John W. Olsen
Encyclopedia
John W. Olsen, Ph.D. is an American archaeologist specializing in the early Stone Age
prehistory and Pleistocene
paleoecology
of eastern Eurasia
. Olsen is Regents’ Professor of Anthropology
and Executive Director of the Je Tsongkhapa Endowment for Central and Inner Asian Archaeology at the University of Arizona
in Tucson, Arizona
, U.S.A. He is also Co-Director of the Joint Mongolian-Russian-American Archaeological Expeditions and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Zhoukoudian
International Paleoanthropological Research Center in Beijing.
Olsen’s research focuses on the Paleolithic archaeology of arid lands and high elevations in Central and Inner Asia, especially Mongolia
and Tibet
. His interests include Quaternary
paleoecology and the impact of environmental degradation
on prehistoric societies; cultural ecology and environmental archaeology with emphasis on zooarchaeology
, especially animal husbandry among pastoral and nomadic societies; and spatial analysis
in archaeology, including applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems. Olsen has conducted archaeological fieldwork in the United States (Florida & Arizona), Colombia, Belize, the Philippines, Egypt, Sudan, the People’s Republic of China (Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Gansu, & Ningxia), Việt Nam, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Türkmenistan, Russia (Siberia), and Mongolia.
(1919–2003; vertebrate paleontologist and zooarchaeologist) and Eleanor Louise Vinez Olsen (b. 1917; executive assistant, botanist and homemaker).
Olsen spent his formative years in Tallahassee, Florida where he lived until he moved to Tucson, Arizona with his parents in 1973.
Following his early graduation from Florida High School in Tallahassee after completing the eleventh grade, Olsen attended Florida State University as a freshman (1972–1973) and subsequently received Bachelor of Arts degrees with Highest Distinction and Honors in Anthropology and Oriental Studies from the University of Arizona
(1976). Olsen holds Master of Arts (1977) and Doctor of Philosophy (1980) degrees in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley
where his principal advisors were Glynn Ll. Isaac, J. Desmond Clark, F. Clark Howell, and William A. Clemens.
where he taught until 1982.
From 1982-1984, Olsen was a post-doctoral research associate of the Institute of Archaeology at University College, London where he taught courses, planned and carried out research expeditions in China and North Africa, and translated and co-edited a book on Chinese paleoanthropology
published by Academic Press in 1985.
Olsen joined the permanent faculty of the University of Arizona
as an Assistant Professor in 1984. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1988 and to Full Professor in 1994. In 2005, Olsen was awarded a Regents’ Professorship.
In 1991-1992 Olsen held a Fulbright Research and Lecturing Award at Kazakh State University (now al-Farabi Kazakh National University; Əл Фараби атындағы Қазақ Ұлттық Университеті) in Almaty
.
Olsen’s administrative appointments have included Resident Representative in Beijing for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1990–1991) and Head of the Department (now School) of Anthropology at the University of Arizona (1994–1995 and 1998–2008).
Over the past three decades, Olsen has accrued slightly more than US$1.9 million in sponsored support of his and his students’ research as well as spearheading successful development and fundraising activities on behalf of the University of Arizona’s School of Anthropology.
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
prehistory and Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
paleoecology
Paleoecology
Paleoecology uses data from fossils and subfossils to reconstruct the ecosystems of the past. It involves the study of fossil organisms and their associated remains, including their life cycle, living interactions, natural environment, and manner of death and burial to reconstruct the...
of eastern Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
. Olsen is Regents’ Professor of Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and Executive Director of the Je Tsongkhapa Endowment for Central and Inner Asian Archaeology at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, U.S.A. He is also Co-Director of the Joint Mongolian-Russian-American Archaeological Expeditions and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Zhoukoudian
Zhoukoudian
Zhoukoudian or Choukoutien is a cave system in Beijing, China. It has yielded many archaeological discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man, and a fine assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris...
International Paleoanthropological Research Center in Beijing.
Olsen’s research focuses on the Paleolithic archaeology of arid lands and high elevations in Central and Inner Asia, especially Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
and Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. His interests include Quaternary
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
paleoecology and the impact of environmental degradation
Environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife...
on prehistoric societies; cultural ecology and environmental archaeology with emphasis on zooarchaeology
Zooarchaeology
Zooarchaeology, also known as Archaeozoology, is the study of animal remains from archaeological sites. The remains consist primarily of the hard parts of the body such as bones, teeth, and shells...
, especially animal husbandry among pastoral and nomadic societies; and spatial analysis
Spatial analysis
Spatial analysis or spatial statistics includes any of the formal techniques which study entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties...
in archaeology, including applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems. Olsen has conducted archaeological fieldwork in the United States (Florida & Arizona), Colombia, Belize, the Philippines, Egypt, Sudan, the People’s Republic of China (Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Gansu, & Ningxia), Việt Nam, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Türkmenistan, Russia (Siberia), and Mongolia.
Early Life & Education
John Olsen was born in Concord, Massachusetts, the only offspring of Stanley John OlsenStanley John Olsen
Stanley John Olsen was an American vertebrate paleontologist and one of the founding figures of zooarchaeology in the United States. Olsen was also recognized as an historical archaeologist and scholar of United States military insignia, especially buttons of the American Colonial through Civil...
(1919–2003; vertebrate paleontologist and zooarchaeologist) and Eleanor Louise Vinez Olsen (b. 1917; executive assistant, botanist and homemaker).
Olsen spent his formative years in Tallahassee, Florida where he lived until he moved to Tucson, Arizona with his parents in 1973.
Following his early graduation from Florida High School in Tallahassee after completing the eleventh grade, Olsen attended Florida State University as a freshman (1972–1973) and subsequently received Bachelor of Arts degrees with Highest Distinction and Honors in Anthropology and Oriental Studies from the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
(1976). Olsen holds Master of Arts (1977) and Doctor of Philosophy (1980) degrees in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
where his principal advisors were Glynn Ll. Isaac, J. Desmond Clark, F. Clark Howell, and William A. Clemens.
Career
After completing his doctoral degree at Berkeley in 1980, Olsen was appointed Visiting Assistant Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Oriental Studies at the University of ArizonaUniversity of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
where he taught until 1982.
From 1982-1984, Olsen was a post-doctoral research associate of the Institute of Archaeology at University College, London where he taught courses, planned and carried out research expeditions in China and North Africa, and translated and co-edited a book on Chinese paleoanthropology
Paleoanthropology
Paleoanthropology, which combines the disciplines of paleontology and physical anthropology, is the study of ancient humans as found in fossil hominid evidence such as petrifacted bones and footprints.-19th century:...
published by Academic Press in 1985.
Olsen joined the permanent faculty of the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
as an Assistant Professor in 1984. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1988 and to Full Professor in 1994. In 2005, Olsen was awarded a Regents’ Professorship.
In 1991-1992 Olsen held a Fulbright Research and Lecturing Award at Kazakh State University (now al-Farabi Kazakh National University; Əл Фараби атындағы Қазақ Ұлттық Университеті) in Almaty
Almaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
.
Olsen’s administrative appointments have included Resident Representative in Beijing for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1990–1991) and Head of the Department (now School) of Anthropology at the University of Arizona (1994–1995 and 1998–2008).
Over the past three decades, Olsen has accrued slightly more than US$1.9 million in sponsored support of his and his students’ research as well as spearheading successful development and fundraising activities on behalf of the University of Arizona’s School of Anthropology.
Awards, Honorary Degrees, and Elected Memberships
- Phi Beta Kappa SocietyPhi Beta Kappa SocietyThe Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...
(1976) - Phi Kappa PhiPhi Kappa PhiThe Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society established 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study and to promote the "unity and democracy of education"...
(1976) - Fellow, The Explorers ClubThe Explorers ClubThe Explorers Club is a professional society dedicated to scientific exploration of Earth, its oceans, and outer space. Founded in 1904 in New York City, it currently has 30 branches world wide...
(1982) - Academician, Mongolian Academy of Humanitarian Sciences (1998)
- Doctoris Archaeologiae Honoris Causa, Mongolian Academy of SciencesMongolian Academy of SciencesThe Mongolian Academy of Sciences is Mongolia's first centre of modern sciences. It was founded in 1921, when the government established an Institute of Literature and Script, which was later upgraded to Institute of Science. Later, in 1961, it was reconstituted as the Mongolian Academy of Sciences...
(2003) - Regents’ Professor, University of Arizona (2005)
Selected publications
- 1985 (edited with Wu, Rukang) Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology in the People’s Republic of China. Orlando: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-601720-4.
- 1990 (with R. L. Ciochon and J. James) Other Origins, the Search for the Giant Ape in Human Prehistory. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-07081-9.
- 2000 (edited with A. P. Derevianko and D. Tseveendorj) Archaeological Studies Carried Out by the Joint Russian-Mongolian-American Expedition in Mongolia in 1997 & 1998. Novosibirsk: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch. ISBN 5-7803-0054-2.
- 2002 (with A. P. Derevianko, A. N. Zenin, V. T. Petrin, and D. Tseveendorj) Kamenn’i Vek Mongolii: Paleoliticheskie Kompleksi’ Kremnevoi Dolin’, Gobiskii Altai (Stone Age of Mongolia: Paleolithic Assemblages from Flint Valley, Gobi Altai). Novosibirsk: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. ISBN 5-7803-0085-2.
- 2008 (with A. P. Derevianko, D. Tseveendorj, S. A. Gladyshev, T. I. Nokhrina, and A. V. Tabarev) "Novoe Prochtenie Arkheologicheskogo Konteksta Peshcher’ Chikhen" (Mongolia) ("New Insights into the Archaeological Record at Chikhen Agui Rockshelter"), Arkheologiya, Etnografiya, i Antropologiya Evrazii 2(34): 2-12.