Dr. Joshua Lynch, Ph.D., RPA, is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Mississippi.
Research Interests
Dr. Lynch’s research examines Paleoindian and Early Holocene hunter-gatherer lifeways across North America, with particular emphasis on Beringia and Arctic/Subarctic regions. He focuses on how foraging populations responded to environmental change through technological organization, mobility strategies, and subsistence systems. His work integrates intensive field-based archaeology in Alaska and the southeastern United States with experimental approaches to lithic, osseous, and composite projectile technologies, microscopic use-wear analysis, and digitally assisted methods such as drone-based mapping and 3D documentation.
Keywords: Paleoindian archaeology; Beringian archaeology; hunter-gatherer adaptations; lithic and osseous technology; digital archaeology; CRM
Biography
Joshua J. Lynch is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Mississippi. He earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Texas A&M University in 2020 and joined the University of Mississippi in 2025 after serving as Assistant Professor at Arkansas Tech University from 2020-2025, where he directed the Center for Heritage and Culture and the Archaeological Teaching Laboratory. His professional service includes leadership in the Arkansas Archaeological Society (River Valley Chapter President 2020- 2025), and the Alaska Anthropological Association (Board Member 2020-2022), as well as collaborations with the Arkansas Archaeological Survey and federal land-management partners across Alaska. He is active in SAA, AAA, and the Register of Professional Archaeologists.
Dr. Lynch regularly mentors undergraduate and graduate students through field- and lab-based research, including RPA-certified, CRM-oriented field schools and applied archaeological laboratory training.
Graduate Student Opportunities
Dr. Lynch actively recruits graduate students interested in field- and laboratory-based research in Alaska and the southeastern United States. Graduate students have opportunities to participate in remote field projects, experimental archaeology programs, and landscape-scale investigations of Paleoindian adaptions, as well as hands-on training in lithic and osseous collections analysis, microscopic use-wear, and digital documentation and digitization of archaeological collections.
Students are also encouraged to pursue professional development through Cultural Resource Management (CRM) internships, applied research on public lands, and career-focused training designed to prepare graduates for both academic and professional archaeology careers.
Publications
- Lynch, J.J., C. Doherty, T. Goebel, and P. Barker. 2024. The Younger Dryas-aged Stemmed Points from Smith Creek Cave, Nevada. In Current Perspectives on Stemmed and Fluted Technologies in the American Far West. University of Utah Press.
- Lynch, J.J. 2023. Experimental Investigations of Eastern Beringian Hunting Technologies. PaleoAmerica 9(4):246–268.
- Gore, A.K., K. Graf, and J.J. Lynch. 2023. Characterizing Archaeological Rhyolites in the Nenana Valley, Interior Alaska. Minerals 13(9):1146.
- Lynch, J.J., T. Goebel, K.E. Graf, and J.T. Rasic. 2018. Archaeology of the Uppermost Tanana: Results of a Survey of the Nabsena and Chisana Rivers, Alaska. Alaskan Journal of Anthropology 16(1):21–40.
Courses Taught
- Anth 354 Hunting Anthropology
- Anth 324 North American Archaeology
- Anth 318 Archaeology of Mississippi and the South
- Anth 427/627 Cultural Resource Management
- Anth 408 Laboratory Methods in Archaeology
Education
Ph.D. Anthropology, Texas A&M University (2020)