Jonathan Scholnick

Jonathan Scholnick

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology
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Educational Background

  • B.A., University of Virginia (Anthropology & Archaeology)
  • M.A., University of Arizona (Anthropology)
  • Ph.D., University of Arizona (Anthropology)

Research and Teaching Interests

I am a broadly trained anthropologist with an emphasis on the study of prehistoric and historic period material culture. I have worked on archaeological projects in the American Southwest, Guatemala, New England, Pennsylvania, Peru, and Virginia. Most recently, I have started a coffee program at Bucknell that using coffee as a medium to explore broad social and physical science concepts that intersect with multiple disciplines.

  • Evolution of cultural traditions
  • Social networks
  • Food and culture
  • Human Ecology
  • Coffee

Courses Typically Offered

  • ANTH 109: Intro to Cultural Anthropology
  • ANTH 209: The Americas Before Columbus
  • ANTH234: Human Ecology
  • UNIV 200: Memory and Material Culture of Slavery
  • UNIV 200: Coffee, From Farm to Cup
  • RESC 220: Coffee: Find your Best Cup (Food Dinner Seminar)

Recent Awards

  • National Science Foundation Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research Grant 2013-2017
  • National Science Foundation International Research Fellowship Program 2011-2013

Selected Publications

  • Munson, J., J. Scholnick. A. G. Mejía-Ramón, and L. Paiz Aragon. In press. Beyond House Size: Alternative Estimates of Wealth Inequality in the Ancient Maya Lowlands. Ancient Mesoamerica.
  • Munson, J., J. Scholnick. 2022. Wealth and Well-being in an Ancient Maya Community: A Framework for Studying the Quality of Life in Past Societies. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. 29:1-30.
  • Amati, V., J. Munson, J. Scholnick, and Habiba. 2022. Applying event history analysis to explain the diffusion of innovations in archaeological networks. Journal of Archaeological Science. 104:1–9.
  • Munson, J., J. Scholnick, M. Looper, Y. Polyukhovych, and M. J. Macri. 2017. Ritual diversity and divergence of Classic Maya dynastic traditions: A lexical perspective on within-group cultural variation. Latin American Antiquity. 27(1):74-95.
  • Collard, M., B. Buchanan, M.J. O’Brien, J. Scholnick. 2013. Risk, mobility, or population size? Drivers of technological richness among contact-period western North American hunter–gatherers. Phil Trans B. 368: 20120412.
  • Scholnick, J., J. Munson, and M. J. Macri. 2013. Positioning Power in a Multirelational Framework: A Social Network Analysis of Classic Maya Political Rhetoric. In Network Analysis in Archaeology: New Approaches to Regional Interaction. C. Knappett (ed.) Oxford University Press. Pp 95-124.
  • Scholnick, J. 2012. The Spatial and Temporal Diffusion of Stylistic Innovations in Material Culture. Advances in Complex Systems. 15(1-2): 1150010-1-18.
  • Premo, L. S. and J. Scholnick. 2011. The Spatial Scale of Learning Affects Cultural Diversity. American Antiquity. 76(1): 163-176.

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