Todd Surovell

I am an archaeologist with specialization in Paleoindian period, the earliest period of American archaeology.  I have worked primarily in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, but I also have limited field experience in Eurasia.  I’m interested in factors that structure the archaeological record from decision making to site formation.  I often employ mathematical, probabilistic, and computer modeling in my work.  I have worked on a range of issues in prehistory including hunter-gather mobility, technology, subsistence, and demography, particularly with reference to the initial colonization of the Americas.  I excavated Locality B of the Barger Gulch site, a Folsom campsite in Middle Park, Colorado.  I have worked on the problem of the late Pleistocene extinctions, in particular the climate change, overkill, and extraterrestrial impact hypotheses.  From  2012 to 2017, I  completed an ethnoarchaeological research project in northern Mongolia with Dukha reindeer herders with the goal of developing spatial theory of human behavior for application to archaeological projects.  I am currently excavating the La Prele Mammoth site, a Clovis site in Converse County, Wyoming.  I also have ongoing fieldwork in Albany county, Wyoming.   In general, I’m interested in why people do what they do, and how this is reflected in a poorly preserved, distorted, and biased archaeological record.

EDUCATION

2003 University of Arizona, Ph.D. (Anthropology)

1999 University of Arizona, M.A. (Anthropology)

1995 University of Wisconsin-Madison, B.S. (Anthropology and Zoology)

PUBLICATIONS 

Surovell, T. A. (2024) The ages of stemmed and fluted points in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.  In Current Perspectives on Stemmed and Fluted Technologies in the American Far West, edited by Katelyn N. McDonough, Richard L. Rosencrance, and Jordan E. Pratt, The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, pp. 199-215. (pdf)

Surovell, Todd A., McKenna L. Litynski, Sarah A. Allaun, Michael Buckley, Todd A. Schoborg, Jack A. Govaerts, Matthew J. O’Brien, Spencer R. Pelton, Paul H. Sanders, Madeline E. Mackie, and Robert L. Kelly (2024) Use of hare bone for the manufacture of a Clovis bead. Scientific Reports 14(1):2937. DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-53390-9. (open access)

Surovell, T.A. M. J. O'Brien, S. R. Pelton (2023) Coupled time lapse photography and photogrammetry for high precision mapping of human behavior in ethnoarchaeological research. Anthropologie 61:303-314. (pdf)

Allaun, S. A., T. A. Surovell, C. V. Haynes, Jr., M. E. Mackie, S. Pelton, R. L. Kelly, M. O’Brien, J. M. Capriles, S. Mahan (2023) The geochronological and geoarchaeological context of the Clovis-age La Prele Mammoth site, Converse County, Wyoming.  Paleoamerica 9:174-193(pdf)

Koenig, C. W., A. M. Castañeda, M. L. Litynski, S. A. Allaun, and T. A. Surovell (2021) The DeBarard Earth Oven (48AB3354): Hot Rock Cooking in the Laramie Basin. Wyoming Archaeologist 65(2):40-51.  (pdf)

Mahan, Chase M., Sarah A. Allaun, Jessi J. Halligan, and Todd A. Surovell (2023) The weathering and scavenging of keratin. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 47:103807. DOI:10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103807.  (pdf)

Surovell, T. A. (2022) Barger Gulch: A Folsom Campsite in the Rocky Mountains. University of Arizona Press: Tucson. (link)

Surovell, T. A., S. A. Allaun, B. A. Crass, J. A. M. Gingerich, C. E. Holmes, R. L. Kelly, M. Kornfeld, K. E. Krasinski, M. L. Larson, S. R. Pelton, B. T. Wygal (2022) Late Date of Human Arrival to North America: Continental Scale Differences in the Stratigraphic Integrity of pre-13,000 BP Archaeological Sites. PLOS One 17(4): e026409. (link, open access)

Kilby, D., T. Surovell, B. Huckell,  C. Ringstaff, M. Hamilton, and C. V. Haynes, Jr. (2022) Evidence Supports the Efficacy of Clovis Points for Hunting Proboscideans. Journal of Archaeological Science:Reports. (pdf)

Mackie, Madeline E. , Todd A Surovell, Spencer Pelton, Matthew O'Brien, Robert L Kelly, George C Frison, Robert M Yohe, Steve Teteak, Beth Shapiro and Joshua D. Kapp (2022) Spatial analysis of a Clovis hearth centered activity area at the La Prele Mammoth site, Converse County, Wyoming. In Diversity in Open Air Site Structure Across the Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary, edited by K. Carlson and L. Bement. University of Colorado Press, Boulder, pp. 103-121. (pdf)

O’Brien, M.J., Surovell, T.A., Haas, W.R., Pelton, S. (2022) The Attraction of Home: The Influence of Fire and Ambient Light on Domestic Space among the Dukha Reindeer Herders of Northern Mongolia. In More Than Shelter from the Storm Hunter-Gatherer Houses and the Built Environment. B. Andrews, D. MacDonald (Eds.). Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, pp. 243-263 (pdf).

Surovell, T.A., M. J. O’Brien, and W. R. Haas (2022) The other invisible sex: Division of labor and domestic space in the Mongolian taiga.  In Intra-Site Spatial Analysis of Mobile and Semi-Sedentary Peoples: Analytical Approaches to Reconstructing Occupation History, edited by A. E. Clark and J. A. M. Gingerich. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, pp. 95-108 (pdf).

Lew-Levy, Sheina, Rachel Reckin, Stephen M. Kissler, Ilaria Pretelli, Adam H. Boyette, Alyssa N. Crittenden, Renée V. Hagen, Randall Haas, Karen L. Kramer, Jeremy Koster, Matthew J. O’Brien, Koji Sonoda, Todd A. Surovell, Jonathan Stieglitz, Bram Tucker, Noa Lavi, Kate Ellis-Davies, and Helen E. Davis (2022) Socioecology shapes child and adolescent time allocation in twelve hunter-gatherer and mixed-subsistence forager societies. (2022) Scientific Reports 12(1):8054. DOI:10.1038/s41598-022-12217-1. (link, open access)

Buchanan, B., J. D. Kilby, J. M. LaBelle, T. A. Surovell, J. Holland-Luluwicz, M. J. Hamilton (2022) Bayesian modeling of the Clovis and Folsom radiocarbon records indicates a 200-year multigenerational transition.  American Antiquity 87:567-580 (pdf)

Surovell, T. A.  (2022)  Review: The Mountaineer Site: A Folsom Winter Camp in the Rockies, by Brian N. Andrews, David J. Meltzer, and Mark Stiger, 2021. Plains Anthropologist (pdf) 

Allaun, S. A. and T. A. Surovell (2021) Investigation of a reported Clovis point discovery from the Rocky Mountains.  Southwestern Lore 87 (4):1-10 (pdf)

Surovell, T. A., S. R. Pelton, M. E. Mackie, C. M. Mahan, M. J. O'Brien, R. L. Kelly, C. V. Haynes, Jr. and G. C. Frison (2021) The La Prele Mammoth Site, Converse County, Wyoming, USA. In Human-Elephant Interactions from Past to Present, edited by G. Konidaris, R. Barkai, V. Tourloukis, and K. Harvati. Tuebingen Paleoanthropology Book Series – Contributions in Paleoanthropology 1, Tuebingen University Press, Tuebingen, pp. 303-319. (pdf) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15496/publikation-55604

Buchanan, Briggs, J. David Kilby, Marcus J. Hamilton, Jason M. LaBelle, Kelton A. Meyer, Jacob Holland-Lulewicz, Brian Andrews, Brooke M.
Morgan, Brendon Asher, Vance T. Holliday, Gregory W. L. Hodgins, and Todd A. Surovell (2021) Bayesian Revision of the Folsom Age Range Using IntCal20. PaleoAmerica 7(2):133–144. DOI:10.1080/20555563.2021.1890401. (pdf)

Mackie, M. E., T. A. Surovell, M. O’Brien, R. L. Kelly, S. Pelton, C. V. Haynes, Jr., G. C. Frison, R. Yohe, S. Teteak, H. Rockwell, S. Mahan   (2020) Confirming a cultural association at the La Prele Mammoth site (48CO1401), Converse County, Wyoming. American Antiquity 85:554-572. (pdf)

Zarzycka, Sandra E., Todd A. Surovell, Madeline E. Mackie, Spencer R. Pelton, Robert L. Kelly, Paul Goldberg, Janet Dewey, and Meghan Kent (2019) Long-distance transport of red ocher by Clovis foragers.  Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 25:519-529. (pdf)

Haas, Randall, Todd A. Surovell, and Matthew J. O'Brien (2019) Dukha mobility in a constructed environment: Past camp use predicts future use in the Mongolian Taiga.  American Antiquity 84:215-233 (pdf)

MacDonald, Douglas H., Horton, Elizabeth A., and Todd A. Surovell (2019) Cougar Creek: Quantitative assessment of obsidian use in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. American Antiquity 84: 158-178. (pdf)

Bluhm, Lara E and Todd A. Surovell (2018) Validation of a global model of taphonomic bias using geologic radiocarbon dates.  Quaternary Research 91:325-328. (pdf)

Potter, Ben A., Baichtal, James F., Beaudoin, Alwynne B., Fehren-Schmitz, Lars, Haynes, C. Vance, Holliday, Vance T., Holmes, Charles E., Ives, John W.,  Kelly, Robert L., Llamas, Bastien, Malhi, Ripan S., Miller, D. Shane, Reich, David Reuther, Joshua D., Schiffels, Stephan, Surovell, Todd A. (2018) Current evidence allows multiple models for the peopling of the Americas.  Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat5473 (pdf)

Pelton, Spencer R., Rachael L. Shimek, Brigid Grund, Madeline Mackie, Todd A. Surovell (2018) The Wold Bison Jump (48JO966) and its relation to the ancestral Crow on the Northwest Plains. Plains Anthropologist , DOI: 10.1080/00320447.2018.1464369  (pdf)

Haas, Randall, Todd Surovell, and Matthew O'Brien (2018) Occupancy and the use of space among the Dukha. Ethnoarchaeology , DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2018.1440510  (pdf)

O'Brien, Matthew J. and Todd A. Surovell (2017) Spatial Expression of kinship among the Dukha reindeer herders of northern Mongolia.  Arctic Anthropology 54:110-119 (pdf)

Surovell, T. A., J. L. Toohey, A. D. Myers, J. M. LaBelle, and B. Reisig (2017)  The end of archaeological discovery.    American Antiquity 82 (pdf)

Grund, B. S., S. R. Pelton, T. A. Surovell, N. A. Matthews, and T. A. Noble (2016)  Bison jump location is primarily predicted by minimizing visibility at the Wold site, Johnson County, Wyoming American Antiquity 81:752-763 (pdf)

Surovell, T. A., J. R. Boyd, J. R., C. V. Haynes,  Jr.,and G. W. L. Hodgins (2016)  On the dating of the Folsom complex and its correlation with the Younger Dryas, the end of Clovis, and megafaunal extinction.  Paleoamerica 2:81-89 (pdf)

Surovell, T. A. and M. J. O’Brien (2016)  Mobility at the scale of meters. Evolutionary Anthropology 25:142-152 (pdf)

Holliday, Vance, T. Surovell, Johnson, E.  (2016) A blind test of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis.  PLOS One 11(7):e0155470  (pdf)

Surovell, T. A. and S. R. Pelton (2016)   Spatio-temporal variation in the preservation of ancient faunal remains.  Biology Letters 12 (2): 20150823 (pdf)

Surovell, T. A., S. R. Pelton, R. Anderson-Sprecher, and A. D. Myers (2016)   Test of Martin's overkill hypothesis using radiocarbon dates on extinct megafauna. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113:886-891. (pdf)

Mackie, M. E., T. A. Surovell, and M. J. O'Brien (2015)   Identifying stone alignments created by adults and children: A case study from a Dukha reindeer herder summer camp, Khövsgöl Aimag, Mongolia. Sibirica 14(2):29-44 (pdf)

Prasciunas, M. M. and T. A. Surovell  (2015)   Reevaluating the duration of Clovis: The problem of non-representative radiocarbon.   In    Clovis: On the Edge of a New Understanding, edited by A. M. Smallwood and  T. A. Jennings,    pp. 21-35. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A.  (2014) Review: Across Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America’s Clovis Culture, by Dennis J. Stanford and Bruce A. Bradley, 2012. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 24:307-308. (pdf)

Holliday, V. T., T. A. Surovell, D. J. Meltzer, D. K. Grayson, and M. Boslough (2014)  The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis: A cosmic catastrophe.  Journal of Quaternary Science 29:515-530.  (pdf)

Waguespack, N. M. and T. A. Surovell (2014)  A simple method for identifying households using lithic assemblages: A case study from a Folsom campsite in Middle Park, Colorado.  In Lithics in the West:Using Lithic Analysis to Solve Archaeological Problems in Western North America, edited by Douglas H. MacDonald, William Andrefsky, Jr, and Pei-Lin Yu, pp.35-49.   Missoula: University of Montana Press. (pdf)

Grund, B. S., S. E. Williams, T. A. Surovell  (2014)  Viable Paleosol microorganisms, paleoclimatic reconstruction, and relative dating in archaeology:  A test case from Hell Gap, Wyoming, USA. Journal of Archaeological Science 46:217-228. (pdf)

Kelly, R. L., T. A. Surovell, B. N. Shuman, G. M. Smith (2013)  A continuous climatic impact on Holocene human population in the Rocky Mountains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110:443-447. (pdf)

Haynes, C. V., Jr., T. A. Surovell, and G. L. Hodgins  (2013)  The U.P. Mammoth Site, Carbon County, Wyoming, USA: More Questions than Answers. Geoarchaeology 28:99-111. (pdf)

Boslough, M., Nicoll, K., Holliday, V., Daulton, T. L., Meltzer, D., Pinter, N., Scott, A. C., Surovell, T. Claeys, P., Gill, J., Paquay, F., Marlon, J., Bartlein, P., Whitlock, C., Grayson, D., Jull, A. J. T.  (2012) Arguments and Evidence Against a Younger Dryas Impact Event, pp. 13-26.  Geophysical  Monograph Series, Volume 198, edited by L. Giosan et al. AGU, Washington, D. C. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A. and B. S. Grund (2012)  The Associational Critique of Quaternary overkill and why its largely irrelevant to the extinction debate. American Antiquity 77:672-687. (pdf)

Walker, D. N. M. T. Bies, T. Surovell, G. C. Frison, and M. E. Miller I(2012) Paleoindian portable art from Wyoming, USA. In Proceedings of the IFRAO Congress: L'art pléistocène dans le monde / Pleistocene art of the world / Arte pleistoceno en el mundo, edited by J. Clottes, pp. 697-709. Actes du Congrès Ifrao, Tarascon-sur-Ariège. (pdf)

Grund, B. S., T. A. Surovell, and S. K. Lyons (2012) Range sizes and shifts of North American Pleistocene mammals are not consistent with a climatic explanation for extinction. World Archaeology 44:43-55. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A., V. T. Holliday, J. A. M. Gingerich, C. Ketron, C. V. Haynes, Jr., I. Hilman, D. P. Wagner, E. Johnson, and P. Claeys  (2009) An Independent Evaluation of the Younger Dryas Extraterrestrial Impact Hypothesis.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106:18155-18158 (pdf) (link)

Faith, J. T. and T. A. Surovell ( 2009)  Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106:20641–20645. (pdf) (link)

Paquay, F. S., S. Goderis, G. Ravizza, F. Vanhaeck, M.Boyd, T. A.  Surovell, V. T. Holliday,, C. V. Haynes, Jr., and P. Claeys  (2009) Absence of geochemical evidence for an impact event at the Bølling– Allerød Younger Dryas transition.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106:21505-21510. (pdf) (link)

Surovell, T. A.   (2009)  Toward a Behavioral Ecology of Lithic Technology: Cases from Paleoindian Archaeology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. (link)

Waguespack, N. M., T. A. Surovell, A. Denoyer, A. Dallow, A. Savage, J. Hyneman and D. Tapster (2009)   Making a point: Wood- vs. stone-tipped projectiles   Antiquity 83:786-800. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A., J. Finely, G. M. Smith, P. J. Brantingham and R. L. Kelly (2009)  Correcting temporal frequency distributions for taphonomic bias. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:1715-1724. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A. and N. M. Waguespack (2009) Human prey choice in the late Pleistocene and its relation to megafaunal extinctions. In American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene, edited by G. Haynes,  77-105. Springer. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A. and N. M. Waguespack (2008)  How many elephant kills are 14?  Clovis Mammoth and Mastodon Kills in Context.  Quaternary  International 191:82-97. (pdf)

Stiner, M. C., J. Beaver, N. D. Munro and T. A. Surovell (2008) Modeling Paleolithic Predator-Prey Dynamics and the Effects of Hunting Pressure on Prey Choice. In Recent  Advances in Paleodemography: Data, Techniques and Patterns, edited by J.-P. Bocquet-Appel, pp. 143-178.  Springer Verlag, Dordecht, The Netherlands.

Surovell, T. A. (2007) Inter-regional Studies/ Big Game Extinctions. in Encyclopedia of Archaeology, edited by Deborah M. Pearsall, pp. 1364-1374. Academic Press, New York.  (pdf)

Surovell, T. A. and N. M. Waguespack (2007) Folsom hearth-centered use of space at Barger Gulch, Locality B.  In Emerging Frontiers in Colorado Paleoindian Archaeology, edited by R. S. Brunswig and B. Pitblado, pp. 219-259, University of Colorado Press, Boulder. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A. and P.J. Brantingham (2007)  A Note on the Use of Temporal Frequency Distributions in Studies of Prehistoric Demography.  Journal of Archaeological Science 34:1868-1877. (pdf)

Mayer, J. H., N. M. Waguespack, T. A. Surovell and J. M. Daniels (2007) Paleoindian geoarchaeology of the Barger Gulch area, Middle Park, Colorado. In Roaming the Rocky Mountains and Environs: Geological Field Trips, edited by R. G. Raynolds, pp. p.79-99. Geological Society of America Field Guide 10, Geological Society of America.

Brantingham, P. J., T. A. Surovell and N. M. Waguespack (2007)  Modeling post-depositional mixing of archaeological deposits. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 26:517-540. (pdf)

Haynes, G., Anderson, D.G., Ferring, C.R., Fiedel, S.J., Grayson, D.K., Haynes, C.V., Jr., Holliday, V.T., Huckell, B.B., Kornfeld, M., Meltzer, D.J., Morrow, J., Surovell, T., Waguespack, N.M., Wigand, P., Yohe, R.M., II,  (2007)   Comment on "Redefining the age of Clovis: Implications for the Peopling of the Americas". Science  317, 320b. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A.  (2006)    Sediment Mineralogy and Bone Preservation. In Folsom: New Archaeological Investigations of a Classic Paleoindian Bison Kill, edited by D. J. Meltzer, pp. 331-337. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Surovell, T. A., N. M. Waguespack, and P. J. Brantingham (2005) Global Archaeological Evidence for Proboscidean Overkill. Proceedings of the National Academy of  Sciences 102:6231-6236. (pdf) (link to PNAS)

Surovell, T. A., N. M. Waguespack, J. H. Mayer, M. Kornfeld and G. C. Frison (2005)  Shallow Site Archaeology: Artifact Dispersal, Stratigraphy, and Radiocarbon Dating at the Barger Gulch Locality B Folsom site, Middle Park, Colorado. Geoarchaeology 20:627-649. (pdf)

Mayer, J. H., T. A. Surovell, N. M. Waguespack, M. Kornfeld, R. G. Reider and G. C. Frison (2005)  Paleoenvironmental change and landscape response in Barger Gulch, Middle Park, Colorado. Geoarchaeology 20:599-625. (pdf)

Stiner, M. C., S. L. Kuhn, T. A. Surovell, P. Goldberg, A. V. Margaris, L. Meignen, S. Weiner and O. Bar-Yosef (2005) Bone, ash, and shell preservation in Hayonim Cave. In The Faunas of Hayonim Cave, Israel: A 200,000-Year Record of Paleolithic Diet, Demography, and Society, edited by M. C. Stiner, pp. 59-77. American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 48, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge.

Stiner, M. C., N. D. Munro and T. A. Surovell  (2005) Computer simulation modelling of small game predator-prey dynamics. In The Faunas of Hayonim Cave, Israel: A  200,000-Year Record of Paleolithic Diet, Demography, and Society, edited by M. C. Stiner, pp. 149-163. American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 48, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge.

Surovell, T. A. (2003) Simulating coastal migration in New World colonization. Current Anthropology 484:580-591. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A., N. M. Waguespack, and M. Kornfeld (2003) A note on the functions of Folsom ultrathin bifaces. Current Research in the Pleistocene 20:75-77. (pdf)

Waguespack, N. M. and T. A. Surovell (2003) Clovis hunting strategies, or how to make out on plentiful resources. American Antiquity 68:333-352. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A., N. M. Waguespack, M. Kornfeld and G. C. Frison (2001) Barger Gulch Locality B: A Folsom site in Middle Park, Colorado. Current Research in the Pleistocene  18:58-60. (pdf)

Surovell, T.A. and M. C. Stiner (2001) Standardizing infrared measures of bone mineral crystallinity: An experimental approach. Journal of  Archaeological Science 28:633-642.  (pdf)

Stiner, M.C., S. L. Kuhn, T. A. Surovell, P. Goldberg, L. Meignen, Stephen Weiner, and O. Bar-Yosef (2001) Bone preservation in Hayonim Cave (Israel): A macroscopic and mineralogical study. Journal of Archaeological Science 28:643-659 (pdf)

Surovell, T. A.  (2000) Early Paleoindian women, children, mobility, and fertility. American Antiquity 65:493-509. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A.  (2000) Radiocarbon dating of bone apatite by step heating. Geoarchaeology 15:591-608. (pdf)

Stiner, M. C., N. D. Munro and T. A. Surovell (2000) The tortoise and the hare: Small game use, the broad spectrum revolution, and Paleolithic demography.   Current Anthropology 41(1):39-73. (pdf)

Stiner, M. C., N. D. Munro, T. A. Surovell, E. Tchernov and O. Bar-Yosef (1999) Paleolithic population pulses evidenced by small animal exploitation. Science 283:190-193. (pdf)

Surovell, T. A.   1999 Modeling occupation intensity and small game use in the Levant.  In Zooarchaeology of the Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary, edited by J. C. Driver, pp. 31-36.  BAR International Series 800, Oxford.