I currently serve as an Associate Professor at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). I am part of the faculty of that forms the basis of a Program in Archaeology and a founding member of IIRMES, a multi-disciplinary institute for the study of materials, environments and society.  At CSULB, I teach classes in Introductory Archaeology, World Prehistory, Eastern North American Prehistory, Artifact Analysis, GIS, Statistics, Method and Theory, Field Research Design, Geophysical Techniques, and the Scientific Study of Origins.

My research focuses on the use of evolutionary theory to generate scientific explanations about human cultural change in the archaeological record.  I see this focus as a critical challenge for the social sciences and that our ability to be able to due this task vital to our future.  My perspective is fairly idiosyncratic to my background but lodged in the philosophy of science and evolutionary biology. You can view some of my recent work (here) to see a little into how I think about the world.

My recent studies include the development of theoretical models and the construction of methods for studying patterns of change caused by cultural transmission and the process of natural selection in cultural systems.

In addition, I have interests in remote sensing to efficiently and non-destructively study the record.  This work includes the use of magnetometry, resistivity, conductivity, thermal imagery and ground penetrating radar.  My field research has taken me from the Mississippi river valley to Easter Island to California and coastal Guatemala.

I work at CSULB, a can-do school located in the ethereal world of southern California.  We offer BA and  MA degrees in Anthropology  though I’ve been working on creating some more focused and useful degrees.  The archaeology program at CSULB consists of a focused group of courses that train students within anthropology. We have a dynamite group of MA students doing work on a huge variety of topics -- most of which end up as posters at the SAA meetings (see here) and/or publications.  If you are interested to coming to CSULB for training in evolutionary focused and strongly scientific research, please let me know.  

If you are looking for our archaeology program website for more description about what kinds of training you might receive here, you will be temporarily disappointed since political schemes of Le Chair have resulted in its removal.  We hope that this is a short term event and that the web site will be returned - new and up-to-date.  In the meantime, check the Department Page (www.csulb.edu/colleges/cla/depts/anthro), this page and my Blog (www.evolutionbeach.org) for more information. Or simply email me and l’ll be happy to fill you in.