Dr. Ortman's research has three foci: 1) historical anthropology--the integration of theory and data from the traditional subdisciplines of anthropology to understand the long-term histories of indigenous peoples, especially in the U.S. Southwest; 2) complex systems approaches to human societies and their evolution, especially the effects of networks, agglomeration and institutional change; and 3) collaborative synthesis in archaeology--the effort to expand the role of archaeology in discussions of contemporary issues. Ortman is co-director if the CU-Pojoaque Youth Culture Camp, PI of the Social Reactors Project, co-PI of the CyberSW Project, and Director of the Center for Collaborative Synthesis in Archaeology within the Institute for Behavioral Science.
keywords
archaeology, historical anthropology, cognitive and historical linguistics, evolution, social development, complex systems, material culture, US Southwest, North America
