Dennis H. O'Rourke

My research focuses on the use of molecular genetic methods to address long-standing questions in prehistory. Following community consultations to determine mutually agreed research questions and methods, my students and I have conducted research projects with community members and collaborators in the Caribbean, the US Southwest, Great Basin, and California. Most recently, my group has focused attention on ancient DNA methods to investigate the dispersal of people across the North American arctic, and how this informs us about the earlier initial peopling of the Western Hemisphere. Utilizing genomic analyses of human, archaeofaunal, and archaeobotanical materials, and the emerging methods of environmental DNA analysis, my research interests and efforts increasingly are at the intersection of anthropological genetics, bioarchaeology, and paleoecology.