Jack M. Broughton portrait
  • Department Chair, Anthropology Department
  • Professor, Anthropology Department

Publications

Research Statement

My research interests involve hunter-gatherer paleoecology and prehistory, especially the analysis of human- and climate-induced change in past faunal landscapes, and their implications for related aspects of human behavior, historical ecology, and modern conservation biology. The archaeofaunal record of past foraging behavior is the primary window through which I explore these issues; quantitative applications of foraging theory models to such records in western North America constitutes the core of my empirical work. In this context, I have analyzed late Quaternary archaeological and paleontological fish, bird, and mammal faunas from across the west. These substantive analyses reflect my general interest in the application of models from evolutionary ecology to the archaeological record of ancient human behavior. Ongoing projects involve the analysis of avian prey choice and patch use by ancient hunters of the San Francisco Bay area; Holocene climate change, artiodactyl population histories, and large game hunting patterns in California, Baja California, and the Great Basin; and ancient DNA tests for a proposed human-caused late Holocene population decline in California tule elk.

Presentations

  • Broughton, J.M. 2023. Terminal Pleistocene environments and human foraging in the Old River Bed Delta: Evidence from the Wishbone Site fauna. IN: Tracking the Human Landscape of the Old River Bed Delta at the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition. 38th Meeting Great Basin Anthropological Association. October 18. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/20/2023.
  • Byers, D.A., R McGrath, P. Yaworsky, T. Popp, G. Maughan, J.M. Broughton. 2023. Climatic controls and costly signaling: An integrated analysis of Holocene hunting in the Bonneville and Wyoming Basins, USA. Society for American Archaeology, 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, March 29. Poster, Presented, 03/30/2023.
  • Cole, K.E., M. Moffatt, B.F. Codding, J.M. Broughton 2023 Human settlement density, not late Holocene climate change, influenced Artiodactyla species abundance in northeastern California faunal assemblages. IN: Behavioral Ecology and Archaeology. Society for American Archaeology, 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, March 29. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/29/2023.
  • Dalmas, D. and Broughton, J.M. 2022 Taphonomic implications of modern lake level fluctuations and osprey prey choice and fish bone deposition at Eagle Lake, California.IN: Society for American Archaeology, 87th Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL March 31. Poster, Presented, 03/31/2022.
  • Broughton, J.M. Exploring the causes of extinction for mammoths and other Pleistocene megafauna: Recent approaches from North America. Keynote Speaker: IN:VIII International Conference on Mammoths and their Relatives. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. 25-28 October. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/25/2021.
  • Broughton, J.M, and I. Hart. El Nino frequency threshold controls coastal biotic communities. IN: Papers in Honor of Dwight D. Simons. Society of California Archaeology, Annual Meeting, Virtual, March 28, 2021. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/27/2021.
  • Broughton, J.M. and E.M. Weitzel 2019 Population reconstructions for humans and megafauna suggest mixed causes for North American megafaunal extinctions. IN: Human Interactions with Extinct fauna. Society for American Archaeology, 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM. Conference Paper, Presented, 04/19/2019.
  • Broughton, J.M., L. Sykora, K. Beck, J. Tackney, A. Rogers, D. O’Rourke, M. Broughton and J. Coltrain. 2018. Stable Isotopes and Ancient DNA in Zooarchaeology: A Case Study of Resource Depression and Distant Patch Use with California Elk. IN: Plenary Session: Arrow of Time: Anthropological Disciplines of the Future. Great Basin Anthropological Conference. Salt Lake City, Utah, November 7-10. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/07/2018.
  • Broughton, J. M. and E. Weitzel. 2017. North American Pleistocene megafauna and human populations grew together before Younger Dryas declines and extinctions. paper presented at the 15th Annual Eagle Lake Zooarchaeology Conference. Conference Paper, Presented, 07/08/2017.
  • Broughton, J.M. 2016. Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene Climate Change in the Bonneville Basin: New Interpretations from the Fish Record at Homestead Cave. Paper presented at the 35th Great Basin Anthropological Conference, Reno, NV. Oct 5-8. Conference Paper, Presented, 10/08/2016.
  • Wolfe, A.L., J.M. Broughton, and W. Rath. 2016. A Foraging Theory Perspective on the Paleoindian Exploitation of North American Megafauna. IN: Foraging Theory: Zooarchaeology and Archaeobotany. The Society of Ethnobiology, 9th Annual Conference. March 16-19, Tucson, AZ. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/07/2016.
  • Broughton, J.M. 2016. Discussant, IN: Foraging Theory: Zooarchaeology and Archaeobotany. The Society of Ethnobiology, 9th Annual Conference. March 16-19, Tucson, AZ. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/16/2016.
  • Broughton, J. M. and Hart, I. A. 2014. El Nino and Great Basin Prehistory, IN: Plenary Session: Records of Past Climate and Environmental Change in the Great Basin—A Landscape of Transitions. Great Basin Anthropological Conference. Boise, ID, October 15. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/2014.
  • Hart, I. A., Broughton, J. M., Gruhn, R. 2014 El Nino controls lagomorph populations in Baja California, Mexico: Evidence from the Abrigo de los Escorpiones vertebrate fauna. IN: Multi-disciplinary zooarchaeological contributions to environmental and ecological research. Paper presented at the 12th Congress of the International Council of Archaeozoology. San Rafael, Argentina. September 23. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/2014.
  • Edwards, G.A., Broughton, J.M., Codding, B. F., Hart, I., and Gruhn, R. 2014 Holocene ENSO variation affects woodrat (Neotoma) body size and species composition in northern Baja California. IN: Multi-disciplinary zooarchaeological contributions to environmental and ecological research. Paper presented at the 12th Congress of the International Council of Archaeozoology. San Rafael, Argentina. September 23. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/2014.
  • Broughton, J.M., Beck, R.K., O’Rourke, D.H., Rogers, A.R., and Coltrain, J. 2014. Ancient DNA, stable isotopes, and faunal population histories: An Example from California Tule elk. IN: Multi-disciplinary zooarchaeological contributions to environmental and ecological research. Paper presented at the 12th Congress of the International Council of Archaeozoology. San Rafael, Argentina. September 23. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/2014.
  • Hart, I. A., Broughton, J.M., Gruhn, R. 2014 El Nino controls lagomorph populations in Baja California, Mexico: Evidence from the Abrigo de los Escorpiones vertebrate fauna. Paper presented at the 11th Annual Eagle Lake Zooarchaeology Conference. Eagle Lake Field Station, California. July 24. Conference Paper, Presented, 07/2014.
  • Broughton, J.M. 2014. Discussant, IN: University of Queensland-University of Western Australia Zooarchaeology Symposium. May 26-28, Queensland, Australia. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 05/2014.
  • Broughton, J.M. 2014 The Behavioral Ecology of Large Game Hunting in Western North America. Invited Lecture, University of Queensland Colloquium Series, Australia. May 29. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 05/2014.
  • Broughton, J.M. 2014. The Behavioral Ecology of Large Game Hunting in Western North America. Plenary Speaker, IN: Northwest Evolution, Ecology, and Human Behavior 2nd Annual Symposium. Boise, ID, March 7-9. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/2014.
  • Beck, R.K., Broughton, J.M., O’Rourke, D.H., Rogers, A.R., and Coltrain, J. 2013 Ancient DNA analysis confirms a late Holocene population bottleneck in California tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes). IN: Ancient DNA in Zooarchaeology. Poster presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Honolulu, HI. April 7. Conference Paper, Presented, 07/04/2013.
  • Broughton, J.M. 2013 Zooarchaeology and Field Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Field School. Anthropology Colloquium Series, University of Utah. 28 March 2013. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/28/2013.
  • Edwards, G.A., Broughton, J.M., Hart, I., and Gruhn, R. 2013 Trans-Holocene environmental change in northern Baja California: Evidence from the Abrigo de los Escorpiones woodrat (Neotoma) remains. Poster presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, Honolulu, HI. April 7. Conference Paper, Presented, 04/07/2013.
  • Broughton, J.M. 2012. Late Holocene Resource Depression and Intensification in Northern California: The Archaeofaunal Evidence. Invited lecture presented at the Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico. March 15. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/15/2012.
  • Broughton, J.M., R.K. Beck, D.H. O’Rourke, A.R. Rogers, and J. Coltrain. 2012. Ancient DNA analysis confirms a late Holocene population bottleneck in California tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes). IN: California Archaeology’s Contribution to Conservation Biology. Paper presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Society for California Archaeology, San Diego. March 30. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/30/2012.
  • Broughton, J.M., R.K. Beck, D.H. O’Rourke, A.R. Rogers, and J. Coltrain. 2012. Ancient DNA analysis confirms a late Holocene population bottleneck in California tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes). Invited lecture presented at the Anthropology Forum, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico. March 14 . Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/14/2012.
  • Broughton, J.M. 2010. Comparative osteology of western vertebrates: a photographic atlas. IN: Theoretical and Ethnological Models in Zooarchaeology. Paper presented at the 6th Annual Eagle Lake Zooarchaeology Conference. Eagle Lake. Field Station, California. July 24. Conference Paper, Presented, 07/25/2010.
  • Beck, R. K. and Broughton, J.M. 2010. Did prehistoric hunters cause a population bottleneck in California elk? A test using ancient DNA: status update and preliminary data. IN: Theoretical and Ethnological Models in Zooarchaeology. Paper presented at the 6th Annual Eagle Lake Zooarchaeology Conference. Eagle Lake Field Station, California. July 24. Conference Paper, Presented, 07/24/2010.
  • Broughton, Jack M. 2010. Did climatic seasonality control late Quaternary artiodactyl densities in western North America? Invited lecture given at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, February 24. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 02/24/2010.

Grants, Contracts & Research Gifts

  • "The Molecular Genetics of of Prehistoric Marine Mammal Hunting on San Miguel Island, California. PI: R. Kelly Beck. Wenner-Gren Foundation, 07/01/2009 - 06/0031. Total project budget to date: $25,000.00