Dr. Michael Richards is an archaeological scientist who applies methods such as isotopic analysis to determine past human and animal diets and adaptations. His current research includes developing new isotope systems for dietary and migration studies, using isotope analysis to explore and catalogue the range and nature of human dietary adaptations throughout the Holocene, and developing and applying isotope analysis in forensics.
Researchers & Collaborators
Researchers
Cara Kubiak is investigating the ecology of ice age megafauna in British Columbia through stable isotope analysis for her PhD. She hopes to better understand the nature and extent of niches occupied by these animals, and how changes through time and space in climate and ecological communities affect these animal's roles in their environment. She will look at the stable isotope composition of individual amino acids found in ancient collagen to better understand the lives of both extinct and persistent species.
Laura Termes is seeking megafauna remains, particularly mammoths in BC for her PhD. These will be sampled for isotopes and radiocarbon dating to look at animal distribution in the province during different glacial times.
Collaborators
Dr. John Clague is a Quaternary geologist with interests in a wide variety of Earth science topics, including earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, climate change, geomorphology, and Quaternary history.
Dr. Jonathan Driver has research specialties in zooarchaeology, cultural ecology, PaleoIndian adaptations, southwestern United States, and northeast British Columbia.
Dr. Rolf Mathewes combines approaches from biology, the earth sciences, and archaeology to reconstruct past environmental changes in western Canada.
applies biomolecular techniques such as ancient genomic analysis (ancient DNA), ancient proteomics, and collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) to a broad range of environmental issues and human-environment interactions.
Dr. Brent Ward is a Quaternary geologist who works mainly on the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. His work on the timing of glaciation and associated paleoenvironmental reconstructions, including his work on raised sea caves, has implications for the potential and timing of human coastal migrations.