Bradley Thomas Lepper (born November 19, 1955) is an American archaeologist best known for his work on ancient earthworks and

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

peoples in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Lepper is the Curator of Archaeology and Manager of Archaeology and Natural History at the

Ohio History Connection Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...

Background

Lepper is a native of

Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan statistical area and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area, t ...

and graduated from Hudson High School in 1974. He has continued to live in Ohio apart from his time at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

, where he received his bachelor's degree after transferring from the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classifie ...

. Lepper earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Career

Lepper began his career as curator at the

Newark Earthworks The Newark Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Ohio, consist of three sections of preserved earthworks: the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks, and the Wright Earthworks. This complex, built by the Hopewell culture between 100 BCE and ...

and

Flint Ridge State Memorial Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries and Nature Preserve is a Native American flint quarry located in Hopewell Township, Licking County, Ohio, about three miles north of Brownsville at the intersection of Brownsville Road and Flint Ridge Road. Old q ...

after interning with the

Ohio Department of Transportation The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT; ) is the administrative department of the Ohio state government responsible for developing and maintaining all state and U.S. roadways outside of municipalities and all Interstates except the Ohio T ...

. He is known for the excavation of the

Burning Tree mastodon The Burning Tree Mastodon site in Heath, southern Licking County, Ohio, represents the location where the most complete skeleton of American mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammu ...

, which took place in December 1989 during expansion of a golf course in

Licking County, Ohio Licking County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. At the 2020 census, the population was 178,519. Its county seat is Newark. The county was formed on January 30, 1808, from portions of Fairfield County. It ...

and which eventually resulted in rethinking then-current ideas about mastodons' diets. The story made Discover Magazine's top fifty science stories in 1991. Burning Tree Mastodon excavation site, Burning Tree Golf Course

Burning Tree Mastodon excavation site, Burning Tree Golf Course

Lepper is also known for his work on the Great Hopewell Road and

Serpent Mound The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-foot-long (411 m), three-foot-high prehistoric effigy mound located in Peebles, Ohio. The mound itself resides on the Serpent Mound crater plateau, running along the Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio. ...

Awards

Society for American Archaeology The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) is a professional association for the archaeology of the Americas. It was founded in 1934 and its headquarters are in based in Washington, D.C. , it has 7,500 members. Its current president is Deborah L. ...

Book Award (2007, for ''Ohio Archaeology: An Illustrated Chronicle of Ohio's Ancient American Indian Cultures'') * Ohio Archaeological Council Public Awareness Award (2008)

Publications

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References

External links

Ancient Ohio Trail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lepper, Brad 20th-century American archaeologists 21st-century American archaeologists 1955 births Living people People from Hudson, Ohio