James B. Stoltman
James B. Stoltman was an American archaeologist who specialized in the American Midwest.
Stoltman was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was chairman of the anthropology department. He worked as an assistant professor from 1965 to 1970, an associate professor from 1970 to 1974, a full professor from 1974 to 1998, and a professor emeritus from 1998 to 2019.
He focused on Great Lakes archaeology and research physical ceramic analysis on material from various parts of the world. Stoltman was considered a pioneer in ceramic petrography in the US, following Anna Shepard's expertise. One of his contributions was developing a method for analyzing ceramic temper. He died in Madison, Wisconsin in 2019. The archaeology laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is named in his honor.
Selected publications
- "Outline of Southeastern United States Prehistory With Particular Emphasis On the PaleoIndian Era," in The Quaternary of the United States. Stephen Williams, James B. Stoltman, article authors. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1965
- The Laurel culture in Minnesota. James B. Stoltman, Paul W. Lukens, David L. Webster. Minnesota prehistoric archaeology series, no. 8. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society. 1973
- "A Quantitative Approach to the Petrographic Analysis of Ceramic Thin Sections," American Antiquity, Volume 54, Issue 1 January 1989, pp. 147–160
- "Ceramic Petrography as a Technique for Documenting Cultural Interaction: An Example from the Upper Mississippi Valley," American Antiquity Volume 56, Issue 1, January 1991, pp. 103–120
- The Role of Petrography in the Study of Archaeological Ceramics. In: Goldberg P., Holliday V.T., Ferring C.R. Earth Sciences and Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. 2001
- "Petrographic evidence shows that pottery exchange between the Olmec and their neighbors was two-way," PNAS August 9, 2005 102 11213-11218 Ceramic Petrography and Hopewell Interaction. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.
- "An overview of Driftless Area prehistory." In: The Physical Geography and Geology of the Driftless Area: The Career and Contributions of James C. Knox 2019