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Jennifer R. Smith

Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 2001

Quaternary Geology, Geoarchaeology, and
Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction

Fundamentally, I’m interested in understanding the interaction between humans and their environment as recorded in the archaeological record. This involves examining both how natural climatic and environmental changes affected the resources available to people through time, and also how changes in population and technology have affected the amount and nature of human impact on the natural environment.

Most of my work uses tools from sedimentology, geomorphology and geochemistry to reconstruct the landscapes and environments occupied by prehistoric people.

Current projects include: 

Quaternary paleoenvironments of Egypt’s Western Desert on the sedimentary archive of arid-humid climatic oscillation throughout the Quaternary. Work over the past 6 years as part of the Dakhleh Oasis Project and the Kharga Oasis Prehistory Project has largely been focused on using spring carbonates (tufas) and lacustrine deposits to reconstruct the conditions and timing of the humid phases which have occurred throughout the Quaternary, alternating with the hyperarid Saharan climate we are currently familiar with. In collaboration with the archaeologists of the DOP and KOPP, we are also addressing questions of human landscape use and adaptation to changing climates.
 
Above: Fossil waterfall, Naqb Bulaq, Western Desert, Egypt. Water spilling over the edge of the Limestone Plateau during humid climatic phases deposited these carbonate rocks (person, circled for scale). The apparent fold in the bedding is a primary depositional feature; tufa strata can be deposited vertically in cascades. Click on image for enlargement.

Left: Dr. Smith taking notes on characteristics of desert pavement, Limestone Plateau, near Abydos, Egypt. Click on image for enlargement.
  

Geoarchaeology in the High Desert of Middle Egypt with the Abydos Survey for Paleolithic Sites (ASPS). Understanding human partitioning of the landscape requires work in as many different geomorphic environments as possible; while research in Dakhleh and Kharga is focused on the flanks of the Limestone Plateau and adjacent oasis depressions, ASPS is studying the surface of the Plateau, adjacent to the Nile Valley near the Plateau’s eastern edge. The archaeological material is commonly incorporated into the desert pavement covering the surface of the Plateau, thus, we are focusing on understanding the dynamics of desert pavement evolution and formation in this area. We are also examining local caves and tufas which may provide stratified archaeological material as well as paleoenvironmental information. Comparison of results from ASPS with those from the DOP and KOPP will allow us to evaluate the Nile Valley vs. Western Desert as possible migration routes out of Africa throughout the Pleistocene.

The Holocene (Neolithic) of Dalmatia, Croatia. In association with Andrew Moore (Rochester Institute of Technology) and Robert Giegengack (University of Pennsylvania), I’m working to develop a Late Pleistocene-Holocene climate sequence for the Dalmatia region of Croatia using the tufas deposited by the Krka river, an endeavor made difficult by the complexity of (and long history of human impact on) the hydrology and chemistry of the system. The climatic history thus obtained will be used in part as context for the Early Holocene origins of agriculture in the region, as understood by Dr. Moore’s ongoing excavations at the site of Danilo. We are also working to understand the evolution of the Danilo polje, and what may have made that area particularly suitable for farming during the early Holocene.

Left: Freshwater carbonates (tufa) being formed along the Krka River, Croatia. Turbulent degassing of CO2, as well as uptake of CO2 by aquatic plants, are important controls on carbonate precipitation.

Click on image for enlargement.

 

Right: Looking down into Danilo polje, a karstic collapse valley containing a Neolithic archaeological site which records the transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture. The Adriatic Sea is visible in the background.


GIS Applications in Archaeology and Paleontology. I am interested in developing the use of geographic information systems (GIS) as well as differential GPS, in archaeological and paleontological field work, data maintenance and analysis. My particular foci are on using GIS for terrain modeling and for the collection of taphonomic data.  

Peer-Reviewed Publications:

2004 - Smith, J. R., R. Giegengack, H. Schwarcz, M. M. A. McDonald, M. Kleindienst, A. Hawkins, and C. S. Churcher. A reconstruction of Quaternary pluvial environments and human occupations using stratigraphy and geochronology of fossil-spring tufas, Kharga Oasis, Egypt. Geoarchaeology, 19 (5): 1-34.

2004 - Smith, J. R., R. Giegengack, and H. Schwarcz. Constraints on Pleistocene Pluvial Climates through Stable-Isotope Analysis of Fossil-Spring Tufas and Associated Gastropods, Kharga Oasis, Egypt. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 206(1-2): 159-177.

2003 - Smith, J. R. and R. Giegengack. Spatial and temporal distribution of fossil-spring tufa deposits, Western Desert, Egypt: Implications for palaeoclimatic interpretations. In Oasis Papers III, Oxbow Press. G. Bowen and C. Hope, Eds., 103-112.

2003 - Lacovara, K. J., J.R. Smith, J. B. Smith, and M. C. Lamanna. The Ten Thousand Islands coast of Florida: a modern analog to low-energy mangrove coasts of Cretaceous epeiric seas; pp. 1773-1784 in R. A. Davis, Jr. (ed.), Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Coastal Sediments, Clearwater Beach, Florida. CD-ROM Published by World Scientific Publishing Corporation and East Meets West Productions, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. ISBN 981-238-422-7.

2001 - Smith, J. B., M. C. Lamanna, K. J. Lacovara, P. Dodson, J. R. Smith, J. C. Poole, R. Giegengack, and Y. Attia.. A giant sauropod dinosaur from a Late Cretaceous mangrove in Egypt. Science, v. 292, 1704-1706

1997 - Smith, J.R. and C. B. Agee. Compressibility of molten "green glass" and crystal- liquid density crossovers in low-Ti lunar magma. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 61(10):2139-2145.

Miscellaneous Articles and Reports:

2004 - Giegengack R., Smith, J. R., and Romano, K. Geology and Geomorphology of the Danilo Polje: A preliminary assessment. Submitted to: Dr. Andrew Moore, Rochester Institute of Technology. 10 p.

2003 - Smith, J. R., Field Report, Geological Investigations, Odysseus Project. Submitted to Sarantis Symeonoglou, Washington University, Dept. of Art History and Archaeology, 20 pp.

2003 - Smith, J. R., Field Report, Geological Investigations, Abydos Survey for Paleolithic Sites. Submitted to Dr. Deb Olszewski University of Pennsylvania Dept. of Anthropology, 25 pp.

2003 - Smith, J. R., Book Review: Palaeowaters in Coastal Europe: Evolution of Groundwater Since the Late Pleistocene. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal, 18(5) 580-582.

2001 - Hawkins, A. L., J. R. Smith, R. Giegengack, M. M. A. McDonald, M. R. Kleindienst, H. P. Schwarcz, C. S. Churcher, M. F. Wiseman, and K. Nicoll. New Research on the Prehistory of the Escarpment in Kharga Oasis, Egypt. Nyame Akuma, v. 55, p. 8-14.

See also Department Publications
   314-935-9451    jensmith@wustl.edu
   314-935-7361
Last revised:
21-Feb-2006 		 
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