Bio

Andrew Bauer is an anthropological archaeologist whose research and teaching interests broadly focus on the archaeology of human-environment relations, including the socio-politics of land use and both symbolic and material aspects of producing spaces, places, and landscapes. Andrew's primary research is based in South India, where he co-directs fieldwork investigating the relationships between landscape history, cultural practices, and institutionalized forms of social inequalities and difference during the region’s Neolithic, Iron Age, Early Historic, and Medieval periods. As an extension of his archaeological work he is also interested in the intersections of landscape histories and modern framings of nature that relate to conservation politics and climate change.

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Professor, Anthropology

Contact

  • Academic
    ambauer@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: Anthropology Position: Associate Professor

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 2034

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Reconceptualizing the Archaeology of Southern India: Beyond Periodization and Toward a Politics of Practice Johansen, P., Bauer, A. M. Routledge. 2024
  • Cultivating problems and politics: Precarious fields and the social history of the Medieval Deccan, southern India Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association Bauer, A. M. 2024; 35: 28-39

    View details for DOI 10.1111/apaa.12182

  • Social distinctions during the south Indian Neolithic: changing mortuary practices in a late prehistoric cemetery at Maski ANTIQUITY Johansen, P. G., Bauer, A. M. 2023; 97 (394): 887-907

    View details for DOI 10.15184/aqy.2023.81

    View details for Web of Science ID 001066556400009

  • Critical Geoarchaeology: From Depositional Processes to the Sociopolitics of Earthen Life Annual Review of Anthropology Bauer, A. M. 2023; 52: 455-471

    View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev-anthro-052621-024545

  • The politics and historicity of megalithic places in early South India JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ARCHAEOLOGY Bauer, A. M., Johansen, P. G. 2022

    View details for DOI 10.1177/14696053221138580

    View details for Web of Science ID 000898345100001

  • A practical solution: the Anthropocene is a geological event, not a formal epoch EPISODES Gibbard, P. L., Bauer, A. M., Edgeworth, M., Ruddiman, W. F., Gill, J. L., Merritts, D. J., Finney, S. C., Edwards, L. E., Walker, M. C., Maslin, M., Ellis, E. C. 2022; 45 (4): 349-357

    View details for DOI 10.18814/epiiugs/2021/021029

    View details for Web of Science ID 000918762900001

  • Archaeological Context and Archival Content: Historical Archaeology and Medieval Period Donative Practices on the Raichur Doab, Southern India MEDIEVAL HISTORY JOURNAL Bauer, A. M. 2021; 24 (1-2): 17-55

    View details for DOI 10.1177/09719458211053686

    View details for Web of Science ID 000730725800003

  • Climate Without Nature: A Critical Anthropology of the Anthropocene Bauer, A. M., Bhan, M. Cambridge University Press. 2018
  • Before Vijayanagara : Prehistoric Landscapes and Politics in the Tungabhadra Basin Bauer, A. M. Manohar and American Institute of Indian Studies . 2015
  • The Archaeology of Politics: The Materiality of Political Practice and Action in the Past Johansen, P. G., Bauer, A. M. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2011
  • The Anthropocene Is More Than a Time Interval EARTHS FUTURE Edgeworth, M., Bauer, A. M., Ellis, E. C., Finney, S. C., Gill, J. L., Gibbard, P. L., Maslin, M., Merritts, D. J., Walker, M. C. 2024; 12 (7)

    View details for DOI 10.1029/2024EF004831

    View details for Web of Science ID 001271806900001

  • The Anthropocene is best understood as an ongoing, intensifying, diachronous event BOREAS Walker, M. C., Bauer, A. M., Edgeworth, M., Ellis, E. C., Finney, S. C., Gibbard, P. L., Maslin, M. 2023

    View details for DOI 10.1111/bor.12636

    View details for Web of Science ID 001077404700001

  • The Anthropocene serves science better as an event, rather than an epoch JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE Edwards, L. E., Bauer, A., Edgeworth, M., Ellis, E., Finney, S., Gibbard, P., Gill, J. L., Maslin, M., Merritts, D., Ruddiman, W., Walker, M. 2022

    View details for DOI 10.1002/jqs.3475

    View details for Web of Science ID 000852064000001

  • Ritual, settlement and land-use practices: Towards a social history of Neolithic though Medieval period Maski, southern India ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN ASIA Johansen, P. G., Bauer, A. M. 2022; 31

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ara.2022.100388

    View details for Web of Science ID 000919178000001

  • The Anthropocene as an Event, not an Epoch JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE Gibbard, P., Walker, M., Bauer, A., Edgeworth, M., Edwards, L., Ellis, E., Finney, S., Gill, J. L., Maslin, M., Merritts, D., Ruddiman, W. 2022

    View details for DOI 10.1002/jqs.3416

    View details for Web of Science ID 000766269700001

  • Ritual, Settlement and Land-use Practices: Towards a Social History of Neolithic though Medieval period Maski, southern India Archaeological Research In Asia Johansen, P. G., Bauer, A. M. 2022; 31
  • Anthropocene: event or epoch? NATURE Bauer, A. M. 2021; 597 (7876): 332

    View details for Web of Science ID 000695836000018

    View details for PubMedID 34522014

  • Early water management in South Asia: Geochronology and micromorphology of rock pools and small-scale water catchment features in Karnataka, India GEOARCHAEOLOGY-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL Gaggioli, A. M., Bauer, A. M., Morrison, K. D., Lycett, M. T. 2021

    View details for DOI 10.1002/gea.21865

    View details for Web of Science ID 000654346300001

  • Mapping past human land use using archaeological data: A new classification for global land use synthesis and data harmonization. PloS one Morrison, K. D., Hammer, E., Boles, O., Madella, M., Whitehouse, N., Gaillard, M., Bates, J., Vander Linden, M., Merlo, S., Yao, A., Popova, L., Hill, A. C., Antolin, F., Bauer, A., Biagetti, S., Bishop, R. R., Buckland, P., Cruz, P., Dreslerova, D., Dusseldorp, G., Ellis, E., Filipovic, D., Foster, T., Hannaford, M. J., Harrison, S. P., Hazarika, M., Herold, H., Hilpert, J., Kaplan, J. O., Kay, A., Klein Goldewijk, K., Kolar, J., Kyazike, E., Laabs, J., Lancelotti, C., Lane, P., Lawrence, D., Lewis, K., Lombardo, U., Lucarini, G., Arroyo-Kalin, M., Marchant, R., Mayle, F., McClatchie, M., McLeester, M., Mooney, S., Moskal-Del Hoyo, M., Navarrete, V., Ndiema, E., Goes Neves, E., Nowak, M., Out, W. A., Petrie, C., Phelps, L. N., Pinke, Z., Rostain, S., Russell, T., Sluyter, A., Styring, A. K., Tamanaha, E., Thomas, E., Veerasamy, S., Welton, L., Zanon, M. 2021; 16 (4): e0246662

    Abstract

    In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in earth system models is currently oversimplified. As a result, there are large uncertainties in the current understanding of the past and current state of the earth system. In order to improve representation of the variety and scale of impacts that past land use had on the earth system, a global effort is underway to aggregate and synthesize archaeological and historical evidence of land use systems. Here we present a simple, hierarchical classification of land use systems designed to be used with archaeological and historical data at a global scale and a schema of codes that identify land use practices common to a range of systems, both implemented in a geospatial database. The classification scheme and database resulted from an extensive process of consultation with researchers worldwide. Our scheme is designed to deliver consistent, empirically robust data for the improvement of land use models, while simultaneously allowing for a comparative, detailed mapping of land use relevant to the needs of historical scholars. To illustrate the benefits of the classification scheme and methods for mapping historical land use, we apply it to Mesopotamia and Arabia at 6 kya (c. 4000 BCE). The scheme will be used to describe land use by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) LandCover6k working group, an international project comprised of archaeologists, historians, geographers, paleoecologists, and modelers. Beyond this, the scheme has a wide utility for creating a common language between research and policy communities, linking archaeologists with climate modelers, biodiversity conservation workers and initiatives.

    View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0246662

    View details for PubMedID 33852578

  • Ritualizing land and cultivating distinctions: Medieval Period donative practices and a political ecology of the Raichur Doab Power, Presence, and Space: South Asian Rituals in Archaeological Context Bauer, A. M. 2020
  • Making megaliths and constituting collectives: Politics, places, and historicity in prehistoric South India The Archaeology of Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World, Bauer, A. M., Johansen, P. G. 2020
  • The Maski Archaeological Research Project (2010-18): initial results from a multi-period interdisciplinary project on the Raichur Doab, Karnataka, India CURRENT SCIENCE Bauer, A. M., Johansen, P. G. 2019; 117 (1): 46–56

    View details for DOI 10.18520/cs/v117/i1/46-56

    View details for Web of Science ID 000474694400020

  • Urbanism and the temporality of materiality on the medieval Deccan: Beyond the cosmograms of social and political space New Materialisms Ancient Urbanisms Bauer, A. M. 2019
  • Substances and materials The Society for Archaeological Sciences Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences Bauer, A. M. 2019
  • On the Matter of Resources and Techno-Politics: The Case of Water and Iron in the South Indian Iron Age AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST Johansen, P. G., Bauer, A. M. 2018; 120 (3): 412–28

    View details for DOI 10.1111/aman.13053

    View details for Web of Science ID 000452288900003

  • The Anthropocene Divide Obscuring Understanding of Social-Environmental Change CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Bauer, A. M., Ellis, E. C. 2018; 59 (2): 209–27

    View details for DOI 10.1086/697198

    View details for Web of Science ID 000429345100005

  • Remote Sensing Soils and Social Geographies of Difference: The Landscape Archaeology of Regur from Iron Age through Medieval Period Northern Karnataka, Southern India JOURNAL OF FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY Bauer, A. M. 2018; 43 (1): 31–43

    View details for DOI 10.1080/00934690.2017.1418611

    View details for Web of Science ID 000424266600003

  • Questioning a posthumanist political ecology: Ontologies, environmental materialities, and the political in Iron Age South India Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association Bauer, A. M. 2018; 29
  • Involve social scientists in defining the Anthropocene NATURE Ellis, E., Maslin, M., Boivin, N., Bauer, A. 2016; 540 (7632): 192-193

    View details for DOI 10.1038/540192a

    View details for Web of Science ID 000389548700021

  • How things act: An archaeology of materials in political life JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ARCHAEOLOGY Bauer, A. M., Kosiba, S. 2016; 16 (2): 115-141

    View details for DOI 10.1177/1469605316641244

    View details for Web of Science ID 000377816500001

  • Welfare and the Politics and Historicity of the Anthropocene SOUTH ATLANTIC QUARTERLY Bauer, A. M., Bhan, M. 2016; 115 (1): 61-87

    View details for DOI 10.1215/00382876-3424753

    View details for Web of Science ID 000369116600004

  • Water management and reservoirs in Southern India and Sri Lanka Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures Bauer, A. M., Morrison, K. D. 2016
  • Provincializing the littoral in Indian Ocean heritage: coastal connections and interior contexts of the Southern Deccan Bridging The Gulf: Maritime Cultural Heritage Of The Western Indian Ocean, Bauer, A. M. 2016
  • Toward the social significance of Iron Age megalithic complexes: The case of Hire Benakal—Koppal District, Karnataka Contextualizing Material Culture in South and Central Asia in Pre-Modern Times Bauer, A. M. 2016
  • PREHISTORIC MORTUARY PRACTICES AND THE CONSTITUTION OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS: IMPLICATIONS OF THE FIRST RADIOCARBON DATES FROM MASKI ON THE OCCUPATIONAL HISTORY OF A SOUTH INDIA "TYPE SITE" RADIOCARBON Bauer, A. M., Johansen, P. G. 2015; 57 (5): 795-806

    View details for DOI 10.2458/azu_rc.57.18341

    View details for Web of Science ID 000368299000006

  • Iron Age settlement and land use in Southern India: Recent survey evidence from Koppal District, Karnataka South Asian Archaeology 2014 vol. 1: Man and environment in Prehistoric and Protohistoric South Asia: New Perspectives Bauer, A. M. 2015
  • Questioning the Anthropocene and its silences—socio-environmental history and the climate crisis Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities Bauer, A. M. 2015; 3 (1)
  • Beyond culture history at Maski: Land use, settlement and social differences in Neolithic through Medieval South India ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN ASIA Johansen, P. G., Bauer, A. M. 2015; 1-2: 6-16

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ara.2014.12.001

    View details for Web of Science ID 000447511400003

  • Impacts of mid- to late-Holocene land use on residual hill geomorphology: A remote sensing and archaeological evaluation of human-related soil erosion in central Karnataka, South India HOLOCENE Bauer, A. M. 2014; 24 (1): 3-14

    View details for DOI 10.1177/0959683613512165

    View details for Web of Science ID 000328828800001

  • Landscapes of heritage and landscapes of practice: Contextualizing the megaliths of Hire Benakal Indian World Heritage Sites in Context Bauer, A. M. 2014
  • Mapping the Political Landscape: Toward a GIS Analysis of Environmental and Social Difference JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY Kosiba, S., Bauer, A. M. 2013; 20 (1): 61-101

    View details for DOI 10.1007/s10816-011-9126-z

    View details for Web of Science ID 000314294500004

  • Contextualizing megalithic places: survey, mapping, and surface documentation in the environs of Hire Benakal (Koppal District, Karnataka) Man and Environment Bauer, A. M., Trivedi, M. 2013; 38
  • Assessing anthropogenic soil erosion with multi-spectral satellite imagery: An archaeological case study of long-term land use in Koppal District, northern Karnataka South Asian Archaeology 2007, Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of The European Association of South Asian Archaeology, Volume I: Prehistoric Periods Bauer, A. M., Morrison, K. D. 2013
  • Producing the political landscape: Monuments, labor, water, and place in Iron Age central Karnataka The Archaeology of Politics: the Materiality of Political Practice and Action in the Past Bauer, A. M. 2011
  • Introduction: Reconfiguring 'politics' in the reconstruction of past political production The Archaeology of Politics: the Materiality of Political Practice and Action in the Past Johansen, P. G., Bauer, A. M. 2011
  • Water management and reservoirs in Southern India and Sri Lanka Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, Bauer, A. M., Morrison, K. D. 2008
  • Toward a political ecology in early South India: Preliminary considerations of the socio-politics of land and animal use in the Southern Deccan, Neolithic through Early Historic Periods Asian Perspectives Bauer, A. M., Johansen, P. G., Bauer, R. L. 2007; 46
  • Archaeological site distribution by geomorphic setting in the southern Lower Cuyahoga River Valley, Northeastern Ohio: Initial observations from a GIS database GEOARCHAEOLOGY-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL Bauer, A., Nicoll, K., Park, L., Matney, T. 2004; 19 (8): 711-729

    View details for DOI 10.1002/gea.20021

    View details for Web of Science ID 000225251100001

  • Human-environment interactions on the Upper Khuzestan Plains, Southwest Iran¬—Recent investigations Paleorient Alizadeh, A., Kouchoukos, N., Wilkinson, T. J., Bauer, A. M., Mashkour, M. 2004; 30
  • Distribution in time, provenance, and weathering of gravestones in three northeastern Ohio cemeteries OHIO JOURNAL OF SCIENCE Bauer, A., Hannibal, J. T., Hanson, C. B., Elmore, J. V. 2002; 102 (4): 82-96

    View details for Web of Science ID 000178724900003

  • The third season of archaeological survey at Ziyaret Tepe, Diyarbakir Province, Turkey Anatolica Matney, T., Bauer, A. 2000; 26