Christopher Campisano
Assistant Professor
PhD, Evolutionary Anthopology, Rutgers University
Contact: campisano@asu.edu, SS 220A
Field Specializations: Paleoanthropology, Depositional Environments, Geochronology and Tephrostratigraphy, Paleoecology
Regional Focus: Africa
Research
Chris Campisano’s research interests revolve around the broad issue of the environmental context of hominid evolution. Specifically, he is interested in characterizing ancient landscapes and their change across both space and time at varying degrees of resolution by integrating paleontological assemblages and depositional environments. In combination with work on geochronology and tephrostratigraphy, this information provides a temporal-spatial environmental framework in which to test theories of hominid evolution. His current research builds upon the existing geological, paleontological and environmental interpretations of the Plio-Pleistocene deposits in the Hadar region of Ethiopia to provide a more comprehensive synthesis of its geology and of the hominin habitats that existed there. This research tends to be more problem-oriented than discipline-bounded and requires a broad-based approach and cooperation with specialists from around the world. He has participated in more than 10 field projects at hominid localities in Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa and is a member of the Institute of Human Origins.
Teaching
Chris currently codirects the Hadar Paleoanthropolgy Field School with Bill Kimbel and Kaye Reed. He will be teaching the new Anthropological Sciences seminar and is preparing more courses in the semesters to come that bridge physical anthropology and archaeology with the earth sciences.
Select Publications
Campisano, C.J. and Feibel, C.S. (2008). Tephrostratigraphy of the Hadar and Busidima Formation at Hadar, Afar Depression, Ethiopia. In: The Geological Context of Human Evolution in the Horn of Africa (J. Quade and J.G. Wynn, Eds.). Geological Society of America Special Paper 446, pp. 135-162.
Campisano, C.J. and Feibel, C.S. (2008). Depositional environments and stratigraphic summary of the Hadar Formation at Hadar, Afar Depression, Ethiopia. In: The Geological Context of Human Evolution in the Horn of Africa (J. Quade and J.G. Wynn, Eds.). Geological Society of America Special Paper 446, pp. 179-201.
DiMaggio, E.N., Campisano, C.J., Arrowsmith, J.R., Reed, K.E., Swisher, C.C. III, and Lockwood, C.A. (2008). Correlation and stratigraphy of the BKT-2 volcanic complex in west-central Afar, Ethiopia. In: The Geological Context of Human Evolution in the Horn of Africa (J. Quade and J.G Wynn, Eds.). Geological Society of America Special Paper 446, pp. 163-177.
Roman, D., Campisano, C.J., Quade, J., DiMaggio, E.N., Arrowsmith, J.R., and Feibel, C.S. (2008). Composite Tephrostratigraphy of the Dikika, Gona, Hadar, and Ledi-Geraru project areas, northern Awash, Ethiopia. In: The Geological Context of Human Evolution in the Horn of Africa (J. Quade and J.G Wynn, Eds.). Geological Society of America Special Paper 446, pp. 119-134.
Dupont-Nivet, G., Sier, M., Campisano, C.J., Arrowsmith, J.R., DiMaggio, E.N., Reed, K.E., Lockwood, C.A., Franke, C., and Hüsing, S. (2008). Magnetostratigraphy of the eastern Hadar Basin (Ledi-Geraru research area, Ethiopia) and implications for hominin paleoenvironments. In: The Geological Context of Human Evolution in the Horn of Africa (J. Quade and J.G Wynn, Eds.). Geological Society of America Special Paper 446, pp. 67-85.
Campisano, C.J. and Feibel, C.S. (2007). Connecting local environmental sequences to global climate patterns: Evidence from the hominin-bearing Hadar Formation, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution 53, 515-527.