Corey Johnson

My Ph.D. research focuses on the archaeological record of the Nihewan Basin in northern China and what it can teach us about the technological strategies of early Homo as adaptations to new environments when populations began dispersing out of Africa ca. 1.8 million years ago.

Through my research, I analyze stone artifacts from the earliest known period of occupation at Nihewan ca. 1.6-0.8 million years ago to reveal: 1) how early humans selected raw material to make stone tools; 2) how they moved stone tools around their environment; and 3) what technical rules they followed in making stone tools.

More broadly, my research asks why they organized their technology the ways they did, and addresses the long-standing question: why is the earliest archaeological record in East Asia characterized by a prolonged Oldowan technological strategy instead of the derived Early Acheulean technological strategy that was used by early human populations in East and South Africa as well as West and South Asia ca. 1.7-1.0 million years ago?