I am an anthropological archaeologist who studies how societies in the past have become sustainable, and how we might use this knowledge to promote sustainability and environmental justice in the present and future. Who benefits from sustainability, and who does it harm? What can modern societies learn from past ecological successes and failures as they plan for extreme climate change?
As Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology in the Department of Chemistry and Geosciences at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, I teach courses in archaeology, anthropology, and geography, including geophysical survey and geospatial analysis.
I work primarily in North Iceland, where my research has shown that very small, dispersed dwelling sites were an important part of Iceland’s settlement by the Norse in the late 9th century CE, and contributed to its transformation from a forested, unpeopled island to a treeless, degraded, highly unequal, yet agriculturally productive landscape. Using coupled archaeological and environmental methods, I investigate how the actions of these small settler groups contributed to both environmental degradation and, in the long term, sustainability. As part of my NSF-funded research project, I am fully excavating one of these small dwellings, to investigate how the inhabitants related to their environment and whether they were associated with the more powerful settlers who lived at nearby large farms. In Iceland I work in association with the Skagafjörður Church and Settlement Survey and the Skagafjörður Heritage Museum.
I also manage field projects in northeastern Alabama, including an ongoing field school at the Bains Gap village site. I expect these projects to address long-term human-environment interaction from the Archaic period to the present, including the impact and ongoing legacy of colonialism.
For details about both the Iceland project and my research in Alabama, keep an eye on this website as well as the JSU Archaeology blog.
My research has also taken me to the UK, where I worked on the Lived Experience in the Later Middle Ages project, and I have done preliminary research on the late medieval resettlement of Dartmoor. I have also worked in Greenland and Dominica, and have experience in the historical archaeology of New England.
I received my PhD in Anthropology from Northwestern University in 2019.
Courses Taught: Introduction to Anthropology; Introduction to Archaeology; Biological Anthropology; Cultural Anthropology; Archaeology Field Techniques; Anthropology Study Tour (Iceland); Human Geography; Sustainability Past and Present; Independent Study; Advanced Topic in Geospatial Technology (graduate-level archaeology fieldwork); Graduate Internship (Archaeology)
Research Interests: political ecology, sustainability, space and landscape, infrastructure, marginality, migration, colonialism, environmental justice, medieval/modern continuities, climate change, household archaeology, environmental humanities
Methodological specialties: core sampling, archaeological survey, GIS, geophysics and remote sensing, loss-on-ignition, database management, statistical analysis, historical archaeology, environmental archaeology
Contact:
kcatlin@jsu.edu
kathrynacatlin@gmail.com
Find me at:
ResearchGate
Academia.edu
I have accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but rarely visit them.