Mark Hubbe is an Associate Professor at Ohio State, whose story is not a conventional one. He went into college with a clear focus on Biology. Anthropology and all its different branches were not a thought in his mind until he took a human evolution course during his third year. That class changed everything. With his interest peaking, he asked his teacher (and soon to be advisor) if he could do a undergraduate research project under his supervision. That opened doors into the world of Bioarchaeolgy, and soon he was doing research on the impact the Tiwanaku polity had on the Atacama oases, as well as helping with the curation of skeletal collections from different Brazilian sites. From that start, he got his PhD in 2006 in Biology and Genetics (even though his research was in Biological Anthropology), and soon after that he was hired as the curator of the osteological collections in the Archaeological Museum in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. He stayed six years in Chile, four of which he was the director of the museum. In 2012 he was offered a position at the Anthropology Department at The Ohio State University, where he is currently affiliated.
Mark’s current projects have been going on for quite some time, going on almost twenty years, but as with all things in anthropology—important things are worth putting the time in. One of his projects focuses on the settlement of South America, through the study of the early human remains from Lagoa Santa, in central Brazil. Lagoa Santa is one of the most iconic archaeological region sin the Americas, occupied by hunter-gatherers between 11 and 8 thousand years ago. The skeletons excavated from the region have been key pieces in the discussion about the initial occupation of the continent. This research line derives from biological and evolutionary as well as anthropological questions, meshing well with his background. His second long-term project is a continuation of the work that began when he was an undergraduate student, and focus on the origins of social inequalities in the Atacama oases, north Chile, during the Middle Horizon (400-1000 AD). You can see more about his research in his publications.
Mark established HEADS for one very big, very important reason: everyone who is passionate about something should have a space where they can build their knowledge and education by collaborating with colleagues. HEADS is a place where people can collaborate and discuss ideas to grow as a community, to share new ideas and to build an academic network. The idea of HEADS comes from his own story of finding his niche through the interaction and help of a group of colleagues across his entire career. HEADS is the perfect place to do just that.
