RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am interested in the roles that people play in Earth systems, particularly in transforming and sustaining these systems in the long run. I use archaeological, ecological, geomorphological, and climatic data to study these dynamics, in pursuit of practical insights to support local, community-based ecological stewardship programs in addressing global socioecological challenges from the grass roots up. In order to better integrate archaeological data into this multidisciplinary project, I also work on the contextualization of archaeological data using statistical and geophysical methods.
These overarching themes have led to ongoing research on a variety of particular topics, including Pleistocene landscape change and hunter-gatherer settlement patterns in Southwest Asia, quantitative approaches to stone-tool refitting analyses and the transmission of technological knowledge, remote sensing of post-Neolithic landscape evolution in eastern Jordan, late Holocene landscape engineering and water resource management strategies in northern Mesopotamia, statistical techniques for isotopic study of Holocene shellfishing seasonality on the California Central Coast, and low-impact geophysical methods for survey and conservation of Bay Area shellmounds.
