Lisa Nagaoka

Dr. Lisa Nagaoka is Professor in the Department of Geography at University of North Texas and Special Assistant for Research to the Dean of College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (until 2024). As a zooarchaeologist, her research examines human-environment interactions through archaeological evidence, with fieldwork in Polynesia, North America, and Argentina.

Research focuses on:

• Evolutionary ecology of subsistence patterns
• Zooarchaeological applications in conservation
• Holocene human-environment dynamics
• Biogeographical approaches to archaeology

Publications employ interdisciplinary methods including ancient DNA analysis, stable isotope studies, and geospatial modeling to reconstruct past human adaptations. Recent work examines resource depression in Holocene Argentina and soil moisture variability in prehistoric agricultural systems.

Teaches courses in Zooarchaeology, Ethics in Archaeology, Pacific Islands Archaeology, and Applied Geography. Advises graduate research on topics including animal resource use in ancestral Pueblo societies and butchery patterns in prehistoric Texas.