Michael J. Kolb (born c. 1960) is an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

. He currently holds the position of Professor of Anthropology at

Metropolitan State University of Denver Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver or Metro State) is a public university in Denver, Colorado, United States. It is located on the Auraria Campus, along with the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver ...

and Presidential Teaching Professor Emeritus at

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

, where he also served as Associate Vice Provost. Kolb received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

in 1991. Kolb has done

field work Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the empirical research, collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across branches of science, disciplines. ...

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. His research focuses on ancient and historical political economies and the building of

monumental architecture Monumental may refer to: * In the manner of a monument Places * Monumental Island, Nunavut, Canada * Monumental Island, New Zealand * Monumental (Barcelona Metro), a station in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain * La Monumental, the Plaza Monumental d ...

. He has published, amongst other things, on the labor energetics in medieval Sicily, ancient Egypt, prehistoric Europe, and Oceania. His most recent book is Making Sense of Monuments (2020). His research at MSU Denver has focused on the historical archaeology of the downtown West Denver neighborhood (the Auraria Campus) and the water infrastructure of early Denver. Kolb has worked in Hawaii as the director of the Na Heiau O Maui project, where he conducted an extensive study of ancient Maui

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

s published in ''

Current Anthropology ''Current Anthropology'' is a peer-reviewed anthropology academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press for the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Founded in 1959 by the anthropologist Sol Tax1907-1995. ''Curren ...

'' suggesting that the island temple system was 400 years older than previously thought. He has conducted research on household labor practices related to agroforestry in upland Maui that are relevant to the development of complex societies. Kolb has also been the director of the Elymi Project in western Sicily, which aims to "describe human landscape transformations around three hilltop settlements" in western Sicily. He has conducted archaeological survey in western Sicily since 1998, revealing a rich settlement system in the community of

Salemi Salemi is a town and ''comune'' in southwestern Sicily, Italy, administratively part of the province of Trapani. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). History Salemi is where Giuseppe Garibaldi anno ...

that dates from the Copper Age to the medieval period, many of the sites being reoccupied over time. Kolb has also excavated at nearing

, recovering finds that document the presence of residual 6th century BC activity and 4th–3rd century BC settlement, lending credence to the idea that Salemi is the ancient city of Halyciae of the

Elymians The Elymians () were an ancient tribe, tribal people who inhabited the western part of Sicily during the Bronze Age and Classical antiquity. Origins According to Thucydides, the Elymians were refugees coming from the destroyed Troy. Instead for ...

. He has also discovered what appears to be

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

while investigating Salemi's

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

.Archaeologist uncover possible medieval mosque in Sicily - phys.org, 2007
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References

External links

Scholarly publications
from

ResearchGate ResearchGate is a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According to a 2014 study by ''Nature'' and a 2016 article in ''Times Higher Education' ...

Official profile
from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolb, Michael J. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American anthropologists Northern Illinois University faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni