Alexandra A. Chan is the author of Slavery in the Age of Reason: Archaeology at a New England Farm, as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters about the archaeology of northern slavery, early African America, and questions of race, place, identity, and becoming.

As a mom, an archaeologist, a lover of soil and history, a photographer, a painter, and a writer, it’s not unusual to wonder, “What ties it all together?” And the answer is the same every time: At the end of the day, she is only ever doing what she has always done—watching people, searching for beauty and meaning in unusual places, and telling stories.

Chan continues to be an avid traveler and collector of “lucky nuts” and to walk, garden, paint, write, stitch, build, and dream herself into ever gentler and more creative ways of being alive and human. She lives with her husband, her two sons, and their menagerie of animals in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.