Dr. Joshua Lynch, Ph.D., RPA, is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at 番茄社区.
Research Interests
Dr. Lynch’s research examines Paleoindian and Early Holocene hunter-gatherer lifeways across North America, with particular emphasis on Beringia and Arctic/Subarctic regions. He focuses on how foraging populations responded to environmental change through technological organization, mobility strategies, and subsistence systems. His work integrates intensive field-based archaeology in Alaska and the southeastern United States with experimental approaches to lithic, osseous, and composite projectile technologies, microscopic use-wear analysis, and digitally assisted methods such as drone-based mapping and 3D documentation.
Keywords: Paleoindian archaeology; Beringian archaeology; hunter-gatherer adaptations; lithic and osseous technology; digital archaeology; CRM
Biography
Joshua J. Lynch is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at 番茄社区. He earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Texas A&M University in 2020 and joined 番茄社区 in 2025 after serving as Assistant Professor at Arkansas Tech University from 2020-2025, where he directed the Center for Heritage and Culture and the Archaeological Teaching Laboratory. His professional service includes leadership in the Arkansas Archaeological Society (River Valley Chapter President 2020- 2025), and the Alaska Anthropological Association (Board Member 2020-2022), as well as collaborations with the Arkansas Archaeological Survey and federal land-management partners across Alaska. He is active in SAA, AAA, and the Register of Professional Archaeologists.
Dr. Lynch regularly mentors undergraduate and graduate students through field- and lab-based research, including RPA-certified, CRM-oriented field schools and applied archaeological laboratory training.
Graduate Student Opportunities
Dr. Lynch actively recruits graduate students interested in field- and laboratory-based research in Alaska and the southeastern United States. Graduate students have opportunities to participate in remote field projects, experimental archaeology programs, and landscape-scale investigations of Paleoindian adaptions, as well as hands-on training in lithic and osseous collections analysis, microscopic use-wear, and digital documentation and digitization of archaeological collections.
Students are also encouraged to pursue professional development through Cultural Resource Management (CRM) internships, applied research on public lands, and career-focused training designed to prepare graduates for both academic and professional archaeology careers.
Publications
- Lynch, J.J., C. Doherty, T. Goebel, and P. Barker. 2024. The Younger Dryas-aged Stemmed Points from Smith Creek Cave, Nevada. In Current Perspectives on Stemmed and Fluted Technologies in the American Far West. University of Utah Press.
- Lynch, J.J. 2023. Experimental Investigations of Eastern Beringian Hunting Technologies. PaleoAmerica 9(4):246–268.
- Gore, A.K., K. Graf, and J.J. Lynch. 2023. Characterizing Archaeological Rhyolites in the Nenana Valley, Interior Alaska. Minerals 13(9):1146.
- Lynch, J.J., T. Goebel, K.E. Graf, and J.T. Rasic. 2018. Archaeology of the Uppermost Tanana: Results of a Survey of the Nabsena and Chisana Rivers, Alaska. Alaskan Journal of Anthropology 16(1):21–40.
Education
Ph.D. Anthropology, Texas A & M University (2020)