Nathaniel R. Kitchel

I am an anthropologically trained archaeologist specializing in the study of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene populations of the Americas. My current geographical focus is northeastern North America, specifically New England and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. My ongoing research explores the manufacture and transport of stone tools to understand how humans come to settle previously uninhabited landscapes.  I use these same methods to investigate the development and maintenance of social networks across large geographic areas with low population densities. Building upon the research above I have begun exploring social and technological responses to rapid climate warming in the Northeast between 12 and 11,000 years ago. In support of my areas of inquiry I maintain an active fieldwork program at prehistoric chert (flint) quarries in the Munsungun Lake region of northern Maine.  Beyond my work in the Northeast I have a strong interest in Andean archaeology, and recently embarked on a collaborative project in the Lake Titicaca Basin of Peru, exploring social and technological change in high altitude environments through the Holocene.