Patrick Vinton Kirch

Who is Patrick Vinton Kirch?

Patrick Vinton Kirch is an archaeologist who studies Oceanic and Polynesian prehistory. He is a Professor of Integrative Biology at the Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. He also serves as Curator of Oceanic Archaeology in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, and was director of that Museum from 1999 to 2002.

He has published widely: many articles and nine books. He is known for his belief that practitioners of archaeology, historical linguistics, human genetic studies, ethnology, and archival historical research can work together to give a fuller picture of the past than any discipline alone could do. In 1997 Kirch was awarded the John J. Carty Award from the National Academy of Sciences.