Dr. Ken Stark
BA (UBC), MA (UBC), PhD (University of Hawaii)
Ken has done fieldwork and research in eastern Indonesia, Japan, Hawaii and Fiji working on a variety of projects. Ken’s work in Indonesia focused on technology and early economies on the islands of Ambon and Buru in Maluku Province, and his work in Japan involved the excavation and analysis of grave goods found in ancient Yayoi Period burials in northern Kyushu.
Ken has been teaching at KPU since 1997 and his main areas of interest include the archaeology of death, the archaeology of Southeast and East Asia and archaeological method and theory. Ken has taught the archaeological theory course for several years and likes to emphasize ethics and proper conduct in the practice of archaeology, and to encourage students to critically evaluate the use of theory in archaeology and link theories to actual sites and tangible archaeological data.
Courses taught
- ANTH 1300: Archaeology
- ANTH 2310: Archaeology of Death
- ANTH 3300: Archaeological Theory
- ANTH 3330: East Asian Archaeology
- ANTH 3503: Special Topics in Archaeology
- ANTH 4302: Regional Focus in Archaeology
Areas of Interest
Archaeology of Indonesia and Japan.
Mortuary Archaeology.
Craft Production and Social Inequality in Chiefdom Societies.
Archaeological Theory.
Scholarly Work
- Latinis, D. Kyle and Ken Stark (2005) Cave use variability in central Maluku, Eastern Indonesia, Asian Perspectives 44(1): 119-136.
- Latinis, D. Kyle and Ken Stark (2003) Roasted dirt: assessing earthenware assemblages from sites in central Maluku, Indonesia. In, John Miksic (Ed.), Earthenware in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Singapore University Press: 103-135.
- Latinis, D. Kyle and Ken Stark (1998) Subsistence, arboriculture and prehistory in Maluku. In, S. Pannell and F. Benda Beckmann (Eds.), Old World Places, New World Problems: Exploring Issues of Cultural Diversity, Environmental Sustainability, Economic Development and Local Government in Maluku, Eastern Indonesia. Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University
- Stark, Ken and D. Kyle Latinis (1996) The response of early Ambonese foragers to the Moluccan spice trade. Cakalele: Maluku Research Journal 7: 51-67.
- Stark, Ken (1996) Alternative Rainforest Economies of Maluku, Indonesia: a Reply to the “Wild Yam Hypothesis” From the Archaeological Record. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii.