The Robert E. and Virginia Bell Endowed Professor in Anthropological Archaeology
Ph.D. University of Arizona, 1999
Office: Dale Hall Tower 521A
Email: bonnie.pitblado@ou.edu
The Robert E. and Virginia Bell Endowed Professor in Anthropological Archaeology
Ph.D. University of Arizona, 1999
Office: Dale Hall Tower 521A
Email: bonnie.pitblado@ou.edu
Archaeology, Paleoindian period, North America, Rocky Mountains.
I am an archaeologist with interests in the initial peopling of the New
World more than 13,000 years ago, and particularly in the initial
peopling of the Rocky Mountains. I have spent more than 25 years
exploring when, why, and how First
Nations people began using the high altitude environments of the
Rockies, with most of my field work focused on the Gunnison Basin
(Colorado). Contrary to most thinking when I began my research, I have
learned that early people made something of a beeline
for our nation’s backbone, and once in the Rockies, used them
extensively (and sometimes intensively) and for a wide range of
interesting reasons. Since joining the OU faculty in 2012, I have
expanded my research interests to include Oklahoma’s upland areas,
terminology that may strike some as an oxymoron but is anything but.
Oklahoma has six mountainous regions—all quite different from one
another (and certainly very different from the Rockies)—and yet all
intriguing in terms of how prehistoric people may have
used them. In addition to these research interests, I am passionate
about and strongly committed to public archaeology and to finding ways
to share what I do with members of the public. I therefore founded and
direct the Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network
(OKPAN), which sponsors a wide range of statewide programs, including
our annual “archaeology month” each October, a biennial “Oklahoma
Archaeology Conference,” curricula development for K – 12 classrooms, an
archaeological skills workshop series, and more.
For details, visit okpan.org.
2017 Pitblado, B.L. and K. Rademaker. Introduction to the thematic issue, The Peopling of High-Altitude Landscapes of the Americas. Quaternary International 461:1-3.
2016 Pitblado, B.L. Paleoindian Occupation of the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado Rocky Mountains. North American Archaeologist 37(1):20-60.
Pitblado, Bonnie L. 2014 How Archaeologist and Artifact Collectors Can—and Should—Collaborate to Comply with Legal and Ethical Antiquities Codes. Advances in Archaeological Practice 2(4):338- 352.
Pitblado, Bonnie L. 2014 An Argument for Ethical, Proactive, Archaeologist – Artifact Collector Collaboration. American Antiquity 79(3):385-400.