Position Title
PhD Candidate
Education
- B.A. 2016, University of Montana
- M.A. 2018, University of California, Davis
Research Focus
My dissertation research consists of using a techno-economic approach for understanding how Paleolithic technological efficiency changed over time in East Asia (specifically in what is today Mongolia and northern China). Following this approach I reconstruct stone artifact production systems preserved within archaeological sites, then measure and compare the efficiency of the different systems both within and between sites. The results will contribute to our understanding of the causes of technological change during the Paleolithic in East Asia, and their relationship to human evolutionary history in the region.
Publications
Zhang P, Zwyns N, Peng F, Lin SC, Johnson CL, Guo J, et al. (2022) After the blades: The late MIS3 flake-based technology at Shuidonggou Locality 2, North China. PLoS ONE 17(10): e0274777. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274777
Teaching
Instructed courses: Introduction to Lithic Analysis (ANT185); Prehistoric Origins of Art (ANT028); Skeletons in the Closet: Talking diversity in the quest for human origins (FYS 003042)
TA'd courses: Human Evolutionary Biology (ANT001); Introduction to Archaeology (ANT003); Human Life Cycles (ANT015); Prehistoric Origins of Art (ANT028); Human Evolution (ANT152); Prehistoric Technology (ANT184); Introduction to Lithic Analysis (ANT185)
Readerships: California Prehistory (ANT176)
Awards
External
2022 American Center for Mongolian Studies Joint Fellowship
2022 Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant
2022 Sacramento Archaeology Society Summer Research Grant
2021 Leakey Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant
2019 European Society for the study of Human Evolution student travel grant
2018 Sacramento Archaeology Society Research Scholarship
2015 Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship
Internal
2021 Dean’s Summer Graduate Fellowship Award
2018 UCD Evolutionary Anthropology Summer Fellowship Award
2017 UCD Evolutionary Anthropology Summer Fellowship Award
2017 UCD Institute of Social Science Travel and Research Award
2015 UM Kain and McKay Scholarship