Matthew J Rowe

Interests

Research

North American Paleoindians, Northern Arizona, Environmental Reconstruction, Lithics

Teaching

Human Evolution, Archaeology, Environmental Archaeology, Experimental Archaeology

Courses

No activities entered.

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Rowe, M. J., Branam-Macauley, K. M., Finley, J. B., Twoleggings, H. B., & Finley, C. (2022). Connections, Relationships, and the Land. In Ecopedagogies. Routledge.
• Rowe, M. J., & Finley, J. B. (2021). Enhancing Cultural and Environmental Justice Outcomes Under NEPA and NHPA.. In EJ in the Anthropocene: From (Un)Just Presents to Just Futures. Routledge Publishing.
• Bailey, K. S., Rowe, M. J., & Adams, E. C. (2020). The Curious Case of Bunnies: Human Behavioral Ecology Perspectives on Fauna from Homol’ovi I, Room 733. In Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Special Voulme.

Journals/Publications

• Rowe, M. J., Charles Adams, E., Clark, D., Cundiff, R., Bailey, K. S., & Soza, D. R. (2022). Perspectives on Collector Collaboration. Advances in Archaeological Practice, 10(Issue 1). doi:10.1017/aap.2021.44
  More info

  In 2019, we launched the Northern Arizona Paleoindian Project to expand on findings from the Rock Art Ranch (RAR) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU; NSF#1262184). The REU recovered 24 Paleoindian artifacts in association with drainages. Expansion of the research required mitigation of the patchwork landownership in the area, which encouraged a collector-collaboration model following Pitblado (2014) and Douglass et alia (2017). We held public events in collaboration with a network of agencies, avocational groups, collectors, and landowners to assess potential for Paleoindian archaeology in the area. In March 2020, however, the COVID-19 pandemic halted our efforts, allowing us to evaluate our project and practice. We find that tapping into existing local networks of responsible resource stewards (RRS) can greatly accelerate project development. We also find that private collections are endangered, and preserving this portion of the archaeological record requires documentation and long-term curation. Most importantly, we find that archaeologists working with collectors are uniquely positioned to build bridges between Indigenous communities, RRS, and professional archaeologists to help stabilize legacy collections and that this focus should drive collector-collaboration research design. Ultimately, the project must move toward a community-based participatory research design to seek equitable and culturally appropriate curation plans for local legacy collections.
• Thomas, S., Wessman, A., Pitblado, B. L., Rowe, M., & Schroeder, B. (2022). Professional-Collector Collaboration: Global Challenges and Solutions. Advances in Archaeological Practice, 10(Issue 3). doi:10.1017/aap.2022.20
  More info

  This introductory article foregrounds the articles in this special issue, Professional-Collector Collaboration: Global Challenges and Solutions, complementing the special issue Professional-Collector Collaboration Moving beyond Debate to Best Practice, also published in Advances in Archaeological Practice. The articles that we introduce here cover examples and case studies from European settings such as Norway, the Czech Republic, England, Wales, Finland, and Belgium - places that have been exploring how to respond to the challenge of working meaningfully with collectors and finders of archaeological artifacts, especially metal detectorists. These are joined by examples from Australia, Mexico, Uruguay, and even the United States, in the context of handling - at first glance - problematic collections originating from elsewhere. The articles are diverse in their settings and the challenges they describe, but they point to the need for participatory and democratic approaches to archaeological heritage and the different publics that engage with it.
• Johnson, M., Rowe, M. J., Lien, A., & Lopez Hoffman, L. (2020). Examining compatibility and conflicts in the integration of Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge into Natural Resource Conservation Service cost-share incentives.. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.
• Rowe, M. J., Adams, E. C., Bailey, K. S., Rowe, M. J., Bailey, K. S., & Adams, E. C. (2020). The curious case of bunnies: interpretation of the lagomorph index from Homol’ovi I, Room 733. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 12(7), 1-13. doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01089-z
  More info

  Applications of lagomorph indices to faunal assemblages in the American Southwest have produced a complex series of hypotheses and explanations for the changing ratio between Sylvilagus (cottontail rabbits) and Lepus (jackrabbits) in the archaeological record. Archaeologists attribute shifts in the lagomorph index (LI) to variation in the natural environment, modification of the landscape by Native Americans, changes in human hunting behaviors, and depression of Lepus populations through differential hunting. Couched within the logic of human behavioral ecology (HBE), LI attempts to connect species representation to environmental change and human decision-making. The varied ecosystems, cultures, and environments of the American Southwest complicate this connection and make some interpretations better suited to different subregions. In this paper, we report results from the analysis of faunal remains from Room 733 at Homol’ovi I, an ancestral Hopi site near Winslow, Arizona. Room 733 dates to the Late Homol’ovi Phase (LHP) 1385–1400 but also includes dates from the Early Homol’ovi Phase (EHP) 1330–1365. We calculate the LI for both phases to evaluate different explanations for shifts in the LI relative to regional moisture patterns. We find that while most explanations for changing LI are interconnected, changing environmental moisture, human hunting behaviors, and depression of Lepus populations do not fully explain the shifting LI. We suggest that human niche construction provides the most satisfactory explanation for changing lagomorph representation in the assemblage from Homol’ovi Room 733.
• Rowe, M. J., Baldwin, E., & Finley, J. (2019). Accountability or merely “good words”? An analysis of tribal consultation under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. Arizona Journal of Environmental Law and Policy.
• Rowe, M. J., Finley, J. B., & Baldwin, E. A. (2018). Accountability or merely “good words”? An analysis of tribal consultation under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.. The Arizona Journal of Environmental Law and Policy.
• Herrmann, E. W., Nathan, R. A., Rowe, M. J., & Mccleary, T. P. (2017). BACHEEISHDÍIO (PLACE WHERE MEN PACK MEAT). American Antiquity, 82(1), 151-167. doi:10.1017/aaq.2016.5
  More info

  Bacheeishdiio (“Place Where Men Pack Meat”), now called Grapevine Creek in English, is the subject of Crow oral traditions that document the cultural significance of the landscape and celebrate centuries of bison hunting in the drainage. We report an ongoing, community-based project that integrates archaeological field training and research goals into a collaborative indigenous archaeology project supporting the expressed goal of the Crow Tribal Historic Preservation Office to prepare a district-level nomination for the Grapevine Creek drainage basin. This paper describes findings from field investigations that document buffalo jump locales, a previously unreported bison bonebed, and associated archaeological features in the drainage, grounding Crow oral traditions that document buffalo jumps and large-scale bison hunts firmly into the landscape. We take a holistic approach that incorporates multiple lines of evidence to assess the archaeological record associated with bison jumps and bison hunting on the Crow Reservation in southern Montana. Results of this project include an enriched understanding of the Grapevine Creek archaeological record, greater awareness of buffalo hunting strategies on the northwest Plains, and, through field training, enhanced cultural resource management capabilities for the Crow Tribal Historic Preservation Office.
• Herrmann, E. W., Rowe, M. J., Nathan, R. R., & McCleary, T. P. (2017). Bacheeishdíio/Place Where Men Pack Meat.. American Antiquity.
• Rowe, M. J. (2016). The Casper Site: A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains. Plains Anthropologist, 61(239), 275-277. doi:10.1080/00320447.2016.1209857
• Rowe, M. J., Finley, J. B., & Branam, K. M. (2014). Putting America’s Archaeological Resources to Work: Three Tangible Benefits of Archaeological Preservation at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.. SAA Archaeological Record.

Presentations

• Rowe, M. J., Finley, J. B., Baldwin, E. A., & DeMinck, R. (2017, Spring). Tribal Consultation and Collaborative Governance: Environmental and Cultural Justice through the Lens of the National Environmental Policy Act (1969) and the National Historic Preservation Act (1966).. Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene. Colorado State University, Fort Collins Colorado.

Reviews

• Rowe, M. J. (2016. The Casper Site: A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains..