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Benjamin J. Utting, PhD
Archaeologist, Anthropologist, Ecologist
Biography
Benjamin Utting is an archaeologist and anthropologist broadly interested in the relationship between humans and their environments from the deep past to the present. He is particularly interested in the initial dispersals of human societies through modern-day Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific, and how they shaped (and were shaped by) tropical, coastal, and island environments. His research primarily involves the analysis of stone tool assemblages, which can lend insight into behavioral variability in human and hominin populations across space and time. He is currently involved with archaeological, ecological, and palaeoenvironmental projects in northern Vietnam and western New Guinea. He is also interested in science communication and has served as a museum educator/educational consultant at the National Museum of Natural History. Utting holds a Bachelor of Arts from Stony Brook University and an MPhil/PhD from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a member of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Education
PhD in Archaeology (U of Cambridge 2022)
MPhil in Archaeological Research (U of Cambridge 2017)
BA in Anthropology (Stony Brook U 2016)
Professional Appointments
Member, Human Origins Program, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (September 2023-Present)
Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (September 2023-August 2025)
Life on a Sustainable Planet Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (September 2023-August 2025)
Research Interests
Palaeolithic archaeology
Lithic technology
Mainland & Island Southeast Asia
Coastal & island archaeology
Archaeological chemistry
Experimental archaeology
Archaeology of resource management
Quantitative methodology
Highlights
September 2025: Conference in Vietnam on TBH1 remains
August 2025: Stimpson, C.M., Wilshaw, A., Utting, B., Nguyen, T.M.H., Nguyen, T.H., Vu, D.L., Vimala, T., McColl, H., Breslin, E.M., Jones, E.R., MacLeod, R., Holmes, R., O’Donnell, S., Kahlert, T., Pham, S.K., Bui, V.M., Willerslev, E., Rabett, R.J. “TBH1: 12 000-year-old human skeleton and projectile point shed light on demographics and mortality in Terminal Pleistocene Southeast Asia”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B vol. 292 no. 2053: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.1819
August 2025: Tanudirjo, D., Gaffney, D., Tsang, R., Macap, A.R., Russell, T., Utting, B., Dailom, M., Lapon, Y., Djami, E.N.I., Mas'ud, Z. "Rock Painting Traditions around Waigeo Island, Raja Ampat, West New Guinea". Journal of Pacific Archaeology vol. 15 no 1.
2025: Fieldwork to Waigeo Island, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
2025: Solicited by the Society for American Archaeology to provide expert testimony to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (US Department of State) on a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the USA and Vietnam to stem the flow of illicit antiquities into the United States: https://www.saa.org/government-affairs/saa-positions-and-actions/saa-member-ben-utting-testifies-in-favor-of-creation-of-mou-with-vietnam
Utting, B., Gaffney, D., Mesfin, I. “Exploring Big Questions in Anthropological Archaeology with Lithic Analysis”. Special issue in Archaeometry (invited as lead guest editor, in press)
2024: Fieldwork to Waigeo Island, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
2023: New grant: Graham Fund, Smithsonian NMNH (USD 21,600): "Clarifying the deep chronology of Homo sapiens at the gates of Oceania: Dispersal to the Raja Ampat archipelago, west New Guinea"
2023: New grant: National Geographic Society Meridian Grant (USD 150,000) to support research at Pleistocene sites in the Raja Ampat Regency, Indonesia.
Header Photo: B. Utting 2016
Favicon: T. Kahlert 2019
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