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Clark Erickson's Homepage


Associate Professor of Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
University of Pennsylvania
Associate Curator of the American Section
University of Pennsylvania Museum
of Archaeology and Anthropology


Clark and Antuka

Clark and Antuka (the tapir) at the Beni Biological Station


Education | Current Positions | Major Research Interests | Publications | Courses | How to Contact Me | Recent News about Clark’s Research | Applied Archaeology in the Llanos de Moxos | Prehispanic Earthworks of the Baures Region of the Bolivian Amazon | Illustration of Archaeological Landscapes: Volunteers Wanted | Links of Interest


EDUCATION
B.A. Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1976.
M.A. Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 1980.
Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 1988.

CURRENT POSITIONS
Associate Professor: Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
Associate Curator: American Section, University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania


MAJOR RESEARCH INTERESTS
Clark Erickson is interested in how archaeology can provide a long-term perspective on environmental change, biodiversity, and sustainable management. Since 1974, Erickson's Andean and Amazonian research focuses on the contribution of archaeology to understanding the complex human history of the environment and cultural activities that have shaped the Earth. Erickson uses historical ecology, landscape archaeology, and applied archaeology to understand the long-term complex human history of the environment and cultural activities that have shaped the Earth. His contributions include the human role in contemporary biodiversity, indigenous knowledge systems, native agriculture, sustainable landuse, and cultural landscape structure and aesthetics. He has considerable experience collaborating with descendant communities on applied archaeology projects with potential for sustainable development (Quechua in Peru, Cofán in Ecuador, and Arawak in Bolivia). Most recently, Erickson investigated pre-Columbian cultural landscape in the wetlands, forests, and savannas of the Amazon region of Bolivia (raised fields, ring ditches, fish weirs, causeways, and canals). He is editor of two recent volumes Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands (2006) and Landscapes of Movement: Trails, Paths, and Roads in Anthropological Perspective (2009) in addition to numerous other scientific and popular publications. Erickson is currently Associate Professor in Anthropology at U. Penn and Associate Curator of the American Section of the Penn Museum. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, H. John Heinz Charitable Trust, the University Research Foundation, American Philosophical Society, and the Interamerican Foundation.

 

Prehispanic Raised Fields

Prehispanic raised fields in the region of Santa Ana de Yacuma,
Department of the Beni, Bolivia (1994)


PUBLICATIONS

Click here to read articles or download PDF files of Erickson publications from 1980-present

Experimental Raised Field

Experimental raised field construction in the Community of Bermeo
Department of the Beni, Bolivia (1993)


 

HOW TO CONTACT ME

Department of Anthropology
University of Pennsylvania
33rd and Spruce Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6398
Tel: (215) 898-2282
Fax: (215) 898-7254
E-mail:
cerickso@sas.upenn.edu

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Last modified August 23, 2010