Current Research Projects Include:

Below we have listed a few of the current research projects that the Institute is involved in. We only conduct research on the highest ethical standards, ensuring that all parties involved (i.e., researcher, researched) are pleased with the results. Furthermore, we sign MOU's and other Memoranda with most of our clients guaranteeing that private information is kept private; intellectual property is not manipulated or disseminated without permission.

• Cultural Affiliation and Cultural Continuity within the American West. This long-term project takes a stance based on an epistemological praxis of epoche in looking at the question of cultural affiliation and cultural continuity between present-day American Indian tribes of the Plateau and Great Basin regions and those of the historic, prehistoric, and protohistoric record. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) guidelines are utilized for a in-depth inquiry into this issue. Because we do not take any particular stance (i.e., in favor of archaeological data, linguistic data, biological data, etc.) we are not clouded by our own presuppositions to the data itself. The first monograph from this research is now available in hardback. Click to buy on Amazon.

• The American Indian Source Book for Colorado. Compiles into one document all Federal, State, and County documents dealing with the American Indians of Colorado from 1700-2000. This document will be made free of charge to American Indian tribes, non-profits, and academic institutions in order to allow a proper understanding of the complex legal history that has taken place within Colorado that still effects various American Indian groups.

• The Introduction of Infectious Disease into the Great Basin and Plateau. This project critically reviews all previous research on the introduction of Old World disease such as smallpox, typus, and other diseases into the greater American West, as well as cross-referencing archaeological data and employing epidemiological demographic models. Preliminary results suggest that Old World infectious diseases arrived in the Plateau area by 1660, and slightly earlier in the Great Basin depending on the region. A preliminary article from the research is available here.

• An Assessment of the Shifting View of American Indians by Euroamerican Settlers in the West. This project is a reassessment of much of the early explorers journals, missionary documents, as well as anthropological studies that have discussed American Indians using postcolonial, oriental, and cultural relativistic theories as a baseline.

Previous Projects Include:

• Social Value Analysis: Elk Management Plan, Wind Cave National Park. Total Quality NEPA, National Park Service. Wind Cave, ND.
• Social Value Analysis: Fire Mitigation in Bandelier National Monument. Total Quality NEPA, National Park Service. Bandelier, NM.
• Social Value Analysis: Dogwalking in Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). Total Quality NEPA, National Park Service, San Francisco, CA.
• Cultural Uses of Natural Resources by Walker River and Yerington Paiute Tribes. Prepared for Yerginton Mine NRDA Board of Trustees, 2005. (#S012-4C-0697).
• American Indian mtDNA and Y Chromosome Genetic Data and the Peopling of North America. Boulder, Co: Bauu Institute Press. Click here to buy from Amazon.
• Old World Infectious Disease in the Plateau Region of North America: Re-thinking our Understanding of "Contact" in the Plateau. Journal of Northwest Anthropology, 37(1): 1-26.
• Current Limitations of mtDNA and Y chromosome testing to Infer American Indian Cultural Affiliation and Demographic History. The AnthroGlobe Journal, 2002.
• A Critical Evaluation of the Bureau of Land Management's Evidence for Determination of Cultural Affiliation of Ancient Human Remains from Spirit Cave, Nevada, by Barker, Ellis, and Damadio (July 26, 2000). Prepared for the Fallon Paiute Tribe, 2001; contracted through Walker Research Group.
• An Ethnographic Assessment of the BA Emitter Site. Prepared for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes and the Air Force Combat Command, 2001; contracted through Walker Research Group.
• Natural Resource Use and Cultural Use of the Leviathan Mine Impacts on the Washoe Tribe. Prepared for the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, 2001; contracted through Walker Research Group.
• A Preliminary Ethnographic Assessment of the Armstrong County Gunnery Range. Prepared for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, 2001; contracted through Walker Research Group.
• A Critial Examination of the Department of the Interior's Decision to Repatriate the Kennewick Human Remains. Prepared for the Yakama Tribe, Nez Perce Tribe, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and the Wanapam Band, 2001; contracted through Walker Research Group.
• A Preliminary Ethnographic Assessment of the Armstrong County Gunnery Range. Prepared for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, October, 2000; contracted through Walker Research Group.
• Anthropology, Tribes, and The Transformation of American Anthropology: A Few Observations. In High Plains Applied Anthropologist, Vol. 20, No. 1, Spring 2000; with Deward E. Walker, Jr.
• Other Perspectives on the Kennewick Man Controversy In American Anthropologist. 102(4):907-910; with Deward E. Walker, Jr.
• The Nez Perce. Essay for University of Washington/Library of Congress publication. Published On line August, 2000 .
• Implementing the Multicultural Curriculum. In Northwest Anthropological Research Notes, Vol. 32, No.2, Fall 1998; with Deward E. Walker, Jr.
• A Cultural Assessment of Riparian Habitats. Prepared for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Environmental Protection Department., October, 2000; contracted through Walker Research Group.
• A Cultural Assessment of the Cascade Reservoir Area. Prepared for the Bureau of Reclamation and the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, September, 1999; contracted through Walker Research Group.
• A Cultural Assessment of the Carson River Valley Area. Prepared for the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, July, 1999; contracted through Walker Research Group.
• Feasibility Study for Implementation of an Adventure Based Cruise Line in the Caribbean. Prepared for Rhumba Cruises, November, 1999.