Founding Executive Director: 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. In a large interdisciplinary project, he is currently investigating the Promontory Caves of Utah 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. Ives maintains the Western Canadian Fluted Point Database, is working with MA and PhD students on Besant and Sonota archaeological sites in Canada and the United States, and is conducting 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.