Ph.D. 1996, University of Michigan. Human biogeography, evolutionary ecology, human evolution, human-environmental interaction, maritime hunter-gatherers, climate change, archaeology, prehistory, Arctic, Alaska, North Pacific Rim, Russia, and Japan.
Department: Anthropology
Position: Associate Professor
Email: click here
Phone: (206) 543-5240
Box: 353100
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Research Summary:My interests revolve around the study of technological, economic, social and political evolution of maritime hunter-gatherers using archaeological data and methods. These interests have led me to investigate variables affecting island colonization, maritime foraging strategies, changes in subsistence economy, changes in mobility and sedentism, technological development and intensification, "origins" of institutionalized social inequality and stratification, intensification of warfare, and the development of indigenous slavery in the North Pacific. I approach this broad research focus from an anthropological perspective utilizing principles of human biogeography and evolutionary ecology. A strong component of this research involves the generation and/or expansion of evolutionary and ecological theory to help explain these different facets of human evolution.
Kodiak Cultural Evolution (PI) In the past several years, I have pursued my interests in human evolution through research in the Kodiak Archipelago of southern Alaska. The organizing principle of this research is the goal of understanding the evolution of "complex hunter-gatherers" in this region of the North Pacific. My research in this area has included an intensive archaeological survey and test excavation program in Southeast Kodiak, which provided an unprecedented data-set of 152 archaeological sites ranging from 7500 to 50 years BP. These sites are the basis for a high resolution spatial analysis of settlement and land use change through Kodiak’s prehistoric and historic periods. This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Old Harbor Native Corporation, and the University of Michigan.
Kuril Paleobiology and Biogeography Project (PI) An international research project in the Russian Kuril Archipelago was initiated July and August of 2000 with the assistance of a geoarchaeological collaborator (Carole Mandryk-Harvard), Russian and Japanese scholars, and several graduate and undergraduate students. We are seeking funds to expand this research to a major interdisciplanary project focused on the dynamics of human-environmental interaction in an island system. The ultimate goal of this research is an integrated understanding of the archaeological, paleoecological, and geomorphologic history of the Kurils, and more generally better understanding of the interelated processes of climatic, ecological and social systems. This new project expands the geographic range of my research beyond southern Alaska, but it is consistent at a broader scale with my North Pacific regional focus and my interest in the biogeography and evolution of maritime hunter-gatherers.
My interest in human-environmental dynamics and systemic change in the North Pacific is expanding towards a broader focus on the Beringian Basin. I am interested in looking at the ways that archaeology and paleoecoloigcal data sets from a range of locations in the Bering Sea region can be used to look at the impacts of climate change and human intervention on ecosystems as well as the reciprocal effects of these changes on human adaptation (resilience and vulnerability). This interest has led me to participate in a project for the National Science Foundation to develop a draft social science plan for Bering Sea research. One important aspect of this effort is the inclusion of Bering Sea residents in the formation of a scientific agenda and the the drafting of the science plan.
In addition to the aforementioned fieldwork, I am actively pursuing several related theoretical issues. Currently I am most excited about developing theory to explain rates of technological change in human prehistory. This research seeks to clarify ambiguity in the technological literature relating to technological evolution and the role of human adaptation in material culture change. I am particularly interested in the impact of social inequality on rates of technological change.
Recent Publications:- Fitzhugh, B.; Trusler, A. K., (2009), Case study in technological evolution: innovation and experimentation in and with the archaeological record, Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution, Shennan, S., University of California Press, Berkeley.
- Fitzhugh, B., (2008), Foundations of Chumash Complexity, edited by Jeanne E. Arnold, CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, 18: 2, 267-9.
- Fitzhugh, B., (2006), From sites to social evolution: the study of emergent complexity in the Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska, Seeking Our Past: An Introduction to North American Archaeology, Neusius, S. W.; Gross, G. T., 181-191, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Fitzhugh, B., (2006), The Last Imaginary Place: A Human History of the Arctic World, by Robert McGhee, Arctic, 59: 2, 222.
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