Ethnoarchaeology & Ethnography in Western Argentina
Since 2009 my wife, zooarchaeologist Lisa Nagaoka (pictured to left), and I have been collaborating with colleagues in San Rafael, Argentina, including Gustavo Neme (pictured to left), Adolfo (Fito) Gil, and Clara Otaola at El Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael. Gustavo, Fito, and I published our first co-authored paper in the journal Achaeofauna in 2013, and Clara has lead authored a recent paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science and a forthcoming publication in Intersecciones en Antropologia. Lisa, Matthew Fry, and I received two UNT seed grants to initiate a new collaborative project integrating GIS (Geographic Information Systems) with the large regional environmental archaeological databases available through the museum with an additional goal of pursuing research on ethnoarchaeology and cultural ecology of puesteros. Puestos are small ranches occupied by seasonally transhumant ranchers (puesteros) in the arid escarpment of the Andes. We are interested in finding out how puesteros maintain relatively sustainable lifeways for generations in a seemingly harsh environment. This research is in its initial stages, commencing in 2012.
Late Holocene Freshwater Mussel Zoogeography in Texas
My recent research focuses on studying the biogeography of freshwater mussels in the Upper Trinity, Upper Brazos, and Leon Rivers of Texas. Lab research is ongoing with large collections of mussel remains, which has led to a number of PhD and Master's theses in addition to journal publications in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Quaternary International, Ecological Applications, Hydrobiologia, and the American Malacological Bulletin.
Applied Zooarchaeology: Five Case Studies
Zooarchaeologists Lisa Nagaoka, Torrey Rick, and I published a primer on applied zooarchaeology with Eliot Werner Publications in 2016. The book uses interesting examples of applied zooarchaeological research to introduce important concepts in quantification, data quality, taphonomy, and ecology. A central premise of the book is to introduce the types of interdisciplinary challenges that confront zooarchaeologists when addressing topics in conservation biology.
Sushi in Cortez
My research is inherently interdisciplinary, and in 2009 it was my pleasure to embark on a journey in research as storytelling with nature writer and poet David Taylor, environmental documentary filmmaker Melinda Levin, environmental philosopher Rob Figueroa, Santa Clara Puebloan Porter Swentzell, and nature photographer and graphic designer Steve Bardolph. We have taken a field humanities/philosophy approach to research, visiting archaeological sites throughout the Mesa Verde region, gathering perspectives on archaeology, tourism, heritage, scholarship, and interdisciplinarity. Our work was supported by a seed grant from the UNT Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity with additional support from the Departments of Geography and Philosophy & Religion Studies. We have presented public and professional workshops of our perspectives through the lenses of film, poetry, photography, philosophy, science, and Pueblo culture. In 2011, four members of the group were interviewed as a UNT podcast. In 2015, this Mesa Verde team will publish an edited book together "Sushi in Cortez: Interdisciplinary Essays on Mesa Verde," edited by David Taylor and Steve Wolverton, through University of Utah Press.
Archaeological Protein Residue Chemistry
In 2006, biologist Barney Venables and I determined that there may be high potential for studying past diet and artifact function if reliable methods could be developed to extract and characterize protein residues from archaeological cooking pottery. We have enlisted a large interdisciplinary team of scientists to tackle this methodological challenge, including Stan Stevens, protein biologist from the University of South Florida and Reid Ferring geoarchaeologist at UNT. Andrew Barker (MS Applied Geography at UNT 2010) completed his thesis on this research and is the lead author on a forthcoming publication in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory (2012). This research has resulted in a number of small UNT seed grants and two NSF Archaeometry Technical Development Grants (0822196 and 1112615) as well as publications in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry and Ethnobiology Letters.
Conservation Paleozoology (aka Applied Zooarchaeology)
Applied zooarchaeology/conservation paleozoology is the use of faunal data from prehistoric sites (paleontological or archaeological) to provide time depth to conservation biology. Colleagues and I have published a number of review papers and case studies in this field in Ecological Applications, Environmental Management, Conservation Biology, Diversity and Distributions, and other conservation-related journals. In addition, Lee Lyman and I have co-edited the book Conservation Biology and Applied Zooarchaeology through University of Arizona Press. I plan to conduct additional future work on the freshwater mussel community of late Holocene north Texas streams, and I am co-authoring a primer on applied zooarchaeology with Lisa Nagaoka.
Ecology of Animal Body Size
Michael A. Huston and I have collaborated on research on animal body size and its relationship to habitat productivity for the last several years. The research combines my interests in primary factors that drive animal size and his interest in geographic distributions of soil fertility, climate, and plant production. Our ideas fly in the face of the conceived wisdom of reigning paradigms in ecology. For example, we argue based on a number of empirical datasets, including data on animal size, that the tropical rain forests are not highly productive. Rather, it is in the temperate latitudes where high plant and animal growth and biomass should be found because there moderate growing season length combines with soils that are regularly (on geological timescales) replenished in terms of limiting nutrients. We have published two lengthy papers in Ecological Monographs and a case study on deer body size in the American Midland Naturalist.
Zooarchaeology in the American Southwest
For the last several years UNT Zooarchaeology has done the faunal analysis for Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in the American Southwest. This includes analysis of faunas from the northern Rio Grande pueblo sites of Tsama, Ponsipa, and Abiquiu as well as from numerous sites in the Goodman Point Unit of Hovenweep National Monument. Research on these faunas is at various stages; Amy Hoffman (MS Applied Geography at UNT 2011) analyzed and wrote her thesis on the remains from Goodman Point Pueblo; Christy Winstead is analyzing remains from a number of small sites surrounding that pueblo. Jon Dombrosky is currently analyzing the remains from Ponsipa, and I analyzed the Tsama and Abiquiu faunas with summer interns at Crow Canyon.