James M. Skibo
James M. Skibo (born January 7, 1960) is an American archaeologist and currently is the Wisconsin State Archaeologist. His archaeological research focuses on the production and use of ceramics as well as the theory of archaeology and ethnoarchaeology. He is mainly concerned with the Great Lakes, the Southwest United States, and the Philippines. Education and career. Skibo studied anthropology at Northern Michigan University from 1978 to 1982 and received a Bachelor of Science, Magna cum laude. He then attended the University of Arizona from 1982 to 1990 studying with the late William A. Longacre and Michael Brian  Schiffer. There he received a Master of Arts in 1984 and a Ph.D. in anthropology in 1990. Since 1992 he has been at Illinois State University, where he taught as an assistant professor from 1992 to 1995, as an associate professor from 1996 to 2001, and since 2001 as a full professor. In 2012 he was appointed Distinguished Professor. Since 2014 Skibo has served as the Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Skibo is the publisher of the book series "Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry" and was the co-editor of the "Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory" from  2000 to 2018. He is a member of the Society for American Archaeology, the Wisconsin Archaeological Society, the Midwestern Archaeological Conference, the Michigan Archaeological Society, and the Illinois Archaeological Survey. Skibo is married and has two children. Research. In the 1980s he took part in various excavations and surveys in Arizona, often under the direction of Paul R. Fish. From February to June 1988, he conducted an ethnoarchaeological ceramic investigation among the Kalinga in the northwest of the Philippine island of Luzon as part of the Kalinga Ethnoarchaeological Project. From 1999 to 2001, he was, together with William H. Walker , one of two co-directors of the La Frontera Archaeological Research Program, a four-year project to explore Joyce Well, a 14th century Pueblo located in the southwest of New Mexico. Since 2000, Skibo, along with Eric Drake, has been the Director of the Grand Island Archaeological Field Program, a joint project of Illinois State University and the Hiawatha National Forest, which not only has explored the settlement history of Grand Island but it has also included the training of archaeologists in field research techniques.