John W. Olsen
About John W. Olsen
Capping a 36-year career on the faculty of the University of Arizona, John Olsen retired from UA in 2016 to focus his energies on research. He is a former Head of the UA Department of Anthropology (1998-2008) and is now Executive Director of the Je Tsongkhapa Endowment for Central and Inner Asian Archaeology; a Leading Scientific Researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in Novosibirsk; and a Guest Researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing. Olsen is also a Foreign Expert affiliated with The Yak Museum in Lhasa, Tibet.
Olsen is concurrently Co-Director of the Joint Mongolian-Russian-American Archaeological Expeditions and Co-Director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Zhoukoudian International Paleoanthropological Research Center.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Olsen
Areas of Study
- Central & Inner Asia, especially ethnic Mongolia & ethnic Tibet
- East Asia, especially China
- Siberia & the Russian Far East
Research Interests
- Eastern Eurasian prehistory with temporal and geographical foci on the Paleolithic of arid and high-altitude Central and Inner Asia, particularly ethnic Mongolia, ethnic Tibet and the Trans-Himalaya; Siberia and greater Northeast Asia.
- Paleoecology and the impact of environmental degradation on prehistoric societies in marginal environments, especially arid zones and high altitudes.
- Cultural ecology and environmental archaeology with emphasis on zooarchaeology, especially animal husbandry among pastoral and nomadic societies.
- Spatial analysis in archaeology, including applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems.
- Dr. Olsen has conducted collaborative archaeological fieldwork in the United States (Florida & Arizona), Colombia, Belize, the Philippines, Egypt, the Sudan, the People’s Republic of China (Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Gansu, & Ningxia), Viet Nam, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Türkmenistan, the Russian Federation (Siberia and the Altai Republic), ethnic Mongolia, and ethnic Tibet. As of 2017, he has directed or co-directed 19 separate archaeologicl expeditions.
Contact Information
Degree(s)
Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude, in cursu honorum Anthropology & Oriental Studies): University of Arizona, 1976
Master of Arts (Anthropology): University of California, Berkeley, 1977
Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology): University of California, Berkeley, 1980
Academician: Mongolian Academy of Humanitarian Sciences, 1998
Doctoris Archaeologiae Honoris Causa: Mongolian Academy of Sciences, 2003
