Summary
Ruoyu Peng is a Ph.D. student in anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno, advised by Christopher T. Morgan, Ph.D. His research focuses on prehistoric human-environment interactions in East Asia, particularly how environmental variability, resource availability and population dynamics influenced human adaptation and subsistence strategies during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene.
Drawing on human behavioral ecology and evolutionary archaeology, his work investigates hunter-gatherer adaptations, prehistoric mobility and the emergence, persistence and abandonment of early agricultural practices. He integrates archaeological evidence, paleoclimate records, geographic information systems (GIS), spatial analysis and computational modeling to examine the ecological and behavioral mechanisms underlying long-term cultural change. His current research focuses primarily on North China and the Tibetan Plateau.
During his undergraduate studies, he participated in archaeological excavations at a Jin dynasty site in the Changbai Mountains of northeastern China. As a doctoral student, he served as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate summer field school at Lava Beds National Monument in California and participated in archaeological surveys at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
Research interests
- Human behavioral ecology and evolutionary archaeology
- Paleolithic and Neolithic archaeology of East Asia
- Hunter-gatherer ecology, mobility and lithic technology
- Origins, persistence and abandonment of early agriculture
- Paleoclimate variability and human-environment interactions
- Archaeological modeling, GIS and spatial analysis
- High-altitude archaeology of the Tibetan Plateau
Courses taught
- ANTH/HIST 309: Museum Studies (Fall 2026)
- ANTH 110L: Physical Anthropology Laboratory (Fall 2025 and Spring 2026; Sections 1101 and 1102)
- ANTH 448A/648A: Field School in Archaeology (Summer 2025; Lava Beds National Monument, California)
Education
- B.A., History, major in Cultural Relics and Museology, Jilin University, 2019