Aaron J. Mayer, M.A., RPA
Aaron J. Mayer, M.A., RPA
Senior Archaeologist
Anthropology Department
Education
M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (thesis option) Archaeology/Political Science, 2016, University of South Dakota; B.A. in Anthropology, 2014, University of South Dakota
Biography
In graduate school, Aaron J. Mayer specialized in paleoethnobotany and the study of macrobotanicals. Mayer studied the Formative Period and the Middle Horizon Period of Peru. After gaining his graduate degree, Mayer worked on block excavations in the Wyoming High Plains near Rawlins during the summer of 2016. During time not participating in excavations, Mayer participated in field investigations with Augustana Archaeology Laboratory on projects for the Nebraska and Minnesota Historical Societies from 2015-17.
In 2017, Mayer worked as a civil servant for the South Dakota Archaeological Research Center (ARC) as a staff archaeologist. His interests there focused upon past human plant use, experimental archaeology, flint knapping, Paleolithic research, public outreach, Great Plains archaeology and South Dakota history. While at ARC, Mayer completed a multitude of Section 106 undertakings and site evaluations for the South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT), South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (SDGFP) and the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE), and he's worked with Yankton Sioux Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPO’s) and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
In 2018, Mayer achieved his Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA-17284) membership. In September 2018, Mayer co-authored a paleontological study on Gadens Point-Belle Fourche Reservoir with Renee Boen for the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), and in 2019, he co-authored another paleontological study for the BOR at Shadehill Reservoir with Boen. In 2020, Mayer returned to the Augustana Archaeology Laboratory full time.
Mayer has been published in the Journal of Ethnobiology, Journal of Archaeological Science, South Dakota Archaeology Society (SDAS) journals, SDAS Newsletters and has edited a memoir of the Vietnam War called “My Vietnam Year. Vietnam 1970-71. A Year that Changed my Life” by Henry Hines. He is also a co-author on “The Water Cure. Carlsbad Spring Company Sanitarium and Bath House. 39FA1294 Cascade Medicinal Springs Mitigative Excavation. Fall River County” with the South Dakota State Historical Society. Mayer is the current treasurer of the SDAS. His interests lie in the paleoethnobotany of the Peruvian Wari, Great Plains American Indian cultures and Euro-American settlers.