Wesleyan portrait of Katherine  Brunson

Katherine Brunson

Assistant Professor of Archaeology

284 High Street, 203
860-685-2068

Assistant Professor, East Asian Studies

Assistant Professor, College of the Environment

kbrunson@wesleyan.edu

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BA Harvard University
MA University of California, Los Angeles
PHD University of California, Los Angeles

Katherine Brunson

Katherine Brunson is a zooarchaeologist who studies East Asia’s domesticated animals and the environmental impacts of animal domestication in China. You can read about her teaching and research with students on the Environmental Archaeology Lab website: http://ealab.wescreates.wesleyan.edu/  She is currently investigating the genetic relationships between domestic cattle and the extinct East Asian wild aurochs. Her research interests include ancient DNA, the origins of pastoralism in East Asia, extirpations and extinctions of China’s native mammals, oracle bones and the ritual aspects of animal domestication, bone artifact production techniques, and archaeological collections management. Dr. Brunson has participated in numerous archaeological survey and excavation projects across China and at the Maya site of Copan, Honduras. She also co-directs the online Oracle Bones in East Asia project on Open Context (opencontext.org).

Academic Affiliations

Office Hours

Mondays and Wednesdays 2:45-4:30pm in Exley 351 or by appointment.

Courses

Spring 2024
ARCP 203 - 01
Ancient DNA and Archaeology

ARCP 257 - 01
Environmental Archaeology

Fall 2024
ARCP 204 - 01
Introduction to Archaeology

ARCP 310 - 01
Archaeological Theory

ARCP 350 - 01
Animals in Archaeology