Thomas Harper

Professional Bio

Areas of Specialization:

Human ecology and settlement patterns, demography, agriculture and subsistence, archaeological chronologies, radiocarbon dating, GIS

Research Activities and Interests:

Dr. Harper is an anthropological archaeologist who focuses on settlement patterns, population dynamics, and archaeological chronologies. His early career work featured stints in cultural resource management and agricultural sciences, followed by research positions in the areas of spatial analysis, human paleoecology, and radiocarbon dating. Dr. Harper is particularly interested in using quantitative methods that unite finely detailed accounts of material culture and ethnohistory on the local and regional scales with broader cultural processes. He regularly participates in multidisciplinary projects around the world, but with particular emphasis on the Americas and Eastern Europe. Harper has conducted research in the Department of Anthropology at Penn State since 2013, affiliated with the Human Paleoecology and Isotope Geochemistry Lab and the Capriles Environmental Archaeology Lab.

Since 2022, Harper has been devoted to undergraduate teaching at Penn State, offering a variety of introductory and intermediate-level courses in anthropology and archaeology.

Courses Taught:

ANTH 001: Understanding Humans
ANTH 002N: World Archaeology
ANTH 009N: Rise of Civilization in the Old World
ANTH 011: North American Archaeology
ANTH 022: Humans as Primates
ANTH 146: Indigenous North America
ANTH 321W: Intellectual Background of Archaeology

Selected Publications:

Domic, A.I., VanDerwarker, A.M., Thakar, H.B., Hirth, K., Capriles, J.M., Harper, T.K., Scheffler, T.E., Kistler, L., and Kennett, D.J. 2024. Archaeobotanical evidence supports Indigenous cucurbit long-term use in the Mesoamerican Neotropics. Scientific Reports 14:10885. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60723-1.

Diachenko, A., Harper, T.K., Chernovol, D.K., Bodean, S., Levinzon, Y., Rassamakin, Y.Y., Sokhatskyi, M.P., Sumova, V.A., Eccles, L.R., Kennett, D.J., and Sobkowiak-Tabaka, I. 2024. Testing scale-dependent temporal and spatial biases in relative chronology using AMS 14C dating: A case study of Early–Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye sites in Southeastern Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 55:104495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104495.

Thomas, D.H., Rhode, D., Millar, C.I., Kennett, D.J., Harper, T.K., and Mensing, S. 2023. Great Basin Survivance (USA): Challenges and Windfalls of the Neoglaciation / Late Holocene Dry Period (3100–1800 cal BP). Antiquity 88:402–418. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2023.37.

Kennett, D.J., Harper, T.K., VanDerwarker, A., Thakar, H.B., Domic, A., Blake, M., Benz, B.F., George, R.J., Scheffler, T.E., Culleton, B.J., Kistler, L., and Hirth, K.G. 2023. Trans-Holocene Bayesian chronology for tree and field crop use at El Gigante rockshelter, Honduras. PLoS One 18(6):e0287195. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287195.

Harper, T.K., Diachenko, A., Ryzhov, S.N., Rassamakin, Y.Y., Eccles, L.R., Kennett, D.J., and Tsvek, E.V. 2023. Assessing the spread of Eneolithic agricultural communities in the forest-steppe of Ukraine using AMS radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 65(3):643–663. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2023.28.

Mensing, S., Wang, W., Rhode, D., Kennett, D.J., Csank, A., Thomas, D.H., Briem, C., Harper, T.K., Culleton, B.J., George, R.J., and Southon, J. 2023. Temporal and geographic extent of the late Holocene dry period in the central Great Basin, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 300:107900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107900.

Bongers, J.L., Mejía, J.G., Harper, T.K., and Seidensticker, S. 2022. Assembling the dead: human vertebrae on posts in the Chincha Valley, Peru. Antiquity 96(386):387–405. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2021.180.

Kennett, D.J., M. Masson, C. Peraza Lope, S. Serafin, R.J. George, T.C. Spencer, J.A. Hoggarth, B.J. Culleton, T.K. Harper, K.M. Prufer, S. Milbrath, B.W. Russell, E.U. González, W.C. McCool, V.V. Aquino, E.H. Paris, J.H. Curtis, N. Marwan, M. Zhang, Y. Asmerom, V.J. Polyak, S.A. Carolin, D.H. James, A.J. Mason, G.M. Henderson, M. Brenner, J.U.L. Baldini, S.F.M. Breitenbach, and D.A. Hodell. 2022. Drought-induced civil conflict among the ancient Maya. Nature Communications 13:3911. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31522-x.

Kennett, D.J., M. Lipson, K.M. Prufer, D. Mora-Marín, R.J. George, N. Rohland, M. Robinson, W.R. Trask, H.H.J. Edgar, E.C. Hill, E.E. Ray, P. Lynch, E. Moes, L. O’Donnell, T.K. Harper, E.J. Kate, J. Ramos, J. Morris, S.M. Gutierrez, T.M. Ryan, B.J. Culleton, J.J. Awe, and D. Reich. 2022. South-to-North Migration Preceded the Advent of Intensive Farming in the Maya Region. Nature Communications 13:1530. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29158-y.

Gelabert, P., R.W. Schmidt, D.M. Fernandes, J.K. Karsten, T.K. Harper, G.D. Madden, S.H Ledogar, M. Sokhatsky, H. Oota, D.J. Kennett, and R. Pinhasi. 2022. Genomes from Verteba cave suggest diversity within the Trypillians in Ukraine. Scientific Reports 12:7242. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11117-8.

Harper, T.K., A. Diachenko, E.V. Tsvek, V.A. Shumova, Y.Y. Rassamakin, D.K. Chernovol, P. Nechitailo, V.V. Chabaniuk, N.M. Bilas, Y.V. Pohoralskyi, L.R. Eccles, D.J. Kennett, and S.N. Ryzhov. 2021. Combining relative chronology and AMS 14C dating to understand migrations and diachronic expression of material culture in the Western Tripolye Culture, Ukraine. Documenta Praehistorica 48:276–296. https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.48.11.

Kistler, L., H.B. Thakar, A.M. VanDerwarker, A. Domic, A. Bergström, R.J. George, T.K. Harper, R.G. Allaby, K. Hirth, and D.J. Kennett. 2020. Archaeological Central American maize genomes suggest ancient gene flow from South America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 117(52):33124–33129. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015560117.

Bongers, J.L., N. Nakatsuka, C. O’Shea, T.K. Harper, H. Tantaleán, C. Stanish, and L. Fehren-Schmitz. 2020. Integration of ancient DNA with transdisciplinary dataset finds strong support for Inca resettlement in the south Peruvian coast. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 117(31):18359–18368. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2005965117.

Kennett, D.J., K.M. Prufer, B.J. Culleton, R.J. George, M. Robinson, W.R. Trask, G.M. Buckley, E. Moes, E.J. Kate, T.K. Harper, L. O’Donnell, E.E. Ray, E.C. Hill, A. Alsgaard, C. Merriman, C. Meredith, H.J.H. Edgar, J.A. Awe, and S.M. Gutierrez. 2020. Early Isotopic Evidence for Maize as a Staple Grain in the Americas. Science Advances 6(23):eaba3245. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba3245.

Harper, T.K., A. Diachenko, Y.Y. Rassamakin, and D.J. Kennett. 2019. Ecological dimensions of population dynamics and subsistence in Neo-Eneolithic Eastern Europe. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 53:92–101. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2018.11.006.

Harper, T.K. 2019. Demography and climate in Late Eneolithic Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania: multiproxy evidence and pollen-based regional corroboration. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 23:973–982. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.06.010.

George, R.J., Plog, S., Watson, A.S., Schmidt, K.L., Kistler, L., Culleton, B.J., Harper, T.K., Gilman, P.A., LeBlanc, S.A., Amato, G., Whiteley, P., and Kennett, D.J. 2018. Archaeogenomic evidence from the southwestern US points to a Pre-Hispanic scarlet macaw breeding colony. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 115(35):8740–8745. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805856115.

McClure, S.B., Magill, C., Podrug, E., Moore, A., Harper, T.K., Culleton, B.J., Kennett, D.J., and Freeman, K.H. 2018. Fatty Acid Specific δ13C values reveal earliest Mediterranean cheese production 7,200 years ago. PLoS One 13(9):e0202807. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202807.

Kennett, D.J., Thakar, H.B., VanDerwarker, A.M., Webster, D.L., Culleton, B.J., Harper, T.K., Kistler, L., Scheffler, T.E., and Hirth, K. 2017. High-precision chronology for maize diversification from El Gigante rockshelter, Honduras. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 114(34):9026–9031. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1705052114.

Diachenko, A., and Harper, T.K. 2016. The absolute chronology of Late Tripolye sites: a regional approach. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 68:81–104. https://doi.org/10.23858/SA68.2016.005.

Peer-Reviewed Books:

Diachenko, A., Harper, T.K., Rassamakin, Yu., and Sobkowiak-Tabaka, I. (eds.). 2021. Data systematization in the Neo-Eneolithic of Southeastern and Central Europe: Essays in honor of Sergej Ryzhov. IANANU, Kyiv.