Academic interests
- Environmental archaeology
- Human-landscape interactions
- Archaeometry
- Radiometric dating
- Stable isotopes in soil
- Sedimentology / pedology
- Spatial analysis (Geographic Information Systems)
- Digital heritage
I am an environmental archaeologist specializing in archaeometric dating and ecological reconstructions of human-made environments. My research utilizes scientific tools to address important questions pertaining to the co-evolution of humans and terrestrial and atmospheric systems. I seek to develop deeper understandings of the human past through analyzing connections between earth’s spheres (lithosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, etc.) and the influence humans exert on sculpting earth’s ecological systems.
Courses taught
- ARK1000 – Innføring i arkeologi
- ARK2120 – Hunters, Gatherers, early Farmers and Stone age Technology
- ARK2140 – The Archaeology of Migration and Mobility
- ARK4070 – Environmental Archaeology and Archaeometry
- ARK4310 – Arkeologisk feltkurs, nordisk
Background
I worked my way through university as a truck driver, handyman, musician and apartment building manager, but found my true calling doing archaeology. I was a contract archaeologist in the Midwest of the United States during and following graduate school until I was hired to teach at Seoul National University in South Korea in 2010. I began working at the University of Oslo as an associate professor in the autumn of 2019.
My academic research has mostly been in Africa (Kenya, Cameroon, Malawi), but I also have active projects in Norway, Tajikistan, Mexico, South Korea, Brazil and the American Southwest. I collaborate on big and little projects whenever and wherever the opportunity presents answering questions pertaining to human-landscape interactions.
Selected awards
- CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (2022 – 2023) for “Understanding Human Roles in Sahara Desertification at the End of the African Humid Period, Sudan.” (¥80,000; US$11,300).
- Nordforsk grant (2021 – 2024) for “The timing and ecology of the human occupation of Central Asia (THOCA)” (with Jan-Pieter Buylaert, PI; 15 million NOK / US$1.5 million).
- Wenner-Gren Foundation (2017 – 2018) funding for “Investigation of Amazon Dark Earth in Caxiuanã National Forest, Brazil” (US$20,000).
- National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF; 2015 – 2016) funding for “Tropical Archaeology of Brazilian Agricultural Systems” (Korean Won [KRW] 50,000,000).
- Seoul National University Foundation (2013 – 2014) funding for “Archaeological study of political complexity and farming systems of the Mandara Mountains, Cameroon” (KRW 20,000,000).
- NRF (2012 – 2014) funding to obtain OSL ages at the Korean Basic Science Institute (with Jeong Heon Choi, co-PI) on Middle Stone Age sites in northern Malawi (KRW 30,000,000).
- National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration grant (2007) for geoarchaeological reconnaissance of the Chalbi Desert and Lake Turkana Basin, Kenya ($20,000).
- National Science Foundation Dissertation Research Grant (2003) for excavation of a potential early cattle herding site in Tsavo National Park ($11,909).
- Fulbright International Institute for Education Research Fellowship (2001) for archaeological survey and limited excavations in Tsavo National Park, Kenya ($30,000).
Appointments
- 2019 – present: State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xian, China
- 2018 – present: Board member, OpenHeritage (South Africa)
- 2017 – present: Science mentor for Frontiers for Young Minds, a journal written by scientists and peer reviewed by kids for kids
- 2016 – present: Associate Editor of Quaternary Science, Geomorphology and Paleoenvironment, Frontiers in Earth Science
- 2016 – 2019: President, Seoul National University International Faculty Association
- 2014 – 2018: Associate Fellow, Department of Archaeology, University of York, United Kingdom
- 2009 – 2010: Board Member, Arizona Archaeological Council
- 2008 – 2010: Adjunct Faculty, School of Human Evolution and Social Change (SHESC), Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe
- 1999 – 2005: Research Associate, African Ethnology and Archaeology, Field Museum, Chicago
Positions held
- 2019 – present: Professor, Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2019: Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2016 – 2019: Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology and Art History, Seoul National University, South Korea
- 2010 – 2016: Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology and Art History, Seoul National University, South Korea
- 2008 – 2010: Project Director, Cultural Resource Management Program, Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton, Arizona
- 2005 – 2008: Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Public Service Archaeology Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 2003 – 2005: Field Supervisor, Public Service Archaeology Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 1998 – 2002: Adjunct Instructor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Indiana University Northwest, Gary
- 1997 – 2004: Teaching Assistant, Department of Geography, Department of Anthropology, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago
Partners
- National Museums of Kenya
- Malawi Department of Antiquities
- Gila River Indian Community, USA
- Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Brazil
- University of York, UK