Kenneth B Tankersley

Assistant Professor
456 Braunstein Hall
513-556-5784
kenneth.tankersley@uc.edu

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Professional Summary

I am an archaeologist interested in ancient sustainable planned landscapes and renewable water resource management systems in the Ohio River valley. My topical interests remain the economic processes of human adaptation to climate change. To attain these ends, I put an emphasis on interdisciplinary field and laboratory work, methodologically focusing on archaeological geology and geoarchaeology. I earned my baccalaureate and masters’ degrees at the University of Cincinnati, my doctorate degree at Indiana University, and conducted post-doctorate research at the Illinois State Museum’s Quaternary Research Program. With funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Sciences, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, Earthwatch, the International Research and Exchange Program, the Court Family Foundation, the Charles Phelps Taft Foundation, and the University of Cincinnati Research Council, I have conducted archaeological investigations across North American and Eastern Siberia, and authored approximately 100 professional publications including approximately 70 journal articles, more than 20 edited book chapters, 3 international proceedings articles, 5 encyclopedia entries, 9 book reviews, and 3 books. My work has been featured on PBS, the National Geographic Channel, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, the Animal Planet, BBC, NOVA, in Science, National Geographic News, the Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker magazine, Scientific American, and All Things Considered, in addition to local, national, and international newspapers, magazines, radio and television. I have been a Foreign Delegate for the National Academy of Science, a Carnegie Mellon Scholar Lecturer, guest editor of Scientific American magazine, and a Gubernatorial appointed member of the Native American Heritage Commission.

My current research, scholarly, and creative activities focus on an interdisciplinary field and laboratory investigation of ancient sustainable planned landscapes and renewable water resource management systems at Shawnee Lookout Park as well as the economic processes of human adaptation to climate change at significant archaeological sites in the Ohio River valley. I am also conducting a diachronic and cross-cultural investigation of the status of dogs using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data. I am presenting the results of these investigations at the annual meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, the Midwest Archaeological Conference, and the Ohio Archaeological Council. The results of this research will be published in American Antiquity, North American Archaeologist, and Current Research in the Pleistocene and featured in documentary films for the Discovery Channel and History Channel.

In addition to my undergraduate and graduate teaching and advising responsibilities, I serve on MA thesis and doctorate dissertation committees, and engage students in hands-on, in-the-field, learn-by-doing research in the Department of Anthropology’s Midwest Archaeological Field School. The general educational objectives of my teaching incorporate the training in and practice of effective oral and written communication, logical reasoning, qualitative and quantitative analysis, effective critical thinking, computer literacy, research planning, investigative strategies, and interpretative skills such as literature review including use of library and electronic resources, independent work and teamwork, and real world problem solving. My specific educational objectives are for students to attain a fundamental knowledge and understanding of archaeology with an emphasis on cross-cultural research, and an ability to apply the basic principles of archaeology. I teach students archeological methodologies through hands-on and learn-by-doing fieldwork and laboratory experiences. My classes incorporate information about recent discoveries and current interpretations of archeological research so students appreciate th

Additional Information

EDUCATION:

B.S. (1973-1978) Education. University of Cincinnati
M.A. (1980-1982) Anthropology. University of Cincinnati
Ph.D. (1982-1989) Anthropology. Indiana University (dissertation: Late Pleistocene Lithic Exploitation and Human Settlement in the Midwestern United States)
1989-1993 Post-doctorate. Quaternary Research Institute.

ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS:

2007-Present Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati
2002-2007 Director, Native American Studies, Northern Kentucky University
2001 Mellon Scholar Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Augustana College
1996-2001 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Kent State University
1996-2001 Trustee, Kokopeli Fund, Montana State University, Museum of the Rockies
1995 Acting Head, Department of Anthropology, SUNY at Brockport
1993-1996 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, SUNY at Brockport
1990-1993 Adjunct, Department of Continuing Education, Western Illinois University.
1986-1989 Adjunct, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Indianapolis
1985-1989 Adjunct, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington
1982 Adjunct, Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati

RESEARCH/ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS:

2007- Present Consultant, History Channel
2006-2007 Consultant, Public Broadcasting System, KET
2005- Present Consultant, National Geographic Television
2005- Present Researcher, Department of Anthropology, Buffalo Bill Historical Center
2003-2004 Consultant, NOVA, WGBH
2003-2004 Consultant, Animal Planet
2003- Present Adjunct Curator, Cincinnati Museum Natural History
2002-2003 Consultant, Natural History Unit, British Broadcasting Corporation
2001- Present Consultant, Discovery Channel
1993-Present Editorial Board, Archaeology Magazine.
1993-Present, Researcher, Department of Archaeology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History
1993-1996 Researcher, Department of Anthropology, Buffalo Museum of Science
1991-1992 Consultant, National Geographic Society Feature Films
1991 Anthropology Consultant, Public Broadcasting System
1989-1993 Researcher, Department of Anthropology, Illinois State Museum
1982-1989 Researcher, Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University

RESEARCH SPECIALTIES

Archaeology, Ohio River valley prehistory, Midwest archaeology, paleoindians, cave archaeology, geoarchaeology, archaeological geology, human adaptation to climate change.

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

Ancient Water Management Systems of the Ohio River Valley
Archaeology of Shawnee Lookout Park, Ohio
Prehistory of Great Salt Peter Cave and Vicinity, Kentucky
The Status of Dogs: An Isotopic Study

FILMS

2009 The Universe. History Channel.
2009 How the Earth Was Made. History Channel
2008 Catastrophe. Discovery Channel, BBC Channel 4
2008 Ancient Asteroids. National Geographic Television.
2007 A Global Warning. History Channel.
2007 Behringer-Crawford Museum. CERHAS, University of Cincinnati.
2007 Where the River Bends. KET Public Broadcasting System Television.
2006 The Big Freeze. National Geographic Television.
2004 Stone Age American Explorers. NOVA.
2004 Land of Lost Monsters. Animal Planet.
2003 Monsters We Met. Nature (Winner, Royal Television Craft and Design Award, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Best Animation Award).
2002 What Killed the

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