Arlene Miller Rosen

Arlene Miller Rosen is Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Archaeology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin's College of Liberal Arts. Her research investigates human-environmental relations during later prehistory and early complex societies across the Mediterranean Levant, China, Mongolia, and New Mexico. She authored 'Civilizing Climate: Social Responses to Climate Change in the Ancient Near East' (2007) and publishes in top journals including PNAS, Current Anthropology, and The Holocene.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Chicago

Professor Rosen specializes in environmental archaeology with core interests in Near Eastern, Mongolian, and Chinese prehistory, agricultural origins, and climate-society interactions. Her methodological expertise includes phytolith analysis and geoarchaeology to study Holocene desertification, human adaptations to environmental change, and wetland utilization. She examines how ancient societies navigated ecological transitions through resource diversification and landscape management in arid regions.

Her recent publications (2019-2025) reveal persistent focus on Gobi Desert and Near Eastern adaptations to desertification using interdisciplinary approaches. Key patterns include mobile pastoralism transitions, wetland dependency during aridification, and long-term human impacts on landscapes. Her work bridges archaeological science and contemporary climate resilience discourse, particularly through Anthropocene frameworks emphasizing deep-time perspectives.

Scientific Awards:

• No scientific awards documented in source materials

Advising and Grants:

• Advising: No specific students identified in source materials
• Grants: Awarded NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (2021) for Historical Ecology of Alluvial Landscapes research

Professor Rosen organized the international workshop 'The Anthropocene in the Longue Durée' (published as The Holocene special issue, 2015) and serves as Associate Editor for The Holocene while sitting on the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology editorial board. Her collaborative networks span Mediterranean, East Asian, and North American research communities focused on climate-archaeology intersections.