Biography
Dr. Marion Coe received her PhD and MA in Anthropology at Texas A&M University, and her BFA in Painting and Minor in Anthropology from Maryland Institute College of Art. Before joining Marshall University as an Assistant Professor, Dr. Coe held faculty positions at Baylor University and Texas A&M. She studies North American pre-contact archaeology, with regional foci in the Great Basin, Texas, and West Virginia. She specializes in studying perishable artifacts (basketry, cordage, and footwear) from dry caves and rockshelters and is also a paleoethnobotanist. In addition to her academic research, Dr. Coe has also worked in contract archaeology (CRM) in Maryland, Texas, Idaho, and Nevada on pre-contact through historic-aged sites. She has conducted field work in Alaska, Greece, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Dr. Coe is also a visual artist, and her creative works and technical illustrations have been featured in juried art shows and academic publications. Dr. Coe is the Archaeology Lab Director for Marshall University’s archaeological and ethnological collections, and she is the Archaeology Field School Director and faculty mentor for the Anthropology Club.
Selected Publications:
Coe, Marion M. 2026. Modeling seasonal schedules for plant selection and processing: fiber identification of perishable artifacts from Four Siblings Rockshelter, NV. Journal Archaeological Science: Reports DOI 10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105841
Coe, Marion M. 2023. Gendered Crafts in the Great Salt Lake Desert: A Comparative Analysis of Late Holocene Cordage and Coiled Basketry. American Antiquity 88:302-325 DOI 10.1017/aaq.2023.33
Coe, Marion M. 2021. Basketry, cordage, and perishable artifact manufacture at Bonneville Estates Rockshelter: Diachronic technological variation. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 64. DOI 10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101325