David J. Meltzer
Affiliate Professor
University of Copenhagen
Professor
Southern Methodist University
David J. Meltzer is an archaeologist and the Henderson Morrison Professor of Prehistory and Executive Director of the Quest Archaeological Research Program at Southern Methodist University. He is also an Affiliate Professor in Prehistory, Climate and Environment in the Section for GeoGenetics at the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Meltzer’s research explores the origins, antiquity, and adaptations of the first Americans (Paleoindians) who entered and settled North America at the end of the Pleistocene. His work spans a wide range of topics, including the peopling of the Americas, ancient genomics and human population history, Pleistocene environments, and how early human groups in the Americas responded to or were impacted by climate changes.
Within AEGIS his work focuses on the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (ca. 14.5-8.2 ka). This is a period that witnessed geologically-rapid climate changes that involved a global-scale shift from steep warming to abrupt cooling, then back to rapid warming, but which played out in complex ways in different regions in terms of precipitation, seasonality, effects on biotic communities (including in some areas the extinction of keystone species), and ecosystem diversity.
Meltzer’s research explores the origins, antiquity, and adaptations of the first Americans (Paleoindians) who entered and settled North America at the end of the Pleistocene. His work spans a wide range of topics, including the peopling of the Americas, ancient genomics and human population history, Pleistocene environments, and how early human groups in the Americas responded to or were impacted by climate changes.
Within AEGIS his work focuses on the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (ca. 14.5-8.2 ka). This is a period that witnessed geologically-rapid climate changes that involved a global-scale shift from steep warming to abrupt cooling, then back to rapid warming, but which played out in complex ways in different regions in terms of precipitation, seasonality, effects on biotic communities (including in some areas the extinction of keystone species), and ecosystem diversity.