Interests: Archaeological ecology; hunter-gatherers of western North America and temperate environments; land-use practices; tool-stone and cook-stone technology; heritage resources management; site-formation processes; cooperative-research with American Indians & other archaeological stakeholders
Research Backbround:
Prior to joining the full-time TAMU faculty in 2001, Dr. Thoms spent 25 years directing archaeological projects in the Pacific Northwest while at Washington State University aand Eastern Washington University
as well as in the Plains, Southwest, and Southeast through Texas Tech University, Benham-Blair & Affiliates (engineering/environmental consulting firm) and Texas A&M University where he served five years
(1990-1995) as Associate Director and six years (1995-2001) as Director of the Center for Ecological Archaeology. His fieldwork in Texas spans more than 30 years, during which time he worked closely with
avocational archeologists, Native American groups, Civil War enthusiasts, and local historical organizations.
Current Research
Dr. Thoms, his students, and colleagues are investigating long-term changes in hunter-gatherer land-use patterns on the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas and in the Northern Rocky Mountains of Washington, Idaho,
and Montana. This research focuses on the roles of wild root foods and cook-stone technology in land-use intensification, as well as on natural site-formation processes that confound evidence thereof. Dr. Thoms
conducts his research through his laboratory in the Anthropology Building, the Archaeological-Ecology Laboratory. He continues to work collaboratively with Native American groups and other archeological stakeholders.
His graduate students’ research involves wild plant-food microfossils and their preservation in the archaeological record, cook-stone features, and food storage.
His research at TAMU has been published in:
- Archaeology of Prehistoric North America: An Encyclopedia
- Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society
- Current Research in the Pleistocene
- Discovering Archaeology-Scientific American
- Geoarchaeology: An International Journal
- Historical Archaeology
- Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
- Journal of History and Culture
- Journal of Scientific Archaeology
- La Tierra: Bulletin of the Southern Texas Archaeological Association
- Lithic Technology
- Plains Anthropologist
- Prehistory Series, Editions Monique Mergoil, France
- Reports of Investigations Series, Center for Ecological Archaeology, TAMU
- Texas Forum on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
Courses taught at TAMU:
- Introduction to Archaeology, ANTH 202
- Indians of North America , ANTH 301
- Field Research in Anthropology, ANTH 330 and 660
- Indians of Texas, ANTH 419
- Archaeological Methods and Theory, ANTH 602
- Prehistory of Texas , ANTH, 620
- Cultural Resources Management, ANTH 645
- Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology, ANTH 653
- Special topics, Ancient Food and Cooking Technology, ANTH 689
- Special topics, Human Ecology of Northwest North America, ANTH 689
- Special topics, Ecological Perspectives in Heritage Resources Management, ANTH 689
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