John Whittaker
United States
Affiliation: Grinnell College
Member since: 2000
Topics of Interest: Ancient Technology, Fire, Living History, Stone, Weapons
Focus areas: Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Newer Era
BA Cornell U, PhD U Arizona 1984. Retired, taught at Grinnell College since 1984. I consider myself a broadly trained anthropologist who works mostly in archaeology.
My primary research areas (with wife Kathryn Kamp) are the prehistoric American Southwest, and pre-industrial technology, especially stone tools and atlatl/spearthrowers. But in the course of my training and career, I have worked in France, UK, Syria, Jordan, Belize, Turkey, and the US, with material ranging from Paleolithic to Historic and ethnographic.
Most relevant to EXARC have been many projects experimenting with stone tools, early agriculture, and projectiles with atlatls and bow and arrow, and ethnographic work in Middle Eastern villages and with modern flintknappers.
Most of my papers can be found on Academia.edu I am currently revising my book Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools (1994) and working with projectile penetration studies and gunflints.
Open for research collaboration In the following topics
Ancient Technology, Other, Stone, Weapons
Happy to mentor and share my experience in the following skills
Stone, Weapons