He/Him
Social Sciences Division
Assistant Teaching Professor
Faculty
Social Sciences 1
304
By appointment
Social Sciences 1 Faculty Services
Dr. Reti's research focuses on the origins of human reliance on technology and cultural transmission. Using experimental approaches, he works with 2-3 million year old stone tools in East Africa to reconstruct how we evolved alongside our technology. Questions concerning hominin economic decisions, stone tool production strategies, raw material transport, and active teaching are of particular interest.
Through the Human Evolution and Lithics Experimental Lab (HELEX), Jay supports experimental archaeological projects from all places and times, with particular attention to understanding human preference for raw materials in their environments. HELEX programs also train undergraduate students in public outreach, culminating in student-led lessons in human evolution in local high school biology classrooms. Finally, as Dr. Reti was previously the Director of the Santa Cruz Island Reserve through UC Santa Barbara, Jay works with indigenous leadership across California to develop and implement archaeological policy.
