Arizona State University

Graduate Student, School of Human Evolution and Social Change

Research Assistant: Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics Project

About

I am a PhD candidate at ASU, studying the long term effects of human landuse decisions, especially those associated with Neolithic farming and pastoralism. My PhD research focuses on the effect of agropastoralism on Neolithic landscapes, and how potential anthropogenic environmental degradation may have affected settlement patterns, landuse patterns, and patterns in the use of domestic space over time. I am specifically looking at the transition from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in northern Jordan.

My main areas of interest are GIS applications in Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, Geomorphology, Household Archaeology, Spatial Analysis, Archaeological Modeling, Computational Modeling, Archaeological Survey, and Microrefuse Analysis.

The following is an excerpt from a recent grant/fellowship proposal regarding my PhD research:

"In my dissertation I investigate the long-term consequences of human interaction with the landscape during the Neolithic period (c. 10,000-7000 B.P.) in Southwest Asia. Some of the world’s earliest sedentary farming societies are found in this region, making it an excellent location to study the advent of human-caused environmental degradation. Studying this phenomenon in the Neolithic period provides the time-depth necessary for a more complete understanding of the deleterious consequences of subsistence decisions, because we can examine their effect at several different temporal scales. Many people in the developing world continue to live a lifestyle of subsistence farming and herding, and so face similar dilemmas as their Neolithic ancestors. A better understanding of the consequences of the cumulative actions of ancient farmers and herders will help us to better predict the future effects of agropastoralism in developing countries today.
My dissertation research focuses on the environmental consequences of a social and economic transition that occurred in the middle of the Neolithic period approximately 8250 years ago. Specifically, I am studying a shift in the pattern of settlements, where people who had previously lived in a small number of large villages dispersed into many small hamlets (Kuijt, 2000a; Banning, 2001). Despite this significant settlement change, archaeological evidence suggests that the basic Neolithic economy (cereal farming and goat/sheep herding) did not change at this time. It does appear, however, that the intensity of farming and herding landuse may have decreased.
It remains unclear why people left their large villages and dispersed across the landscape. The foremost hypotheses suggest that the impetus may have been increased erosion and decreased productivity in the arable land surrounding the early villages, but the fragmentary nature of the archaeological record from this period prohibits us from investigating them using traditional archaeological techniques. However, a new hybrid approach, which combines computer simulation modeling with the available archaeological proxy data, allows us to examine socio-natural processes that must have operated in the past, but for which we have little direct evidence. Thus, in my project I hope to employ this type of hybrid approach to the problem of understanding why such a drastic shift occurred in the settlement pattern of the  Neolithic farmer-herders of Southwest Asia, and what it might teach us about the future consequences of the subsistence choices of modern agropastoralists. "

Please feel free to contact me if you would like to know more about my research!

Contact Information