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](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Burning_Tree_Mastodon_excavation_site%2C_Burning_Tree_Golf_Course.jpg)
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
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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