Larsen, Clark Spencer 1952-

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Larsen, Clark Spencer 1952-

PERSONAL:

Born April 10, 1952, in Omaha, NE; son of Leon Reubon and Patricia Ann Larsen; married Christine E. Najjar, May 16, 1987. Education: Kansas State University, B.A., 1974; University of Michigan, M.A., 1975, Ph.D., 1980. Hobbies and other interests: Music, film, hiking, camping, genealogy.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Ohio State University, Department of Anthropology, 244 Lord Hall, 124 W. 17th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210-1364. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, editor, anthropologist, bioarchaeologist, lecturer, and educator. University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, assistant professor of anthropology, 1979-83; Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, assistant professor, 1983-85, associate professor of anthropology, 1985-89; Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, associate professor, 1989-91, professor of biological anthropology, 1991-93; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, associate professor, 1993-95, professor of biological anthropology, 1995-2001, Amos Hawley Distinguished Term Professorship, 1999-2004; Ohio State University, Columbus, distinguished professor of behavioral and social sciences and chair of anthropology department, 2001—. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, research associate, 1980; Marshal Urish lecturer, 2000; Sigma Xi, distinguished lecturer, 2006. La Florida Bioarchaeology Project, director.

MEMBER:

American Association of Physical Anthropologists (president 1999-2001), American Anthropological Association, Society for American Archaeology, Paleopathology Association, American Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons, Sigma Xi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

St. Catherines Island Foundation grant, 1991; Purdue University, Center for Social and Behavioral Sciences fellowship, 1992; Purdue Research Foundation, David Ross grants, 1992-93; National Science Foundation grants, 1993-96, 2002-08; National Endowment for the Humanities grant, 1994-96; University Research Council publication grant, University of North Carolina, 1996, 1997; University Research Council research grant, University of North Carolina, 1998; Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological research grant, 2000-01; elected fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006.

WRITINGS:

(With David Hurst Thomas and Stanley South) Rich Man, Poor Men: Observations on Three Antebellum Burials from the Georgia Coast, American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY), 1977.

(With David Hurst Thomas) The Anthropology of St. Catherines Island: Volume 2. The Refuge-Deptford Mortuary Complex, American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY), 1979.

The Anthropology of St. Catherines Island: Volume 3. Prehistoric Human Biological Adaptation, American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY), 1982.

(With David Hurst Thomas) The Anthropology of St. Catherines Island: Volume 4. The St. Catherines Period Mortuary Complex, American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY), 1982.

(Editor and author of introduction) The Antiquity and Origin of Native North Americans, Garland (New York, NY), 1985.

(With David Hurst Thomas) The Anthropology of St. Catherines Island: Volume 5. The South End Mound Complex, American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY), 1986.

The Archeology of Mission Santa Catalina de Guale: Volume 2. Biocultural Interpretations of a Population in Transition, American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY), 1990.

(Editor, with Marc A. Kelley) Advances in Dental Anthropology, Wiley-Liss (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Robert M. Matter and Daniel L. Gebo) Human Origins: The Fossil Record, 2nd edition, Waveland Press (Prospect Heights, IL), 1991.

(Editor and author of introduction) Native American Demography in the Spanish Borderlands, Garland (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor, with George R. Milner) In the Wake of Contact, Wiley-Liss (New York, NY), 1994.

(With Robert L. Kelly) Bioarchaeology of the Stillwater Marsh: Prehistoric Human Adaptation in the Western Great Basin, American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY), 1995.

Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1997.

(Editor, with Brian E. Hemphill) Prehistoric Lifeways in the Great Basin Wetlands: Bioarchaeological Reconstruction and Interpretation, foreword by David Hurst Thomas, University of Utah Press (Salt Lake City, UT), 1999.

Skeletons in Our Closet: Revealing Our Past through Bioarchaeology, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2000.

(Editor) Bioarchaeology of Spanish Florida: The Impact of Colonialism, foreword by Jerald T. Milanich, University Press of Florida (Gainesville, FL), 2001.

Bioarchaeology of the Late Prehistoric Guale: South End Mound I, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY), 2002.

Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor to journals and periodicals, including the Journal of World Prehistory, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, American Antiquity, Scientific American, American Journal of Human Biology, American Scientist, Journal of Nutrition, News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), and the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, editor-in-chief, 2001-2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Clark Spencer Larsen is a prolific and widely published author, editor, anthropologist, and bioarchaeolgist. The distinguished professor of behavioral and social sciences and chair of the anthropology department at Ohio State University, Larsen pursues his scholarly interests in human history and bioarchaeology through extensive field research. "My primary interest is in the history of the human condition, viewed from the perspective of health, quality of life, adaptation, and lifestyle," Larsen stated in a biography on the Ohio State University Department of Anthropology Web site. As the longtime director of the La Florida Bioarchaeology Project, Larsen and his associates study the "consequences of major adaptive shifts in coastal and terrestrial settings of the modern states of Georgia and Florida," he stated on the Ohio State University Department of Anthropology Web site. Larsen's other projects involve such topics as the study of the Black Death on Danes of the medieval period. His "Global History of Health" project involves scientists from around the world who study skeletons from locations throughout Australia, Europe, Asia, and Africa. In another biography on the Ohio State University Department of Anthropology Web site, a writer noted that "Larsen is an internationally known authority on bioarchaeology, the study of human remains from archaeological settings," with research centered on "biocultural adaptation in the last 10,000 years of human evolution, with particular emphasis on the history of health and the intersection between biology and culture."

In Bioarchaeology of the Stillwater Marsh: Prehistoric Human Adaptation in the Western Great Basin, written with Robert L. Kelly and other contributors, Larsen provides a detailed review of findings pertaining to the Native American inhabitants of the Stillwater Marsh area in Northwestern Nevada. The book "presents a summary of the archaeological context of the region and a succinct description of the newly recovered materials," commented Mary Lucas Powell in the American Scientist. The book also contains results of important skeletal examinations, including tests of bone chemistry, dental and skeletal morphology, and paleogenetics. The fieldwork and laboratory examinations were "designed to test and refine a set of anthropological models concerning seasonal mobility, activity patterns, diet, quality of life and population history of these prehistoric hunter-gatherers of western Nevada," Powell noted. "As an example of the valuable kinds of research that can be done with human skeletal remains in modern laboratories, this report is highly recommended for those interested in Great Basin prehistory," remarked American Antiquity reviewer Gerrit L. Fenenga.

Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton contains explanations of some of Larsen's pioneering work in the use of skeletal remains to assess characteristics, influences, and conditions that affected those who lived in a particular region, during a particular time, or under a particular set of circumstances. For example, he explores how examination of skeletons and bones can reveal a person's, and by extension the larger society's, level of health and nutrition. Characteristics of the bones and teeth can reveal whether the individual under examination belonged to a hunter-gatherer group or had learned to rely on agriculture. Larsen considers numerous topics in this work, and discusses how bones can tell researchers a great deal about a segment of the prehistoric population. Larsen looks at areas such as growth and development, disease, trauma, structural adaptations, isotopic and elemental analysis, and the state of the field of bio- archaeology. "Given Larsen's role in the development of bioarchaeology, it is not surprising that he would make a substantial contribution to the field with this book," remarked George J. Armelagos in a Human Biology review. "This is an outstanding piece of scholarship that deserves the widest possible dissemination and consideration," concluded P. Willy in Human Biology. "This impressive piece of scholarship brings together a substantial amount of research and attempts to evaluate just how far osteological research has come in addressing some important questions about the validity of research on bioarchaeological problems," commented Donald J. Ortner, writing in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Armelagos summed up his opinion of the book, stating that Bioarchaeology "is one of the most important publications of the decade." Larsen's book, Ortner stated, is "richly endowed with interesting ideas and is a deep mine of potentially testable hypotheses that will provide graduate students and colleagues with important problems to solve for years to come."

In Skeletons in Our Closet: Revealing Our Past through Bioarchaeology, Larsen provides compelling evidence that an individual's skeleton serves as a tangible record of the person's lifetime, with discernible characteristics that can reveal the individual's level of nutrition, history of disease, participation in labor and other physical activities, and more. "In great detail, he demonstrates how a competent expert may read an enormous amount from the subtle patterns present on bones," noted a Publishers Weekly critic.

Among the main points of the book, Larsen asserts that, contrary to common perceptions, the domestication of plants that led to the rise of agriculture some 10,000 years ago was not a hallmark in the betterment of humanity; on the contrary, he sees the rise and prevalence of agriculture as a detriment to human society. These problems can easily be seen in the skeletal remains of the people who lived through them. He "shows how he and other researchers in the emerging field of bioarchaeology have used skeletal evidence to challenge the tradition of equating the rise of agriculture with the betterment of the human condition," noted Nina C. Ayoub in the Chronicle of Higher Education. As an example, Larsen points to the Guale, an American Indian group that lived along the Georgia coast before and after the sixteenth-century arrival of Spanish missionaries in the area. The skeletal evidence shows that when the cultivation of corn became widespread among the Guale, deleterious effects came along with it. They showed a greater tendency toward cavities and tooth decay, attributable to the high sugar content of corn. Their corn-rich diet deprived the Guale of some necessary amino acids and may have led to iron deficiencies. Their bones became more susceptible to infection, and the increased sedentary nature of the agricultural lifestyle, in contrast to that of a hunter-gatherer, brought the Guale into closer proximity and more frequent contact with each other, increasing the spread of disease. The Publishers Weekly contributor concluded that the book offers much material that will "provoke debate" among scientists and other specialists.

Larson told CA: "I get up at 5:30 in the morning, am in the office by 6:30, and write for two hours. If my weekends are open, I'll extend the writing by a couple of hours. I write something every day, even if just for a few minutes.

"The most surprising thing I have learned as a writer is what gut-busting hard work it is. One has to be a perfectionist and committed to seeing the process through from rough draft to publication, which can be a very long road.

"Skeletons in Our Closet is my favorite book. It was fun to write because it was all about my research in a narrative form.

"I have two key goals for my writing: (1) to educate the public about the fascinating world of the human past, and (2) to help grow my discipline, biological anthropology."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Anthropologist, March, 1987, William Kimbel, review of Human Origins: The Fossil Record, p. 212; December, 1991, Norman J. Sauer, review of The Archaeology of Mission Santa Catalina de Guale: Volume 2. Biocultural Interpretations of a Population in Transition, p. 1027.

American Antiquity, October, 1992, Sissel Schroeder, review of The Archaeology of Mission Santa Catalina De Guale, p. 734; October, 1997, Gerrit L. Fenenga, review of Bioarchaeology of the Stillwater Marsh: Prehistoric Human Adaptation in the Western Great Basin, p. 754; January, 2001, George Tom Jones, review of Prehistoric Lifeways in the Great Basin Wetlands: Bioarchaeological Reconstruction and Interpretation, p. 174.

American Journal of Archaeology, July, 1999, Marshall Joseph Becker, review of Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton, p. 528.

American Journal of Human Biology, May-June, 1999, R.L. Jantz, review of Bioarcheology, p. 417; May-June, 2001, George R. Milner, review of Prehistoric Lifeways in the Great Basin Wetlands, p. 422.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, July, 1991, David J. Daegling, review of Human Origins, p. 361; February, 1999, Mary Lucas Powell, review of Bioarchaeology, p. 245; June, 1999, James H. Kidder, review of Human Origins, p. 275.

American Scientist, May 1, 1993, Linda Levitch, review of Advances in Dental Anthropology, p. 298; January-February, 1997, Mary Lucas Powell, review of Bioarchaeology of the Stillwater Marsh, p. 84.

Antiquity, June, 1998, Christopher Knusel, review of Bioarchaeology, p. 462.

Business First-Columbus, June 8, 2001, "Three Scholars Get Key Posts at Ohio State," p. A4.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, June 1994, S.A. Quandt, review of In the Wake of Contact, p. 1621; July-August, 1998, S.D. Stout, review of Bioarchaeology, p. 1893; December 2000, M.J. O'Brien, review of Skeletons in Our Closet: Revealing Our Past through Bioarchaeology, p. 747.

Chronicle of Higher Education, July 21, 2000, Nina C. Ayoub, review of Skeletons in Our Closet, p. 18.

Human Biology, February, 1993, Susan Cachel, review of Human Origins, p. 156; February, 1995, P. Willey, review of In the Wake of Contact, p. 183; August, 1999, George J. Armelagos, review of Bioarchaeology, p. 715.

Journal of Economic History, December, 2000, John E. Murray, review of Skeletons in Our Closet, p. 1177.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, March, 1999, Donald J. Ortner, review of Bioarchaeology, p. 106.

Nature, August 17, 2000, Christopher Wills, review of Skeletons in Our Closet, p. 676.

Publishers Weekly, May 29, 2000, review of Skeletons in Our Closet, p. 68.

Quarterly Review of Biology, June, 1999, Mark Skinner, review of Bioarchaeology, p. 253; June, 2001, Robert R. Paine, review of Skeletons in Our Closet, p. 224.