Karin Larkin, Ph.D.

Dr. Larkin is an archaeologist and museum professional who specializes in the US West and Southwest. She also acts as Curator of the anthropology curation facility, the Director of the Museum Studies program, and is the Graduate Director for the Cultural Heritage and Environmental Studies MA program at UCCS as well as teaches anthropology, archaeology, and museum studies classes. Dr. Larkin has nearly 25 years of archaeological and museum experience and has done archaeological field work in numerous regions including: the Southwest, Chihuahua, the Ludlow Massacre Site, and in the Pikes Peak Region. Her research focuses on community collaboration, labor, health humanities, social interaction and change, and negotiating social discord through material culture. She has published numerous articles and book chapters and is the co-editor of Communities of Ludlow: Collaborative Stewardship and the Ludlow Centennial Commemoration Commission (2022) and the Archaeology of Class War (2009) both by University Press of Colorado. She teaches Archaeology Laboratory Methods, Museums and Meaning, Archaeology and People of the Southwest, Museum Collections Management, Exhibit Design and Development, Field Practicum in Archaeology, Introduction to Archaeology, and Introduction to Museums and Galleries, among others.

PhD: Anthropology, University of Colorado Boulder (2006)

MA: Museum Studies, University of Colorado Boulder (1998)

BA: Art History, University of California Santa Cruz (1993) 

BA: Comparative Literature, University of California Santa Cruz (1993)

Larkin, Karin and Skylar Bauer 2024 “Memorialization and Social Memory at the Ludlow Massacre Site” International Journal of Historical Archaeology (doi) Accepted 1/19/2024

Larkin, K.T. and M. Slaughter 2023: “Chasing the Cure at Cragmor Sanatorium: The Archaeology of a Tuberculosis Sanatorium” in Historical Archaeology Vol 57(3) Springer (doi)

Larkin, K.T. 2022: “The Social Life of Coal Mining” in The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology pp. 682-699, Eleanor Conlin Casella, Michael Nevell, and Hanna Steyne editors. Oxford University Press, Oxford

Larkin, K.T. 2022 “The Power of Collaborative Public Scholarship: Evaluating the Lasting Impacts of the Colorado Coalfield War Archaeology Project” in in a special on Public Archaeology edited by Sarah Case, Public Historian Vol 44(4) University of California Press Online ISSN 1533-8576

Montoya, F.A. and Larkin, K.T. Editors Communities of Ludlow: Collaborative Stewardship and the Ludlow Centennial Commemoration Commission, University Press of Colorado, Louisville

Larkin, K. T. 2022. “The Linda Lens: Re-interpretations of the Ceramics from the Southern Zone of the Casas Grandes Culture Area.” In Linda Cordell: Detail, Passion, and Innovation in Archaeology and Beyond. Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States: Museum of New Mexico Press.

Larkin, Karin and Michelle Slaughter 2021: “Preparing Students for Compliance Work?” Journal of Archaeology and Education Vol. 5 no. 2 article 1

Larkin, Karin 2019: Decolonizing Ludlow: A Study in Participatory Archaeology. International Journal of Historical Archaeology. (doi)

Kelley, Jane H. and Karin Larkin 2017: “Chapter 6: Pottery Studies” in Far From Casas Grandes: The Southern Zone of the Chihuahua Culture. Edited by Jane H. Kelley. University of Utah Press.

Larkin, Karin and Randall McGuire, Editors 2009 The Archaeology of Class War: Research on the Ludlow Massacre Site. University of Colorado Press, Boulder, CO.

Department of Anthropology

ANTH 1020: Intro to Archaeology

ANTH 1040: Intro to Cultural Anthropology

ANTH 3210: Archaeological Laboratory Methods

ANTH 3250: Native Peoples of the Southwest

ANTH 3190: Field Practicum in Archaeology

ANTH 4210: Advanced Laboratory Methods

ANTH 4420: Museums and Meaning

ANTH 4980 Senior Seminar in Anthropology

VAPA: Museum Studies & Gallery Practice

MSGP 2000: Intro to Museums and Galleries

MSGP 4060: Exhibit Design and Development

MSGP 4070: Collections Management

MSGP 4080: Museum and Gallery

MSGP 4100: Native American Perspectives in Museums