Welcome
Welcome! My name is Benjamin Utting and I am currently a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow in the Anthropology Department at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, where I research human palaeoecology and the palaeoenvironments of Southeast Asia.
My research broadly involves reconstructing prehistoric human behavior through the lens of lithic technology. My other research foci include palaeoanthropology, statistical analysis of archaeological data, and archaeological science.
My website is divided into five main subsections, including a description of my research, a list of my publications/dissertations, a copy of my curriculum vitae, some resources that I've found useful in my studies, and ways to contact or connect with me. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any questions!
Education
Ph.D. in Archaeology (U of Cambridge 2022)
MPhil in Archaeological Research (U of Cambridge 2017)
BA in Anthropology (Stony Brook 2016)
Semester at University College London (Spring 2015)
Research Interests
Palaeolithic archaeology
Lithic technology
Archaeological chemistry
Experimental archaeology
Palaeoanthropology
Bayesian statistical modeling
Updates
October 2023: New book chapter: Utting, B. 2023. Leave no stone unturned: Exploring behavioural variability in expedient stone tool assemblages. in Asia's Heritage Trend: Examining Asia's Present Through its Past. eds. Jongil Kim & Minjae Zoh. Routledge, pp. 275-294
New grant: National Geographic Society Meridian Grant (USD 150,000) to support research at Pleistocene sites in the Raja Ampat Regency, Indonesia.
22 June 2022: New paper in PLOS ONE: Utting, B. 2022. Geochemical Fingerprinting of Pleistocene stone tools from the Tràng An Landscape Complex, Nình Binh Province, Vietnam. PLOS ONE
8 June 2021: New paper in Quaternary Science Reviews: Kahlert, R., O'Donnell, S., Stimpson, C., Nguyen, T.M.H., Hill, E., Utting, B., Rabett, R. 2021. Mid-Holocene coastline reconstruction from geomorphological sea level indicators in the Trang An World Heritage Site, Northern Vietnam. Quaternary Science Reviews 263(1)
20-27 April: Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting (CANCELED DUE TO COVID-19)
14 February: PalMeso Seminar Series at University of Cambridge
25 November: Presentation and workshop on 2D photogrammetry at the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology (Hanoi)
20 November to 11 December: Fieldwork at Tràng An, geological sourcing expedition to the Pù Luông Nature Reserve
30 October 2019: New paper in Vietnam Archaeology: Rabett, R., Coward, F., Holmes, R., Bachtsevanidou-Strantzali, I., Green, E., Hill, E., Kahlert, T., Kelly, C., McAllister, M., O'Donnell, S., Pyne-O'Donnell, S., Redmond, A., Stimpson, C., Nguyen, D.T., Tan, T.V., Bui, M.V., Ludgate, N., Macleod, R., Utting, B., Tan, N.C., Nguyen, T.H., Nguyen, T.M.H., Nguyen, N.T., Nguyen, Khanh, S.P., Truong, T.Q.T., Vu, D.L., Vu, T.L., Vu, L.T., Tran, T.K.Q., Verhoeven, M. 2019. Human Adaptation to Coastal Evolution: Late Quaternary Evidence from Southeast Asia (SUNDASIA) - A Report on the Second Year of the Project. Vietnam Archaeology 13, pp. 23-49.
17 September: My research featured in a Vietnamese television program (20:44)
7 September - 28 September: On research visit to Tràng An
13 March 2019: New paper in Royal Society Open Science: Stimpson C.M., Utting B., O’Donnell, S, Huong, N.T.M., Kahlert T., Manh B.V., Khanh P.S., Rabett R.J. 2019 An 11 000-year-old giant muntjac subfossil from Northern Vietnam: implications for past and present populations. Royal Society Open Science 6: 181461. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.181461
28 February 2019: PalQuat seminar series at University of Oxford
8 January 2019: Scientist Is In program at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution) - canceled due to government shutdown
14 November - 7 December: Field work season to Tràng An
15 August 2018: Early Career Grant (National Geographic Society) awarded to support PhD research.
18 May 2018: Dissertation title provisionally approved: "Exploring prehistoric technology at the Tràng An Landscape Complex, Ninh Binh Province, Vietnam"
15 May 2018: Evans Fellowship (Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge) awarded to support research in Cambridge as well as two fieldwork seasons in Vietnam
14 May 2018: Presentation for Asian Archaeology Group, University of Cambridge:" Crude and Colorless or Expedient and Enduring? Identifying, Describing, and Interpreting Variability in Prehistoric Southeast Asian Stone Tool Technology"
Photo: Utting 2016
Favicon: T. Kahlert 2019