Dale R. Gourley, Principal Investigator / Co-owner

Dale has over 16 years experience working as an archaeologist in the Great Basin and Southwest on projects in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.  He holds an MA in Anthropology from Brigham Young University and a BS degree in Anthropology from the University of Utah.  Additional experience includes one field season in the Near East where he worked on a Classical-age temple in southern Jordan.  He has served as a principal investigator, site supervisor / field supervisor and crew chief on numerous projects and has authored and coauthored numerous cultural resource technical reports.  His expertise includes all phases of field archaeology, the use of global positioning systems, total station mapping equipment, archival research, report writing, map generation, and studies in ancient jewelry.

Jon R. Baxter, Principal Investigator / Co-owner

Jon received both his MA and BS degrees in Anthropology from Brigham Young University.  He has over 15 years of experience in archaeology and cultural resource management in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada.  He has been a principal investigator on a number of survey and excavation projects within Utah, including several in Southwestern Utah, i.e. Capitol Reef National park, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Sand Hollow near St. George. Aside from Jon’s experience from running a small business, he also has an extensive knowledge of field archaeology, site testing and excavation, data recovery, and monitoring construction activity. In addition, he has experience in the preparation of technical reports, including writing, editing, formatting, and generating graphics.

Robert B. Nash, Project Manager

Robert is currently a PhD. Candidate in Anthropology at the University of California, Davis where he received an M.A. in Anthropology.  He also received an M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, Illinois, and a B.A. in Anthropology from Brigham Young University.  Robert has approximately 10 years working as an archaeologist in Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming.  He has served as project director, field supervisor, assistant director, and field assistant on a number of projects in these areas and has authored / co-authored technical reports for several of these projects.  His expertise includes all phases of field archaeology, archival research, report writing, lithic analysis, and faunal bone analysis.

Aaron Jordan, Field Supervisor

Aaron received a BS degree in Anthropology from Brigham Young University in 2001.  He has over 12 years of experience in archaeology and cultural resource management in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.  His field experience has placed him on multiple projects throughout the state of Utah, and he has been the primary director of fieldwork for Bighorn since joining the staff five years ago.  Before his arrival to Bighorn, his employment with the Fishlake National Forest trained him to work as a field supervisor and team manager on all types of archaeological projects.  His experience also involves knowledge of field archaeology, site testing and excavation, data recovery, and monitoring construction activity.

Samira Z. Hall, Field Supervisor

Samira earned her BA in Anthropology from Brigham Young University and her MA in Anthropology from the University of Houston.  She has over six years of archaeological research and field experience in Arizona, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.  She spent one field season at a Bronze Age Village along the Euphrates River in Northern Syria excavating and restoring pottery. Her thesis focused on the application of lithic reduction sequences and methodologies to shell tool manufacturing along the Gulf of Mexico coastline.  Samira has served as a crew chief, field supervisor and lab manager.

Steven Hall, Staff Archaeologist/Historian

Steve has over six years of archaeological experience working in Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. He earned his BA in Anthropology from Brigham Young University and his MA in History from the University of Houston – Clear Lake. His MA was a dual emphasis in European and American History. Steve’s field experience includes serving as crew chief, running digital mapping equipment and the use of remote sensing devices such as resonance imaging and metal detectors on historic sites. He has worked at many important historical sites, including the San Jacinto Battlefield in Texas. Steven has coauthored technical reports for projects in Texas and Utah.

Larry Pate, Staff Archaeologist

Larry has over five years of experience on prehistoric and historic investigations throughout Utah and Nevada.  He is an expert flintknapper and has taught numerous lithic workshops throughout Utah.  His archaeological research interests focus on debitage analysis and its ability to shed light on technological organization.

Megan Rogers, Staff Archaeologist

Megan earned her BS in anthropology from the University of California, Riverside in 2009. There, she focused on lithic analysis, field methods, and assisted in the sorting and cataloging of collections for various sites from Jordan. Prior to graduating, she was employed by the Eastern Information Center, where she performed literature searches and processed records and reports. She spent a field season at the historic El Persidio de Santa Barbara, in Santa Barbara, California, excavating and analyzing the artifacts. Since graduating, she has worked on several projects in Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona. She has experience with survey and excavation.

Kara Kawakami, Staff Archaeologist

In May 2010, Kara received a BS in anthropology and a minor in print journalism from Utah State University. Her experience includes survey, site recordation, excavation, human burial excavation, construction monitoring, GPS operation, labwork, and many styles of news and technical writing. She has worked in Arizona, Nevada, and the southern, central and northern areas of Utah. Her other interests are osteology, ethnoarchaeology, folklore, and cultural anthropology.

Logan Hunt, Staff Archaeologist

Logan Hunt graduated with a BA in anthroplogy and a minor in fine art from Portland State University. He has over 5 years of field experience in Utah, California, and New Mexico. He has participated in two excavations abroad: in Israel, with the IAA, (Israeli Antiquities Authority) and in Jordan, at an Iron Age copper smelting site. Logan has worked as a field technician, crew chief, and construction monitor. He is also experienced in artifact analysis and report writing and production. His other interests include Middle Eastern Archaeology and mapping technology with its archaeological implications.