Dr. Mark Basgall

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Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology & Director, Archaeological Research Center

Professor Basgall obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California, Davis, where he specialized in the prehistoric cultures of California and the Great Basin. Before coming to CSUS, he served as an owner and principal at Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., of Davis, one of the premier cultural resource management consulting firms in the western United States. Basgall has written widely on the archaeology of California and the Great Basin, having directed and reported on major research projects in the North Coast Ranges, Sacramento River Canyon, Transverse Ranges, central coast, Inyo-Mono region of eastern California, and the Mojave Desert. His primary research focus concerns adaptive variation among hunter-gatherer (forager) societies, especially as this relates to human-environment interactions, subsistence-settlement strategies, technological organization, and the role of intergroup exchange in structuring cultural systems. In addition to his research in North America, Basgall has (with colleagues at the University of California, Davis and the Australian National University, Canberra) initiated a long-term study of technological change in the Pleistocene period of Australia; two pilot phases of this project have been completed at the Lake Mungo (Willandra Lakes) locality, and a more extensive survey and excavation program is under development.

Since assuming his positions at CSUS, Professor Basgall has been working to expand the departmental archaeology curriculum and develop a fully integrated contracting/grant facility at the university. The aims of this two-pronged approach are simple: undergraduate and graduate students need firm grounding in both the conceptual and practical sides of archaeo-logy, whether they plan to pursue further graduate study or enter the profession as agency personnel or private consultants. Cultural resource managers that fail to understand why we study prehistory and what questions are currently driving the discipline are poorly suited for the task; by the same token, researchers who have little real-world experience or insufficient appreciation for the role of management efforts within the broader field are ill-prepared for a long-term career. Contract work conducted by the Archaeological Research Center (ARC) provides students with first-hand experience in fieldwork, laboratory techniques, and report writing, but also offers important financial support and opportunities for partially funded thesis research. Most ongoing projects focus on the prehistory of the western Great Basin and southern California deserts, but the ARC anticipates future work in the Sierra Nevada and North/South Coast Ranges of California.

In conjunction with colleagues at this and other universities, Professor Basgall is in the process of establishing several explicit research foci at CSUS that build on his own interests, professional contacts, and opportunities for funding. These relate to the following: (1) early and middle Holocene occupation of the Desert West, including the Great Basin and Mojave Desert; (2) the nature of "Martis" adaptations in the montane areas of central California; (3) the evolution of intensive seed and nut-based economies in California; and (4) stasis and change in the stone tool technologies of interior Australia. The goal is to achieve long-range support for these programs through creative use of field schools, cooperative agreements with state and federal land management agencies, and granting opportunities. Graduate students attending CSUS can participate in these existing programs or, if consistent with the expertise and capabilities of the current faculty, develop alternative research and thesis directions. Anyone interested in exploring these possibilities further, should contact Professor Basgall through either the department (phone: 916-278-6452; fax: 916-278-6339) or ARC offices (phone: 916-278-5330), or via email (mbasgall@csus.edu).