Brian Scott Robinson - In Memoriam

Abstract

ii Brian Robinson (b. 23 February 1953) lost a battle with pancreatic cancer on 27 October 2016. As an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine (Orono), his research focused on coastal adaptations, response to climate change, and hunter-gatherer cultures of the Northeast from the Paleoindian to the Contact periods. Brian had also done much work on Alaskan Pleistocene and early Holocene collections with Fred West of the Peabody Essex Museum, so he had the “big picture” of the peopling of the Americas in mind. Years of working in Vermont provided region-wide experience and perspective. While at the University of Maine, Brian taught both undergraduates and graduate students. He was an excellent teacher at both levels, especially beloved by his graduate students as a mentor for his style of sharing his knowledge and intellectual excitement as he provided direction. He worked closely on many archaeology projects with Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and taught tribal members as undergraduates in University field work and the classroom. He collaborated with the Tribes on research and fieldwork design that has benefitted and incorporated both tribal and professional understanding of the last few thousand years. Brian worked well with avocational archaeologists, and believed that they had much to contribute. He also demonstrated that museum collections and older excavation records could contribute much to current archaeology. His meticulous work over 20 or more years with Bill Eldridge and the other “Bull Brook boys”, their memories, and their excavation records in reconstructing a clearly organized sitesettlement pattern for the Paleoindian Bull Brook site will be a legendary example of drawing anthropological meaning from old archaeological data (Robinson et al. 2009). As with many of Brian’s projects, graduate students were given critical parts to play in the research. Much of Brian’s research had a coastal or Gulf of Maine focus. Even his Bull Brook Paleoindian work included a coastal caribou-hunting scenario as a hypothesis (Robinson 2002). As an undergraduate at the University of New Hampshire, he began work on coastal archaeology with Charles Bolian. He then Brian Scott Robinson In Memoriam