Dean and Associate Provost for Graduate Studies
Climate Change Institute
University of Maine
120 Alumni Hall
Orono, ME 04469-5773
207-581-1889 Ph/Voicemail
207-581-9310 Fax
dan.sandweiss at umit.maine.edu
My research focuses on prehistoric coastal adaptations, primarily in Peru. Topical interests include the effects on cultural development of climate change, particularly the prehistory of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, and environmental change, particularly rising sea level during the last deglaciation; also the development and organization of complex societies in the coastal setting. Methodological interests include the analysis of molluscan remains from archaeological sites. Current projects include evaluation of evidence for mid-Holocene climate change on the north Peruvian coast; investigation of Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene maritime adaptations at sites in southern Peru; study of northern Peruvian beach ridge sequences and their relation to El Niño and tectonic activity.
A Sea Change - from UMaine Today, Vol. 2, Issue 3
Class readings: INT500 Fall 2007 "Peopling of South America"
Quebrada Jaguay: Early South American Maritime Adaptations
Rollins, H.B., J.B. Richardson III, and D.H. Sandweiss, 1986, The birth of El Niño: Geoarchaeological evidence and implications. Geoarchaeology 1, 1-15.
Sandweiss, D.H., 1986, The beach ridges at Santa, Peru: El Niño, uplift, and prehistory. Geoarchaeology 1, 17-28.
Rollins, H.B., D.H. Sandweiss, U. Brand, and J.C. Rollins, 1987, Growth increment and stable isotope analysis of marine bivalves: Implications for the geoarchaeological record of El Niño. Geoarchaeology 2, 181-197.
Rollins, H.B., Sandweiss, D.H. and Rollins, J.C., 1990, Mollusks and coastal archaeology: A review. In GSA (DNAG) Centennial Special Volume 4, Archaeological Geology of North America, N. Lasca and J. Donahue, eds., pp. 467-478.
Sandweiss, D.H., 1996, Mid-Holocene cultural interaction on the north coast of Peru and Ecuador. Latin American Antiquity, 7, 41-50.
Sandweiss, D.H., 1996, Environmental change and its consequences for human society on the central Andean Coast: A malacological perspective. In: Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology, ed. by E.J. Reitz, L. Newsom, and S. Scudder, pp. 127-146. New York: Plenum Publishing.
Sandweiss, D.H., J.B. Richardson, III, E.J. Reitz, H.B. Rollins, and K.A. Maasch, 1996, Geoarchaeological evidence from Peru for a 5,000 BP onset of El Niño. Science, 273,1531-1533.
Sandweiss, D.H., J.B. Richardson, III, E.J. Reitz, H.B. Rollins, and K.A. Maasch, 1997, Determining the beginning of Niño: Response. Science, 276, 966-967.
Sandweiss, D.H., K.A. Maasch, D.F. Belknap, J.B. Richardson, and H.B. Rollins, 1998, Discussion of "The Santa Beach Ridge Complex," by Lisa E. Wells. J. Coastal Res., 14, 367-373.
Sandweiss, D.H., 1999, El Niño and the Archaeological Record in Northern Peru. Society for American Archaeology Bulletin 17(1), 9-11.
Sandweiss, D.H., K.A. Maasch, and D.G. Anderson, 1999, Climate and Culture: Transitions in the Mid-Holocene. Science, 283, 499-500.
Sandweiss, D.H., K.A. Maasch, R.L. Burger, J.B. Richardson III, H.B. Rollins, A. Clement 2001 Variation in Holocene El Niño frequencies: Climate records and cultural consequences in ancient Peru. Geology 29(7): 603-606
Andrus, C..F.T., Crowe, D.E., Sandweiss, D.H.,Reitz, E.J., and Romanek, C.S. 2002 Otolith δ18O Record of Mid-Holocene Sea Surface Temperatures in Peru. Science 295: 1508-1511.
Sandweiss, D.H., 2003, Terminal Pleistocene through Mid-Holocene Archaeological Sites as Paleoclimatic Archives for the Peruvian coast. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 194:23-40.
Sandweiss, D.H., Maasch, K.A., Chai, F., Andrus, C.F.T., and Reitz, E.J., 2004, Geoarchaeological evidence for multidecadal natural climatic variability and ancient Peruvian fisheries. Quaternary Research 61: 330-334
Andrus, C.F.T., Hodgins, G.W.L., Sandweiss, D.H. , and Crowe, D.E., 2005, Molluscan Radiocarbon as a Proxy for El Niño-related Upwelling Variations in Peru. In "Isotopic and Elemental Tracers of Cenozoic Climate Change", ed. By Germán Mora and Donna Surge. Geological Society of America Special 395:13-20.
Sandweiss, D.H., K.A. Maasch, C.F.T. Andrus, E.J. Reitz, M. Riedinger-Whitmore, J.B. Richardson III, and H.B. Rollins, 2007, Mid-Holocene Climate and Culture Change in Coastal Peru. In Climatic Change and Cultural Dynamics: A Global Perspective on Mid-Holocene Transitions, ed. by D.G. Anderson, K.A. Maasch, and D.H. Sandweiss, pp. 25-50. San Diego: Academic Press.
Reitz, E.J., C.F.T. Andrus, and D.H. Sandweiss, 2008, Ancient Fisheries and Marine Ecology of Coastal Perú. In Human Impacts on Marine Environments, ed. by T. Rick and J. Erlandson, pp. 125-145. Berkeley: University of California Press.