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Anthropology/Expert Profile

John Shea

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Expertise

Questions about Old World prehistoric archaeology (especially Stone Age) of Europe, Africa, and Western Asia, prehistoric human and hominid behavior, primitive technology, origin of modern humans, extinction of the Neandertals.

Publications

Journal of Field Archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Science, Lithic Technology, Evolutionary Anthropology, Current Anthropology, Mitekufat HaEven (Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society), Paléorient, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, American Anthropologist, Geoarchaeology.

Education/Credentials

Ph.D (Anthropology) Harvard University, 1991.
BA (Archaeology) Boston University, 1982.

What do you like about this subject?

I like that it puts our current problems into longer-term evolutionary perspective. It also give me an opportunity to explore the lives of Ice Age humans. Many of the cultural and biological resources we have available to solve our own problems reflect these earlier humans' adaptive strategies.

What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?

I hope to learn more about the range of human behavioral variability. A lot of anthropologists stereotype earlier humans as unintelligent creatures whose lives were shaped by environmental change. I think humans have been fundamentally creative, clever, and inclined towards experiment for much of our evolutionary past. If I can increase our under

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:

Many accounts of modern human origins link the emergence of Homo sapiens to the appearance of Ice Age art around 36,000 years ago. Yet, anatomically-modern-looking humans were already present in much of Africa, Southwest Asia more than 100,000 years ago.

Something controversial or provocative about this subject

Fossil and archaeological evidence from the Middle Paleolithic period (47,000-245,000 BP) in Southwest Asia, that Neandertals may have displaced earlier populations of modern humans (e.g., the Skhul/Qafzeh humans). See http://www.athenapub.com/8shea1.htm for my take on this issue.

Average Ratings

Recent Reviews from Users

User	Date	K	C	T	P	Comments
Lee	11/05/09	10	10	10	10	Thank you so much for your prompt .....
martin	08/26/09	10	10	10	10
martin	08/26/09	10	10	10	10
martin	08/26/09	10	10	10	10
Christopher	06/14/09	10	10	10	10	Thanks Professor Shea. I hope you won't .....

Recent Answers from John Shea

2009-11-05 Can diet affect jaw size in modern people?:

Lee, You've pretty much answered your own question. The articulation between teeth and the mandible is very labile (flexible). So, if it gets stressed firmly and regularly, it reinforces itself by bone

2009-09-23 Human speciation:

Dear Dan The most likely reasons are that we are a very numerous species (hard for mutations to become fixed [100%] in a subpopulation) and that we have a very broad ecological niche (difficult for behavioral

2009-09-16 Validity of Race; Neandertals:

Dear Sade Milford Wolpoff and Rachel Caspari. The title is "Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction". this is probably the best source for these issues. How anthropologists think about race and

2009-08-27 Could you speculate for me?:

Hi Paul This is pure speculation, rather than an answer. I don't think it would have made a difference (i.e., no connection between anatomy and numbering systems). Why? Well, there are cultures that

2009-08-26 Race of Ancient Egyptians:

Martin Colleges: It isn't really a trend you see in colleges, at least not the better ones, and not in serious courses on Egyptology. I myself sometimes mention the issue, but more in the context of

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