Dr. J.R. Pournelle is an archaeologist and anthropologist best known for reconstructing landscapes surrounding ancient cities. A Research Professor at the University of South Carolina’s School of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, and  past Mesopotamian Fellow of the American School of Oriental Research, her work in Turkey, Iraq, and the Caucasus has been featured by the National Science Foundation; in  Science, The New York Times and other journals; and on The Discovery Channel,  National Geographic Television, PBS-NOVA, and other documentaries. In a former life, she received numerous decorations for service as a United States Army intelligence officer and arms control negotiator, and directed university reconstruction work  in Iraq as a civilian. 

Pournelle is the 2010 recipient of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative Book Prize, for Excavations, A City Cycle, published in paperback by the University of South Carolina Press, and by NBP for Kindle.  In 2011, Outies  was longlisted for the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award.