Alex Jansen is an archaeologist, anthropologist, and artist. Alex is currently working at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. He has published, taught, exhibited, and worked nationally and internationally.
Alex is currently an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History’s Arctic Studies Center. He is currently working with Dr. William Fitzhugh, Director of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of History’s Arctic Studies Center, and other researchers on the research and analysis of coastal and archaeological sites and collections from throughout Canada to look at how people interacted with past coastal and marine environments. This work looks at how archaeology, as well as his photography and video video work, can serve as a baseline for future management and teaching tool on contemporary ocean issues. He is also working on a number of photo-documentation, imaging, and analysis projects on museum and coastal archaeological site collections from Canada. He is also working on several projects on the use of photo-documentation and digital media to extend museum experiences to the public.
Alex also manages the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History’s Arctic Studies Center’s Northern and Arctic archaeology, natural history, and geological collections, including all coastal Canadian, Alaskan, Mongolian, Japanese, and Siberian collections. This work will be included in his new paper, “Managing Museum and Coastal Archaeological Site Collections,” which will be published by the Smithsonian in May 2024.
Alex is also working with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) on a series of educational films on the Chesapeake Bay and ocean issues. The first one, “Jellyfish and Comb Jellies in the Chesapeake Bay and Baltimore Harbor” is based around his Ocean Portal paper on jellyfish and is being produced in collaboration with Kristen Goodhue at SERC and edited by UCLA student Sara Aoki as part of her ongoing research with the Smithsonian. The film will be released through SERC’s online media channels and will be followed by a series looking at Chesapeake Bay oyster reef species, moon jellyfish, and other organisms in the Chesapeake. The credits for the film are as follows: Director, Producer, Writer, Underwater Photography, and Underwater Video: Alex Jansen; Co-Producer: Kristen Goodhue and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC); and Editor: Sara Aoki.
Alex’s Ocean Portal papers can now be found through the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History’s website. You can read the papers here and here. Alex’s work is also available on Smithsonian Ocean, Smithsonian Research Online, Smithsonian Profiles, and the Smithsonian Scientific Diving Program.
Alex’s new paper “Oysters as Keystone Species in the Chesapeake Bay” has been published through the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History’s Ocean Portal. You can read the paper here. The paper looks at Alex’s work on Chesapeake Bay oysters from archaeological times until present to serve as a model for restoring oysters and other keystone species for the future. The paper utilizes the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History’s Sant Ocean Hall to demonstrate that the ocean is one global, interconnected system that is capable of significant perseverance and recovery even in the face of human influence. The Ocean Portal was originally meant to be the online extension of the museum’s Sant Ocean Hall, which shows that the oceans are one system as one of its main themes, but the paper looks at contemporary environmental issues and museum collections to serve as a teaching tool on ocean issues.
Alex’s new paper “Jellies in the Baltimore Harbor,” has been published through the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History’s Ocean Portal. You can read the paper here. The paper looks at Alex’s work on jellyfish and comb jellies in the Baltimore Harbor as a teaching tool for larger ocean issues. The Ocean Portal serves as the online extension of the museum’s Sant Ocean Hall and the paper looks at Alex’s research, contemporary environmental issues, and museum collections to teach larger ocean issues.
Alex paper, “Photo-Documentation and Digital Media in Museum Collection, Archaeological, and Environmental Research” was published by the Smithsonian in May 2023. The paper focuses on the use of photo-documentation and digital media in the research of museum and coastal archaeological site collections. The paper also focuses on the use of these technologies to extend museum collections and events to the public. The work also looks at the use of photo-documentation, underwater photography and video, hydrophone recordings, and other media to extend coastal and marine science to the global community.
Alex will be giving a workshop with Isabel Val Sánchez on the role of creative practice, therapy, and our connection to local waterways through the lens of Barcelona, Spain and other locations on February 21, 2023 for the Urban Underwater Ecosystems research group. Alex contributed hydrophone and sound-recordings to the workshop which will be released on a new album.
Alex recently gave a talk with Stef Velduis on the role of sessile organisms and other species in urban underwater ecosystems in the Netherlands and other locations on January 18, 2023 for the Urban Underwater Ecosystems research group.
Alex recently launched his new research cluster on urban underwater ecosystems as part of the Becoming Fresh & Salty Drops (Of Water) festival that took place at Ocean Space in Venice, Italy from 6/1/2022-6/22/2022. You can read about the festival here: Ocean Space, TBA21, and Ocean-Archive.
Alex recently published a new educational resource on ocean issues, “Coastal Archaeology in the Chesapeake Bay, USA – A Case Study for Ocean Care,” through TBA21-Academy based on his work at SERC, Fishing Bay, MD, and the Baltimore Harbor. You read the paper here.
Alex recently gave a talk, “The Use of Coastal Archaeology and Digital Media to Aid in Today’s Oyster Restoration” for TBA21-Academy’s Ocean Comm/uni/ty. The talk focused on Alex’s work on human technological change and Native American and later use of oysters and other coastal resources as a baseline for future management as well as his recent work in the Baltimore Harbor.
Alex has published a series of papers on museum research, collections, exhibitions, art history, and archaeology. His most recent research looked at Chesapeake oysters, other coastal resource use, and human technological change through time utilizing archaeological sites and museum collections from Native American times until present as a baseline for looking at contemporary environmental issues, which was published into a series of papers. He researched coastal archaeological sites and museum collections at Fishing Bay, Maryland and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) to look at past environments. This work also used artifact analysis and radiocarbon dating to look at coastal resource use through time at these sites. Alex also worked on the photo-documentation of Chesapeake coastal and marine museum collections for this work as well as the use of other digital media.
Alex’s work has looked at Chesapeake archaeological sites, human ecology, and coastal and environmental change and dynamics through time to look at how we manage coastal and marine environments in the future. Alex has also conducted research, analysis, and radiocarbon dating on the use of early shell-temper and other traditions in ceramic production to look at how people interacted with past coastal and marine environments. Alex’s work has been featured on Smithsonian Profiles and Smithsonian Research Online, which are designed to extend the museum’s research to the global public, and has been cited in numerous journals, papers, news articles, and bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD theses.
Alex Jansen 
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