Vance T. Holliday

Professor of Anthropology and Geosciences; Affiliated faculty in Geography & Regional Development

Ph.D. 1982, Geological Sciences, University of Colorado
M.A., 1977, Museum Science, Texas Tech University
B.A. with Honors, 1972, Anthropology, University of Texas

Phone: (520) 621-4734
FAX: (520) 621-2088
E-mail: vthollid@email.arizona.edu

406 Haury Building
Tucson, AZ 85726
USA

Curriculum Vitae

Research

My academic background is in Archaeology, Geology, and Soil Science, but I spent 17 years of my professional career in Geography (at the University of Wisconsin, Madison). The result of these intersecting interests and experiences is a career largely devoted to reconstructing and interpreting the landscapes and environments in which ancient human populations lived and how these conditions evolved. Specifically, my research includes:1) using the geosciences to answer archaeological questions (geoarchaeology); 2) the early peopling of the Southwest and Great Plains, and the landscape evolution and environments of the late Quaternary in these regions; and 3) the use of soils as indicators of the past. Since arriving at the U of A in 2002 I have been Executive Director of the Argonaut Archaeological Research Fund, a privately endowed research program in the Department of Anthropology focused on the initial peopling of the Southwest U.S. and northern Mexico (www.argonaut.arizona.edu). We have UA graduate students and colleagues on other campuses working on archaeological and geoarchaeological projects in Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora, Mexico. In addition I am continuing with a long-established program of research on the late Quaternary evolution and archaeology of the Southern Great Plains. I have also been working with U.S. and Russian archaeologists on the Central Russian Plain.

Project Involvement

• Late Quaternary history and Paleoindian archaeology of the Central Rio Grande Basin.
• Paleoindian geoarchaeology of the Mockingbird Gap site, Jornada del Muerto, New Mexico.
• Late Quaternary history of the Plains of San Agustin, New Mexico.
• Paleoindian archaeology of the El Bajio and El Aigame sites, Sonora, Mexico.
• Late Quaternary evolution of small playa basins, Southern High Plains and Central Rio Grande Basin.
• Kostenki archaeological project (Upper Paleolithic), Don River, Russia.