Campus
- Scarborough (UTSC)
Fields of Study
- Archaeology
- Central and North Asia
- East Asia
- North America
Areas of Interest
Areas of Interest/Research Keywords: Human-Animal Relationships (hunting ecology, management, domestication, pastoralism), Human and Landscape Palaeoecology (behavioural ecology, niche construction, diet breadth, extinctions, mobility, climate change), Zooarchaeology, Lithics, Cultural Heritage
Research Regions: East Asia, Central and North Asia, North America
Biography
Dr. Janz’s research spans the Initial Upper Palaeolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age with a focus on long-term cultural trajectories among hunter-gatherers in northern latitudes and arid environments. Her primary interests are in human-animal relationships, palaeoecology, and technology. Beginning in 2004, Janz’s work in East Asia initially focused on building a chronology for Gobi Desert archaeology in order to better understand how local cultures may have been influenced by factors like post-glacial climate change and the gradual development of village farmers and nomadic pastoralists along the desert periphery. In the course of this work, she discovered that ostriches survived in East Asia as late as 8000 years ago and began investigating their role in understanding megafaunal extinctions. Currently, her research is focused on three interconnected themes: Holocene wetland use and diet breadth expansion in the Gobi Desert, sedentism and big-game specialization (aurochs management?) in the far eastern steppe, and the transition from hunting and gathering to herding in East Asia.
Graduate positions: palaeoenvironmental study of changing Pleistocene/Holocene wetlands; plant use among sedentary hunter-gatherers; textiles production in East Asia; transition from hunting to herding in Gobi Desert and/or eastern Mongolia; zooarchaeological study of taphonomy and butchery practices; domesticated dogs in East Asia.
Cultural heritage: I am looking for a PhD student to aid in developing a cultural heritage collaborative training project here in Ontario.
Education
PhD Anthropology, University of Arizona, 2012
MA Anthropology, University of Arizona, 2006
BA Anthropology, McGill University, 2003
Grants and Awards
SSHRC, The Wenner-Gren Foundation, National Geographic, American Philosophical Society, ACLS/Henry Luce Dissertation Fellowship
Publications
2023 Odsuren, D., L. Janz, W. Fox, D. Bukhchuluun. Otson Tsokhio and Zuun Shovkh: the Initial Upper Palaeolithic in Eastern Mongolia. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 6, Article 10. DOI 10.1007/s41982-023-00139-x
2022 Rosen, A. M., L. Janz, D. Bukhchuluun, D. Odsuren. Holocene Desertification and Human Resilience in the Eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia. The Holocene 32(12). DOI 10.1177/09596836221121777
2022 Dubreuil, L., A. Evoy, L. Janz. The New Oasis: Potential of Use-Wear for Studying Plant exploitation in the Gobi Desert Neolithic, in: Pedersen, P.N., Jörgensen-Lindahl, A., Sørrensen, M., and Richter, T. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of the Association of Ground Stone Tools Research. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 116-138. (open access)
2021 Zhao, C., L. Janz, D. Bukhchuluun, D. Odsuren. Neolithic pathways in East Asia: early sedentism on the Mongolian Plateau. Antiquity 95(379): 45-64. DOI 10.15184/aqy.2020.236
2020 Janz, L., A. Cameron, D. Bukhchuluun, D. Odsuren, L. Dubreuil. Expanding frontier and building the sphere in arid East Asia. Quaternary International 559: 150-164. (in English with Mongolian abstract) DOI 10.1016/j.quaint.2020.04.041
2019 Janz. L., J. Conolly. Margins of the centre or critical peripheries? World Archaeology 51(3): 347-354. DOI 10.1080/00438243.2019.1729500
2019 ArchaeoGLOBE Project. Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use. Science 365(6456): 897-902. DOI 10.1126/science.aax1192
2018 Janz, L., D. Bukhchuluun. Говийн бүс нутгийн харилцаа ба нийгэмд гарсан өөрчлөлт (Prehistoric interregional relations and social change in the Gobi Desert). Studia Archaeologica 37: 30-45. (in Mongolian with English abstract)
2018 Frieman, C., L. Janz. A very remote storage box indeed… The perils and rewards of revisiting old collections. Journal of Field Archaeology 43(3): 1-13. DOI 10.1080/00934690.2018.145852
2017 Janz, L., D. Odsuren, D. Bukchuluun. Transitions in palaeoecology and technology, hunter-gatherers and early herders in the Gobi Desert. Journal of World Prehistory 30(1): 1-81. (in English with Mongolian abstract) DOI 10.1007/s10963-016-9100-5
2016 Janz, L. Fragmented Landscapes and Economies of Abundance: the Broad-Spectrum Revolution in Arid East Asia (with comments and response). Current Anthropology 57(5): 537-564. DOI 10.10086/688436
2015 Odsuren, D., D. Bukchuluun, L. Janz. Preliminary results of Neolithic research conducted in eastern Mongolia. Studia Archaeologica 35: 72-96. (in Mongolian with English abstract)
2015 Janz, L., J. Feathers, G. S. Burr. Dating surface assemblages using pottery and eggshell: assessing radiocarbon and luminescence techniques in Northeast Asia. Journal of Archaeological Science 57: 119-129. DOI 10.1016/j.jas.2015.02.006
2012 Wright, J., L. Janz. The Younger Dryas in the Northeast Asian Steppe: Mongolia, the Gobi Desert and the Eastern Altai Mountains. In: Eren, M. (Ed.), Hunter-Gatherer Behavior: Human Response during the Younger Dryas. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp. 231-248.
2009 Janz, L., R. G. Elston, G. S. Burr. Dating Northeast Asian surface assemblages with ostrich eggshell: implications for palaeoecology and extirpation. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 1982-1989. DOI 10.1016/j.jas.2009.05.012
2007 Janz, L. Pastoralism and Ideological Resistance to Agriculture: Mongolia from Prehistory to Modern Times. Arizona Anthropologist 18: 28-52.
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