Kelly E. Graf
- Associate Professor
- Social and Behavioral Sciences Anthropology
- College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
- Ph.D., University of Nevada Reno, 2008
- Spring 2024 Office Hours: Mon. & Wed. 11:15am - 12pm and 2-3 pm in 617 Fraser Hall; or by appointment - send email to graf@ku.edu
Contact Info
Lawrence
1415 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 66045
Personal Links
Education —
Research —
Dispersal of modern humans in northern and arid environments; peopling of Northeast Asia, Beringia, western North America, and Patagonia; Upper Paleolithic and Paleoindian archaeology; hunter-gatherer ecology and adaptations in extreme environments (arctic and arid); human-environment interactions. Currently serves as lead PI or co-PI on several projects in Alaska, the Great Basin, and Patagonia.
Teaching —
Lithic technology; geoarchaeology; environmental archaeology.
ANTH 211 Archaeology’s Greatest Hits
ANTH 310 Fundamentals of Archaeology
ANTH 311 Archaeology Roadshow (Ice Age Rocky Mountains)
ANTH 515 Environmental Archaeology
ANTH 500 Topics in Archaeology: Pleistocene Prehistory of Northeast Asia and Alaska
ANTH 500 Topics in Archaeology: The Paleolithic World
ANTH 500 Topics in Archaeology: Archaeology of Environmental Catastrophes
Teaching interests:
- Paleolithic, Paleoindian, Environmental Archaeology, Geoarchaeology
Selected Publications —
Goebel, T., John F. Hoffecker, Kelly E. Graf, and Richard S. Vachula (2022) Archaeological Reconnaissance at Lake E5 in the Brooks Range, Alaska and Implications for the Early Human Biomarker Record of Beringia. Quaternary Science Reviews 286: 107553.
Surovell, T. A., S. A. Allaun, B. A. Crass, J. A. M. Gingerich, K. E. Graf, C. E. Holmes, R. L. Kelly, M. Kornfeld, K. E. Krasinski, M. L. Larson, S. R. Pelton, B. T. Wygal (2021) Late Date of Human Arrival to North America: Continental Scale Differences in Stratigraphic Integrity of Pre-13,000 BP Archaeological Sites. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264092.
Puckett, N. N., K. E. Graf (2022) Chapter 4. Understanding Space at Owl Ridge, Central Alaska: Identifying Activities and Camp Use. In Diversity in Open Air Site Structure across the Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary, edited by K. Carlson and L. Bement, 24 pgs. University of Colorado Press, Boulder. Sent to print and expected by Fall 2021.
Goebel, T., B. Hockett, D. Rhode, K. Graf (2021) Prehistoric Human Response to Climate Change in the Bonneville Basin, Western North America: the Bonneville Estates Rockshelter Radiocarbon Chronology. Quaternary Science Reviews 260:106930.
Graf, K. E., N. H. Bigelow (2020) Reaktsiia Cheloveka na Klimaticheskie Usloviia Khranozony Pozdnego Driasa v Tsentral’noi Aliaska [Reactions of People to the Climatic Conditions of the Younger Dryas in Central Alaska]. Arkheologiia Arktiki 7:59-114.
Graf, K. E., A. K. Gore, J. A. Melton, T. Marks, L. M. DiPietro, T. Goebel, M. R. Waters, R. Rhode (2020). Recent Excavations at Owl Ridge, Interior Alaska: Site Stratigraphy, Chronology, and Site Formation and Implications for Late Pleistocene Archaeology and Peopling of Eastern Beringia. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 35(1):3-26.
Forget Brisson, L., M. Lamothe, F. Hardy, K. E. Graf (2020) Exploring the Use of Low Temperature Preheat in IRSL Dating of Feldspar in Beringian Archaeological Contexts. Radiation Measurements 136 (August 2020):1-14.
Pratt, J. M., T. Goebel, K. E. Graf, M. Izuho (2020) Stemmed Points: Are They a Circum-Pacific Phenomenon? PaleoAmerica 6(1):64-108.
Gómez-Coutouly, Y. A., K. E. Graf, A. K. Gore, T. Goebel (2019) Little Panguingue Creek: A c. 9600 year-old Prehistoric Knapping Workshop in the Nenana Valley, Central Alaska. PaleoAmerica 5:16-31.
Graf, K. E., I. Buvit (2017) Modern Human Dispersal from Siberia to Beringia: Assessing a Beringian Standstill in Light of the Archaeological Evidence. Current Anthropology 58(S17)S583-603.
Graf, K. E., *L. M. DiPietro, K. E. Krasinski, B. J. Culleton, D. Kennett, *A. K. Gore, *H. L. Smith (2017) Chapter 8: New Geoarchaeology and Geochronology at Dry Creek. In Dry Creek: Archaeology and Paleoecology of a Late Pleistocene Alaskan Hunting Camp, by W. R. Powers, R. D. Guthrie, J. F. Hoffecker, edited by T. Goebel, pp. 219-260. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.
Graf, K. E., T. Goebel (2017) The Paleolithic of Eastern Beringia from Western Alaska to the Canadian Yukon. In Human Colonization of the Arctic: The Interaction Between Early Migration and the Paleoenvironment, ed. by V. M. Kotlyakov, A. A. Velichko, S. A. Vasil’ev, pp. 311-338. Academic Press, London.
Graf, K. E. L. M. DiPietro, K. Krasinski, A. K. Gore, H. L. Smith, B. J. Culleton, D. J. Kennett, D. Rhode (2015) Dry Creek Revisited: New Excavations, Radiocarbon Dates, and Site Formation Inform on the Peopling of the Eastern Beringia. American Antiquity 80(4):671-694.
Raghavan, M., P. Skoglund, K. E.Graf, M. Metspalu, A. Albrechtsen, I. Moltke, S Rasmussen, T. W. Stafford, L. Orlando, E. Metspalu, M. Karmin, K. Tambets, S. Rootsi, R. Magi, P. F. Campos, E. Balanovska, O. Balanovsky, E. Khusnutdinova, S. Litvinov, L. P. Osipova, S. A. Fedorova, M. I. Voevoda, M. DeGiorgio, T. Sicheritz-Ponten, S. Brunak, S. Demishchenko, T. Kivisild, R. Villems, R. Nielsen, M. Jakobsson, E. Willerslev (2014) Upper Palaeolithic Siberian Geonome Reveals Dual Origins for Native Americans. Nature 505(7481):87-91.
Graf, K. E., *C. V. Ketron, M. R. Waters, editors (2013) Paleoamerican Odyssey. Center for the Study of the First Americans Publication Series, Texas A&M University, College Station. Original version. (2014) Paleoamerican Odyssey. Texas A&M University Press, College Station. Reprinted version.
Graf, K. E., D. N. Schmitt, editors (2007 hardback original and 2010 paperback reissue) Paleoindian or Paleoarchaic? Great Basin Human Ecology at the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Selected Presentations —
Invited International Workshops
Henry, A., J. Esdale, K. Graf, A. Teten’kin (2019) Late Pleistocene Pyrotechnology in Northern Tundra Environments: Wood Charcoal, Burned Bones and Phytolith Data from the Sites of Kovrizhka (East Siberia) and McDonald Creek (Interior Alaska). Paper presented at PACE (Prehistoric Adaptations to Cold Environments) Workshop, Nice, France.
Organized Conferences, Symposia, Workshops, and Field Trips (International and National)
McDonald Creek and Blair Lakes: Late Pleistocene-Holocene Human Activity in the Tanana Flats of Central Alaska, April 15-17, 2021. Poster Symposium presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco (Online) (chair).
International and National Conference Presentations
Graf, K., J. A. Esdale, T. Goebel, N. Shelley, T. Urban (2021) Stratigraphy and Radiocarbon Chronology at McDonald Creek: A Multicomponent Pleistocene-Holocene Site in Central Alaska. Poster presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco
(Online), April 15-17, 2021.
DiPietro, L. and K. E. Graf (2021) Micromorphological Analysis of Deposition, Pedogenesis, and Stratigraphic Integrity at the McDonald Creek Site, Central Alaska. Poster presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco (Online), April 15-17, 2021.
Esdale, J., K. Graf (2021) Spatial Arrangement of the Northern Archaic Component at the McDonald Creek Site, Central Alaska. Poster presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco (Online), April 15-17, 2021.
Forget Brisson, L., M. Lamothe, F. Hardy, K. Graf (2021) Contributions of IRSL to the Issue of Initial Settlement in the New World: The Case of the McDonald Creek Archaeological Site. Poster presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco (Online), April 15-17, 2021.
Henry, A., J. Esdale, K. Graf (2021) New Archaeobotanical Data from the Late Pleistocene Occupations of McDonald Creek. Poster presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco (Online), April 15-17, 2021.
Shelley, N., K. Graf (2021) A Preliminary Spatial Analysis of the Late Pleistocene Components at the McDonald Creek Site, Interior Alaska. Poster presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco (Online), April 15-17, 2021.
Goebel, T., B. Hockett, D. Rhode, K. Graf (2020) Human Response to Climate Change in the Bonneville Basin, Western North America: The Bonneville Estates radiocarbon chronology. Poster presented at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Online, December 7, 2020.
Grants & Other Funded Activity —
Graf, K. E. (lead-PI), J. Esdale (co-PI) (2016-present) New Horizons in Beringian Archaeology: Expanding Scientific Research at McDonald Creek, Alaska. Archaeology and Arctic Social Sciences Program, National Science Foundation, $397,338. Awarded and active until 2/2024.
Graf, K. E. (lead-PI) (2016-2020) Excavations at the Shég' Xdaltth'í' (McDonald Creek) Site, Central Alaska. The Elfrieda Frank Foundation, New York, $125,000. Awarded.
A. K. Gore (student PI), K. E.Graf (advisor PI) (2018) Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Lithic Landscape Learning: Long Term Human Adaptation in Beringia. Archaeology Program/Arctic Social Sciences Program, National Science Foundation, $8,834. Awarded.
N. N. Puckett (Student PI), K. E.Graf (advisor PI) (2017) Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Underwater Remote Sensing of Walker Lake, Nevada. Archaeology Program, National Science Foundation, $19,917. Awarded.
Graf, K. E. (lead-PI) (2010) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Supplement to Collaborative Research: What is the Nenana Complex? New Excavations at the Late-Pleistocene Owl Ridge Site, Central Alaska. Archaeology Program, National Science Foundation, $8,000. Awarded.
Graf, K. E. (lead PI) (2010) The Earliest Modern Human Siberians: Who were They? Who were Their Ancestors, and Who are Their Descendants? Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant, Arctic Social Sciences Program, National Science Foundation, $20,000. Awarded.
Graf, K. E. (lead PI), T. Goebel (co-PI), M. Waters (co-PI), N. Bigelow (collaborative-PI) (2009) Collaborative Research: What is the Nenana Complex? New Excavations at the Late-Pleistocene Owl Ridge Site, Central Alaska. Archaeology Program/Arctic Social Sciences Program, National Science Foundation, $183,000. Awarded
Memberships —
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Society for American Archaeology
Asian Paleolithic Association