Karen Lupo

I am an anthropological archaeologist with specialties in zooarchaeology, hunter-gatherers studies, human-animal interactions and human behavioral ecology.  Over the last 18 years, my research has largely focused on testing predictions derived from evolutionary models against the behavior of contemporary hunters and gatherers. I am specifically interested in understanding how and why hunters make decisions about which prey to pursue, butcher, transport, and build social networks through sharing. I am also interested in identifying different aspects of human behavior in the archaeological record through the taphonomic consequences of human butchery, and prey processing and meat sharing as reflected in the zooarchaeological record. Finally, I am interested in understanding how and why human behavior changes in response to different external and internal factors such as dietary intensification due to prey depletion from over-hunting, climate change, or reduction in territory. The latter has particular important implications for recent archaeological reconstructions which view dietary intensification as one of a constellation of conditions associated with the rise of social, political and technological complexity among humans. My research among contemporary hunter-gatherers has a substantial fieldwork component and has spanned several different countries in Sub-Saharan Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia and, most recently, the Central African Republic.