John White has been a professor of anthropology and archaeology for more than 35 years. Presently the chair of the department at Youngstown State University, Dr. White is actively involved in field research covering a wide range of interests. His research has resulted in the publication of more than 200 scholarly articles, reports, monographs, and books on various subjects ranging from archaeological method and theory to Native American civil rights and Ohio and Oregon prehistory, early ironmaking, archaeoastronomy, and industrial archaeology. He is the local forensic anthropologist and along with his students is involved in local crime scene investigations. He has been awarded six research professorships and on five occasions has been voted Distinguished Professor. Since 1980, he has been involved in archaeology as a teaching tool in elementary and secondary schools. It was this latter interest that led to the writing of this book for teachers.

He presently is working on a book on forensic anthropology for students in grades 6?12. He enjoys acting--he has been in more than 25 plays--and sitting on his deck with a good book and a pair of binoculars for bird watching. Mattie Oveross is curriculum director at E.A. Young Academy and a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of North Texas.