Jon M. Erlandson
American anthropologist

Jon M. Erlandson is an archaeologist, professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oregon, and the former director of the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Erlandson’s research interests include coastal adaptations, the peopling of North America, maritime archaeology and historical ecology and human impacts in coastal ecosystems.
Education and background
Erlandson received his B.A. in Biological Anthropology, (formerly, Physical Anthropology) from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1980. He then completed his M.A. and Ph.D. from the same university in Archaeology. Erlandson was a founding co-editor of the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. He has published more than 400 scholarly articles and edited or written 29 books. In 2013, Erlandson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2021 he was elected as a fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Erlandson was born in Santa Barbara, California, and enjoyed many different water-based activities, including swimming, surfing and sailing. He moved to Alaska in 1982, and also lived in Washington and Oregon before retiring to California in 2023.
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