Gillian Bjornen

Field Supervisor

Gillian Bjornen joined CRA’s West Fork Office in July 2025. Gillian has worked in Arkansas for the past four years, two of those were spent working on her master’s degree at the University of Arkansas. She did a collections-based thesis project on artifacts excavated from domestic-use structures at a site in the Arkansas River Valley. During her time at the University of Mississippi, she completed an undergraduate thesis where she analyzed debitage from an Early Contact period site in northeast Mississippi. Gillian also worked in the Center for Archaeological Research her senior year helping with various collections projects and small geophysical projects in the field. The past few years, she’s been working with volunteers and participating in public-facing archaeology events trying to encourage stakeholders and members of the public alike that the past needs to be preserved and demonstrating what we can learn from it.

In her free time, Gillian enjoys spending time hiking, birding, and (still) exploring the Arkansas Ozarks. She also travels whenever she can, either to visit family and friends in the 7 states she’s lived in or to explore a new place.