Dr. Stephen Nash
 .
Stephen E. Nash
Office Hours
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Head of Collections, Department of Anthropology, Field Museum

Ph.D. University of Arizona 1997
 Room 2152-C BSB  (312) 665-7008  snash@fieldmuseum.org
 
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Archaeology, Ethnology, Dendochronology, History of Archaeology, Lithics; Southwest United States

Current Research - Past Research - Selected Publications  
 
Personal Statement
 
My scholarly interests run the gamut from Middle Paleolithic stone tool analysis, on which I earned my Master's degree, to archaeological tree-ring dating in particular and archaeological dating in general, as well as the history of archaeology and the development of archaeological method and theory.

As Head of Collections since 1999, my job is to oversee the day-to-day management of more than one million anthropological and archaeological specimens. I play a central role in the development of collections management policies and procedures. The Department of Anthropology is interested in increasing access to our collections for scholarly and educational purposes. An important aspect of my job is to facilitate research by visiting scholars and graduate students, develop anthropology-related education and outreach programs, and write grants for funds to synthesize collections under our purview.
   
Current Research
 
 
 
Past Research
 
From 1997 to 1999, I directed the Paul S. Martin Project, a massive two-year effort to catalog and computerize a remarkable collection of archaeological materials collected by Dr. Paul Martin during a 43-year career here at the Field Museum. In processing this important material culture collection, my colleagues and I have developed a better understanding of how archaeological method and theory changed during the 20th century. More importantly, we now have a better understanding of how those changes affected the interpretation of the prehistoric past.
     
Selected Publications
 
**For a bibliography that includes abstracts, please see Dr. Nash's page at the Field Museum.**

2003  (With Gary Feinman) Curators, Collections, and Contexts: Anthropology at the Field Museum, 1893-2002. Chicago: Field Museum.

2002   Archaeological Tree-Ring Dating at the Millennium. Journal of Archaeological Research 10(3):243-275.

2001   A Gentleman Scholar: Paul Sidney Martin. Archaeology May/June:60-63.

2000   James Louis Giddings' Archaeological Tree-Ring Dating In the American Arctic: A Forgotten Legacy. Artic Anthropology 37(1):60-78.

2000, editor   It's About Time: A History of Archaeological Dating in North America. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

2000   Just a Matter of Time? In It's About Time: A History of Archaeological Dating in North America. Stephen E. Nash, ed. Pp. 208-210. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

2000   Seven Decades of Archaeological Tree-Ring Dating. In It's About Time: A History of Archaeological Dating in North America. Stephen E. Nash, ed. Pp. 60-82. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

2000  (With Jeffrey S. Dean) The Surprisingly Deficient History of Archaeochronology. In It's About Time: A History of Archaeological Dating in North America. Stephen E. Nash, ed. Pp. 2-11. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

1999   Time, Trees, and Prehistory: Tree-Ring Dating and the Development of North American Archaeology 1914-1950. Salt Lake CIty: The University of Utah Press.

1998   Time for Collaboration: A. E. Douglass, Archaeologists, and the Establishment of Tree-Ring Dating in the American Southwest. Journal of the Southwest 40(3):261-305.

1997   Archaeological Cutting Date Estimation and the Interpretation of Estimated Tree-Ring Dates. American Antiquity 62(2):260-272.

1996   Is 'Curation' A Useful Heuristic? In Stone Tools: Theoretical Insights into Human Prehistory. George H. Odell, ed. Pp. 81-99. New York: Plenum Press.