Title: Volcanism and the Archaeology of Human Settlement on the Alaska Peninsula

Presenter:  Dr. Loukas Barton

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This multi-agency, multi-disciplinary project explores the ways in which human groups dealt with the dramatic landscape modifications of volcanic activity on the Alaska Peninsula. Two caldera-forming eruptions ca. 4000 years ago forever altered the coastline, river channels, and biotic productivity of the region, and some have suggested that these catastrophic events initiated cultural and linguistic divergence. This project explored the archaeological evidence for these hypotheses, revealing where and when people re-occupied devastated landscapes. In turn the evidence suggests that not all catastrophes induce the same response; indeed, the evidence suggests that people survive and thrive in turbulent environments where volcanic activity is widespread and recurrent.

Dr. Loukas Barton is a Research Archaeologist for the cultural resource management group Dudek. Previously, he was the lead archaeologist for the National Park Service units of Katmai National Park & Preserve, the Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve, and the Alagnak Wild River. He was also a professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and the University of Pittsburgh, and Head of Public Programs at the Peabody Museum of Natural History. His research focuses on understanding change in the ways that people interact with and alter the natural environment, in California, Arizona, Alaska, Mongolia, and China.