Dr. Jonathan Lothrop
My research is focused on how and when Native Americans colonized and then settled the New York region from near the end of the Pleistocene or Ice Age into the early Holocene, between about 11,000 and 8000 B.C. This approach involves integrated studies of Paleoindian sites and artifact collections, within and between regions, (1) to refine chronology and systematics, and (2) to model changes in Paleoindian lifeways, including technology, settlement, and subsistence. A key aspect of this work involves collaborating with earth scientists at NYSM and elsewhere to better understand the Late Pleistocene landscapes and environments of these peoples. At the broadest level, this research contributes to our understanding about the peopling of the New World at the end of the Pleistocene era, and how some human populations adapted in the past to rapid environmental and climatic change.
