OUR STAFF
Justin Carlson
Project Director
Justin received a B.S. in Anthropology and a B.A. in History from College of Charleston in 2011, an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Kentucky in 2015, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Kentucky in 2019. He has participated in archaeological field and lab projects in the Southeastern United States, Turkey, France, Peru, Italy, Mexico, and Germany and has led projects in Kentucky. He utilizes geoarchaeological methods derived from soil sciences to study landform histories in relation to climatic change and Native lifeways throughout the Holocene. His recent work has been focused on human and ecosystem responses to the warming and drying trends of the Middle Holocene Climatic Optimum 8000 to 5000 years ago and the role of Archaic hunter-gatherers in creating anthropogenic environments such as the Big Barrens grasslands through fire between 5000 and 3000 years ago in Kentucky.