Dean Snow

Career

Snow began his professional career in archeological research in 1966 at the University of Maine, and established the first university-based archaeological research program in the state of Maine. Thereafter he continued to pursue his career at the University at Albany, SUNY, in upstate New York, where he spent the next twenty-six years. During this time he served as Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, and Associate Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Snow is known for his research into the paleodemography of prehistoric populations in the highlands of Mexico, New England, New York and western Europe. His works include a new edition of Archaeology of Native North America, co-authored with Nancy Gonlin and Peter Siegel, published in 2019. Snow has conducted archeological explorations and research in northeastern United States, and in Spain and France.

While in New York Snow conducted archaeological field investigations and excavations for the Park Service at the Saratoga battlefield from 1972 to 1977 in preparation for the 1977 bicentennial of the battle. Under the supervision of Snow, archeological teams from the State University of New York, at Albany, conducted one of the first extensive mapping operations at any major historic battlefield in the United States. Snow relied heavily upon low altitude aerial photographs, covering an area of approximately ten square miles, from which he used to construct a series of base maps that outlined earthworks, roads, and hidden foundations of old structures that existed at the time of the battles. In order to verify the identify of the various structures Snow performed numerous archeological test excavations in and around the battlefield, and in the process unearthed a number of artifacts, along with two human skeletons found at the location of the British redoubts built in 1777. Snow's archaeological excavations and his research provided the basis for his 1977 work, Archaeological Atlas of the Saratoga Battlefield, which includes 38 maps which uses a grid system of squares of 1000 x 1000 feet. Snow had originally wanted to use the metric system by instead used the English system of measurement as the latter was employed because the base maps used this system, as did the various map makers who outlined the battlefield in 1777. Snow also wrote an account of the project and his discoveries, in context with the actual battles, in his 2016 work, 1777: Tipping point at Saratoga.

In 1977, given his extensive archeological research and works involved with the Indian nations of north-eastern United States, and the Indians of Maine in particular, the U.S. Department of Justice asked Dr. Snow for his assistance as a historical consultant in the preparation of their case on behalf of the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Indian tribes involving land claims they had made against the State of Maine. At that time the case was considered one of the largest such claims ever made in the United States.

Beginning in 1982 Snow initiated The Mohawk Valley Project, which involved excavations and field investigations that continued over a 13-year period. The project was conceived in 1980 during discussions between Snow, and fellow archeologist William A. Starna. Starna provided valuable assistance to Snow during the first two projects, proving crucial to the project's long-term success. To finance such an extensive project Snow received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and other such agencies. The undertaking involved twelve different projects involving site excavations and field testing along the Mohawk Valley. The project included excavations at Cayadutta, Otstungo, and other locations along the Mohawk Valley and its river. The entire project proved to be the largest undertaking of Snow's career.

From 1989 to 1991 Snow was Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University at Albany. In 1995 Snow continued his career at Pennsylvania State University, and served as head of the department of anthropology for ten years

Snow has developed techniques for distinguishing male from female hand stencils in European caves. The technical aspects of this research are outlined and charted in Snow's 2013 work. His techniques have focused on examples found in the Upper Paleolithic caves in France and Spain, while his techniques have also been employed by others at archeological sites in North America and elsewhere.

During his career Snow has received numerous awards and honors, including the National Defense Education Act Fellowship for graduate study in anthropology, Senior Scholar Fellowship, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D. C, and the Award for Service as President, Society for American Archaeology.