ABOUT ME

I am an anthropological archaeologist with a scientific bent, using materials characterization in the field and lab to study otherwise unobservable behaviors in the past. Currently, I am a Research Scientist (Faculty) and Lecturer at Yale, where I am the Director of the Yale Initiative for the Study of Ancient Pyrotechnology. 

 

I have conducted and published research involving five continents – Asia, Europe, and Africa as well as North and South America – spanning almost half a million years of human history. The majority of my research, though, focuses on Southwest Asia, including the Near East and South Caucasus.

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A unifying theme of my work is elucidating how different human groups made use of natural resources distributed across the landscape, how they responded to challenges within their environments, and how the resulting behaviors influenced connectivity and, in turn, opportunities for the spread of technological innovations and social changes.