David K. Wright is a professor of anthropology at the University of Oslo in Norway. His research interests primarily revolve around understanding interactions between humans and the environments they inhabit. Over the last several years, he has pursued archaeological research in three primary geographic regions: the U.S. Southwest and in different parts of Africa. Wright’s objective is to understand where sediments originate from and where they end up being deposited within a chronometric framework (source-to-sink analysis). This informs archaeological site preservation/taphonomy and understandings of human behavior and adaptations to landscape change.
An archaeological project in Malawi shows how nearly 100,000 years ago, humans used fire to create wide-scale, permanent transformations of the natural environment. It's time to abandon the idea of "pristine nature."
