P.J. Capelotti, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
pjc12@psu.edu
Office: Rydal 103, Office Phone: 215-881-7860
Education
Ph.D., Anthropology, Rutgers University, 1996
M.A., Anthropology, Rutgers University, 1994
M.A., History (Phi Kappa Phi), University of Rhode Island, 1989
B.A., History, University of Rhode Island, 1983
Courses taught
Introduction to Archaeology (ANTH 002); Biological Anthropology (ANTH 021); Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 045); Field Methods in Archaeology (ANTH 125)
Teaching philosophy and student research
"My classroom lectures incorporate both my own research in the Arctic as well
as student-produced videos of their archaeological fieldwork--like the one you
can watch above--and their autobiographical ethnographies, which you can see on
our Penn State Abington Anthropology video site. My students have done archaeological and
anthropological field research in Hawaii, Canada, Morocco, and on Easter
Island, and gone on to graduate school, to teaching jobs, and to work as cultural resource managers. In 2008, my student Autumn Zellers won the annual
ACURA student research competition and as a result presented her research at
the national conference of applied anthropology in Santa Fe, New Mexico."
Supervision areas:
He is interested in supervising students in the following areas:
- Archaeology, cultural anthropology, biological anthropology.
- American studies (particularly American exploration and military operations.
- History of polar exploration.
- Archaeology of the exploration of space.
Research interests
History, archaeology and anthropology of exploration, esp. American and Scandinavian polar exploration and technology; experimental archaeology; aerospace archaeology; historical and archaeological research of sites from polar, aeronautical and space exploration; Arctic/Sub-Arctic (Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Newfoundland, Norway).
Research plan
Completing books on archaeological research in space and an edited volume on whaling in Antarctica in the 1930s. Will soon begin a biography of the British explorer Benjamin Leigh Smith as well as a history of the American exploration of Franz Josef Land. Research conducted at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University, England, and the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Recent accomplishments
Chair, Abington College Faculty Senate, 2010-2011. Received the Outstanding Advising/Mentoring Award (2009). Hiked Hadrian’s Wall in northern England (2009). Opened new exhibit on American explorer Walter Wellman at the Spitsbergen Airship Museum in Norway (2009). Promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve (2007).
Recent publications
P.J. Capelotti. 2011. “The ‘American Supply Trail’: Archaeological notes on the remains of the Ziegler Polar Expedition in Zemlya-Frantsa Iosifa, 1903-05,” Polar Record 47 (3): 193-201. Online at: Polar Record.
P.J. Capelotti. 2010. The Human Archaeology of Space: Lunar, Planetary and Interstellar Relics of Exploration. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishers.
P.J. Capelotti, editor. 2010. The Whaling Expedition of the Ulysses, 1937-38, by Lieutenant (j.g.) Quentin R. Walsh. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
P.J. Capelotti. 2010. “Benjamin Leigh Smith’s third Arctic expedition: Svalbard, 1873,” Polar Record 46 (4): 359-371. doi:10.1017/S003224740999057X
P.J. Capelotti. 2009. “Surveying Fermi’s Paradox, Mapping Dyson’s Sphere: Approaches to Archaeological Field Research in Space.” Handbook of Space Engineering, Archaeology and Heritage. Duxbury, MA: Francis and Taylor, CRC.
P.J. Capelotti. 2009. “The Culture of Apollo: A Catalog of Evidence of Manned Exploration of the Moon.” Handbook of Space Engineering, Archaeology and Heritage. Duxbury, MA: Francis and Taylor, CRC.
P.J. Capelotti. 2009. “Further to the death of Sigurd B. Myhre at Camp Abruzzi, Rudolf Island, Franz Josef Land, May 16, 1904, during the Ziegler Polar Expedition.” Polar Research, Journal of the Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-8369.2008.00089.x
P.J. Capelotti. 2008. “Benjamin Leigh Smith’s second Arctic expedition: Svalbard and Jan Mayen, 1872,” Polar Record 44 (3): 255-264, Journal of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University. doi:10.1017/S0032247408007444
P.J. Capelotti. 2008. “A ‘radically new method’: Balloon Buoy Communications of the Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition, Franz Josef Land, June 1902,” Polar Research 27(1): 52-72. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-8369.2008.00045.x
P.J. Capelotti. 2007. Flåteferder i Kon-Tikis kjølvann. (Norwegian language edition of Sea Drift). Oslo: Flyt forlag
P.J. Capelotti. 2007. “Century-old ski found at Mys Triest, Ostrov Champa, Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa, Russia,” Polar Record 43 (3): 272-275, Journal of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University. doi:10.1017/S0032247407006717
P.J. Capelotti. 2007. “A preliminary archaeological survey of a Tupolev TB-3 (ANT-6)
aircraft on Ostrov Rudol’fa, Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa, Russia,” Polar Record 43 (2): 173-177, Journal of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University. doi:10.1017/S0032247407256177
P.J. Capelotti, Herman Van Dyk & Jean-Claude Cailliez. 2007. “Strange interlude at Virgohamna, Danskøya, Svalbard, 1906: the merkelig mann, the engineer and the spy,” Polar Research 26 (1): 64-75. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-8369.2007.00008.x
P.J. Capelotti. 2006. “E.B. Baldwin and the American-Norwegian discovery and exploration of Graham Bell Island, 1899,” Polar Research 25 (2): 155-171. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-8369.2006.tb00031.x
P.J. Capelotti. 2006. “Benjamin Leigh Smith’s first Arctic expedition, Svalbard, 1871,” Polar Record 42 (220): 1-14, Journal of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University. doi:10.1017/S0032247405004821
