Susan Keech McIntosh, Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Anthropology, teaches archaeology and biological anthropology courses. She is an archaeologist who studies West African societies living along the Niger and Senegal Rivers over the past 2500 years. Her current research focuses on the emergence of large-scale, complex societies in Africa, the impact of climate and environmental change on human society in the past, the politics of archaeology and archaeological representations of the past, and cultural property and heritage preservation issues. She serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals is a past president of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists.