John Cherry's teaching and research interests, and thus also his publications, are eclectic, and reflect his "mixed" background in Classics, Anthropology, and Archaeology, as well as educational training on both sides of the Atlantic, and archaeological fieldwork experience in Great Britain, the United States, Yugoslavia, Albania, Italy, the southern Caucasus, and (especially) Greece. He currently co-directs a diachronic field survey project on Montserrat in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles.

John Cherry is principally a specialist in Aegean Prehistory, tempered by much wider interests in Mediterranean and European prehistory and archaeology. His fieldwork has almost exclusively revolved around regional survey and landscape studies, which inevitably implies an interest in the archeology of many periods. He has special interests in the emergence of complex societies, the archaeology of islands, archaeological theory, lithic analysis, the archaeology of the southern Caucasus, Caribbean archaeology, and in Alexander the Great and (particularly) his Nachleben. He is at present preparing a book, provisionally entiled Cretan Transformations, on the changes in material culture on Crete in the later 3rd and earlier 2nd millennium that signal the rise of sociopolitical complexity and the earliest states on the island. He is also currently active publishing journal articles and book chapters dealing with the results of recent and ongoing fieldwork on the island of Montserrat in the Lesser Antilles.

An important aspect of his scholarly activities throughout his career has been editorial work. He co-edited the journal World Archaeology from 1988 until 1997, served as joint Book Reviews Editor for the American Journal of Archaeology between 1995 and 1999, and has been co-editor of the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology since 1990. He sits on the editorial boards of several journals and monograph series, at the University of Michigan created the Kelsey Museum Publications series, and has established a new publication series (Joukowsky Institute Publications) under the auspices of the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World.

(with L.J. Pecoraro, and K. Ryzewski). ‘ “A kind of sacred place”: the rock and roll ruins of AIR Studios, Montserrat.’ In M.C. Beaudry and T.G. Parno (eds.), Archaeologies of Mobility and Movement, 181-98. (New York, 2013).

(with S.E. Alcock).  ‘Sue Alcock and John Cherry, with Michael Shanks and Christopher Witmore.’ In W.L. Rathje, M. Shanks, and C. Witmore (eds.), Archaeology in the Making: Conversations Through a Discipline, 229-47. (London, 2012).

(with K. Ryzewski). ‘Communities and Archaeology under the Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat, West Indies.’ Journal of Field Archaeology 37.4 (2012) 316-27.

(with K. Ryzewski, and T.P. Leppard). ‘Multi-period landscape survey and site risk assessment on Montserrat, West Indies.’ Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 7.2 (2012) 282-302.

(with E. Faro, and L. Minc). ‘Field survey and geochemical characterization of the southern Armenian obsidian sources’. Journal of Field Archaeology 35.2 (2010) 147-63.

(with W.A. Parkinson). ‘The Pylos Regional Archaeological Project, Part VIII.  Lithics and landscapes: a Messenian perspective.’ Hesperia 79.1 (2010) 1-51.

'Sorting out Crete’s off-island prepalatial interactions.’ In M. Galaty and W. Parkinson (eds.), Archaic State Interaction: The Eastern Mediterranean in the Bronze Age, 107-140.  Santa Fe, NM: SAR Press. 

'Blockbuster! Museum Responses to Alexander the Great,' in P. Cartledge and F. Greenland (eds.), Responses to Oliver Stone's Alexander: Film, History, and Cultural Studies, 305-338. (Cambridge, 2010).

(with S.W. Manning, S.E. Alcock, A.V. Tonikyan, and M.H. Zardaryan). ‘Radiocarbon dates for the second and first millennia B.C. from southern Armenia: preliminary results from the Vorotan project, 2005-2006’ Aramazd: Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies 2 (2007) 52-71.

(with M.H. Zardaryan, A.V. Tonikyan, and S.E. Alcock). ‘Les investigations du project “Vorotan” dans le région de Suynik.’  Les Dossiers d’archéologie [Arménie des origines à la Christianisation] 321 (May-June 2007) 60-63.

(with J.L.Davis).  ‘The Cycladic pottery from Late Bronze I levels,’ in C.Renfrew, with N. Brodie, C. Morris, and C. Scarre (eds.), Excavations at Phylakopi in Melos 1974-77 (BSA Supplementary Volume 42), 265-306.  (London, 2007).

'The personal and the political: Alexander the Great,' in S.E. Alcock and R. Osborne (eds.), Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology: Classical Archaeology (Malden, MA and Oxford, 2007).

(with S.E. Alcock). '"No greater marvel": a Bronze Age classic at Orchomenos.' In J.I. Porter (ed.), Classical Pasts: The Classical Traditions of Greece and Rome, pp. 69-86. (Princeton, 2006).

'Peer polity interaction' and 'Archaeological survey,' in C. Renfrew and P. Bahn (eds.), Archaeology: The Key Concepts, 196-201, 248-54 (London, 2005).

'Chapter 14 revisited: sites, settlement and population in the prehistoric Aegean since The Emergence of Civilisation,' in J. Barrett and P. Halstead (eds.), The Emergence of Civilisation in the Bronze Age Aegean: Retrospect and Prospect, pp. 1-20. Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology 6 (Oxford, 2005).

(with D. Margomenou and L.E. Talalay, eds.), Prehistorians Round the Pond: Reflections on Aegean Prehistory as a Discipline. Kelsey Museum Publication 3. (Ann Arbor, 2005).

(with S.E. Alcock).'The Mediterranean world.' In C. Scarre (ed.), The Human Past, pp. 472-517 (London, 2005).

Mediterranean island prehistory: what's different and what's new?' in S.M. Fitzpatrick (ed.), Voyages of Discovery: The Archaeology of Islands, pp. 233-48 (Westport, CT, 2004).

(with C.S. Scarre, and S.J. Shennan, eds.), Explaining Social Change: Studies in Honour of Colin Renfrew. McDonald Institute Monographs. (Cambridge 2004).

(with Susan E. Alcock, ed.), Side-by-Side Survey: Comparative Regional Analysis in the Mediterranean Region (Oxford 2004)

(with W.Parkinson), 'Lithic artifacts from surveys: a comparative evaluation of recent evidence from the southern Aegean,' in P.N.Kardulias and R.W.Yerkes (eds.), Written in Stone: The Multiple Dimensions of Lithic Analysis, pp. 35-57 (Lanham, MD, 2003).

Archaeology beyond the site: regional survey and its future,' in R. Leventhal and J. Papadopoulos (eds.), Theory and Practice in Mediterranean Archaeology: Old World and New World Perspectives, pp. 137-60 (Los Angeles 2003).

(with J.L. Davis), ' "Under the sceptre of Agamemnon": the view from the hinterlands of Mycenae', in K. Branigan (ed.), Urbanism in the Aegean Bronze Age (Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology 5), pp. 143-61 (Sheffield 2001).

(with Susan E. Alcock and Jas' Elsner, eds.), Pausanias: Travel and Memory in Roman Greece (New York 2001)

'Cyprus, the Mediterranean, and survey: current issues and future trends,' in M. Lacovou (ed.), Archaeological Field Survey in Cyprus: Past History, Future Potentials (Proceedings of a Conference Held at the University of Cyprus, 1-2 December 2000), 23-35. British School at Athens Studies 11 (London, 2004).

(with A.B. Knapp), Provenance Studies and Bronze Age Cyprus: Production, Exchange and Politico-Economic Change. Monographs in World Archaeology 21. (Madison, 1994). Madison, WI.

(J.L.Davis & E.Mantzourani), Landscape Archaeology as Long-Term History: Northern Keos in the Cycladic Islands from Earliest Settlement to Modern Times. Monumenta Archaeologica 16. (Los Angeles 1991).

Tytus Fellowship, University of Cincinnati (Spring 2013)

Archaeological Institute of America (Member, 1970-present)

Society for American Archaeology (Life Member)

American Schools of Oriental Research (Member, 2005-present)

American Research Institute in the Southern Caucasus (Board of Directors, 2007-present)

Michigan Society of Fellows (Senior Fellow, 1998-2002)

The courses he has taught fall very broadly within Mediterranean or Classical archaeology, Classical Civilization, or Archaeological Theory. Aside from teaching in areas in which he is specialized, he wants to encourage an interest in the ancient world by offering appealing undergraduate courses in areas such as Greek Sport, Alexander the Great, and the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. At the upper division undergraduate and graduate level, he is particularly concerned that students are exposed to ethical and professional issues in archaeology, as well as gaining a sound understanding of historical and theoretical issues in archaeology.