Bioarchaeology Research Laboratory

Clark Spencer Larsen

Clark Spencer Larsen

Department of Anthropology

The Ohio State University

244 Lord Hall

124 W. 17th Ave.

Columbus, OH 43210-1364

614.292.4117 (tel)

614.292-4155 (fax)

larsen.53@osu.edu

My primary interest is in the history of the human condition, viewed from the perspective of health, quality of life, adaptation, and lifestyle. I have spent most of my professional career directing the La Florida Bioarchaeology Project, involving the collaboration of scientists from the United States and elsewhere. The research focuses on the consequences of major adaptive shifts in coastal and terrestrial settings of the modern states of Georgia and Florida. Methods of analysis include biomechanics, paleopathology, dietary reconstruction (stable isotope analysis, tooth microwear). A popular account of the project is presented in Skeletons in our Closet: Revealing our Past Through Bioarchaeology (Princeton University Press, 2000). The most recent research results can be found in my edited book, Bioarchaeology of Spanish Florida: The Impact of Colonialism (University Press of Florida, 2001). I  am beginning a project on the study of the impact of the plague (Black Death) on medieval-era Danes, especially looking at issues of lifestyle and activity.  In collaboration with Richard Steckel,  Phillip Walker, and Paul Sciulli, I have started a new project, Global History of Health, involving the collaboration of scientists and study of skeletons from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Courses

Bioarchaeology, Skeletal Biology

Doctoral Students

Scott Aubry (M.A., Southern Illinois University)
Tracy Betsinger (M.A., University of Tennessee)
James Gosman (M.D., University of Michigan)
Haagen Klaus (M.A., Southern Illinois University)
Daniel Temple (M.A., University of Bradford)
Erica Tyler (M.A., Ohio State University)
Jaime Ullinger (M.A., Arizona State University)

Lesley Williams (M.A., University of Sheffield)
 

Masters Students

Lesley Gregoricka (B.A., University of Notre Dame)

Britney Kyle (B.A., University of Colorado)
 

Other Activities

Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Chair, Department of Anthropology

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Selected Publications

Research monographs by Clark Larsen in the Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History can be found on the following web site link: http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/6/items-by-author?author=Larsen%2C+Clark+Spencer.

Clark Spencer Larsen (2006) The Agricultural Revolution as Environmental Catastrophe: Implications for Health and Lifestyle in the Holocene. In (Hélène Jousse, special issue editor) Environmental Catastrophe and Human Response in the Last 11,500 Years. Quaternary International, in press.

Clark Spencer Larsen and Phillip L. Walker  (2004)  Ethics in Bioarchaeology.  In: From Repatriation to Genetic Identity: Biological Anthropology and Ethics, edited by Trudy Turner, pp. 111-120.  State University of New York Press, Albany.  (in press)

Clark Spencer Larsen  (2002)  Bioarchaeology of the Late Prehistoric Guale: South End Mound I, St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History No. 84.  103 pp.

Clark Spencer Larsen  (2002)  Skeletons in Our Closet: Revealing Our Past through Bioarchaeology.  Paperback edition.  Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.  248 pp. 

Clark Spencer Larsen (editor) (2001)  Bioarchaeology of Spanish Florida: the Impact of Colonialism.  University Press of Florida, Gainesville.  324 pp.

Brian E. Hemphill and Clark Spencer Larsen (editors)  (1999) Prehistoric Lifeways in the Great Basin Wetlands: Bioarchaeological Reconstruction and Interpretation.  University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.  394 pp.

Clark Spencer Larsen, Robert M. Matter, and Daniel L. Gebo  (1998)  Human Origins: The Fossil Record.  Third edition.  Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, Illinois.  225 pp.

Clark Spencer Larsen  (1995)  Biological Changes in Human Populations with Agriculture.  Annual Review of Anthropology 24:185-213.

Clark Spencer Larsen (2003) Animal Source Foods and Human Health during Evolution.  Journal of Nuitrition 22: 3893S-3897S.

Clark Spencer Larsen  (2002)  Bioarchaeology: The Lives and Lifestyles of Past People.  Journal of Archaeological Research 10:119-166.

Clark Spencer Larsen, Mark C. Griffin, Dale L. Hutchinson, Vivian E. Noble, Lynette Norr, Robert F. Pastor, Christopher B. Ruff, Katherine F. Russell, Margaret J. Schoeninger, Michael Schultz, Scott W. Simpson, and Mark F. Teaford  (2001)  Frontiers of Contact: Bioarchaeology of Spanish Florida.  Journal of World Prehistory 15:69-123.

Clark Spencer Larsen, Mark F. Teaford, and Mary K. Sandford  (2002)  The Tutu Teeth: Assessing Prehistoric Health and Lifeway from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.  In: Tutu Archaeological Village Site: A Case Study in Human Adaptation, edited by Elizabeth C. Righter, pp. 230-249  Taylor and Francis, London, England.

Clark Spencer Larsen  (2000)  Reading the Bones of La Florida.  Scientific American 282(6):80-85.

Clark Spencer Larsen, Alfred W. Crosby, Mark C. Griffin, Dale L. Hutchinson, Christopher B. Ruff, Katherine F. Russell, Margaret J. Schoeninger, Leslie E. Sering, Scott W. Simpson, Jeffry L. Takács, and Mark F. Teaford  (2002)  A Biohistory of Health and Behavior in the Georgia Bight: The Agricultural Transition and the Impact of Contact.  In: The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere, edited by Richard H. Steckel and Jerome C. Rose, pp. 406-439.  Cambridge University Press, New York. 

Clark Spencer Larsen and Leslie E. Sering  (2000)  Inferring Iron Deficiency Anemia from Human Skeletal Remains: The Case of the Georgia Bight.  In: Bioarchaeological Studies of Life in the Age of Agriculture, edited by Patricia M. Lambert, pp. 116-133.  University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa. 

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