Makayla Tallese Williams

Makayla Tallese Williams is a 2025-2029 Self Graduate Fellow and Alfred P. Sloan Minority Graduate Scholar pursuing a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Kansas. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She graduated from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and a minor in Sociology. She has presented original research at professional conferences: the South Dakota Archaeological Society, the Plains Anthropological Society, and the Society for American Archaeology. Her field experience includes working as an archaeological field technician, research intern, assistant field director, and crew chief. Her graduate research focuses on the precontact history of the Cherokee Nation and the intersection of oral traditions and Bayesian-produced radiocarbon chronologies. These studies will advance archaeological knowledge and reinforce the ancestral and historical narratives of the Cherokee people through scientific and oral methodologies. Collaborating with Cherokee governments in Oklahoma and North Carolina, she aims to weave archaeological science and Indigenous knowledge to inform policy, education, and cultural heritage protection through research. Ultimately, she looks forward to furthering her understanding of Cherokee history and Southeastern archaeology, reconnecting her family, serving her Nation, and continuing to protect her ancestors.

Mentor: Carlton Shield Chief Gover, Ph.D. Affiliate Faculty of Indigenous Studies, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, and Assistant Curator of Archaeology for the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum