Geoffrey Clark

Geoffrey Clark

Professor Emeritus,
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Other ASU affiliations
Emeritus Professor, Emeritus College
  • gaclark@asu.edu
  • Phone: 480-965-6215
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  • CSB 174 TEMPE, AZ 85287-2402
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Long Bio

Known nationally for his contributions to quantified archaeological research designs and internationally for his work on hunter-gatherer adaptations, epistemology and human origins research, Geoffrey A. Clark, who joined the ASU faculty in 1971, has an exceptionally strong, balanced record in research, graduate education and public service. His internationally recognized work in paleoanthropology has produced four major contributions to knowledge.

1. His research on paleolithic hunter-gatherers in Spain and Jordan (funded so far by 14 NSF and NGS grants to Clark and his students) has shown that human dietary intensification provoked by population/resource imbalances predated the shift to domestication economies by as much as 10 kyr.

2. Clark's papers on the history and role of quantification in archaeological research have made significant contributions to the anglophone research tradition, the most heavily quantified in the world.

3. Since 1987 Clark has been a major writer and lecturer on the epistemological foundations for knowledge claims in paleolithic archaeology and human paleontology.

4. His recent involvement in modern human origins research (numerous articles, two books) has shown that data do not exist independent of the conceptual frameworks that define and contextualize them, and that paleoanthropologists can only ignore the logic of inference at their peril.

A number of his c. 275 publications have been reprinted in anthologies and other collected works. Clark is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the AAA, the Royal Anthropological Institute (UK), and the Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales (Spain).

Education

Ph.D. University of Chicago 1971

CV
Curriculum Vitae
Research Interests

Archaeologist and paleoanthropologist Geoffrey A. Clark is the author, co-author or editor of over 250 articles, notes, reviews and comments, and 11 monographs and books on human biological and cultural evolution in ‘deep time’ - the past four million years.

An active researcher, Clark has presented dozens of invited papers in organized symposia at the annual meetings of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and the AAA. He has also been invited to lecture on his research at a number of American universities and in 16 foreign countries. In addition to service on national committees, he and John Lindly won the AAA's prestigious Morton Fried Prize for the best paper published in the American Anthropologist (1989).

A University of Chicago Ph.D (1971), his current interests turn on the logic of inference underlying knowledge claims in the various aspects of modern human origins research (Conceptual Issues in Modern Human Origins Research, co-edited with Cathy Willermet, Aldine de Gruyter [1997]; New Approaches to the Study of Early Upper Paleolithic ‘Transitional’ Industries in Western Eurasia, co-edited with Julien Riel-Salvatore, Archaeopress [2007]) and with applications of neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory in archaeology (Rediscovering Darwin: Evolutionary Theory in Archaeological Explanation, co-edited with C. Michael Barton, American Anthropological Association [1997].

Clark has done fieldwork in Arizona, Mexico, France, Spain, Cyprus, Turkey and Jordan. Other research foci include European Mesolithic forager adaptations (The Mesolithic of the Atlantic Façade, co-edited with Manuel González Morales, ASU Anthropological Research Papers [2004] and the peopling of the Americas (The Settlement of the American Continents, co-edited with C. Michael Barton, David Yesner and Georges Pearson, University of Arizona Press [2004].

A Regent’s Professor in the School of Human Evolution & Social Change (SHESC) at Arizona State University, Clark has headed the Archeology Division of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), and the Anthropology Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

He lectures on race, racism and ethnic conflict; the evolution of human mating, the conflict between religion and science (‘creation science’), human evolution, and modern human origins. A materialist to the core, and a committed evolutionist, he has been concerned lately with the promotion of western science as a conceptual framework for describing and explaining the experiential world, and with contesting the claims of the various anti- and pseudo-science constituencies arrayed against it.

PhD and Graduate Mentoring

Clark has a stellar record in graduate education, having chaired 25 completed Ph.D. committees and 36 MA committees (and two BA honors theses). He is, in fact, the department record holder for graduate degree production. He enjoys working with graduate students and has been unusually successful at involving them in his research. An NSF Fellow (1967-71), he has also served on eight NSF graduate fellowship panels.

In 1988, Professor Clark received the Graduate College Distinguished Research Professorship. This award ultimately led to ASU's acquisition of the Institute of Human Origins (1997). In 1992, he won the Graduate College's Outstanding Mentor Award.

His mentoring philosophy makes clear his approach to graduate education, his construal of the nature of archaeology as a scientific endeavor, and his perception of the relationship between science, science policy, education and the public. Clark's doctoral students have received dissertation funding from a variety of foundations and carried out their research around the world.

These students have gone on to successful careers at the University of California, Berkeley; University of South Carolina, New Mexico State University, Iowa State University, California State University, Northridge; San Diego State University, Montana State University, Marquette University, St. Mary's University, Seoul National University, King Saud University, University of Jordan, University of Arizona, and ASU. Eight others work in museums, the government, or the private sector.

Research Projects:

Ayl-to-Ras en'Naqb Survey Project

Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics

Publications

  • Selected Publications

    Clark, G. A. (2012). The ARNAS paleolithic collections in regional context. In The Ayl to Ras an-Naqab Archaeological Survey, Southern Jordan (2005-2007), pp. 391-416. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research.

    Clark, G. A. (2011). Historical connection and formal convergence in the Lower Paleolithic of Eurasia. In Handaxes in the Imjin Basin: Diversity and Variability in the East Asian Paleolithic [S. Yi, Ed.], pp. 37-82. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.

    Clark, G. A. (2009). Accidents of history: conceptual frameworks in paleoarchaeology. In Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions: Methods, Theories and Interpretations [M. Camps & P. Chauhan, eds.], pp. 19-42. New York: Springer.

    Clark, G. A. & Riel-Salvatore, J. (2009). What’s in a name? Observations on the compositional integrity of the Aurignacian. In The Mediterranean from 50,000-25,000 BP: Turning Points and New Directions [M. Camps & C. Szmidt, eds.], pp. 323-338. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Riel-Salvatore, J., Clark, G. A. & Miller, A. (2008). An empirical evaluation of the case for a Châtelperronian-Aurignacian interstratification at Grotte des Fées de Châtelperron. World Archaeology 40(4): 480-492.

    Clark, G. A. (2007). The flight from science and reason - Evolution and creationism in contemporary American life. In Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Science and Archaeology’ [A. Stenger, A. Schneider & B. Harrison, Eds.], pp. 60-80. Portland, OR: Institute for Archaeological Studies.

    Clark, G. A. & Riel-Salvatore, J. (2006). Observations on systematics in Paleolithic archaeology. In Transitions Before the Transition: Evolution and Stability in the Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age [E. Hovers & S. Kuhn, Eds.], pp. 29-56. New York: Springer.

    Clark, G. A. (2005). Modern approaches to Paleolithic archaeology in Europe: a sampler of research traditions. American Antiquity 70(2): 376-384.

    Barton, C. M., Clark, G. A.,Yesner, D. & Pearson, G. (Eds.). (2004). The Settlement of the American Continents: a Multidisciplinary Approach to Human Biogeography. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    González Morales M. R. & Clark, G. A. (Eds.). (2004). The Mesolithic of the Atlantic Façade: Proceedings of the Santander Symposium. Tempe: Arizona State University Press: Arizona State University Anthropological Research Paper No. 55.

    Rousteaei, K., Vahdati Nasab, H., Biglari, F., Heydari, S., Clark, G. A. & Lindly, J. M. (2004). Recent paleolithic surveys in Luristan. Current Anthropology 45(5): 692-706 enhancements: www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?CA045703.

    Clark, G. A. (2003). American archaeology's uncertain future. In S. Gillespie & D. Nichols (Eds.), Archaeology is Anthropology (pp. 51-68). Arlington: Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association No. 13.

    Clark, G. A. (2002). Neandertal archaeology-implications for our origins. American Anthropologist, 104(1), 50-67.

    Clark, G. A. & Riel-Salvatore, J. (2001). Grave markers: Middle and early Upper Paleolithic burials and the use of chronotypology in contemporary Paleolithic research. Current Anthropology, 42(4), 449-460 and 470-479.

    Clark, G. A. (2000). Thirty years of Mesolithic research in Atlantic coastal Iberia (1970-2000). Journal of Anthropological Research, 56(1), 17-37.

    Clark, G. A. (1999). Modern human origins - highly visible, curiously intangible. Science 283: 2029-2032; 284: 917; www.sciencemag.org/ feature/data/990029.shl.

    Straus, L. G., Clark, G. A., Altuna, J. & Ortea, J. (1980). Ice-Age subsistence in northern Spain. Scientific American 242(6): 142-153.

  • G. A. Clark. A Mesolithic tapestry – Holocene foragers prior to the Neolithic. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology (2009).
  • A. Pinto-Llona, G. A. Clark, A. Miller & K. Reed. Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons in northern Spain: ongoing work at the Sopeña rockshelter (Asturias, Spain). The Mediterranean from 50,000-25,000 BP: Turning Points and New Directions (2009).
  • G. A. Clark. Accidents of history: conceptual frameworks in paleoarchaeology. Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions: Methods, Theories and Interpretations (2009).
  • G. A. Clark. Early explorers of the western hemisphere. The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2009 (2008).
  • G. A. Clark. Prehistory: our ancestors emerge. The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2009 (2008).
  • Clark, G. A. How academic corporatism can lead to dictatorships. Nature (2008).
  • Clark, G. A. Prehistory: our ancestors emerge. World Almanac & Book of Facts 2009. New York: World Almanac Books (2008).
  • Clark, G. A. Review of Archaeological Anthropology: Perspectives on Method & Theory (Skibo et al., eds.). Journal of Anthropological Research (2008).
  • Clark, G. A. Review of The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East (Simmons). American Anthropologist (2008).
  • J. Riel-Salvatore, G. A. Clark & A. Miller. An empirical evaluation of the case for a Châtelperronian-Aurignacian interstratification at Grotte des Fées de Châtelperron. World Archaeology (2008).
  • Riel-Salvatore, J., A. Miller & G. Clark. An empirical evaluation of the case for a Châtelperronian-Aurignacian interstratification at Grotte des Fées de Châtelperron. World Archaeology (2008).
  • . . Review of: Archaeological Anthropology: Perspectives on Method and Theory (2008).
  • . . Review of: The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape (2008).
  • A. Pinto, G. Clark, A. Miller, K. Reed. Neandertals and Cro-Magnons in northern Spain: ongoing work at the Sopeña rockshelter (Asturias, Spain). The Mediterranean from 50,000-25,000 BP: Turning Points & New Directions (2008).
  • Clark, G. A. See non-refereed section - I put all the reviews and comments in there. (2008).
  • Riel-Salvatore, Julien & G. A. Clark. New Approaches to the Study of the Early Upper Paleolithic ‘Transitional’ Industries of Western Eurasia: Transitions Great and Small Oxford: Archaeopress, BAR International Series No. 1620, x + 180 pages. (2007).
  • . . Early Upper Paleolithic ‘Transitional’ Industries: New Questions, New Methods (2007).
  • Barton, C Michael, Clark, Geoffrey Anderson, Yesner, David, Pearson, Georges A. The human settlement of the American continents: multidisciplinary perspectives on human biogeography. (2004).
  • Clark, Geoffrey Anderson. The Iberian Mesolithic in the European context. The Mesolithic of the Atlantic Façade: Proceedings of the Santander Symposium (2004).
  • Clark, Geoffrey Anderson,Barton, C Michael,Yesner, D,Pearson, G. An interdisciplinary perspective on long-term human biogeography and the Pleistocene colonization of the Americas. The Settlement of the American Continents: a Multidisciplinary Approach to Human Biogeography (2004).
  • C Papalas, Geoffrey Clark, K Kintigh. Liencres revisited - the significance of spatial patterning revealed by unconstrained clustering. Mesolithic on the Move (L. Larsson et al., eds.) (2003).
  • Geoffrey Clark. American archaeology's uncertain future. Archaeology is Anthropology (S. Gillespie & D. Nichols, eds.) (2003).
  • Geoffrey Clark. Obituary: Robert John Braidwood (1907-2003) and Linda Schreiber Braidwood (1909-2003). Neo-Lithics (2003).
  • Clark, G. A. & J. Riel-Salvatore. What's in a name? Observations on the compositional integrity of the Aurignacian. The Mediterranean from 50-25,000 BP: Turning Points & New Directions (0).
  • G. A. Clark & J. Riel-Salvatore. What’s in a name? Observations on the compositional integrity of the Aurignacian. The Mediterranean from 50,000-25,000 BP: Turning Points and New Directions (0).
Research Activity
  • Clark,Geoffrey Anderson*. The Uluzzian and the Evolutionary Fate of Neanderthals in Italy. LBS LEAKEY FDN(6/1/2005 - 3/1/2006).
  • Clark,Geoffrey Anderson*. Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Metal Production on the Early Bronze Age Hungarian Plain. NSF-SBE(5/15/2005 - 12/31/2007).
  • Barton,C Michael*, Arrowsmith,Ramon, Clark,Geoffrey Anderson, Falconer,Steven Edward, Fall,Patricia L, Redman,Charles L, Sarjoughian,Hessam Seyed, Sarjoughian,Hessam Seyed, Wentz,Elizabeth Ann. Land-Use and Landscape Socioecology in the Mediterranean Basin. NSF-ENG-BCS(8/15/2004 - 9/30/2010).
  • Clark,Geoffrey Anderson*. SOCIO-POLITICAL EVOLUTION OF PERIPHERY SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH-. WENNER-GREN FDN(10/1/1994 - 4/30/1995).
  • Clark,Geoffrey Anderson*. ANALYSIS OF EPIPALEOLITHIC LITHIC MATERIALS. NSF-SBE(4/1/1994 - 11/30/1995).
  • Clark,Geoffrey Anderson*. GENDER ROLES IN THE LEVANT. NSF-SBE(6/1/1993 - 11/30/1994).
  • Clark,Geoffrey Anderson*. MIDDLE PALEOLETHIC ADAPTATIONS IN JORDAN. NSF(9/15/1990 - 8/31/1994).
  • Clark,Geoffrey Anderson*. DISSERTATION RESEARCH: TECH ORGAN & VARIABILITY SW ASIA. NSF(1/1/1990 - 12/31/1992).
Presentations
  • G. A. Clark. Science, Social Science and Indigenous Knowledge. American Anthropological Association [2-6 December, 2009]. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Dec 2009).
  • G. A. Clark. Human Origins – Recent Discoveries. Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix [22 November, 2009]. Scottsdale, Arizona (Nov 2009).
  • G. A. Clark. Human Origins from the Miocene to the Pleistocene. Spirit of the Senses Salon [3 August, 2009]. Phoenix, Arizona (Aug 2009).
  • G. A. Clark. Orígenes Humanos del Mioceno al Pleistoceno. Darwin Bicentennial Celebration, University of Valencia [5 May, 2009]. Valencia, Spain (May 2009).
  • Maysoon al'Nahar & G. A. Clark. The Lower Paleolithic in Jordan and the Levant. Jordan’s Prehistory: Past and Future, Department of Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan [ (May 2009).
  • G. A. Clark. Human Origins from the Miocene to the Pleistocene. Public Lecture, American Center for Oriental Research [17 March, 2009]. Amman, Jordan (Mar 2009).
  • G. A. Clark. Historical Connection and Formal Convergence in the Lower Paleolithic of Eurasia. Second International Archaeology Conference (First Seoul Paleolithic Conference), Seoul National Uni (Oct 2008).
  • G. A. Clark. Evolution & Creationism in America - World Views in Conflict. International Conference on the Parameters of Scientific Inquiry [25-28 February, 2007]. Houston, T (Feb 2007).
Professional Associations

Clark has served on various NEH, NRC, NSF, and AAAS panels. He was elected to the American Anthropological Associations (AAA) executive board (1986/89, 2001/04), chaired the AAA's Archeology Division (1997/99), and the AAAS Anthropology Section (2001/02).

Clark has also been involved in anthropological publishing, having created ASU's Anthropological Research Papers (ARP), a peer-reviewed and widely distributed monograph series published under ABOR copyright (59 titles published to date). He was the founding editor of the AAA's Archeological Papers (AP3A, 1989/93), the largest anthropological monograph series in the US (and probably the world) and served as an associate editor for the American Anthropologist, the AAA's flagship journal (1997/02). On the local level, he has been president of both the ASU and the Arizona chapters of the AAUP (1979/81), Phi Kappa Phi (1986/87) and the Society of Sigma Xi (1992/93, 1997/98). A frequent reviewer for NSF, NGS, SSHRC (Canada), NERC (UK) and other funding agencies, Professor Clark has also served as a reader/referee for more than a dozen national and international anthropological journals and general science periodicals (e.g., Science).

Service
  • Arizona State University Anthropological Research Papers, Editor, since 1974 (1974 - Present)
  • see public lectures, I have given public lectures on various topics in Arizona, the US, and in 16 foreign countries. (1970 - Present)
  • SHESC, I am the editor of ASU's Anthropological Research Papers (ARP) (1974 - 2011)
  • University of California, Berkeley, promotion packet evaluation - M. Steven Shackley (to rank of Professor) (2009 - 2009)
  • American Anthropological Association, member, Resource Development Committee (2006 - 2009)
  • American Anthropological Association (AAA), member of Resource Development Committee (until 2009) (2005 - 2009)
  • Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology, reviewed manuscript (2009 - 2009)
  • Journal of Archaeological Science, reviewed 2 manuscripts (2009 - 2009)
  • Radiocarbon, reviewed manuscript (2009 - 2009)
  • Journal of Human Evolution, reviewed 2 manuscripts (2009 - 2009)
  • Paléorient, reviewed manuscript (2009 - 2009)
  • Journal of History & Archaeology (Jordan), reviewed 6 manuscripts (2009 - 2009)
  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem, promotion packet evaluation - A. N. Goring-Morris (to rank of Professor) (2009 - 2009)
  • Netherlands Council for the Humanities (NWO), reviewed grant proposal (2009 - 2009)
  • Geoarchaeology, reviewed manuscript (2009 - 2009)
  • Quaternary International, reviewed manuscript (2009 - 2009)
Expertise Areas
Archaeology
Paleoanthropology
Cultural Anthropology
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