Founding Director: Jack Ives
John W. (Jack) Ives
Dr. Ives’ interests lie in Plains, Subarctic, Great Basin and Northeast Asian prehistory (Palaeolithic, Jin Dynasty), archaeological theory (kinship and economic organization), Paleoindian studies, and Public Archaeology. Now retired, some of the highlights of Dr Ives career at the University of Alberta include leading a large interdisciplinary project on the Promontory Caves of Utah looking for traces of Dene ancestors who had left Subarctic Canada and were on their way to becoming the Navajo and Apaches of the American Southwest. In addition, Dr. Ives maintains the Western Canadian Fluted Point Database, worked with many MA and PhD students on Besant and Sonota archaeological sites in Canada and the United States. He has also conducted research at the University of Alberta’s Mattheis Ranch north of Brooks, Alberta (Baseline Archaeological Research through the Rangeland Research Institute).
From 1979-2007, Ives served with the Archaeological Survey of Alberta, the Royal Alberta Museum, and the Historic Resources Management Branch, with senior management responsibilities as Alberta’s Provincial Archaeologist for 21 years, and extensive cross-ministry experience in Aboriginal policy initiatives (including leading the drafting team for Canada’s only repatriation legislation, the First Nations Sacred Ceremonial Objects Repatriation Act of Alberta). He has undertaken executive and curatorial roles in developing the World Heritage Site of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, the Royal Alberta Museum’s Gallery of Aboriginal Culture and international exhibitions (Rise of the Black Dragon). Ives is the recipient of the University of Michigan’s Distinguished Dissertation Award, three Alberta Premier’s Awards, and the University of Alberta’s Landrex Distinguished Professorship (2012-2017). He was honoured to receive the name Awoutaan from distinguished Blackfoot ceremonialists Allan Pard and Blair First Rider.
Dr. John (Jack) Ives founded The Institute of Prairie Archaeology (IPA) in May of 2008. The mission of the (then) IPA was “to conduct and promote archaeological, anthropological and interdisciplinary research in the northern Plains region of western Canada and the northern United States, intended to enhance public, First Nations and rural engagement with the University of Alberta in these research areas, and particularly, to provide leadership in the training of archaeologists through field schools and other professional work.”
Over his 11 years as Director, Dr. Ives developed the IPA into a research institute with focused strengths in research and graduate student training. He developed a community of scholars, from undergraduate students through to senior faculty, and established the foundations for dynamic collaborations and community engagement in archaeology. The foundational work of the Institute of Prairie Archaeology (IPA) has set the stage for expanding the scope and mandate of the Institute as it becomes the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology (IPIA).