C.V.

Curriculum Vitae
Adam Van Arsdale
avanarsd@wellesley.edu

Academic Positions

2014-present Associate Professor, Chair, Department of Anthropology, Wellesley College
2015-2017 Jaan Whitehead Associate Professor of Critical Thought
2008-2013 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, Wellesley College
2006-2008 Lecturer and Research Scientist, Department of Anthropology
University of Michigan

Education

Ph.D. (2006) Mandibular variation in early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia
Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan (Advisor, Milford Wolpoff)
M.A. (2004) Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan
B.S./B.A. (2001) Anthropology and Human Biology, English Literature
Emory University, Summa cum laude

Peer-Reviewed Publications

* In press “Population demography, ancestry, and the biological race concept” Annual Review of Anthropology,
vol. 48, 2019
* In press “The interaction of preservation bias and analytical bias in the hominin fossil record” Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology, eds. C. Willermet & R. Caspari. Cambridge University Press
* 2019 “Biological and Evolutionary Perspectives in American Anthropologist: An Editorial Provocation.” American Anthropologist (M. Shenk)
* 2018 “Through Dappled Light: Homo naledi and the wonders of what we have yet to learn about human evolution.” Anthropology News, September 2018
* 2018 “Biocultural evolution as a theoretical model for evolutionary processes” in The Darwinian Tradition in Context: Research Programs in Twentieth-Century Evolutionary Biology, ed. Richard Delisle. Springer Press.
* 2018 “Archaic humans,” in The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology, Wenda Trevathan (ed). John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
* 2016 “How to survive the glacial apocalypse: Hominin mobility strategies in late Pleistocene Central Asia.” Quaternary International (2016). (M. Glantz, T. Beeton, S. Temirbekov
* 2014 “The evolution of early Homo: A reply to Scott (2014)” Evolution 68(3): 916-919
* 2013 “A shifting theoretical framework for biological anthropology” American Anthropologist 115 (2):262-272
* 2013 “A single lineage in early Pleistocene Homo: Size variation continuity in early Pleistocene Homo crania from East Africa and Georgia” (M. Wolpoff) Evolution 67 (3):841-850
* 2013 “Homo erectus – A bigger, better, faster Hominin lineage” Nature Knowledge Project 4 (1):2-12
* 2012 “A quantitative assessment of mandibular variation in the Dmanisi hominins” (D. Lordkipanidze) Paleoanthropology
* 2012 “Re-examining the relationship between cranial deformation and extra-sutural bone formation” International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 22 (1):119-126 (J. Clark)
* 2010 “The Olduvai Hominid 8 foot: Adult or subadult?” Journal of Human Evolution 58 (5):418-423. (J. Desilva, B. Zipfel, M. Tocheri)
* 2008 “Variation in the mandibles from Dmanisi, Georgia” Journal of Human Evolution 54 (6): 954-958 (P. Rightmire, A. Van Arsdale, D. Lordkipanidze)
* 2008 “Preservation bias in the Krapina hominid sample? A randomization approach” Periodicum Biologorum 109 (4): 363-368
* 2006 “Mandibular variation in early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia” Ph.D. dissertation. University of Michigan.

Fellowships and Awards

2018 National Geographic Explorer Grant
($27,750) “Ugam Valley Archaeological Survey, Kazakhstan (KUVAS)”
2017 Alliance for the Advancement of Liberal Arts Colleges (J. Tynes, A. Banzaert)
($19,092) “Digital Fabrication and Making at Liberal Arts Colleges, Workshop”
2017 Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (J. Tynes, A. Banzaert)
($5,000) “Digital Fabrication and Making at Liberal Arts Colleges, Workshop”
2017 Mellon Foundation, Evidence-based learning grant (Wellesley College)
($5,000) “Virtual Learning Environments in Evolution, Osteology, and Anatomy”
2017 Wellesley College, Educational Research & Development Grant
($7,500) “Virtual Reality Evolutionary Anatomy Lab”
2017 Mellon Foundation, Blended learning (Wellesley College)
($4,450) “Virtual Reality Evolutionary Anatomy Lab”
2017 Wellesley College Faculty Research Award
($2,920) “East to West: Archaic Human Occupation at the Margins”
2015-2017 Whitehead Associate Professor of Critical Thought
2013 Wellesley College Faculty Research Award
($4,839) “Kazakhstan Professional Development and Pleistocene Survey”
2011 Wellesley College Faculty Research Award
($3,215) “Further Investigation of Dmanisi Hominid Fossils”
2009 Wellesley College Faculty Research Award
($2,711) “Dmanisi Dental Wear and Early Hominin Diet”
2007 Distinguished Dissertation Award, honorable mention
Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan
2002-2006 Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation
2006 One-Term Dissertation Fellowship, Rackham Graduate School
2001-2004 Regents Fellowship
Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan
2001 Phi Beta Kappa, Emory University
2001 Most Outstanding Senior
Department of Anthropology, Emory University

Field Experience

2018- Ugam Valley Archaeological Survey, Kazakhstan
2015 Hrazdan Gorge Project, Armenia
2013 Kazakhstan Pleistocene Survey Project
2010-2011 Dmanisi Paleoanthropology Field School, coordinator
2002-2011 Dmanisi Lower Paleolithic Site, Georgia
2009 South-Central Georgia Survey Project
2004 Baringo Paleolithic Research Project, Kenya
2003-2004 Masavera Gorge Paleolithic Project, Georgia

Professional Activities

2019-present Chair, Biological Anthropology Section, AAA
2019-present Co-Associate Editor, American Anthropologist
2017-present Chair-elect, Biological Anthropology Section, AAA
2016-present Assistant editor, American Anthropologist
2015-2017 Program Chair, Biological Anthropology Section, AAA
2012-2014 At-large member, Biological Anthropology Section, Executive Committee, AAA
2002-present American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Member
2005-present Paleoanthropology Society, Member
2005-present American Anthropological Association, Member
2012-present American Association of Anthropological Genetics, Member
Reviewer National Science Foundation, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Paleoanthropology, Journal of Human Evolution, Journal of Archaeological Science, PLOS:ONE, Evolution, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Courses Taught

Wellesley College Anth 110 – The Anthropology of Food
Anth 102/204 – Introduction to Physical Anthropology
Anth 205 – Anthropological Methods & Project Design
Anth 207 – Hominid Evolution
Anth 209 – Forensic Anthropology
Anth 211/RAST 211 – Wintersession program in Georgia
Anth 214 – Race and Human Biological Variation
Anth 243 – The (In)Visible Native America
Anth 255 – Paleoanthropology (w/field lab)
Anth 274 – Anthropological Genetics
Anth 314 – Human Biology and Society: personal genomics

WellesleyX (MOOC) Anth 207x – Introduction to Human Evolution

Univ. of Michigan Anth 360 – Race and Human Evolution
Anth 361 – Biology, Society and Culture
Anth 452 – Population Genetics
Anth 566 – Human Osteology
Anth 564 – Hominid Origins (Graduate Student Instructor)

Published Abstracts and Conference Presentations

2017 Roundtable: Combating essentialism within anthropology in the age of Trump
American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings.
2017 Preservation Bias and Analytical Bias in the Hominin Fossil Record [abstract]
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
2016 Roundtable: Evaluating the work of care in the profession
American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings.
2016 Drift, Dispersal, Constraint, and the Evolutionary Niche of Pleistocene Homo [abstract] American Journal of Physical Anthropology
2015 Paleoanthropology and analytical rigor: The need to do less with more [abstract] American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings.
2015 Population persistence in late Pleistocene Central Asia: Peripheral steppe niches and the intra-mountain corridor [abstract] (M. Glantz, S. Temirbekov, T. Beeton). XIX INQUA Congress, Nagoya, Japan, “Quaternary Perspectives on Climate Change, Natural Hazards, and Civilization”
2015 How to survive the glacial apocalypse: Bugging out in late Pleistocene Central Asia [abstract] (M. Glantz, S. Temirbekov) American Journal of Physical Anthropology 156(60):145.
2013 Completing the circle on race: Why biological variation is real but not racial [abstract] American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings.
2013 Integrating data across scales in paleoanthropology: The future role of prehistoric fossils in the genomic present [abstract] American Journal of Physical Anthropology 150(56):275.
2012 If not the Neandertals: reproductive barriers and speciation in the Pleistocene [abstract] American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings.
2012 Size and skeletal development in early Homo erectus: a comparison between Nariokotome and Dmanisi [abstract] (Z. Cofran, A. Papakyrikos) American Journal of Physical Anthropology 147(54):290.
2011 Unexpected Insights Into Late Pleistocene Human Population Demography [abstract]. American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings.
2011 Gradient of dental wear and mandibular corpus height in Pleistocene Homo [abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 144(52):298.
2009 Reduced adult mortality and expansion of the human biocultural niche in the Late Pleistocene [abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 138(48):255.
2008 A single lineage hypothesis for the Habilis to Erectine transition [abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 135(46):213 (A. Van Arsdale, M. Wolpoff)
2007 Possible demographic implications for reduced adult mortality in Pleistocene human evolution [abstract]. American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings.
2007 Metric variation in the hominid mandibles from Dmanisi, Georgia[abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 132(44):236. (A. Van Arsdale and D. Lordkipanidze)
2007 A re-examination of the relationship between cranial deformation and extra-sutural bone formation [abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 132(44):88. (J. L. Clark and A. Van Arsdale)
2007 Comparative anatomy of the hominid mandibles from Dmanisi, Georgia [abstract]. Paleoanthropology Society
2005 Intraspecific variation in sexual dimorphism [abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 126(40):211. (A. Van Arsdale and M. Meyer)
2004 Patterns of sexual dimorphism in Homo [abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 123(38):199. (A. Van Arsdale and M. Meyer)
2003 Variation in early and recent Australian populations: Implications for the settlement of Australia [abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 120(36):214.
2002 Reexamining variation in Early Pleistocene fossils from East Africa [abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 117(34):166. (J. Wilson and A. Van Arsdale)

Invited Talks

2018 “Charles Murray and the Alt-Right as History”
Whitehead Initiative on Global History, Harvard University (1/31/18)
2017 “Ending Origins: The scientific challenge of evolutionary origins”
University of Rhode Island, Honors Colloquium (10/23/17)
2014 “Paleoanthropology and the fossil record: Quantitative reasoning with big bad data” QR Connections Series, Wellesley College (11/14)
2014 “The role of MOOCs in the liberal arts” Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC), Wesleyan University (1/14)
2013 “Fossils in the digital age: Human evolution, WellesleyX, and online education” Wellesley College (9/13)
2012 “Continuing excavations at the Lower Paleolithic site of Dmanisi, Georgia: 2002-2011” – The University of Connecticut, Anthropology Department
2011 “BU Dialogues: The origins of Homo and access to the human fossil record” Boston University, Department of Anthropology, 4/7/2011
2011 “First Georgia, Then the World” – Wellesley College, Science Faculty Seminar Series, 3/2011
2010 “Dmanisi, Georgia, on my mind: The early evolution of humans” – Wellesley Alumnae Association, Western Maine Chapter/Phoenix Chapter
2009 “In the beginning: The evolution of early Homo” – Calpe 2009, Human Evolution – 150 years after Darwin, Gibraltar
2007 “The shades of white symposium: Exploring the Caucasian communities’ place in multiculturalism within the U. of M.” Multicultural Affairs Committee, University of Michigan – Invited panelist
2005 “Continuing excavations at the Lower Paleolithic locality of Dmanisi, Georgia, 2001-2004” – Ruthven Museum, University of Michigan
2005 “A quick look at human evolution from the site of Dmanisi, Georgia” – Kalamazoo Rotary Society
2001 “Molecular genetics and Pleistocene human population size” Honors Thesis, Emory University
1998 “Tourists and traders: Transitions in 19th century Pueblo pottery” Kirtlandia Society, Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Online Writing and Reviews

2013 Race, monogamy, and other lies they told you: Busting myths about human nature, by Agustín Fuentes (American Journal of Physical Anthropology 152 (1):163)
2011-present The Pleistocene Scene—Human Evolution, Biological Anthropology and Everyday Life (https://blogs.wellesley.edu/vanarsdale)
2012 Anthropology News – “Impersonal Genomics and Anthropology”
• http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2012/09/21/impersonal-genomics-and-anthropology/ (9/18/2012)
2009 Reticulate Evolution and Humans: Origins and Ecology, by Matthew Arnold (American Journal of Human Biology, 22:854-855)

VanArsdaleCV1.18-1t5n6hm