Dr. Mark Plew first became interested in the archaeology of the Snake River Plain when he conducted his doctoral dissertation research in the Owyhee Uplands of Idaho. He earned his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1985 in Anthropology, with an emphasis in Archaeology and minors in Geography and Museology, and has taught in the Department of Anthropology at Boise State University since then. He has conducted numerous archaeological and ethnographic projects, working in Indiana, Illinois, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona and extensively throughout Idaho. In South America he has experience in Brazil, Columbia and Guyana, and outside the Americas in Western Australia. For the past twenty years he has worked extensively in Guyana where he serves as a member of the national Scientific Advisory Board of the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology, as an Associate Editor of the national journal, the Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology, and as Archaeological Director of the Denis Williams School of Anthropology. He has received numerous grants and contracts in support of his research and has published over 340 works that include books, journal articles, monographs and technical reports. Dr. Plew’s primary research focus, however, and greatest interest over many years has been the archaeology of the Snake River Plain. He serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Archaeological Survey of Idaho and as editor of the Idaho Archaeologist, the journal of the Idaho Archaeological Society.
Articles & Conference Proceedings
A Collection of Crescents from the Alvord Desert Area, Southeastern Oregon, Idaho Archaeologist (2012)
Archaeological Test Excavations at the North Fork Overhang (35-ML-1325), Owyhee River, Southeastern Oregon (with Christopher A. Willson), Idaho Archaeologist (2012)
This paper reports on test excavations at the North Fork Rockshelter (35-ML-1325) located along the...
The Use of Contemporary Harvest Data as a Means of Thinking About Prehistoric Resource Depression (with Corrina I. Smith and Cynthia A. Bradbury), North American Archaeologist (2011)
The presence/absence of faunal remains are often used to suggest that shifts in prey choice...
An Early Holocene Age Sandal from Owyhee County, Idaho (with Christopher A. Willson), Idaho Archaeologist (2010)
The article presents information on a sagebrush sandal that was discovered in a cave located...
Archaic Hunter-Gatherer Diet Breadth and Prey Choice on the Snake River Plain, Journal of Northwest Anthropology (2009)
This article summarizes the zooarchaeological record of Archaic period occupations of Idaho's Snake River Plain....
Books
An Archaeological Survey and Assessment of the Vardis Fisher Property, Located Near Hagerman Idaho (with Christopher A. Willson, Brian Wallace, and Juli Walker), Faculty Authored Books (2008)
Archaeological Survey and Test Excavations of the Kabakaburi Shell Mound, Northwestern Guyana (with Gerard Pereira and George Simon), Faculty Authored Books (2007)
Draft Integrated Cultural Resources Management Plan (with Sharon Plager), Faculty Authored Books (2007)
The Archaeology of Antelope Creek Overhang, Southeastern Oregon (with Sharon Plager and Christopher A. Willson), Faculty Authored Books (2006)
Contributions to Books
Recent Discoveries of Pictographic Rock Art in the Rupununi Savannahs of Southern Guyana, American Indian Rock Art (2011)
Pleistocene-Early Holocene Environmental Change: Implications for Human Adaptive Responses in the Guianas, Anthropologies of Guayana: Cultural Spaces in Northeastern Amazonia (2009)
Late Archaic Fishing Along the Middle Snake River, Southwestern Idaho (with Russell T. Gould), Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Fishing Strategies (1996)
Native Traditions, Snake: The Plain and its People (1994)
Native peoples first encountered the Snake River canyons perhaps 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. Since...
Presentations
The Prehistory of the Indigenous Cultures of Guyana, Guyana United Nations World Indigenous Peoples Day Lecture (2011)
Recent Discoveries in the Prehistory of Guyana, Annual Science Lecture, Ministry of Culture, National Museum, Guyana (2010)