Gideon Hartman

Associate Professor

Anthropology

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Education

Ph.D., 2008, Harvard University

About

My research is interdisciplinary by nature and lies at the intersection between paleoenvironmental reconstruction, plant and animal eco-physiology, anthropology and archaeology. I primarily, but not exclusively, use stable isotope methods to reconstruct past environment, the mobility and migration of past human societies, paleodiet and past human economic systems. My research program begins in the contemporary world, by investigating the mechanisms that cause variability in the ratios of stable isotopes as they move along foodwebs: from soil and atmosphere, to plants and from there to animals and humans. In many cases, the present day variability in stable isotope values provides suitable models to reconstruct past conditions with a high degree of certainty. The principles established as part of my contemporary work can thus be applied to ecological settings in the present and to paleoecological and archaeological settings in the past.

Publications

Hartman, G., Richards, M., 2014. Mapping and defining sources of variability in bioavailable
strontium isotope ratios in the Eastern Mediterranean. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 126, 250-264. DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2013.11.015

Hartman, G., Bar-Oz, G., Bouchnick, R., Reich, R., 2013. The pilgrimage economy of Early Roman Jerusalem (1st century BCE †70 CE) reconstructed from the δ15N and δ13C valuesof goat and sheep remains. Journal of Archaeological Science 40, 4369-4376. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.07.001

Hartman, G. (2012) Impacts of environmental deterioration on the carbon isotope values of modern vegetation and gazelles in the southern Levant: predicting the severity of the Younger Dryas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 321-322: 55-64. DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.01.015

Zeininger, A., Richmond, B. G., and Hartman, G. (2011) Metacarpal head biomechanics: A comparative backscattered electron image analysis of trabecular bone mineral density in Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus, and Homo sapiens. Journal of Human Evolution. 60: 703-710. Doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.01.002

Hartman, G. (2011) Reconstructing Mid-Pleistocene paleovegetation and climate in the Golan Heights using the carbon isotopes of paleosols and modern plants. Journal of Human Evolution. 60: 452-463. Doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.08.001

Hartman, G. (2011) Are elevated δ15N values in herbivores in hot and arid environments caused by diet or animal physiology? Functional Ecology. 25(1):122-131. DOI:
10.1111/j.1365-2435.2010.01782.x

Hartman, G. and Danin, A. (2010) Isotopic values of plants in relation to water availability in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Oecologia 162(4):837-852. Doi: 10.1007/s00442-009-1514-7

Alperson-Afil, N,. Sharon, G,. Kislev, M., Melamed, M., Zohar, I., Ashkenazi, S., Rabinovich, R,Biton, R., Werker, E., Hartman, G., Feibel, C., and Goren-Inbar, N. (2009) Hominin behavior and its spatial patterning at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel. Science 326:1667-1670.

Hartman, G. (2008) Testudine Remains. In: Y. Garfinkel and D. Dag (eds) Neolithic Ashkelon, Qedem 47, Jerusalem, pp. 241-248

Hartman, G., and Horwitz LK, (2007) Remains of Fresh-Water Turtles. In: M. Chazan and L.K. Horwitz (eds) Holon, a lower Paleolithic site in Israel. Peabody Museum Press, Harvard University, Cambridge.

Brooks AS, Yellen JE, Nevell L, and Hartman, G (2006) Projectile technologies of the African MSA: implications for modern human origins. In: Hovers E, Kuhn SL (eds) Transitions before the transition, Springer, New-York, pp 233-256

Garfinkel Y, Dag D, Hesse B,Wapnish P, Rookis D, Hartman G, Bar-Yosef Mayer D, and Lernau O (2005) Neolithic Ashkelon: meat processing and early pastoralism on the Mediterranean coast. Eurasian Prehistory 3 (1):43-72

Hartman G (2004) Long-term continuity of a freshwater turtle (Mauremys caspica rivulata) population in the Northen Jordan Valley and its paleoenvironmental implications. In: Goren-Inbar N, Speth JD (eds) Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor, Oxbow, Oxford, pp. 61-74

Alperson N, Barzilai O, Dag D, Hartman G, and Matskevich Z (2000) The age and context of the Tabun I skeleton: a reply to Schwarcz et al. Journal of Human Evolution 38: 849-853