Rolfe D. Mandel (born August 25, 1952) is a Distinguished Professor of

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

in the Department of

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

as well as Senior Scientist and Executive Director of the Odyssey Geoarchaeological Research Program at the

Kansas Geological Survey The Kansas Geological Survey (KGS), a research and service division of the University of Kansas, is charged by statute with studying and providing information on the geologic resources of Kansas. The KGS has no regulatory authority and does not t ...

. Initially trained as a geographer, he has been a major figure in defining the subdiscipline of

geoarchaeology Geoarchaeology is a multi-disciplinary approach which uses the techniques and subject matter of geography, geology, geophysics and other Earth sciences to examine topics which inform archaeological knowledge and thought. Geoarchaeologists study ...

and has spent the last thirty years focusing on the effects of geologic processes on the archaeological record. His primary research interests include

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

soils,

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

, paleoecology, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction in the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

region of the United States as well as the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. Over the years, Mandel has participated in numerous research projects and has served as an editor to multiple journals and a book. His work has been key in promoting an

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

approach in archaeology, geology, and geography.

Early life and education

Rolfe Mandel was born in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

.http://www.kgs.ku.edu/General/Personnel/klm/Rolfe_Mandel_CV_2.pdf In 1971, he moved to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

to pursue a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

(

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

) in

physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, h ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He completed this with Honors in 1975. He remained in Austin for a year to work as a research associate in the resource planning section of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Trained as a geographer, Mandel's early work dealt with land use and

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

planning. In 1976, he moved to

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

to begin graduate study in the Geography Department at the University of Kansas. It was around this time that his research interests began to shift from traditional physical geography, to a focus on paleoenvironments and archeology. He was awarded a masters (M.A.) through the Geography Department in 1980 for his work on

paleosols In the geosciences, paleosol (''palaeosol'' in Great Britain and Australia) is an ancient soil that formed in the past. The precise definition of the term in geology and paleontology is slightly different from its use in soil science. In geolo ...

in Texas, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1991 through the university's Special Studies program for work on

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

landscape evolution in southwestern

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Professional career

Geography

Following the completion of his B.S., Mandel spent a year working as a research associate for the resource planning section at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. His primary job was to assist in an environmental analysis for the

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

- Galveston region in southeast Texas. After moving to Kansas in 1976, he was hired as a research assistant to do similar work on land and

resource sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

by University of Kansas's Institute for Social and Environmental Studies (ISES). In June 1978, he started working at ISES full-time as a research associate and coordinator of the Environmental Research Program, a position he would hold until 1986. For the next four years, Mandel worked as a physical geographer until a cultural resource management project with the Kansas Historical Society changed the trajectory of his career.

Geoarchaeology

Mandel's professional career in geoarchaeology began in 1982. For the rest of his time as coordinator of the Environmental Research Program, he focused predominantly on projects relating to archaeology and cultural resource management in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

. He would also work in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

this year, the first of several projects in the

. Mandel left his position at ISES in 1986 and in 1987 became a lecturer in the Geography Department at the university. During this time he was also acting as a consulting

geomorphologist Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

on a number of archaeological projects, most notably

'Ain Ghazal El Ain ( ar, العين), Al Ain, or Ain is a village at an elevation of on a foothill of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in the Baalbek District of the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Lebanon. It is famous for agriculture and trade, located on the highwa ...

in Northwestern

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and the Akrotiri-

Aetokremnos Aetokremnos is a rock shelter near Limassol on the southern coast of Cyprus. It is situated on a steep cliff site c. above the Mediterranean sea. The name means ''"Cliff of the eagles"'' in Greek. Around have been excavated and out of the four l ...

Rockshelter A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long, rock shelters are almost alway ...

on the island of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

; both were multi-year projects with work at ‘Ain Ghazal continuing to this day. From 1989 to 1993 he left Kansas to take an assistant professor position at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He returned to Kansas in 1993 as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

while continuing to consult in the academic and private sector. It was around this time that he would join the research team investigating the mound complex site known as Watson Brake in northern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. Often cited as the earliest mound site in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

(5,400 B.P.), Mandel was key in establishing the chronology of the mounds construction. Almost a decade later in 2002, Mandel would take a position at the

(KGS) as a part-time project coordinator for the Geoarchaeology Research Program. He was also acting as the Editor-in-Chief of Geoarchaeology: An International Journal at this time; a position he stepped down from in 2004, but continued his affiliation with the journal first as a Co-Editor (2004-2007), and currently as an Associate Editor (2007–present). After a year at the KGS and over a decade in the Geography Department, Mandel would switch positions again, this time moving to the Department of Anthropology and becoming an associate scientist at the KGS in 2003. He would also take charge of the newly created Odssey Geoarchaeological Research Program, an ongoing research project through the KGS funded by Joseph and Ruth Cramer to find the earliest inhabitants of the

and western Midwest. Mandel was made a full professor of the Anthropology Department in 2009, and promoted to Senior Scientist at the KGS the same year. Some of his more recent work includes contributing to a team studying the cultural landscape and qanat systems of southern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

province. Using

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...

techniques the researchers were able to locate qanat irrigation systems and archaeological resources in an otherwise inaccessible part of the world. In 2014 Mandel was awarded the title of University Distinguished Professor by the University of Kansas, a position he currently holds along with his research duties at KGS, and acting as an Associate Editor for Geoarchaeology.

Odyssey Geoarchaeological Research Program

The Odyssey Geoarchaeological Research Program is a privately endowed research program funded by Joseph and Ruth Kramer and housed within the Kansas Geological Survey. It has been under the direction of Rolfe Mandel since its inception in 2003, its primary goal being “to search for evidence of the earliest people to inhabit the Central Great Plains and western portions of the Midwest, and to gain a better understanding of late the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

and early

paleoenvironments that affected those people”. This is done through laboratory methods at the KGS's

Isotope Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers (mass numbers) ...

Preparation Laboratory and Geoarchaeology and Paleoenvironmental Research Lab, in addition to field work in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

, and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. The program funds a number of thesis and dissertation research related to Paleo-Indian archaeology and geoarchaeology in addition to supporting graduate and undergraduate students involved in summer field investigations.

Selected publications

*Mandel, R.D., L.R. Murphy, and M.D. Mitchell, 2014. Geoarchaeology and Paleoenvironmental Context of the Beacon Island Site, an Agate Basin (Paleoindian) bison kill in Northwestern North Dakota, USA. ''Quaternary International'' 342:91-113. *Mandel, R.D., 2008. Buried Paleoindian-age Landscapes in Stream Valleys of the Central Plains, USA. ''Geomorphology'' 101:342-361. *Simmons, A.H., and R.D. Mandel, 2007. How Old is the Human Presence on Cyprus? Science 317: 1679. *Mandel, R.D., J.S. Jacob, and L.C. Nordt, 2007. Geoarchaeology of the Richard Beene Site. In ''Archaeological and Paleoecological Investigations at the Richard Beene Site (41BX831), South Central Texas'', edited by A.V. Thoms and R.D. Mandel, pp. 27–60. Center for Ecological Archaeology, Reports of Investigations No. 8, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. *Mandel, R.D. (Editor), 2006. Guidebook of the 18th Biennial Meeting of the American Quaternary Association. Technical Series 21, Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence. *Mandel, R.D., 2006. The Effects of Late Quaternary Landscape Evolution on the Archaeology of Kansas. In Kansas Archaeology, edited by R.J. Hoard and W.E. Banks, pp. 46–75. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. *Mandel, R.D., S. Holen, and J.L. Hofman, 2005. Geoarchaeology of Clovis and Potential Pre-Clovis Cultural Deposits at the Kanorado Locality, Northwestern Kansas. ''Current Research in the Pleistocene'' 22:56-57. *Mandel, R.D., and J.L. Hofman, 2003. Geoarchaeological Investigations at the Winger Site: A Late Paleoindian Bison Bonebed in Southwestern Kansas, U.S.A. Special Issue on Paleoindian Geoarchaeology: Part II. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 18:129-144. *Mandel, R.D., and A.H. Simmons, 2001, Prehistoric Occupation of Late Quaternary Landscapes Near Kharga Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 16:95-117. *Mandel, R.D., and E.A. Bettis III, 2001. Use and Analysis of Soils by Archaeologists and Geoscientists: A North American Perspective. In Earth Science in Archaeology, edited by Paul Goldberg, Vance T. Holliday, and C. Reid Ferring, pp. 173–204. Kluwer Academic/Plenum, Norwell, Massachusetts. *Mandel, R.D., 2000. The History of Geoarchaeological Research in the Central Plains of Kansas and Northern Oklahoma. In Geoarchaeology in the Great Plains, edited by R.D. Mandel, pp. 79–136. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. *Mandel, R.D., 1998. Archaeological Geology. Geotimes 43:49-51. *Mandel, R.D. and A.H. Simmons, 1997. Geoarchaeology of the Akrotiri Aetokremnos Rockshelter, Cyprus. ''Geoarchaeology: An International Journal'' 12:567-605. *Mandel, R.D., 1995. Geomorphic Controls of the Archaic Record in the Central Plains of the United States. In Archaeological Geology of the Archaic Period in North America, edited by E. A. Bettis III, pp. 37–66. Geological Society of America Special Paper 297. *Mandel, R.D., 1994. Holocene Landscape Evolution in the Pawnee River Basin, Southwestern Kansas. Kansas Geological Survey and the Kansas State Historical Society, Bulletin 236, 117 p. *Mandel, R.D., 1992. Soils and Holocene Landscape Evolution in Central and Southwestern Kansas: Implications for Archaeological Research. In Soils in Archaeology:Landscape Evolution and Human Occupation, Vance T. Holliday, editor, pp. 41–100. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. *Mandel, R.D. and A.H. Simmons, 1988. A Preliminary Assessment of the Geomorphology of ‘Ain Ghazal’. In ''The Prehistory of Jordan''. Gerrard and H. Gebel, editors, pp. 431–436, B.A.R. International Series 396(i), Oxford, England. *Mandel, R.D., and C.J. Sorenson, 1982. The Role of the Western Harvester Ant (''

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis ''Pogonomyrmex occidentalis'', or the western harvester ant, is a species of ant that inhabits the deserts and arid grasslands of the American West at or below . Like other harvester ants in the genus ''Pogonomyrmex'', it is so called because ...

'') in Soil Formation. ''Soil Science Society of America Journal'' 46(4):785-788.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandel, Rolfe D. 1952 births Living people American archaeologists University of Kansas faculty University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni