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.

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.