Robert J. Jeske
jeske@uwm.eduSabin Hall 275B,

Robert J. Jeske

Professor Emeritus

Degree(s)

PhD, Northwestern University

Courses Taught

Anthro 103 - Digging Up the Past: Approaches to Archaeology
Anthro 304 - Violence and Warfare in Prehistory (online)
Anthro 308 - Archaeology of North America
Anthro 501 - Archaeology of Death
Anthro 502 - Lithic Analysis: Stone Tools and Behavior
Anthro 562 - Techniques and Problems in Archaeology
Anthro 566 - Archaeological Analysis and Report Preparation
Anthro 567 - Archaeological Field School
Anthro 802 - Perspectives on Prehistory
Anthro 942 - Seminar on Prehistory and Archaeology (The Organization of Lithic Technology)

Research

My research interests include archaeological method and theory–particularly how economics and population interactions foster group identity and ethnicity. I also actively investigate stone tool production and use, survey methods and settlement models, mortuary studies, canine activities, site formation processes and experimental archaeology. I have performed fieldwork in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New Mexico, and Ireland. I am currently collaborating on a number of interrelated projects with colleagues and students using radiocarbon, lithic, ceramic, copper, osteological, and environmental data to clarify the culture history and lifeways in the western Great Lakes region. I am also involved in public archaeology and historic preservation and have worked with government, non-profit, Tribal, and private organizations to use archaeology to serve the public interest.

Relevant Professional Activities

President, Midwest Archaeological Conference (2014-2016)
Senator, UW Milwaukee Faculty Senate (2012-2017)
Board of Directors, Wisconsin Archaeological Survey (2011-2017)
Chair, UW Milwaukee Department of Anthropology (2004-2008)
Treasurer, Midwest Archaeological Conference (2003-2005)
President, Wisconsin Archaeological Survey (2001-2003), Vice President, (1999-2000)
Board of Directors, Central States Anthropological Association (1999-2001)
Director, UW Milwaukee Archaeological Research Laboratory (1997-present)
Indiana State Historic Preservation Review Board (1991-1997)
Board of Directors, Council for the Conservation of Indiana Archaeology (1990-1995) Secretary-
Treasurer (1991-1994)
Executive Board of Directors, Illinois Archaeological Survey (1989-1991; 1998-2000)

Selected Publications

Jeske, R. J., Edwards, R. W., & Katherine, S. M., eds. (2020, May). Life, Death, and Landscapes at Lake Koshkonong: Oneota Archaeology in Southeastern Wisconsin. Midwest Archaeological Conference Occasional Publications /Taylor and Francis.
Jeske, R. J., Sterner, K. M., & Edwards, R. W. (2020, May). New Perspectives from Lake Koshkonong. Life, Death, and Landscapes at Lake Koshkonong: Oneota Archaeology in Southeastern Wisconsin, 4, 1-26. Midwest Archaeological Conference Occasional Publications /Taylor and Francis.
Jeske, R. J., Edwards, R. W., & Katherine, S. M., eds. (2020, May). The Social Landscape of Eleventh to Fifteenth-Century Lake Koshkonong. Midwest Archaeological Conference Occasional Papers, 103–118. Midwest Archaeological Conference Occasional Publications /Taylor and Francis/.
Karsten, J. K., Jeske, R. J., Edwards, R. W., Strange, D. M., Kubehl, K., & Behm, J. A. (2019, February). Assessing subsistence and cultural relationships in the late prehistoric Upper Midwest: a new perspective provided by dental health. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1-14.
Edwards, R. W., Jeske, R. J., & Coltraine, J. B. (2017, May). Preliminary Evidence for the Efficacy of the Canine Surrogacy Approach in the Great Lakes. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 13, 516-525.
Jeske, R. J., & Brown, J. A. (2017). Chipped Stone Assemblage. Brown, J. A. (Ed.). Mound City: The Archaeology of a Renowned Hopewell Mound Center, 6, 251-304. Lincoln, Nebraska: National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior.
Sterner, K. M., & Jeske, R. J. (2017, January (1st Quarter/Winter)). A Multi-Method Approach to Inferring Early Agriculturalists'Stone Tool Use: The Crescent Bay Hunt Club Site. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, 41(1), 1-27.
Jeske, R. J., & Sterner-Miller, K. M. (2015, August). Microwear Analysis of Bipolar Tools from the Crescent Bay Hunt Club Site (47JE904). Lithic Technology, 40(4), 366-376.
Arnold, B., & Jeske, R. J. (2014, August). The Archaeology of Death: Mortuary Archaeology in the United States and Europe 1990-2013. Annual Review of Anthropology, 43, 325-346.