Chris Wolff - Archaeologist

Chris Wolff


Chris Wolff is an archaeologist with 20 years’ experience in the north. He studies ancient technology, architecture, and social organization of prehistoric Arctic and Subarctic peoples.

Chris Wolff is an archaeologist and professor at the University at Albany in New York. His field research is primarily on the island of Newfoundland and the coasts of Labrador, but he also conducts research in Alaska, Greenland, and Iceland. His research interests are focused on understanding the relationship between coastal sea mammal hunting cultures and changing ecosystems. He spends much of his time excavating ancient houses and examining the fascinating artifacts they contain, from stone tools to the bones of animals, to study the innovative and creative ways that people in the north have learned to thrive in cold, coastal environments.

Chris is also a musician and has been a drummer since he was 10 years old. His interest in music has recently combined with his archaeological research through a study of the history of drum use among Arctic peoples. He has been working with Inuit drummers and museum curators to examine how drums were created and used in the past and connecting those practices with modern drumming traditions.