Central Asia

Jennifer Farquhar

Jennifer Farquhar studies the evolution of pastoralism in the desert-steppe region of Mongolia. Specifically, her research focuses on changing mobility patterns among foragers and early herders during the Neolithic-Bronze Age Transition (ca. 4500 years ago) to understand the development of social complexity and inequality among later nomadic pastoralists. Her research draws from on-going archaeological and geoarchaeological work carried out at the Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, where she has worked since 2013. Her dissertation research represents the culmination of over 25 years of academic interest and technical experience in prehistoric human-environment interactions, land-use strategies, and technology. Since 1990, she has worked as an archaeologist designing and directing studies for cultural resource management projects throughout California and the Great Basin. During her tenure in resource management, she taught classes in prehistoric lithic technology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and served on the Executive Board of the Society for California Archaeology as Northern Vice President (2008-2010) and President (2010-2013). She is an owner and Principal Archaeologist at Albion Environmental. Inc. in Santa Cruz, California.  She also serves as a researcher for NOMAD Science Mongolia, an international interdisciplinary research organization founded by fellow Pitt graduate student, Dr. Julia Clark.

Publications

Rosen, A, T. Hart, J. Farquhar, J. Schneider, and T. Yadmaa. 2019. Holocene Vegetation Cycles, Land-use, and Human Adaptations to Desertification in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany (2019) https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-018-0710-y.  

Hildebrandt, W., J.M. Farquhar, and M. Hylkema. 2009. Archaeology and History in Año Nuevo State Park. California Department of Parks and Recreation Publications in Cultural Heritage, No. 26. 

Jurich, D.M., J.M. Farquhar, and M.E. Basgall. 2000. Excavations at CA-MNO-680: A Western Stemmed Deposit in the Eastern Sierra. Current Research in the Pleistocene Vol. 17 (2000).

Degrees and Education

MA - Anthropology - California State University, Sacramento (2003)
BA - Anthropology - University of California, Santa Cruz (1989)

Awards

2020 - University of Pittsburgh Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences- Social Science Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
2019 - National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant
2019 - American Center for Mongolian Studies Research Scholarship
2019 - Rust Family Foundation Archaeology Grant Program
2016 - Melikian Advisory Board Fellowship
2016 - Critical Language Institute Friends Scholarship
2016, 2017, 2018 - University Center for International Studies Travel Grant
2016, 2017 - Predissertation Small Grant Program- Dept. of Anthropology University of Pittsburgh
2015-2019 - National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
2015 - Fulbright Specialist Program (Grantee)
2015 (declined) - University of Pittsburgh Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences- Arts and Sciences Fellowship
2013-2017 - Fulbright Specialist Program (Listed Scholar)

Denis Sharapov

Denis Sharapov is interested in understanding how the development of early complex societies in the grassland steppes of northern Eurasia compared to similar processes in other world regions. His research aims to clear up uncertainties surrounding the demographic and spatial parameters of Middle Bronze Age (MBA) (2100-1700 BC) Sintashta communities of southern Russia. To pursue this matter he is carrying out a multi-scalar investigation of a 40 sq km region that contains one MBA fortified town and its immediate hinterlands. Denis follows up on previous research efforts by Russian archaeologists with systematic shovel probing, surface collection, targeted test-pitting, and geophysical prospection. The project's results will help understand how complex societies emerged in an area that has traditionally been characterized by low demographic densities and high levels of population mobility. PhD 2017!

Degrees and Education

PhD - Anthropology - University of Pittsburgh (2017)

Chuen Yan Ng

Chuenyan Ng’s dissertation research will investigate strategies of multi-resource pastoralism used by late prehistoric steppe communities at the Bronze Age settlement of Stepnoye (2100-1500 BC) located in the Southeastern Urals region, Russia. This project will undertake a systematic archaeobotanical and phytogeographical study of subsistence patterns among late prehistoric pastoralist communities during the Middle Bronze Age of north central Eurasia. It will contribute to regional studies of the Sintashta culture and also provide an important comparative case study for understanding key transitions among sedentary pastoralist societies with multi-resource subsistence economies.

Igor Chechushkov

Igor Chechushkov is interested in the development of the early complex societies in Bronze Age Eurasia (2000-1700 BC). His ongoing project evaluates ways of social-political organization of the so-called "Country of Towns" in the southern Urals, Russia (the Sintashta-Petrovka archaeological culture). Specifically, the project seeks the missing part of society: people who substantially contributed to the production of vital resources and building of the fortified settlements, but who had very simple life-style, which is almost invisible archaeologically. To do that, Igor uses the methodology of local-scale survey and excavation, as well as geochemistry and soil morphology.