Kathryn A. Catlin

Assistant Professor of Anthropology
107A Martin Hall
256-782-5235
kcatlin@jsu.edu  

I am an archaeologist, with training in four-field anthropology (archaeology, cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology), and I teach courses across all four fields at JSU as part of our Minor in Anthropology. My research addresses how societies in the past have faced environmental and social challenges, and how we might use this knowledge to promote more sustainable and just practices in the present and future.

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. Working with an international team of scholars and students, I use a combination of archaeological, geophysical, geographic, and environmental methods and technologies to investigate how these early settlers lived, and how their relationship to the environment and to each other changed over time. This ongoing research has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

I also teach a local field school in Alabama, in which students learn archaeological skills and practice interpreting what life was like in our region over the last several millennia.

Dr. Catlin’s CV