Research
Research methods
Community-Based Research · Zooarchaeology Analysis · Ancient DNA · Collaborative Engagement · Transdisciplinary Integration
Morning debrief in the Northern Yukon.
Excavating test pits in the tundra of the Northern Yukon.
Excavating a potential early homestead in eastern Kansas.
Our work
We integrate faunal analysis, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, ancient DNA, and ethnohistoric analogy to examine human–animal relationships, interregional interactions, and subsistence strategies in diverse archaeological contexts across the western hemisphere. Many of our projects are focused in Arctic, Subarctic, and Beringian North America.
Human-Animal Relationships
Relationships among humans and non-human animals inform stories of people in the past. These interactions are often mutually beneficial, complex, and dynamic across the globe and through time. Our research often starts with the physical remains of animals to understand the ways humans engaged with non-human animals.
Current projects:
- Interdisciplinary work on Pre-Columbian crab-human relationships in Coclé, Panama.
- Comparative zooarchaeological analysis of ice seals and Inuit subsistence relationships at Cape Espenberg, Alaska.
- Canid ancestry and interactions with Inuit at Cape Espenberg and the implications for the Early Inuit migration.
Spatial Analysis of Settlement and Domestic Space
How people organize domestic space within a house, across a midden, or over a settlement encodes social relationships, labor, and daily practice. Our research uses spatial analysis to reconstruct these patterns, from foundational work on Arctic household organization to recent house-midden analyses, providing a comparative framework for interpreting domestic and settlement structure across diverse contexts.
Current projects:
- Analyzing the spatial patterning of fauna to determine human behavior and household organization at sites like Bluefish Caves, Yukon and Cape Espenberg, Alaska.
- Emerging settlement pattern analysis to understudied Northern Yukon landscapes.
Human-Environment Interactions
Understanding the ways the environment shapes human behavior and the ways humans impact the environment are key to addressing current and future challenges. We reconstruct palaeoecologies from animal remains and associated proxies to investigate how people engaged with their natural and built environments in the past.
Current projects:
- Reinvestigation of Bluefish Caves (northern Yukon), including sedimentary ancient DNA analysis, site formation reanalysis, and geoarchaeology, in partnership with Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.
- Reconstructing subsistence-settlement patterns in relation to environmental and social changes over the last 25,000 years in the Northern Yukon.
Interactions in Small Scale Societies
People in small-scale societies maintained individual and group relationships in a variety of ways and across different geographic scales. We investigate the formation, maintenance, and change of these interactions in diverse areas in the western hemisphere using transdisciplinary methods.
Current projects:
- The Birnirk-Thule transition at Cape Espenberg, Northwest Alaska.
- Early colonial migration and occupation in eastern Kansas.