Northern Illinois University
Department of Anthropology
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Professor Sagebiel is the Co-Director, Ceramic Analyst and Laboratory Director for the Ka’Kabish Archaeological Research Project (Director, Professor Helen Haines, Trent University, Canada) near Indian Church, Belize. Her research at Ka’Kabish is concerned with the circumstances of the founding, growth of social complexity and abandonment(s) of Ka’Kabish as related to its place in the social, economic and political landscapes and entanglements of North-central Belize. This includes work on boundary maintenance and social and political emulation, accommodation and resistance as reflected in ceramics. Professor Sagebiel has also conducted research on Maya ceramics at the sites of La Milpa, Blue Creek; Gran Cacao, Belize and San Bartolo, Guatemala.

Professor Sagebiel has also worked as an applied archaeologist in the field of cultural resource management (CRM). She was Office Director and Project Director for Statistical Research, Inc., in Arizona where she was involved in a variety of archaeological research projects throughout the American Southwest. These included site survey and excavation, ceramic analysis, historical-period artifact analysis, collections curation standards and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) projects. Professor Sagebiel also has a continuing interest in the study of historical-period stoneware pottery in Texas. Professor Sagebiel has taught 10 different classes for the Department of Anthropology and won the Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction Award in 2020.

Selected Publications

Sagebiel, Kerry L., Laura J. Kosakowsky, and Duncan Pring. The Swasey Sphere of Northern Belize: Early Middle Preclassic Ceramics and Origins. In Pre-Mamom Pottery Variation and the Preclassic Origins of the Ancient Maya. University of Colorado Press, Boulder. Editor, Debra Walker. 2021.

Haines, Helen R., and Kerry L. Sagebiel “When We Two Parted”: Remaking the Ancient Political Landscape of North-Central Belize. In Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica: Operational, Cognitive, and Experiential Approaches, edited by Shawn G. Morton and Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown, pp. 101–121. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. 2019.

Sagebiel, Kerry L., and Helen R. Haines “Fools Make Feasts, and Wise Men Eat Them”: Interpreting Problematic “Smash and Trash” Deposits at Ka’kabish, Belize. In Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology Vol. 15:115–119. Institute of Archaeology, Belize. 2018.

Sagebiel, Kerry L., and Helen R. Haines. Never Ending, Still Beginning: A New Examination of the Ceramics of Ka’kabish, Belize. In Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology Vol. 12:359‒366. Institute of Archaeology, Belize. 2015.

Sagebiel, Kerry L. The Late and Terminal Classic Ceramic Sequence at La Milpa, Belize: Implications for Its Population History. Ancient Mesoamerica 25(1):115–137. 2014.

Lohse, Jon C., Kerry L. Sagebiel, and Joanne P. Baron. The Ballgame, Community Ceremony, and Political Development in Northwestern Belize. In Classic Maya Political Ecology: Resource Management, Class Histories, and Political Change in Northwestern Belize, edited by Jon C. Lohse, pp. 99–125. Ideas, Debates, and Perspectives 6, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, University of California, Los Angeles. 2013.

Padilla, Antonio E., Molly Morgan, and Kerry L. Sagebiel. Enduring the Collapse: Postclassic Occupation at Akab Muclil. In Classic Maya Political Ecology: Resource Management, Class Histories, and Political Change in Northwestern Belize, edited by Jon C. Lohse, pp. 193–210. Ideas, Debates, and Perspectives 6, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, University of California, Los Angeles. 2013.

Sagebiel, Kerry L., Marcy Rockman, Michael P. Heilen, and Amanda C. Cannon. ETAC 2009: Intensive Archaeological Survey of 1,673 Acres on the East Tactical Range, Barry M. Goldwater Range East, Arizona. Barry M. Goldwater Range East Cultural Resource Management Program, Cultural Resource Studies in the Western Papaguería 20. 2011.

Sagebiel, Kerry L., Kelly L. Jenks, Teresita Majewski, and Lauren E. Jelinek. Archaeological Collections Management Procedures: Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, Project 06-319. SRI Technical Report 07-41. Report prepared for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District. 2010.

Sagebiel, Kerry L. Native American Ceramics. In The History and Archaeology of the Joint Courts Complex Project Area, Tucson, Arizona, edited by Marlesa A. Gray and Michael Heilen. Appendix 8N. On Sacred Ground: The Joint Courts Complex Archaeological Data Recovery Project, Tucson, Arizona, vol. 1, pt. B, Michael Heilen and Marlesa A. Gray, series editors. SRI Technical Report 10-03. 2010.

Sagebiel, Kerry L. La Milpa: Shifting Alliances, Shifting Fortunes. In Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology Vol. 3:329–339. Institute of Archaeology, Belize. 2006.

Sullivan, Lauren A., and Kerry L. Sagebiel. Changing Political Alliances in the Three Rivers Region. In Heterarchy, Political Economy, and the Ancient Maya: The Three Rivers Region of the East-Central Yucatan Peninsula, edited by Vernon L. Scarborough, Nicholas Dunning, and Fred Valdez, Jr., pp. 25–36. University of Arizona Press. 2003.

Protas, Joshua M., Matthew A. Sterner, and Kerry L. Sagebiel. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Compliance Reports for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Francisco Districts. Statistical Research, Inc. Reports prepared for the USACE, St. Louis District, Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections (MCX-CMAC). 1998–2001.

Kosakowsky, Laura J., and Kerry L. Sagebiel. The Ceramic Sequence of La Milpa, Belize. Mexicon XXI(6):131–136. 1999