Samuel Holley-Kline

Samuel Holley-Kline, an academic who studies the political economy and labor histories of archaeology in Mexico. He traces how El Tajín became an archaeological site through local industries, labor, and land changes. Topics include ties between oil and archaeology, vanilla’s violent labor history, custodios and administrativos, and what modern infrastructure reveals about the past.

Sam Holley-Kline, anthropologist and author who studies the political economy of archaeology in Mexico. He recounts discovering El Tajín and explores land tenure, oil and vanilla economies, and the labor of custodios and administrativos. He highlights how extraction, infrastructure, and everyday work shaped the site and local histories.