COD Experts: Dale Simpson

COD Anthropology Adjunct Instructor Dale F. Simpson, Jr., Ph.D., specializes in Pacific anthropology, but is well–versed in North and South American archaeology. He has conducted anthropological investigations in the U.S., Canada, Russia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Australia, and Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Simpson is the director of the Rapa Nui Geochemical Project and Illinois Simpson Archaeology and is associated with institutions such as the Field Museum of Natural History (Integrative Research Laboratory), Warrenville Historical Society Museum, Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum (Rapa Nui – Easter Island), Glen Ellyn Historical Society, Forest Preserve of DuPage County, Naperville Park District, Illinois State Archaeological Society and Macktown Historical Village. 

He has dedicated much of his adult life studying the intricate history of Easter Island. For two decades, Simpson has traveled to the island, living there for up to two years at a time, studying the Rapa Nui culture to take a closer look at the history that has been written about the collapse of this remote Polynesian island.

When Simpson started his Ph.D., he set out to investigate this long-standing narrative of Rapa Nui’s collapse. He began working on the Rapa Nui Geochemical Project with Marshall Weisler, the head of the Archeology Department from the University of Queensland, and scientist Laure Dussubieux from the Field Museum, along with more than 30 collaborators from 20 institutions around the globe.

They published their ground-breaking findings in the Journal of Pacific Archeology hypothesizing that the Rapa Nui people were much more collaborative and interactive than scientists originally believed.

Over the years, Simpson has been quoted in several well-known and reputable publications:

 

Dale Simpson

We can solve our problems by looking at other cultures’ problems and seeing how they solve them. We just have to have that cross-cultural awareness.

- Dale Simpson, Anthropology Instructor

Areas of Expertise

  • Pacific Anthropology
  • Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
  • North and South American Archaeology
  • Illinois Archaeology

More About Dale Simpson

Publications