Shannon Cowell is a professional archaeologist with field experience in 20 US states. After over a decade as a nomadic “shovel bum,” she now lives in Arizona and works on a team dedicated to preserving heritage sites and landscapes in collaboration with Native Nations.

Shannon completed her master’s degree in archaeology at New Mexico State University, specializing in the study of ceramics to explore gender, colonialism, and identity. Her article “Beloved Things: Interpreting Curated Pottery in Diasporic Contexts” was published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology.

Shannon’s essay “Something About A Pipeline,” was a finalist in the 2015 Payton James Freeman Essay Prize contest judged by Cheryl Strayed and appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Slice.  “Human” was published in the Fall 2019 issue of Spiral Orb as part of a literary inventory of species found in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in southern New Mexico. “Ocean in Our Jaws” appeared in the 2024 issue of Sandscript.

She is currently working on a sci-fi novel.