Holly Norton

State Archaeologist, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer

Dr. Norton received her BA in anthropology from the University of South Carolina, and an MA and PhD from Syracuse University in anthropology with her dissertation “Estate by Estate: The Landscape of the 1733 St. Jan Slave Rebellion.” She has worked as an archaeologist conducting both prehistoric and historical archaeological investigations, as well as historical architectural surveys, for a variety of state and federal agencies and private environmental firms, including the South Carolina Department of Transportation and the National Park Service. Norton currently serves as the Colorado State Archaeologist and the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer at History Colorado where she focuses on a variety of regulatory issues including the Section 106 process.  

Photo of a woman sitting in a chair. She is wearing a black shirt with a gray jacket. She is not wearing any visible jewelry, but wears fashionable black cateye eyeglasses, and has her hair pulled back away from her face. Behind her are two sizeable green leafed plants, and on the wall hang two pieces of artwork that are brightly colored.
Holly Norton

Written by Holly Norton

  • Photo of four buildings sitting on a barren piece of land. in the foreground, part of a dirt road can be seen. There are 3 vehicles parked in front of two of the buildings on the left side of the image. In the far distance, the hazy silouette of mountains can be seen. There are no people immediately visible in this historic photograph.

    “Obliterate and Forget”

    As the discovery of mass graves containing the bodies of hundreds of young children at multiple Indian boarding schools in Canada focuses a spotlight on the abuses that took place at many of these schools throughout North America, we look at the history of these institutions in the United States and their legacy in Colorado.

  • Photo of blue face mask which has been discarded and is lying on the ground in a dry ditch. The mask has some dirt on it, and is surrounded by dry grasses, dead leaves, and twigs, with the occasional leaf or two growing along the edges of the ditch that are turning green.

    The COVID Centennial Public Archaeology Project

    A century from now, archaeologists will make sense of 2020 based on everything we left behind. How will the things we discarded define 2020? What experiences and lessons will they illuminate? And how might the archaeologists of 2120 visualize the cultures of the past?

  • Photo of a large horizontal flat rock face next to a river. The photographer is walking along this flat rock, and directly in front of them is a crack in the gray rock from which a young pine tree seedling emerges. It is growing parallel to the rock face. Several young green pine branches top the tree.

    The Post-NAGPRA Generation

    The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Thirty Years On