Welcome Scott Dersam, New MAS President

Dr. Scott Dersam was elected the new MAS president at the 2023 meeting of the Montana Archaeological Society in Helena.

Scott was born and raised in Montana and has worked professionally as an archaeologist since 2014. He holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Montana, Missoula, an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Wyoming, Laramie, and a B.S. in Anthropology from Montana State University, Bozeman.

Dersam has years of experience in varying forms of archaeological research, spanning the foothills and mountains of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the High Plains, the Great Basin, and Yellowstone National Park. Dersam’s field and laboratory research specializes in high-elevation North American hunter-gatherer settlement patterning, alpine occupation duration, spatial statistical modeling, Pleistocene landscapes, and the evolving cultural mountain adaptations of the Rocky Mountains.

Scott has supervised public and professional archaeological research efforts in the mountain ranges of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, focusing primarily on the Beartooth Wilderness of Montana since 2018. Dersam’s research has appeared in a special issue of The Journal of Hunter-Gatherer Research (2023), guest edited by Dersam, as well as the National Forest Overview for the Gallatin National Forest (2024).

Dersam has worked for multiple cultural resource management firms working professionally in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Texas. Dersam has also worked for the USDA Forest Service in Wyoming and taught at the collegiate level at the University of Montana, and Montana State University. Currently, Dersam teaches at Montana State University, Bozeman, is the Senior Project Manager and Montana Office Director for Cannon Heritage Consultants, in addition to being the founder, principal investigator, and research director of the Alpine Ecosystems Research Institute (AERI).

AERI is a member-supported, grant-funded 501(c)(3) nonprofit that conducts multi-disciplinary research focused on clarifying the evolving relationships between humans, montane ecosystems, and their native species. Our mission is to promote the conservation and restoration of montane ecosystems by conducting cutting-edge research, developing innovative restoration strategies, and engaging in public education and outreach efforts. AERI conducts ongoing interdisciplinary undertakings that investigate behavioral, technological, and environmental foci associated with evolving human-mountain relationships over the late Pleistocene and Holocene in the mountain ranges of the GYE and greater Rocky Mountains.

AERI has held annual 30-day field research opportunities in Montana’s Beartooth and Bridger mountains since the summer of 2018. This research aims to clarify how ancient cultures behaviorally, technologically, and demographically adapted to and evolved with high-elevation environments spanning the past 13,000 years on the Yellowstone Plateau. Our team of experts is dedicated to advancing the understanding of these complex systems and providing actionable insights that will help protect and preserve the deep culture, natural beauty, and biodiversity of our alpine ecosystems for generations to come. Our board members and affiliated researchers include professors and emeritus professors in wildlife biology, ecology, geography, linguistics, Native American studies, anthropology, and archaeology. AERI is partnered with Paleocultural Research Group (PCRG).