Lovis, William A.
(Ph.D. Michigan State University, 1973)
Professor
and Curator of Anthropology, MSU Museum
lovis@msu.edu

WILLIAM A. LOVIS, Professor and Curator of Anthropology at the MSU Museum, has been regularly engaged in fieldwork and analysis on projects in the coastal zone of Lake Michigan, the Saginaw Valley of Michigan and in West Yorkshire, England. He also collaborates on experimental work associated with food residue formation and interpretation of isotope signatures. His Great Lakes research focuses on hunter-gatherer adaptations and the transition to horticulture in the region as well as site formation processes, while his English work addresses issues of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer mobility in the central uplands on sites related to Star Carr. Dr. Lovis is currently President of the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Inc.

Michigan State University houses numerous Great Lakes/Michigan archaeological collections through the MSU Museum which are accessible to students for both research and curation training purposes. Most recently, these collections were central to a major geoarchaeological synthesis of data from southern Michigan floodplains and Lake Michigan coastal dunes, resulting in predictive temporal models for site burial and preservation in the region. The results of this research not only provides baseline paleoenvironmental information, but is used for planning and heritage management purposes.

A few recent publications include:

• Lovis, W. A. Between the Glaciers and Europeans: Michigan’s First People 12 000 B.P. to 400 B.P. In Michigan: Geography and Geology, edited by R. J. Schaetzl, J. T. Darden, and D. Brandt, pp. 389-401. Pearson Custom Publishing/Prentice-Hall, Boston, MA. 2009.
• Sauer, N. J., W. A. Lovis, J. Fillion, and M. E. Blumer. The Contributions of Archaeology and Physical Anthropology to the John McRae Case: A Trial and a Retrial. In Hard Evidence: Case Studies in Forensic Anthropology (Second Edition), edited by D.W. Steadman, pp. 122-132. Prentice Hall. 2009.
• Lovis, W. A. Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations and Alternate Perspectives on the Michigan Archaic: Research Problems in Context. In Archaic Societies: Diversity and Complexity Across the Midcontinent, edited by T. Emerson, D. McElrath, and A. Fortier, pp. 725-754. State University of New York Press, Albany. 2009.
• Lovis, W. A. and R. I. MacDonald. Paleoenvironments and Cultural Interaction: Great Lakes. In Archaeology in America: An Encyclopedia (Volume 2, Midwest and Great Plains/Rocky Mountains), edited by F. P. McManamon, L.S. Cordell, K.G. Lightfoot, and G. R. Milner, pp. 25-29. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport CT. 2009.
• Holman, M. B. and W. A. Lovis. Social and Environmental Constraints on Mobility in the Late Prehistoric Upper Great Lakes USA. In The Archaeology of Mobility: Old World and New World Nomadism, edited by H. Barnard and W. Wendrich, pp. 280-306. Cotsen Advanced Seminar 4. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles. 2008.
• Lovis, W.A. and G.W. Monaghan. Chronology and Evolution of the Green Point Floodplain and Associated Cucurbita pepo. In Current Research in Northeast Paleoethnobotany II, edited by J. P. Hart, pp. 141-150. Bulletin 512. New York State Museum, Albany. 2008.
• Hart, J. P. and W. A. Lovis. A Multi-regional Analysis of AMS and Radiometric Dates from Carbonized Food Residues. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 32:201-260. 2007.
• Hart, J. P., W. A. Lovis, J. K. Schulenberg and J. R. Urquhart. Paleodietary Implications from Stable Isotope Analysis of Experimental Cooking Residues. Journal of Archaeological Science 34:804-813. Elsevier Press. 2007.
• Hart, J. P. and W. A. Lovis. The Freshwater Reservoir and Radiocarbon Dates on Cooking Residues: Old Apparent Ages or a Single Outlier? Comments on Fischer and Heinemeier (2003). Radiocarbon, an International Journal of Cosmogenic Isotope Research 49:1403-1410. 2007.
• Evans, A. A., Y. B. Wolframm, R. E. Donahue, and W. A. Lovis. The Sourcing of “Black Chert”: Implications for Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherer Mobility Strategies in Northern England. Journal of Archaeological Science. 34:2161-2169. Elsevier Press. 2007.
• Monaghan, G. W. and W. A. Lovis. Modeling Archaeological Site Burial in Southern Michigan: A Geoarchaeological Synthesis. Environmental Research Series No. 1. Michigan Department of Transportation, Michigan State University Press, East Lansing. (v+278 pp, figures, tables, bibliography, appendices, 8.5 x 11, CD-ROM). 2005.
• Lovis, W. A. (Editor and Contributor) An Upper Great Lakes Archaeological Odyssey: Essays in Honor of Charles E. Cleland . Cranbrook Institute of Science, Bloomfield Hills. (xiv + 247 pp, figures, tables, references, index, 6 x 9). 2004.