Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Environmental Archaeology, Department of Anthropology
Director, Anthropology Graduate Program
Director, Trent Water Quality Centre
B.A. (McMaster), Ph.D. (Western)
Life & Health Sciences DNA C227, ext.6373, paulszpak@trentu.ca
Research Interests: archaeological science, stable isotopes, palaeoecology, environmental archaeology, human-environment interactions, bone chemistry, palaeodiet, domestication and animal husbandry, Arctic, Peru, Chile
http://www.paulszpak.com
https://www.facebook.com/TEAL.research/
Current Projects
In my lab group (Trent Environmental Archaeology Lab), we use chemical techniques (mostly stable isotope analysis) to learn more about past environments and how humans interacted with and impacted these environments. I have a very active research program with projects spread all over the world and I am always looking for talented graduate and undergraduate students to join the group. Some of the projects that students could work on are listed below:
Agriculture in the ancient Andes
- What do we want to know? How did people living in Peru and Chile manage their crops and domestic animals?
- How we will investigate this question? Apply stable isotope analysis to ancient plant and animal remains from archaeological sites in Peru and Chile.
- Are opportunities available for students? Yes! This project is funded by a large research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC Insight Grant) and there are many opportunities for student thesis projects.
Palaeoecology of the Arctic
- What do we want to know? How has the environment changed in the Arctic over the last 12,000 years and how have these changes impacted the endemic species (e.g., polar bear, beluga whale, narwhale, walrus) that live there?
- How we will investigate this question? Apply stable isotope analysis to animal bones from archaeological sites, palaeontological sites, historic museum collections, and modern specimens.
- Are opportunities available for students? Yes! This project is funded by a large research grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC Discovery Grant) and there are many opportunities for student thesis projects.
Bone Chemistry
- What do we want to know? How do bones change in the burial environment? How do we optimize the methods that we use to study the chemical composition of these bones?
- How we will investigate this question? Conduct experimental studies using modern and ancient bones.
- Are opportunities available for students? Yes! This research is funded by a large research grant from the Canada Research Chairs Program and there are opportunities for student thesis projects.
Recent Select Publications
Undergraduate and graduate students working in Dr. Szpak's lab that have contributed to publications are underlined and indicated with a *.
Wilson T*, Szpak P, 2022. Acidification does not alter the stable isotope composition of bone collagen. PeerJ 10, e13593. doi:10.7717/peerj.13593.
Wilson T*, Szpak P, 2022. Examining the use of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid for humic extraction of ancient bone. American Journal of Biological Anthropology. doi:10.1002/ajpa.24577.
Hyland C*, Millaire J-F, Szpak P, 2021. Migration and maize in the Virú Valley: Understanding life histories through multi-tissue carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and strontium isotope analyses. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 176, 21-35. doi:10.1002/ajpa.24271.
Hyland C*, Scott MB*, Routledge J*, Szpak P, 2021. Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Variability of Bone Collagen to Determine the Number of Isotopically Distinct Specimens. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. doi:10.1007/s10816-021-09533-7.
Guiry EJ, Szpak P, 2021. Improved quality control criteria for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements of ancient bone collagen. Journal of Archaeological Science 132, 105416. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2021.105416.
Cheung C, Szpak P, 2020. Interpreting Past Human Diets Using Stable Isotope Mixing Models. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 28, 1106-1142. doi:10.1007/s10816-020-09492-5.
Szpak P, Buckley M, 2020. Sulfur isotopes (δ34S) in Arctic marine mammals: indicators of benthic vs. pelagic foraging. Marine Ecology Progress Series 653, 205-216. doi:10.3354/meps13493.
Szpak P, Valenzuela D, 2020. Camelid husbandry in the Atacama Desert? A stable isotope study of camelid bone collagen and textiles from the Lluta and Camarones Valleys, northern Chile. PLOS One 15, e0228332. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228332.