Robert Ackerman

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Professor Emeritus, Distinguished Faculty
Archaeology

Research Interests

Robert E. Ackerman is an archaeologist with research interest in the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Asia. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (1961). Research visits have been made to Russia, Japan, Korea, and China to attend scientific conferences and to study archaeological collections from the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic sites. His specific research interests include the earliest evidence for the movement of hunter-gatherers into coastal and interior regions of northeast Asia and Alaska, late Pleistocene and early Holocene cultural adaptation, and further definition of the cultural phases of Arctic and subarctic prehistory.

He is co-editor (with Jim Cassidy and Irina Ponkratova) of a three volume set in theNorth Pacific Prehistories Series, Y. A. Gomez Coutoutly, General Editor, published by The University Book, Madrid (Vo1. 1—Pleistocene-Holocene Archaeology of Northeastern Asia (2007), Vol. 2—Maritime Adaptation and Seaside Settlement along the Pacific Coast of North America during the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary (2008), and Vol. 3—Maritime Adaptation and Seaside Settlement in Northeast Asia during the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary (2009)).  He is currently analyzing archaeological collections from early prehistoric sites in southwestern Alaska.

Dr. Ackerman received the Career Achievement Award from the Alaska Anthropological Association in April 1999 and the Washington State University’s Distinguished Faculty Service Award in 2002.

Representative Publications

2011   (Review Article) Early prehistoric cultural connections: Siberia and beyond‑‑ John F. Hoffecker & Scott A. Elias. Human ecology of Beringia.. 2010. New York: Columbia University Press; Don E. Dumond & Richard L. Bland (ed.). Archaeology in Northeast Asia: on the pathway to Bering Strait (University of Oregon Archaeological Papers 65 2006. Eugene (OR): Museum of Natural and Cultural History & Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon.  Margarita A. Kiryak  (Dikova) trans. and edited by Richard L. Bland and Yaroslav V. Kuzmin. The Stone Age of Chukotka, and Northeastern Siberia (new materials) (British Archaeological Reports International Series 2099-2010. Oxford: Archaeopress; Antiquity vol. 85:

2011     Microblade Assemblages in Southwestern Alaska: An Early Holocene Adaptation. In, From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia, edited by T. Goebel and I. Buvit, pp. 255-269. A Peopling of the Americas Publication, Center for the Study of First Americans, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.

2009     Endacott, Neal and Robert E. Ackerman, Bird and Fish Remains from Lime Hills Cave, S. W. Alaska.  Current Research in the Pleistocene 26: 52-5

2009     Security Cove and the Northern Archaic Tradition Revisited.  Arctic Anthropology 45(2):146-168.

2009    Technology of Ivory Carving.  In, Ancient Ivories from the Bering Strait,  Princeton Museum Exhibition Catalogue.

2008     Continental Shelves, Sea Levels and Early Maritime Adaptations in the North Pacific In, Maritime Adaptation and Seaside Settlement along the Pacific Coast of North America during the Pleistocene – Holocene Boundary, edited by J. Cassidy, R. E. Ackerman and I. Ponkratova, pp. 237-276 North Pacific Prehistory, vol. 2, Y. A. Gomez Coutouly, General Editor, The University Book, Madrid

2008     The Late Holocene Adaptation in Southwestern Alaska.  In, Papers in Honor of William Bates Workman. Alaskan Journal of Anthropology 6(1&2):83-92.

2007     The Microblade Complexes of Alaska and the Yukon:  Early Interior and Coastal Adaptations. In, Origin and Spread of Microblade Technology in Northern Asia and North America, edited by Y. V. Kuzmin, S. G. Keates and C. Shen, pp. 147-170.  Archaeology Press, Publication No. 34, Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby.

1998    Early Maritime Traditions in the Bering, Chukchi and East Siberian Seas.Arctic Anthropology 35:247-262.

1997    (with D. Georgina, J. Mastrogiuseppe and A. Ruter). The Archaeology of Lime Hills Cave, Southwestern Alaska: A Multidisciplinary Approach. In Program and Abstracts of Beringian Paleoenvironments Workshop. Florissant, Colorado, September 20-23.

1996    Early Maritime Culture Complexes of the Northern Northwest Coast. In Early Human Occupation in British Columbia, edited by R. L. Carlson and L. D. Bona, pp. 123-132. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver.

1996    Ground Hog Bay 2. In American Beginnings: Prehistory and Paleoecology of Berengia, edited by F. H. West, pp. 424-430. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

1996    Kuskokswim Drainage (Introduction, Spein Mountain, Nukluk Mountain, Ilnuk Site, Lime Hills Cave 1). In American Beginnings: Prehistory and Paleoecology of Berengia, edited by F. H. West, Chapter 10, pp. 451-477.

1996    Bluefish Caves. In American Beginnings: Prehistory and Paleoecology of Berengia, edited by F. H. West, pp. 511-513. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.