UAF Department of Anthropology

09/21/2026

On behalf of the Alaska anthropology community and all those happy to see this very special dedication in loving memory of Dr. David Smith, Profs. Sveta Yamin-Pasternak and Igor Pasternak extend a deep heartfelt thank you to The Lemonade Stand Gallery and Executive Director Tamara Wilson for the opportunity to feature a pop-up exhibit of the David Smith Lamp in conjunction with the Lamp Show and its tour stop in Fairbanks.

The David Smith Lamp has been part of the UAF Anthropology collections since Dr. David Smith's retirement in 1999; the story of the lamp, as featured in the Lamp Show pop-up, is copied below. Alongside the few snapshots from the September 18, 2026, Lemonade Stand Lamp Show event, shared here is a 1999 photo of Perry Gilmore and David Smith visiting Sveta and Igor at their then-home, a cabin on Pyrola/Farmer's Loop Rd.

Perry and David's love of students, scholarship, and each other is an inspiration to live beautifully and bring light to all.

We encourage everyone to read Dr. David Smith's many publications and the following article by Perry Gilmore and Ray McDermott in the journal Anthropology & Education Quarterly to learn more about our dearly missed teacher, colleague, and friend:
"'And This Is How You Shall Ask": Linguistics, Anthropology, and Education in the Work of David Smith."

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The part of the lamp story known to Sveta and Igor is as follows:
In 1999, our late mentor and friend Dr. David Smith asked (with the seamless seriousness and satire that characterized most of his communication) that we be the caretakers of his favorite office decoration – the red velvet lamp. A longtime Anthropology Professor, dedicated and effective teacher, founding President of our university’s Faculty Senate, and prolific scholar of language, culture, and education with many publications on his research in Africa, Australia, and North America, Dr. Smith really liked this lamp.

Our last conversation with David (he passed away in 2000) is a cherished memory of his eye-sparkling romanticization of the lamp’s possible and impossible origins, biography, and the residences it had prior to the relational aesthetic agency it had gained while living in his office. In the years since, the David Smith Lamp has been sharing space with the teaching collections housed in and around our offices at the UAF Department of Anthropology. We respect the lamp’s powers to conjure David’s rich historiographic imagination. From time to time, we indulge in doing the same. Feel free to try!

In loving memory of Dr. David Smith, and with certainty of the appreciation he would have for the art and cultural and intellectual treasure that is The Lemonade Stand gallery, we are presenting the first-ever off-campus pop-up of The David Smith Lamp in conjunction with the 2026 Lamp Show and its tour stop in Fairbanks.

Thank you for visiting!
- Igor and Sveta, the current keepers of The David Smith Lamp

07/01/2026

A new paper by our own Dr. Ben Potter is out in Science Advances today.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aef9628

Title: Hemisphere-Wide Evidence of Early Paleoindian Megaherbivore Specialization

Abstract: The adaptive strategies of Early Paleoindians associated with the rapid and continent-wide expansions of Clovis and related Fishtail Projectile Point (FPP) complexes in the Americas have been subject to differing interpretations. Were Early Paleoindians megafauna specialists or dietary generalists? These alternative models offer profoundly different implications for Early Paleoindian prey choice, mobility, and technology. Here we synthesize and evaluate the zooarchaeological records of the earliest widespread cultural manifestations in Eastern Beringia (~14,000-13,300 cal BP), North America (Clovis Complex, ~13,400/13,050-12,800 cal BP) and South America (FPP Complex, ~12,900-11,600 cal BP) and summarize their adaptive strategies. Zooarchaeological, technological, and mobility data strongly support the megafauna specialization model. All three groups obtained most of their food from megaherbivores (>1000 kg): woolly mammoth in Beringia, Columbian mammoth in North America, and giant ground sloths and gomphotheres in South America. Focus on megaherbivores facilitated rapid human expansion into different ecosystems before the time-transgressive extinction of megafauna led to regional diversification through adaptations to other locally available resources.

The three earliest continent-wide cultures in the Americas focused on the largest prey, like mammoths and giant ground sloths.

06/11/2026

Today, UAF Anthropology Professor Ben Potter led a multidisciplinary team of geneticists and archaeologists in evaluating current archaeogenetic data on the peopling of the Americas. They conclude that the data support a late entry into the Americas (after 16,000 years ago), but that details like migration route(s), through the Ice Free Corridor between Canadian Ice Sheets or along the North Pacific Coast, cannot be determined at present, and remain open hypotheses. Further, the redating of the purported 14,500 year old Pre-Clovis Site of Monte Verde, Chile (forming basis of many earlier peopling models) to the much later middle Holocene (after 8200 years ago) is consistent with the genetic record.

The eletter was published today in Science

Our understanding of the timing of the human colonization of South America has been anchored by the Monte Verde II site in Chile, reported to date to ~14,500 years before the present (B.P.) and regarded as one of the most secure pre-Clovis archeological ...

06/07/2026

05/15/2026

Thank you to all the guests and contributors to the 2026 Arctic Research Open House. We especially appreciate the young visitors eager to get some practice in archaeological excavation and reindeer herding. This year the UAF College of Liberal Arts was represented by the Departments of Psychology and Anthropology, each sharing the work they are doing, respectively, with the Center for Alaska Native Health Research and Museum of the North, highlighting the CLA collaborations with programs across campus. The Anthropology team would like to extend a heartfelt shoutout to our colleagues in Psychology (top photo) for the experience of the Story Cafe Project provided at the AROH - thank you, congratulations, and happy summer!

04/29/2026

Finals week might have you buried in papers—but what about the field?

The CLA StoryWorks Field Intensive gives students the chance to work alongside an active anthropology field school in Tok, documenting real excavation and research as it happens.

This is a rare opportunity to observe, document and engage with fieldwork in real time while building storytelling skills that translate research beyond academia.

📍 Fairbanks + Tok, Alaska
📅 June 7–13, 2026
👥 4 students selected
💰 All expenses covered + $1,000 compensation

🗓 Apply by May 1 at 5pm AKST
👉 https://forms.gle/VDqDPHtrPLDyNnBs9

Made possible by Transformative Experience Funding.

04/13/2026

We are very pleased and proud to congratulate UAF Anthropology MA student Kendra Nichols on this well-deserved recognition from the Society for Historical Archaeology! Thank you, Kendra, for the outstanding work you have been doing during your graduate studies!

04/06/2026

Step into the field.The CLA StoryWorks Field Intensive offers students the opportunity to work alongside an active archaeology field school in Tok, Alaska, documenting real research as it happens. This summer’s fieldwork explores sites connected to the construction of the Alaska Highway during World War II.

📍 Fairbanks + Tok
📅 June 7–13
💰 All costs covered + $1,000 compensation
👥 4 students selected

No experience required—just curiosity and interest in fieldwork.

👉 Apply now: https://forms.gle/VDqDPHtrPLDyNnBs9
🗓 Deadline: May 1 at 5 PM AKST

This opportunity is made possible through UAF Transformative Experience Funding, supported by the Matriculation Fee.