(Ph.D., Chicago 1961)

Before coming to Yale in 1980, Frank Hole taught at Rice University for 17 years. He is head of the Anthropology Division of the Yale Peabody Museum, and C. J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Over a span of more than forty years, Hole has traveled and carried out archaeological, ethnographic and land use research in the Near East, first in Iran and currently in Syria. His research specialty focuses on the history and development of plant and animal domestication in the Near East. Excavations at Ali Kosh and Chagha Sefid in Deh Luran, Iran provided some of the first substantial evidence for the early stages of agriculture. His study of modern nomadic herders led to the excavation and interpretation of an 8000 year old herders' camp. Through recent research in Syria with the Yale Khabur Regional Survey, including the excavations at Tell Ziyadeh and Umm Qseir and an extensive archaeological sampling program, Hole has further explored issues relevant to the study of early complex societies. For the past few years he has been co-PI on a NASA grant to study long-term land use in Southwest Asia. These land use studies have focused on changes in agricultural systems over the thirty year record of satellite images. Combining these with archaeological evidence, he is reconstructing a 9000 year history of land use for the Khabur region of northeastern Syria.