Education

Ph.D. Washington State University, anthropology 2009.
M.A. The University of Montana, anthropology 2001.
B.A. Western State Colorado University, geology/anthropology and minor in history 1999.
 

Interests

I am a scientifically oriented anthropological archaeologist with interests in the origin of villages and small scale semi-sedentary societies as well as technological adaptations.  I specialize in the rise of complex hunter-gatherers in the interior Pacific Northwest, the forager/farmer transition in Southwest Asia, and rural coastal adaptations in western Ireland.  My research emphases include paleodemography, technological adaptations, modeling human behavior with quantitative methods, lithic technological organization, and geochemical spatial analysis all couched in an evolutionary theoretical framework to understand human behavior.

As the 2014 recipient of the Hamilton College Class of 1963 Excellence in Teaching Award, I teach liberal arts undergraduate courses ranging from introducing the fundamentals of archaeology, mid-level topical courses on small scale societies and adaptations, and upper division method and theory courses including a six week intensive field course in the Pacific Northwest, lab intensive research courses, and fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).