Michael Waters
  • Professor
  • Regent’s Professor
  • University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
  • Director, Center for the Study of the First Americans
  • Center for the Study of the First Americans Endowed Chair
  • Executive Director North Star Archaeological Research Program
Research Areas
  • Archaeology

Biography

Dr. Michael Waters is the Director of the Center and Executive Director of the North Star Archaeological Research Program.  He is known for his expertise in First American studies and geoarchaeology.  Dr. Waters has conducted archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations in the United States, Mexico, Russia, Jamaica, and Yemen.  His current research projects include the investigation of the Debra L. Friedkin site and Hall’s Cave, Texas, as well as a continental scale project to radiocarbon date Late Pleistocene megafauna to determine the timing and tempo of extinctions and the role of humans in the demise of these animals.  He has authored or co-authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, books, and is the author of Principles of Geoarchaeology: A North American Perspective.  Dr. Waters received the 2003 Kirk Bryan Award and the 2004 Rip Rapp Archaeological Geology Award given by the Geological Society of America.  He became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2022 and a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2004.  In 2017, Dr. Waters became a Texas A&M University Distinguished Professor and in 2023 he became a Texas A&M University System Regents Professor.

Courses Taught:

  • ANTH 202 – Introduction to Archaeology
  • ANTH 401 – Ice Age Humans in North America
  • ANTH 489 – Paleoindian Archaeology
  • ANTH 624 – Geoarchaeology
  • ANTH 689 – First Americans Archaeology

 

Current Graduate Students:

  • Nicholas Bentley
  • Adam Burke
  • Tyler Laughlin

Research Interests

  • First Americans Studies
  • Geoarchaeology
  • Late Quaternary Geology

Current Research Projects

I am an archaeologist and geoarchaeologist and my work focuses on the first inhabitants of the Americas. Specifically, I focus on understanding when the first people arrived to the New World during the last Ice Age, where they came from, how they adapted to the environments they encountered, and how they got here. I focus my research on the investigation of Clovis and the evidence for occupation of the Americas before Clovis. I am also interested in the application of geological concepts and methods in the investigation of archaeological sites. I am a field-oriented scientist and conduct field work every summer.

Educational Background

  • PhD, University of Arizona, 1983

Selected Publications

    • O’Keefe, F. R., Dunn, R. E., Weitzel, E. M., Waters, M. R., and fourteen other authors, 2023, Pre-Younger Dryas megafauna extirpation at Rancho La Brea linked to fire-driven state shift.  Science, 381, eabo3594.  
    • Waters, M. R., Newell, Z. A., Fisher, D. C., McDonald, H. G., Han, J., Moreno, M., and Robbins, A., 2023, Late Pleistocene osseous projectile point from the Manis site, Washington—Mastodon hunting in the Pacific Northwest 13,900 years ago.  Science Advances v. 9, eade9068.   
    • Waters, M. R., Keene, J. L., Prewitt, E. R., Everett, M. E., Laughlin, T., and Stafford, T. W., 2021, Late Quaternary Geology, Archaeology, and Geoarchaeology of Hall’s Cave, Texas.  Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 274, 107276, 27 pages.  
    • Waters, M. R., Stafford, T. W., and Carlson, D. L., 2020, The Age of Clovis—13,050-12,750 cal yr B.P.  Science Advances v. 6, eaaz0455.
    • Waters, M. R., 2019, Late Pleistocene Exploration and Settlement of the Americas by Modern Humans.  Science, v. 365, eaat5447. 
    • Waters, M. R., Keene, J. L., Forman, S. L., Prewitt, E. R., Carlson, D. L., and Wiederhold, J. E., 2018, Pre-Clovis Projectile Points at the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas: Implications for the Late Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas.  Science Advances, v. 4, aat4505.
    • Halligan, J., Waters, M. R., and ten other authors, 2016, Pre-Clovis occupation 14,550 years ago at the Page-Ladson site, Florida, and the peopling of the Americas.  Science Advances, v. 2, e1600375.  
    • Waters, M. R., and Jennings, T. A., 2015, The Hogeye Clovis Cache, Texas. TAMU Press, 151 p.   
    • Jennings, T. A., and Waters, M. R., 2014, Pre-Clovis lithic technology at the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas: comparisons to Clovis through site-level behavior, technological trait-list, and cladistics analysis.  American Antiquity, v. 79, p. 25-44.
    • Driese, S. G., Nordt, L. C., Waters, M. R., and Keene, J. L., 2013, Analysis of site formation history and stratigraphic context at the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas.  Geoarchaeology, v. 28, p. 221-248. 
    • Waters, M. R., Forman, S. L., Jennings, T. A., Nordt, and nine other authors, 2011, The Buttermilk Creek Complex and the Origins of Clovis at the Debra L. Friedkin Site, Texas.  Science, v. 331, p. 1599-1603. 
    • Waters, M. R., Pevny, C. D., and Carlson, D. L., 2011, Clovis Lithic Technology: Investigation of a Stratified Workshop at the Gault Site, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 226 p. 
    • Waters, M. R., and Stafford, T. W., 2007, Redefining the age of Clovis: Implications for the peopling of the Americas: Science, v. 315, p. 1122-1126. 
    • Waters, M. R., 1992, Principles of Geoarchaeology: A North American Perspective: U Arizona Pr., 398 p.