Office: PAS 2419
Phone: 519-888-4567 x45016
Email: robert.park@uwaterloo.ca
Background
Robert W. Park, Professor, is an archaeological anthropologist with an interest in the cultures of the Far North (the Canadian Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Greenland and Alaska) and Northeastern North America. He received his BA from the University of Toronto in 1981, his MA from McMaster University in 1984, and his PhD from the University of Alberta in 1989. He has participated in archaeological fieldwork in Southern Ontario, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Courses taught regularly include are ANTH 105 (Prehistoric Peoples and Places), ANTH 233 (Inuit and Eskimo Cultures), ANTH 320 (Studies in Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology), ANTH 335 (Arctic Archaeology), and ANTH 440 (Archaeological Analysis and Interpretation).
Publications
2023 - The Thule Migration: A Culture in a Hurry?. Open Archaeology 9:20220326. https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0326
2023 - [1st author, with Douglas R. Stenton]. Too Far from Shore—the Fate of the Franklin Expedition. Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Bulletin March 27, 2023. https://bulletin.cmos.ca/too-far-from-shore-the-fate-of-the-franklin-expedition/
2021 - The Once and Future Discipline. The SAA Archaeological Record 21:29-34. http://onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?m=16146&i=708266&p=30&ver=html5
2021 - [4th author, with Douglas R. Stenton, Stephen Fratpietro, and Anne Keenleyside]. DNA Identification of a Sailor from the 1845 Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition. Polar Record 57, e14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000061
2021 - [3rd author, with Douglas R. Stenton, Anne Keenleyside, and Stephen Fratpietro]. DNA Analysis Reveals the Identity of a Member of the Doomed Franklin Arctic Expedition. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/dna-analysis-reveals-the-identity-of-a-member-of-the-doomed-franklin-arctic-expedition-161158
2021 - [4th author, with Douglas R. Stenton, Anne Keenleyside, and Philippe Froesch]. A Franklin Expedition Officer’s Burial at Two Grave Bay, King William Island, Nunavut. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102687
2020 - [2nd author, with Douglas R. Stenton] The “Cast Iron Site”—a Tale of Four Stoves from the 1845 Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition. ARCTIC 73:1-12. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic69830
2019 - [1st author, with Douglas R. Stenton]. Use Your Best Endeavours to Discover a Sheltered and Safe Harbour. Polar Record 55:361-372. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0032247419000573
2018 - Learning the Tools of Survival in the Thule and Dorset Cultures of Arctic Canada. In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Childhood. Edited by S. Crawford, D. Hadley, and G. Shepherd, pp 213-227. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
2018 - [5th author, with David B. Landry, Ian J. Ferguson, S. Brooke Milne, and Mulu Serzu]. Integrated Geophysical Techniques for the Archaeological Investigation of LbDt-1, a Paleo-Inuit Lithic Quarry Site in the Interior of Southern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. doi:10.1007/s10816-018-9370-6
2018 - [4th author, with Rachel E. ten Bruggencate, S. Brooke Milne, Mostafa J. Fayek, Douglas R. Stenton, and Anne C. Hamilton]. Characterizing southern Baffin Island chert: A cautionary tale for provenance research. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 22, 324-329. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.03.016
2017 - Review of “Finding Franklin: The Untold Story of a 165-Year Search” by Russell A. Potter. Arctic, 70(1), 104-105.
2017 - [1st author, with S. Brooke Milne, and Douglas R. Stenton]. Burin and Spall Use at an Inland Arctic Small Tool Tradition Site, Southern Baffin Island, Nunavut. Canadian Journal of Archaeology, 41(1), 63-78.
2017 - [3rd author, with Rachel E. ten Bruggencate, S. Brooke Milne, Mostafa J. Fayek, and Douglas R. Stenton]. Combining chert provenance and least-cost pathway analyses to reconstruct Pre-Dorset and Dorset mobility on southern Baffin Island. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 14, 651-661.
2017 - [3rd author, with Dana Thacher and S. Brooke Milne]. Applying GIS and statistical analysis to assess the correlation of human behaviour and ephemeral architectural features among Palaeo-Eskimo sites on Southern Baffin Island, Nunavut. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 14, 21-30.
2017 - [2nd author, with Douglas R. Stenton] History, Oral History and Archaeology: Reinterpreting the ‘Boat Places’ of Erebus Bay. Arctic 70 (2):203-218.
2017 - [4th author, with Douglas R, Stenton, Anne Keenleyside and Steven Fratpietro] DNA Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains From the 1845 Franklin Expedition. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.03.041. Stenton, Douglas R and Robert W Park
2016 - The Dorset-Thule Transition. In The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic. Edited by T. Max Friesen and Owen K. Mason, pp 807-826. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
2016 - [2nd author, with S. Brooke Milne] Pre-Dorset Culture. In The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic. Edited by T. Max Friesen and Owen K. Mason, pp 693-712. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
2016 - [4th author, with Douglas R, Stenton, Anne Keenleyside and Diana P. Trepkov] Faces From the Franklin Expedition? Craniofacial Reconstructions of Two Members of the 1845 Northwest Passage Expedition. Polar Record 52 (1): 76-81. doi:10.1017/S0032247415000248.
2016 - [5th author, with Rachel E ten Bruggencate, Jeffrey P Stup, S Brooke Milne, Douglas R Stenton, and Mostafa Fayek] A Human-centered GIS Approach to Modeling Mobility on Southern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. Journal of Field Archaeology 1-15.
2016 - [3rd author, with David B. Landry, S. Brooke Milne, Ian J. Ferguson, and Mostafa Fayek] Manual Point Cloud Classification and Extraction for Hunter-Gatherer Feature Investigation: A Test Case From Two Low Arctic Paleo-Inuit Sites. Open Archaeology 2:232-242.
2015 - [4th author, with Rachel E. ten Bruggencate, S. Brooke Milne, Mostafa Fayek, and Douglas R. Stenton] Characterization of Chert Artifacts and Two Newly Identified Chert Quarries on Southern Baffin Island. Lithic Technology 40 (3): 189-198. doi:10.1179/2051618515Y.00000000006
2015 - [3rd author, with Douglas R. Stenton and Anne Keenleyside] The ‘Boat Place’ Burial: New Skeletal Evidence from the 1845 Franklin Expedition, Arctic, 68(1):32-44.
2015 - [4th author, with David B. Landry, Ian J. Ferguson, and S. Brooke Milne] Combined Geophysical Approach in a Complex Arctic Archaeological Environment: A Case Study from the LdFa-1 Site, Southern Baffin Island, Nunavut. Archaeological Prospection 22:157-170.
2013 - [2nd author, with S. Brooke Milne and Douglas R. Stenton] For Caribou, Chert, and Company: Understanding Mobility Among the Palaeo-Eskimos of Baffin Island, Arctic Canada. In Mobility, Transition, and Change in Prehistory and Antiquity. Proceedings of the Graduate Archaeology Organisation Conference on the Fourth and Fifth of April 2008 at Hertford College, Oxford, UK. Edited by Paul R Preston and Katia Schorle, pp. 49-61. British Archaeological Reports, International Series. Archaeopress, Oxford.
2012 - Arctic Archaeology Overview: Adapting to a Frozen Coastal Environment. In The Oxford Handbook of North American Archaeology, edited by Timothy R. Pauketat, pp. 113-123. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
2012 - [2nd author, with S. Brooke Milne and Douglas R. Stenton] Dorset Culture Land Use Strategies and the Case of Inland Southern Baffin Island. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 36(2): 405-426.
2011 - [2nd author, with S. Brooke Milne, Anne C. Hamilton, and Mostafa J. Fayak] Chert Sourcing and Palaeo-Eskimo Raw Material use in the Interior of Southern Baffin Island, Arctic Canada. Canadian Journal of Archaeology35:117-142.
2010 - Frozen coasts and the development of Inuit culture in the North American Arctic. In Landscapes and Societies—Selected Cases. I.Peter Martini and Ward Chesworth eds., pp. 407-421 Springer, Dordrecht.
2010 - [2nd author, with Douglas R. Stenton and Tara Grant] Retracing the route of Hans K. E. Krüger’s 1930 German Arctic expedition. Polar Record 46(239):349-358.
2010 - Review of "The Northern World AD 900-1400," edited by Herbert Maschner, Owen Mason and Robert McGhee. Arctic 63(3):366-367.
2008 - Contact between the Norse Vikings and the Dorset culture in Arctic Canada. Antiquity 82:189-198.
2008 - Frozen Sites and Bodies. In Encyclopedia of Archaeology, vol. 2, pp. 1404-1407 edited by Deborah M. Pearsall. Elsevier, Oxford.
2007 - [with Douglas R. Stenton] A Hans Krüger Arctic Expedition Cache on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut. Arctic60(1):1-6.
2006 - Growing Up North: Exploring the Archaeology of Childhood in the Thule and Dorset Cultures of Arctic Canada. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 15(1):53-64.
2003 - The Dorset Culture Longhouse at Brooman Point, Nunavut. Études/Inuit/Studies 27(1-2): 239-253.
2003 - [with Pauline M. Mousseau] How Small is Too Small? Dorset Culture "Miniature" Harpoon Heads. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 27(2):258-272.
2001 - Thule Winter Site Formation in Arctic Canada. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska New Series1(1): 1-6.
2001 - Eastern Arctic Small Tool. In Encyclopedia of Prehistory Volume 2: Arctic and Subarctic, edited by P.N. Peregrine and M. Ember, pp. 27-45. Kluwer Academic, New York.
2000 - The Dorset-Thule Succession Revisited. In Identities and Cultural Contacts in the Arctic, edited by M. Appelt, J. Berglund and H. C. Gulløv, pp. 192-205. Danish Polar Center Publication No. 8. The Danish National Museum & Danish Polar Center, Copenhagen.
1999 - Seal Use and Storage in the Thule Culture of Arctic North America. Revista de Arqueología Americana16:77-97.
1999 - The Archaeology of Childhood: Toys Tell Tales of Growing Up in the Arctic. Discovering Archaeology1(2):81-88.
1999 - [2nd author, with Douglas R. Stenton] Ancient Stone Tools of Nunavut: An Illustrated Guide [in English and Inuktitut]. Parks Canada, Department of Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada, Pangnirtung. 134 pp.
1999 - Demography and the Reconstruction of Social Organization from Thule Wintering Sites in Arctic Canada.Canadian Journal of Archaeology 22(2):115-126.
1998 - Size Counts: The Miniature Archaeology of Childhood in Inuit Societies. Antiquity 72(276):269-281
1998 - [with Douglas R. Stenton] Ancient Harpoon Heads of Nunavut: An Illustrated Guide [in English and Inuktitut]. Parks Canada, Department of Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada, Iqaluit. 108 pp.
1998 - Dorset/Thule Transition. In Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia, edited by Guy Gibbon, pp. 217-218. Garland, New York.
1998 - On the Dorset/Thule Analogy for the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic Transition. Current Anthropology 39(3):355-356.
1998 - Mentors and Role Models: The Shaping of Canadian Archaeologists. In Bringing Back the Past: Historical Perspectives on Canadian Archaeology, edited by Pamela Jane Smith and Donald Mitchell, pp. 53-60. Mercury Series Paper 158. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Archaeological Survey of Canada, Hull.
1998 - Current Research and the History of Thule Archaeology in Arctic Canada. In Bringing Back the Past: Historical Perspectives on Canadian Archaeology, edited by Pamela Jane Smith and Donald Mitchell, pp. 191-201. Mercury Series Paper 158. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Archaeological Survey of Canada, Hull.
1997 - Thule Winter Site Demography in the High Arctic. American Antiquity 62(2):273-284.
1997 - [with Lori A. Karaba] Debitage Analysis and AgHc-82. In Preceramic Southern Ontario, edited by Philip J. Woodley, pp. 47-57. Occasional Papers in Northeastern Archaeology, No. 9. Copetown Press, Dundas.
1994 - Approaches to Dating the Thule culture in the Eastern Arctic. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 18:29-48.
1994 - [With Douglas R. Stenton] Formation Processes and Thule Archaeofaunas. InThreads of Arctic Prehistory: Papers in honour of William E. Taylor, Jr., edited by David Morrison and Jean-Luc Pilon, pp. 409-422. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Archaeological Survey of Canada, Mercury Series No. 149. Hull.
1993 - The Dorset-Thule Succession in Arctic North America: Assessing Claims for Culture Contact. American Antiquity 58(2):203-234.
1988 - "Winter Houses" and Qarmat in Thule and Historic Inuit Settlement Patterns: Some Implications for Thule Studies. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 12:163-175.
1987 - Dog Remains from Devon Island, N.W.T.: Archaeological and Osteological Evidence for Domestic Dog Use in the Thule Culture. Arctic 40(3):184-190.