Jason Laffoon
Associate Professor
- Name
- Dr. J.E. Laffoon
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 2646
- j.e.laffoon@arch.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-8821-805X
Jason Laffoon is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Archaeological Science, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University.
More information about Jason Laffoon
News
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Grant enables archaeologists to study origins of museum artefacts -
Investigating Caribbean migrations with a Vidi grant: ‘With isotope analysis we can look at individual behaviors and long term patterns’ -
Vidi grants for eight researchers from Leiden University -
Leiden archaeologists repatriate human remains to St. Eustatius -
Innovative research offers new insight into ancient infant feeding practices -
Ancient DNA provides new insights into the early peopling of the Caribbean -
Isotope analysis finds source lead poisoning among slaves on Barbados -
Jason Laffoon's Archaeometry article in top 20 most read -
Jason Laffoon’s Leiden Experience: ‘I am expanding my horizons chronologically and regionally’ -
Dental analysis gives unique insight in life of enslaved African
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Quantitative paleodietary reconstruction with complex foodwebs: An isotopic case study from the Caribbean -
New method of determining geographic origin of humans
See also
Office days
Monday to Thursday
Research
Jason Laffoon is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeological Science, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University.
His main research interests focus on integrating bioarchaeological and biochemical approaches to the study of patterns of mobility/migration, diet, and exchange.
Teaching activities
Jason serves as course coordinator and course instructor for undergraduate and graduate level general courses, as well as specialist seminars, in both the Department of Archaeological Science and the Department of World Archaeology.
Curriculum Vitae
Jason obtained his BA (2004) and MA (2006) in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his PhD in Archaeology (2012) from Leiden University.
His PhD project was embedded within the NWO-funded research project Communicating Communities in the Circum-Caribbean. For his PhD dissertation Patterns of Paleomobility in the Ancient Antilles: An Isotopic Approach, he carried out a large-scale isotope study of animal and human skeletal remains from prehistoric and proto-historic sites in the Caribbean to document spatial, temporal, and societal variation in patterns of human migration. From 2013 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Caribbean Research Group (Leiden) in the NWO-funded Island Networks research project, and in the Human Provenance Research Group (VU Amsterdam) in the ERC-Synergy NEXUS 1492 project.
Associate Professor
- Faculteit Archeologie
- Archaeological Sciences
- Bio-Archaeology
- Cascon Leandro M. Laffoon Jason E. Berger Martin E. Françozo Mariana (2025), Shedding light onto early Amerindian objects of the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden through the use of archaeometric analyses, Journal of Cultural Heritage 71: 145-152.
- Laffoon J.E. & Sonnemann T.F. (2023), Isotopes, isoscapes, and the search for geographic origins: unrealized potential or unrealisitc expectations. In: Kalayci T., Lambers K. & Klinkenberg V. (Eds.), Digital Archaeology: Promises and Impasses. Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia no. 51. Leiden: Sidestone Press. 57-76.
- Shev E.T. & Laffoon J.E. (2022), Paleodietary reconstruction of endemic rodents from the precolumbian Dominican Republic: discriminating wild feeding behavior from diets linked to human niche construction activities, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 32(5): 976-995.
- Leppard T.P., Cochrane E.E., Gaffney D., Hofman C.L., Laffoon J.E., Bunbury M.M.E. & Broodbank C. (2022), Global patterns in island colonization during the Holocene, Journal of World Prehistory 35: 163-232.
- Kootker L.M. & Laffoon J.E. (2022), Assessing the preservation of biogenic strontium isotope ratios (Sr-87/Sr-86) in the pars petrosa ossis temporalis of unburnt human skeletal remains: a case study from Saba, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 36(10): .
- Armas Y.C. de, Herrera U.M.G., Serrano I.R., Buhay W.M., Skelton S., Suarez R.R., Roksandic M. & Laffoon J. (2022), Multiproxy paleodietary reconstruction using stable isotopes and starch analysis: the case of the archaeological site of Playa del Mango, Granma, Cuba, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 46: .
- Armas Y.C. de, Mavridou A.M., Dominguez J.G., Hanson K. & Laffoon J. (2022), Tracking breastfeeding and weaning practices in ancient populations by combining carbon, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes from multiple non-adult tissues, PLoS ONE 17(2): .
- Gopalakrishnan S., Ebenesersdóttir S.S., Lundstrøm I.K.C., Turner-Walker G., Moore K.H.S., Luisi P., Margaryan A., Martin M.D., Ellegaard M.R., Magnússon Ó.Þ., Sigurðsson Á., Snorradóttir S., Magnúsdóttir D.N., Laffoon J.E., Dorp L. van, Liu X., Moltke I., Ávila-Arcos M.C., Schraiber J.G., Rasmussen S., Juan D., Gelabert P., de-Dios T., Fotakis A.K., Iraeta-Orbegozo M., Vågene Å.J., Denham S.D., Christophersen A., Stenøien H.K., Vieira F.G., Liu S., Günther T., Kivisild T., Moseng O.G., Skar B., Cheung C., Sandoval-Velasco M., Wales N., Schroeder H., Campos P.F., Guðmundsdóttir V.B., Sicheritz-Ponten T., Petersen B., Halgunset J., Gilbert E., Cavalleri G.L., Hovig E., Kockum I., Olsson T., Alfredsson L., Hansen T.F., Werge T., Willerslev E., Balloux F., Marques-Bonet T., Lalueza-Fox C., Nielsen R., Stefánsson K., Helgason A. & Gilbert M.T.P. (2022), The population genomic legacy of the second plague pandemic, Current Biology 32(21): 4743-4751.e6.
- Shev G.T. & Laffoon J.E. (2022), Paleodietary reconstruction of endemic rodents from the precolumbian Dominican Republic: discriminating wild feeding behavior from diets linked to human niche construction activities, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 32(5): 976-995.
- Shev G.T., Laffoon J.E. & Hofman C.L. (2021), Human and hutia (Isolobodon portoricensis) interactions in pre-Columbian Hispaniola: The isotopic and morphological evidence, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 37: .
- Fricke F., Laffoon J.E. & Espersen R. (2021), Unforgotten: the osteobiography of an enslaved woman and child from 18th century Saba, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 36: 102838.
- Mbeki L., Kootker L.M., Laffoon J.E., Davies G.R. & Kars H. (2021), A dietary assessment of colonial Cape Town's enslaved population, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13: 17.
- Mickleburgh H.L., Hoogland M.L.P., Laffoon J.E., Weston D.A., Valcárcel Rojas R., Duijvenbode A. van & Mol A.A.A. (2020), Defining non-normative practices in a diverse funerary record: insights from the Caribbean. In: Betsinger T.K., Scott A.B. & Tsaliki A. (Eds.), The odd, the unusual, and the strange: bioarchaeological explorations of Atypical Burials: University of Florida Press. 114-132.
- Hofman C.L., Borck L., Laffoon J.E., Slayton E.R., Scott R.B., Breukel T.W., Guzzo Falci C., Favre M. & Hoogland M.L.P. (2020), Island networks: transformations of inter-community social relationships in the Lesser Antilles at the advent of European colonialism, Journal of Island and coastal archaeology : 1-27.
- Naegele K., Posth C., Iraeta Orbegozo M., Chinique de Armas Y., Hernández Godoy S.T., González Herrera U.M., Nieves-Colón M.A., Sandoval-Velasco M., Mylopotamitaki D., Radzeviciute R., Laffoon J.E., Pestle W.J., Ramos-Madrigal J., Lamnidis T.C., Schaffer W.C., Carr R.S., Day J.S., Arredondo Antúnez C., Rangel Rivero A., Martínez-Fuentes A.J., Crespo-Torres E., Roksandic I., Stone A.C., Lalueza-Fox C., Hoogland M.L.P., Roksandic M., Hofman C.L., Krause J. & Schroeder H. (2020), Genomic insights into the early peopling of the Caribbean, Science magazine 369(6502): 456-460.
- Shev G., Laffoon J.E., Grouard S. & Hofman C.L. (2020), An isotopic and morphometric examination of island dogs (Canis familiaris): comparing dietary and mobility patterns in the pre-Columbian Caribbean, Latin American Antiquity 31(3): 632-638.
- Laffoon J.E., Shuler K.A., Millard A.R., Connelly J.N. & Schroeder H. (2020), Isotopic evidence for anthropogenic lead exposure on a 17th/18th century Barbadian plantation, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 171(3): 529-538.
- Fricke F., Laffoon J.E., Victorina A. & Haviser J. (2020), Delayed physical development in a first generation enslaved African woman from Pietermaai, Curacao, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 30(1): 43-52.
- Sengeløv A., Wijdeven G. van de, Snoeck C., Laffoon J., Hond R. de, Gnade M. & Waters-Rist A. (2020), Understanding the post-Archaic population of Satricum, Italy: a bioarchaeological approach, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 31: 102285.
- Laffoon J.E., Rojas R.V., Weston D.A., Hoogland M.L.P., Davies G.R. & Hofman C.L. (2020), Diverse and dynamic dietary patterns in early colonial Cuba: new insights from multiple isotope analyses, Latin American Antiquity 31(1): 103-121.
- Laffoon J.E. & Leppard T.P. (2019), 87Sr/86Sr data indicate human post-juvenile residence mobility decreases over time-elapsed since initial Holocene island colonization in the Pacific and Caribbean, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11(5): 1757–1768.
- Valcárcel Rojas R., Laffoon J.E., Weston D.A., Hoogland M.L.P. & Hofman C.L. (2019), Slavery of Indigenous People in the Caribbean: An Archaeological Perspective, International Journal of Historical Archaeology : .
- Hrncir V. & Laffoon J.E. (2019), Childhood mobility revealed by strontium isotope analysis: a review of the multiple tooth sampling approach, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11(10): 5301-5316.
- LeFebvre Michelle J. vi, Giovas Christina M. & Laffoon Jason E. (2019), Advancing the Study of Amerindian Ecodynamics in the Caribbean: Current Perspectives, Environmental Archaeology 24(2): 107-114.
- Laffoon J.E. (2018), Zooarchaeology and human trade and migration. In: López Varela S.L. (Ed.), The encyclopedia of archaeological sciences: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Schroeder H., Sikora M., Gopalakrishnan S., Cassidy L.M., Maisano Desler P., Sandoval Velasco M., Schraiber J.G., Rasmussen S., Homberuger J.R., Ávila-Arcos M.C., Allentoft M.E., Moreno-Mayar V., Renaud G., Gómez-Carballa A., Laffoon J.E., Hopkins R.J.A., Higham T.F.G., Carr R.S., Schaffer W.C., Day J.S., Hoogland M.L.P., Salas A., Bustamante C.D., Nielsen R., Bradley D.G., Hofman C.L. & Willerslev E. (2018), Origins and genetic legacies of the Caribbean Taino, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115(10): 2341-2346.
- Mickleburgh H.L., Laffoon J.E., Pagán-Jiménez J.R., Mol A.A.A., Walters S., Beier Z.J.M. & Hofman C.L. (2018), Precolonial/early colonial human burials from the site of White Marl, Jamaica: New findings from recent rescue excavations, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology : 1-7.
- Bataille C.P., Holstein I.C.C. von der, Laffoon J.E., Willmes M., Liu X.-M. & Davies G.R. (2018), A bioavailable strontium isoscape for Western Europe: A machine learning approach, 13(5): e0197386.
- Pestle W.J. & Laffoon J. (2018), Quantitative paleodietary reconstruction with complex foodwebs: an isotopic case study from the Caribbean, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 17: 393-403.
- Laffoon J.E., Sonnemann T.F., Antczak M.M. & Antczak A. (2018), Sourcing nonnative mammal remains from Dos Mosquises Island, Venezuela: new multiple isotope evidence, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 10(6): 1265-1281.
- Laffoon J.E., Espersen R. & Mickleburgh H.L. (2018), The Life History of an Enslaved African: Multiple Isotope Evidence for Forced Childhood Migration from Africa to the Caribbean and Associated Dietary Change, Archaeometry 60(2): 350-365.
- Laffoon J.E., Sonnemann T.F., Shafie T., Hofman C.L., Brandes U. & Davies G.R. (2017), Investigating human geographic origins using dual-isotope (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O) assignment approaches, 12(2): e0172562.
- Laffoon J.E., Hoogland M.L.P., Davies G.R. & Hofman C.L. (2017), A Multi-Isotope Investigation of Human and Dog mobility and diet in the pre-colonial Antilles, Environmental Archaeology 24(2): 132-148.
- Laffoon J.L., Hoogland M.L.P., Davies G.R. & Hofman C.L. (2016), Human dietary assessment in the Pre-colonial Lesser Antilles: New stable isotope evidence from Lavoutte, Saint Lucia, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 5: 168-180.
- Laffoon J.E. (2016), Human Mobility and Dietary Patterns in Precolonial Puerto Rico: Integrating Multiple Isotope Data. In: Roksandic I. (Ed.), Cuban Archaeology in the Caribbean. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. 147-167.
- Laffoon J.E., Valcarcel Rojas R., Weston D.A. & Hofman C.L. (2016), Isotopic insights into indigenous diets in early colonial Cuba, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 159: 200-200.
- Laffoon J.E., Rodriguez Ramos R., Chanlatte Baik L.A., Narganes Storde Y., Rodriguez Lopez M., Davies G.R. & Hofman C.L. (2014), Long-distance exchange in the Precolonial Circum-Caribbean: a multi-isotope study of animal tooth pendants from Puerto Rico, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 35: 220-233.
- Davies G.R., Koornneef J., Laffoon J.E., Font L., Knaf A., Plomp E., Brandes U. & Hofman C.L. (2014), Assessing the impact of Caribbean colonization by provenancing artefacts and humans: Nexus1492. EAA (European Association of Archaeologists) Conference. [conference poster].
- Laffoon J.E., Hofman C.L. & Davies G.R. (2014), Application of a multivariate stable isotope model for dietary assessment in the precolonial Caribbean. British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology Annual Conference, Durham. 12 September 2014 - 14 September 2014. [conference poster].
- Laffoon J.E. (2014), Exploring the Origins of Exotic Mammal Tooth Pendants from Grenada, Lesser Antilles. Archaeology in Transition Symposium, Leiden. 25 September 2014 - 26 September 2014. [conference poster].
- Plomp E., Font L., Koornneef J.M., Laffoon J.E. & Davies G.R. (2014), The application of neodymium isotope analysis to human provenancing. British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology Annual Conference, Durham. 12 September 2014 - 14 September 2014. [conference poster].
- Laffoon J.E., Davies G.R. & Hofman C.L. (2014), Investigating animal resource acquisition and exchange in the precolonial Circum-Caribbean with multiple isotope analyses. 6th International Symposium on Biomolecular Archaeology, Basel. 27 August 2014 - 30 August 2014. [conference poster].
- Laffoon J.E., Plomp E., Davies G.R., Hoogland M.L.P. & Hofman C.L. (2013), The Movement and Exchange of Dogs in the Prehistoric Caribbean: An Isotopic Investigation, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology : .
- Laffoon J.E., Valcárcel Rojas R. & Hofman C.L. (2013), Oxygen and Carbon Isotope Analysis of Human Dental Enamel from the Caribbean: implications for investigating individual origins, Archaeometry 55(4): 742-765.
- Laffoon J.E. (2013), Paleomobility Research in Caribbean Contexts: New Perspectives from Isotope Analysis. In: Keegan W.F., Hofman C.L. & Rodríguez Ramos R. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 418-435.
- Hofman C.L., Ulloa Hung J., Samson A.V.M., Mans J.L.J.A., Keehnen F.W.M., Mickleburgh H.L., Laffoon J.E., Duijvenbode A. van, Knippenberg S., Breukel T.W., Guzman A., Ruiter S. de, Rodríguez Ramos R., Pagán Jiménez J., Kulstad P.M., Keegan W.F., Hoogland M.L.P. & Hull B. (2013), Universidad y Diversidad en el Caribe Amerindio / Unity and Diversity in the Amerindian Caribbean. Santo Domingo.
- Laffoon Jason (2013), Greenland Isotope Project: diet in Norse Greenland AD 1000-AD 1450, Antiquity 87(337): 932-934.
- Bataille C.P., Laffoon J.E. & Bowen G.J. (2012), Mapping multiple source effects on the strontium isotopic signatures of ecosystems from the circum-Caribbean region, Ecosphere 3(12): Article 118.
- Laffoon J.E. & Hoogland M.L.P. (2012), Migration and Mobility in the Circum-Caribbean: Integrating Archaeology and Isotopic Analysis. In: Kaiser E., Burger J. & Schier W. (Eds.), Population Dynamics in Prehistory and Early History: New Approaches Using Stable Isotopes and Genetics no. 5. Berlin: de Gruyter. 337-353.
- Hofman C.L., Hoogland M.L.P., Mickleburgh H.L., Laffoon J.E., Weston D.A. & Field M.H. (2012), Life and death at precolumbian Lavoutte, Saint Lucia, Lesser Antilles, Journal of Field Archaeology 37(3): 209-225.
- Laffoon J.E. (31 October 2012), Patterns of paleomobility in the ancient Antilles: an isotopic approach (Dissertatie, Faculty of Archeology, Leiden University). Supervisor(s) and Co-supervisor(s): Hofman C.L. & Davies G.R., Hoogland M.L.P.
- Laffoon J.E., Davies G.R., Hoogland M.L.P. & Hofman C.L. (2012), Spatial variation of biologically available strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) in an archipelagic setting: a case study from the Caribbean, Journal of Archaeological Science 39(7): 2371-2384.
- Hofman C.L., Hoogland M.L.P., Mickleburgh H.L., Laffoon J.E., Field M.H. & Weston D.A. (2012), Life and death at Lavoutte, Saint Lucia, Lesser Antilles, as revealed from rescue excavations, Journal of Field Archaeology 37(3): 209-225.
- Hofman C.L., Hoogland M.L.P., Weston D.A., Laffoon J.E., Mickleburgh H.L. & Field M.H. (2012), Rescuing the dead. Settlement and mortuary data from rescue excavations at the precolonial site of Lavoutte, Saint Lucia, Journal of Field Archaeology 37(3): 209-225.
- Valcarcel Rojas R., Laffoon J.E., Weston D.A., Mickleburgh H.L. & Duijvenbode A. van (2011), El Chorro de Maíta. A diverse approach to a context of diversity. In: Hofman C.L. & Duijvenbode A. van (Eds.), Communities in Contact. Essays in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Ethnography of the Amerindian circum-Caribbean.. Leiden: Sidestone Press. 225-252.
- Laffoon J.E. & Vos B. de (2011), Diverse Origins, Similar Diets: An Integrated Isotopic Perspective from Anse à la Gourde, Guadeloupe. In: Hofman C.L. & Duijvenbode A. van (Eds.), Communities in Contact. Essays in archaeology, ethnohistory & ethnography of the Amerindian circum-Caribbean. Leiden: Sidestone Press. 187-204.
- Curet L.A., Pestle W., Laffoon J.E. & Crepo E. (2008), Los muertos si hablan: Estudio preliminar de análisis quimico, Boletín del Museo del Hombre Dominicano 42: 173-185.