Mark Golitko

Mark Golitko is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and a Faculty Fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and Kellogg Institute for International Studies. He is also a Research Associate at the Field Museum of Natural History. His research focuses on prehistoric violence, human-environment adaptation, and social networks across regions including Papua New Guinea, Europe, and Mesoamerica. He earned his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Chicago (2010), following a BA in Physics, Astronomy, Mathematics, and Medieval History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1999).

His fieldwork includes studies of Bronze Age economies in Hungary (BAKOTA project) and resilience to climatic change in Papua New Guinea. He has authored LBK Realpolitik (2015) and numerous articles on archaeological methods like LA-ICP-MS and network analysis. His work bridges archaeometry with anthropological theory, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding past human behavior and ecological dynamics.

Key research themes include:

• Prehistoric conflict and social networks
• Climate change impacts on ancient societies
• Obsidian and ceramic sourcing
• Archaeological geochemistry

Notable collaborations include the BAKOTA project and the Pofatu database for material provenance. His teaching integrates field methods with laboratory archaeometry, reflecting his commitment to applied anthropological research.