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Metin I. Eren is a PhD nominee in Anthropology at Southern Methodist University . His areas of expertness include Stone Age archeology , human phylogenesis and observational archaeology . He is an expert flintknapper , which mean he can accurately replicate prehistoric Edward Durell Stone - tool technology . Through his data-based inquiry and that of his colleagues , researchers have investigated Neanderthal tool efficiency and pattern ; prehistorical bamboo tool output inChina ; and how animal trampling in India may touch buried artifacts , potentially biasing subsequent interpretation . His inquiry presently need how prehistoric humans colonise unfamiliar landscapes . By pore upon the Pleistocene colonization of the North American Lower Great Lakes neighborhood eleven thousand years ago , he is explore what sort of behaviors and engineering the great unwashed used to successfully accommodate to , and finally settle into , an unmapped Ice Age landscape painting . Read more about his workhere , and his answers to the SceinceLives 10 Questions below .
This ScienceLives article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation .
Metin Eren flintknaps a large knife out of flint in England, using a large moose antler as a percussion tool to remove stone flakes.
Name : Metin I. ErenAge:27Institution : Southern Methodist University , Dallas , TXField of Study : Human Evolution and Experimental Archaeology
What inspired you to choose this field of study?Human phylogeny is the study of us – where our specie came from , and where we are decease . By take how we develop , we can substantially understand how we equip into nature and how we are link to it , and to each other . let the chance to chip in pieces to the human story through scientific practice was simply an opportunity I could not pass up .
Though I begin working on archaeological excavations when I was 16 long time old , I see in college that to get a more staring picture of the past tense I should learn how to make prehistoric tools . By make out how to make replication shaft , observational archaeologists can conduct tests that otherwise would not be possible to direct on real ( and priceless ! ) artifact , such as how well they work for hunting or butchery , or how durable they are when we seek to break them . So , over many years I learned the very difficult craft of " flintknapping , " which is the process of flaking Edward Durell Stone to make tools . Since Harlan Stone tools make up 99.9 percentage of the artifact we find during the Stone Age , which is the longest archaeological period in our phylogeny ( 2.6 million years ! ) , experimental archaeology can contribute many pieces to the field of human evolution , behaviour , and technology .
What is the best piece of advice you ever received?I’ve been really golden to always be surround by people who front out for my well - being , and so it is really heavy to cull just one piece of advice . However , there are two quotes that I keep in the back of my mind when it comes to my life and calling in science .
( 1 ) From my parents , quoting John F. Kennedy : " To whom much is turn over , much is expect . "
( 2 ) From my Ph.D. adviser , Professor David Meltzer : " Do n’t kibosh pedaling . "
What was your first scientific experiment as a child?Though I had been on numerous mining as a stripling , I did not conduct my first true archaeological " experiment " until my third - class in college . While writing my senior honors dissertation it sort of strike me that the method I was using to measure artifacts did not really get at the information I was really interested in . So with the aid of my beloved friend and colleague Professor Manuel Dominguez - Rodrigo ( Complutense University , Spain ) I devised an appropriate method which we tested on observational gem dick . We ended up publishing the new method acting in a top - tier archaeology diary .
What is your favorite matter about being a researcher?The theme of contributing to knowledge has always prompt me . Being a scientific researcher give up me to do that . I also sleep together to jaunt and explore - archaeology in special lets me to do that . Between field of battle work and group discussion I have traveled around the earthly concern , from the most distant location to the biggest metropolis .
What is the most important characteristic a investigator must prove in parliamentary law to be an efficacious researcher?The most important characteristic a investigator can demonstrate is the power to take s / he might be wrong . If we compare science to football game , each generation of scientists is just a squad examine to move the football a few yards further down an endless bailiwick of discovery . The last thing a football game team needs is a player who refuses to give up the football even though s / he is running the wrong way . If research is done honestly and rigorously , there are no " misunderstanding " in science because a " wrong resolution " finally extend to the correct one - as long as a researcher is uncoerced to change his or her cerebration . In other speech , if a player is indeed running the incorrect way of life down the field , s / he should n’t be afraid or embarrassed to hand the nut to another teammate who may be in better a side to march on the football . In the end , it is the best thing for the squad , and everyone wins .
What are the societal benefits of your research?Studying human evolution and prehistoric archeology permit us to take a " bragging video " look at unsubtle and recollective - condition questions , such as how climate modification has influenced our evolution , how our species interact with the environs , or how technology has help us conform and survive through time . By count at the grown icon and retentive - term trend we are better outfit and informed to harness challenges in modernistic society .
Researching humanity ’s past times also is important because by contemplate the countless cultures and behaviour our species adopted through time around the world , one realizes that our species thrives on diversity . Being capable to adapt culturally to different lot in the natural mankind ( such as the Ice Age ) has literally help us outlast to the present 24-hour interval . This highlights the fact that though we all go to the same mintage , we are not all mean to share the same beliefs or modus vivendi . Thus the study of human development is in a very veridical sense the rejection of prejudiced or racist political theory and attitude in the modern Earth .
Who has had the most influence on your thinking as a researcher?I am still relatively new , and so my thinking is still in the process of " being influenced , " so to speak . In many respects I hope I can sustain this quality – I never require to be " set in my ways . " My dad , quotingLouis Pasteur , always told me that " hazard favors the fain mind . " One way of being organise is by being open to fresh idea and unique ways of thinking . I test to do just that .
What about your area or being a researcher do you mean would surprise citizenry the most?I think hoi polloi would be surprised at the enormous amount of work a investigator demeanor . If I ’m not sleeping or eating , I ’m generally form . I remember there is a sensing out there that academic and scientists teach a few hours a week , and then go home . Nothing could be further from the trueness . To be successful , a research worker should possess a formidable capacity for work , everyday , all the meter .
If you could only deliver one thing from your burning authority or lab , what would it be?My colleagues and bureau mate !
What euphony do you spiel most often in your lab or car?Everything from Frank Sinatra to Smashing Pumpkins , from Borodin to Jose Gonzalez . The Killers , Green Day , and Weezer are outstanding when doing lab workplace lately at night . I literally have constructed a laboratory space in my flat , so I can hear to my music as gimcrack as I want while doing experiment - without bother anyone in SMU ’s Anthropology Department !
