David Maxwell

I have worked as an archaeologist for nearly my entire professional life, and I love to teach people about the past. One of my passions as an instructor has always been teaching human origins, because it allows me to draw together such a diverse array of lines of evidence and reasoning.

Paleoanthropology is the nexus of archaeology (the study of humankind’s past through material remains), physical anthropology (the biological study of humans and other primates), geology, paleontology, evolutionary theory, nuclear physics (dating techniques), and a host of other seemingly unrelated fields. The challenge is to show students how these are all related, and how they have influenced our history as a species.

I started my academic career as a student at SFU, receiving BA and MA degrees in archaeology. I completed my doctorate in anthropology at the University of Arizona, studying things as diverse as ancient Maya ritual behaviours (my dissertation), paleoanthropology, the analysis of animal bones from archaeological sites, and even historic artifacts like beer cans.

Since graduate school, I have worked as an instructor in Arizona and in BC, and as a professional consulting archaeologist. I have conducted field work or analyzed materials from field projects throughout western North America, including sites in British Columbia, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Guatemala.