Steven R. Simms is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He conducted archaeological field work across the United States and in the Middle East for over 45 years. His areas of specialty are the prehistory of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau, evolutionary ecology, archaeological method and theory, history, and theories of anthropology. Simms has authored over 100 scientific publications. His books, Ancient Peoples of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau was published in 2008, and the award-winning Traces of Fremont: Society and Rock Art in Ancient Utah was published in 2010 (Society for American Archaeology Book award public audience category and Utah Book Award nonfiction). He has directed over 60 archaeological research projects, most in the context of Cultural Resource Management. He served as President of the Great Basin Anthropological Association and editor of the journal Utah Archaeology and is a Fellow of the Utah Professional Archaeological Council. He served on the Government Affairs Committee and as annual meeting Program Chair of the Society for American Archaeology. He served on numerous government committees including the Utah Governors committee to draft the Utah version of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. He served as an expert witness for the Bureau of Land Management in the case of Spirit Cave Man, Nevada. In retirement, Professor Simms continues to write papers, serving as the Editor for the “Pioneers” section of the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology.

He is currently collaborating with avocational archaeologist Jeff Clapp in Moab, Utah on a project, Ancient Peoples of the LaSal Borderlands. He lives with his partner Judy Nelson, a ceramicist and artist, in their home on “Piney Island” at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains, Story, Wyoming.