Archaeologists at the University of Missouri take a scientific approach to the archaeological record.  Explanatory theories they use emphasize Darwinian evolution and include such things as agency theory, processualism, human behavioral ecology, costly signaling, and cultural transmission.  Archaeologists have expertise in ceramic analysis, faunal analysis, and lithic analysis, plus a plethora of methods (e.g., cladistics, iconography, archaeometry, statistics, geometric morphometrics).  Archaeologists focus their research efforts in North America, with interests ranging from the Paleoindian era through Archaic foragers to agriculturalists and complex societies.  Major research topics include prehistoric subsistence and human-animal interactions, paleoecology, New World religions and symbolism, Mesoamerican and Southwestern contact, warfare and the development of prehistoric weaponry, archaeological method and theory, and the history of North American archaeology.