counterterrorism and counterinsurgency) as well as decision-making around complex natural resources such as water. My methods interest center on the use of qualitative social theory to inform the structure of computational social models, and the ways in which such models handle qualitative data. This raises questions around the nature of data and the ways in which computational social models convey information to decision-makers.
Dr. Gravel-Miguel currently works as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar for the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. She does research in Archaeology and focuses on the Upper Paleolithic of Southwest Europe. She currently works on projects ranging from cultural transmission to human-environment interactions in prehistory.
Archaeology, GIS, ABM, social networks, portable art, ornaments, data science