Steven Kuhn
Emil W. Haury Building, Room 409C
Fall 2022 Office Hours
Tuesdays, 2-4pm
Wednesdays 9:30-11:30am
Email for virtual appt.
About Steven L. Kuhn
I am a Professor in the School of Anthropology. My research interests center on the evolution of human technological and social behavior. My primary research tool is the study of stone artifacts. I am currently involved in collaborative archaeological fieldwork and laboratory projects investigating Paleolithic sites and assemblages in Serbia, Morocco and China as well as the Levant.
I received my Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 1990. After a brief stint at Loyola University in Chigao I joined the faculty at the University of Arizona in 1994. I have been a visiting professor at the Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing (2015/2016, 2019), sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a resident scholar at the University of Cologne in 2009/2010, funded by a Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. In 2017 I received the Award for Excellence in Archaeological Analysis (Lithics) from the Society for American Archaeology
Selected Publications
Kuhn, S.L. 2020. The Evolution of Paleolithic Technolgies. Taylor & Francis.
Li, F., Kuhn, S., Chen, F-Y, Gao, X. 2020. Intra-assemblage variation in the macro-blade assemblage from the 1963 excavation at Shuidonggou locality 1, northern China, in the context of regional variation. PLos One https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234576.
Kuhn, S.L. and M.C. Stiner. 2019. Hearth and home in the Middle Pleistocene. XLVI JAR Distinguished Lecture, Journal of Anthropological Research 75(3): 305-327.
Li, F., S. L. Kuhn, F. Chen, Y. Wang, J. Southon, F. Peng, M. Shan, C. Wang, J. Ge, X. Wang, L. T, X.Gao. 2018. The easternmost Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) from Jinsitai Cave, North China. Journal of Human Evolution 114: 76-84.
Buchnnan, B., M.L. Hamilton, J.C. Hartley, S.L. Kuhn. 2017. Investigating the scale of prehistoric social networks using culture, language, and point types in western North America. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences DOI 10.1007/s12520-017-0537-y.
Kuhn, S. 2014. Signaling theory and technologies of communication in the Paleolithic. Biological Theory DOI 10.1007/s13752-013-0156-5.
Courses Taught
Anth 160D2 Origins of Human Diversity (Tier 1 gen ed)
Anth 235 Principles of Archaeology
Anth 562A Archaeological Quantitative Methods
Anth 456/556A Old World Prehistory
Anth 696A Seminar in Hunter-Gather Ecology, Seminar in Lithic Analysis,
Anth 637 Archaeological Research Methods
Areas of Study
Anatolia and Southwest Asia (Middle East)
Central Europe
North Africa
North China
Projects
Southeast Serbia Paleolithic project (with Prof. D. Mihailovic, University of Belgrade)
Excavations at Bizmoune Cave, Essaouira, Morocco (with Prof. A. Bouzouggar, INSAP, Rabat, Morocco)
Research on Shuidonngou, Locality 1 and Jinsitai Cave, North China (with Dr. Li Feng and Prof. Gao Xing, Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleonathropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, CHina)
Tabun cave analysis and publication (with Dr. R. Shimelmitz and Prof. M. Weinstein-Evron, University of Haifa, Israel)
Research Interests
Paleolithic archaeology and human evolution; social and ecological contexts for evolutionary change in hominid technologies; lithic technology; ornaments and early "information technology"; hunter-gatherer ecology; mathematical methods and modeling.