Clark Spencer Larsen Explained

Clark Spencer Larsen
Birth Place:Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Doctoral Advisor:Milford H. Wolpoff
Workplaces:Ohio State University
Main Interests:Bioarchaeology

Clark Spencer Larsen (born 1952) is an American biological anthropologist, author, and educator. His work focuses on bioarchaeology, the study of human remains from archaeological settings. Although his interests span the entire record of human evolution, his research largely pertains to the last 10,000 years, a period of dynamic change in health, well-being, and lifestyle, much of which relates to population increase, overcrowding, and nutritional decline that co-occurred with the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, creating living conditions that humans are grappling with to the present day.[1]

Early life and education

Larsen was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the middle child of five children, including two older sisters and two younger sisters. He spent most of his childhood in Beatrice, Nebraska, graduating from high school in 1970. His exposure to artifacts and exhibits at the Homestead National Monument's museum near his home town initiated his fascination with all matters ancient. Within weeks of high school graduation, Larsen spent his first archaeological field season on a Nebraska State Historical Society excavation of Fort Atkinson, the first military fort west of the Missouri River. The discovery of human bone fragments at the site that summer captured his interest in the study of archaeological human remains. Larsen attended Kansas State University (BA, Anthropology, 1974), where he studied with archaeologist Patricia J. O'Brien and physical anthropologists William M. Bass III and Michael Finnegan.[2] [3] Following his freshman and sophomore years, he worked with Smithsonian Institution physical anthropologists, Douglas H. Ubelaker and T. Dale Stewart, on field projects in South Dakota (1971) and Maryland (1972) and subsequently with American Museum of Natural History archaeologist David Hurst Thomas in Nevada (1973, 1974). He completed his graduate education at the University of Michigan (MA, Anthropology, 1975; PhD, Biological Anthropology, 1980), studying with Milford H. Wolpoff (advisor), C. Loring Brace, David S. Carlson, Frank B. Livingstone, and Stanley M. Garn.

Career

Soon after entering the graduate program at Michigan, he began working with David Hurst Thomas on St. Catherines Island, Georgia,[4] a project that lead to Larsen's Ph.D. dissertation research on the bioarchaeology of the Georgia coast, documenting the health and lifestyle impacts of the introduction of agriculture and its intensification in later prehistory on native populations. His long-term research program in the American Southeast has been called "...the most comprehensive data for all of North America." This research program is part of a decades-long (1975–) collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History involving the study of health, dietary, and economic changes prior to and after the arrival of Europeans and the establishment of the mission system in Spanish Florida. He has served as a Research Associate with the American Museum since 1980.[5] Larsen has played a lead role in the study of ancient human remains in other regions of North America (Great Basin, Nevada), at Çatalhöyük (Turkey)[6] (cite Wiki), and Badia Pozzeveri[7] (Tuscany, Italy).[8] He is co-director of the European History of Health Project, tracking health and lifestyle history based on human remains from across Europe over the last 5,000 years with an international collaboration of bioarchaeologists, archaeologists, economic historians, climatologists, and geologists.[9] [10]

Larsen began his professional teaching and research career at the University of Massachusetts, North Dartmouth campus (1979–1983), subsequently moving to Northern Illinois University (1983–1989; chair, 1987–1989), Purdue University (1989–1993), and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (1993–2001). He spent a term (spring, 1999) at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught bioarchaeology. He was adjunct professor in Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University (1995–2001). He moved to Ohio State University (2001–), where he was recruited to chair the Department of Anthropology. Over the course of his tenure as chair (2001–2017), he led the transformation of the department from an unknown unit into a leading program in science-based anthropology, adding nine faculty positions, expanding laboratory facilities, and attracting top students to its undergraduate and graduate programs. In Larsen's role in graduate education, he has directed 26 doctoral students in their dissertation research.

Larsen has played a leadership role in professional societies and in publishing, serving as Vice President (1996–1998) and President (1999–2001) of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists, Chair of the Anthropology section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2010–2011), Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2001–2007), and founding editor of the book series, Bioarchaeologial Interpretations of the Human Past, for the University Press of Florida (2006–).[11] Larsen is a member of professional societies including the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association of Biological Anthropologists, and the Society for American Archaeology.

Honors

Larsen has published 35 books and monographs and over 200 articles and contributions to books. His textbook, Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology(W. W. Norton),[12] is a leading introductory textbook, and Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton (Cambridge University Press),[13] the first major synthesis of the field of bioarchaeology.

Selected works

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Clark Spencer Larsen: Distinguished University Professor Faculty. Clark Spencer Larsen: Distinguished University Professor Faculty. 5 October 2017. 2014-01-22.
  2. Book: Larsen, Clark Spencer. Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton. Cambridge University Press. 2015. 9780521838696. Cambridge. xiii.
  3. Web site: Clark Spencer Larsen. W. W. Norton and Company. October 5, 2017.
  4. Web site: St. Catherines Island, GA. AMNH. 2017-10-05.
  5. Web site: Clark Spencer Larsen. AMNH. 2017-10-05.
  6. Larsen. Clark Spencer. Hillson. Simon W.. Boz. Başak. Pilloud. Marin A.. Sadvari. Joshua W.. Agarwal. Sabrina C.. Glencross. Bonnie. Beauchesne. Patrick. Pearson. Jessica. 2015-03-01. Bioarchaeology of Neolithic Çatalhöyük: Lives and Lifestyles of an Early Farming Society in Transition. Journal of World Prehistory. 28. 1. 27–68. 10.1007/s10963-015-9084-6. 161276327. 0892-7537.
  7. Web site: The Thousand-Year Graveyard. Science News. 2017-10-05.
  8. News: Bioarchaeology Research Laboratory (BARL). 2014-06-25. Department of Anthropology. 2017-10-05.
  9. Web site: Global History of Health Project. global.sbs.ohio-state.edu. 2017-10-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20171013075814/http://global.sbs.ohio-state.edu/project_overview.htm. 2017-10-13. dead.
  10. Web site: Global History of Health Project (European Module) - Durham University. www.dur.ac.uk. 2017-10-05.
  11. Web site: History of AAPA Meetings and Executive Committee Members. American Association of Physical Anthropologists. October 5, 2017.
  12. Web site: Our Origins W. W. Norton & Company. Larsen. Clark Spencer. 2017-10-05.
  13. Web site: Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior Human Skeleton 2nd edition . 2017-10-05. Cambridge University Press.
  14. Larsen . Clark Spencer . Thomas . David Hurst . The anthropology of St. Catherines Island. 3, Prehistoric human biological adaptation . Anthropological Papers of the AMNH . 1982 . 57 . 3 . 2246/306 .

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