Breadcrumb
Justin N. Carlson
Co-Director - CRF
Lecturer & Research Associate
As a Co-Director for the Cultural Resources Facility, Dr. Carlson leads archaeological investigations in California, writes technical reports, trains students in archaeological field methods, and collaborates with local, state, and federal agencies to manage cultural resources and make assessments for the National Register of Historic Places. Prior to joining the Cultural Resources Facility at Cal Poly Humboldt, he was Project Director for the Kentucky Archaeological Survey in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at Western Kentucky University, where he led Phase I-III archaeological investigations throughout Kentucky.
Research Focus
Dr. Carlson's research 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 with fire between 5000 and 3000 years ago in Eastern North America. He has utilized geoarchaeological methods derived from soil sciences, including magnetic susceptibility, loss-on-ignition analysis and archaeological micromorphology to study landform histories in relation to climatic change and Native lifeways throughout the Holocene. He was awarded the 2021 Dissertation Prize by the Midwest Archaeological Conference. He is also co-editor of Falls of the Ohio River: Archaeology of Native American Settlement (2021) published with the University of Florida Press.
- Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Kentucky
- M.A. Anthropology, University of Kentucky
- B.S. Anthropology (minor in Archaeology), College of Charleston
- B.A. History, College of Charleston