Timothy R. Pauketat is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois. He has conducted research in the America Bottom, particularly Cahokia, and pioneered research in archaeology of traditions, agency, and political economy. His recent books include Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians (2004) and The Archaeology of Traditions (2001).

Diana DiPaolo Loren is an Associate Curator at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. Her research on French and Spanish colonial sites contributes to the study of issues of creolization, race, identity, and the body.