Bob Donahue came to archaeology through the study of human ecology and earth sciences. He holds a bachelor's degree in biophysical environmental sciences and a master's degree in interdisciplinary archaeological studies. Bob has conducted field and laboratory work in archaeology and geomorphology for ten years. He worked mostly in the Midwest and Northern Plains before joining CRA in 2007 as a Field Supervisor and geoarchaeologist. His work experience has included an extensive amount of archaeological and geo-archaeological projects, and Bob has authored over 75 technical reports. He has worked on and supervised literature searches, phase I surveys, phase II evaluations, and phase III data recoveries as an archaeologist and geomorphologist. These projects have included Paleoindian, Archaic, Woodland, Protohistoric, and Historic sites. He has also worked on cultural resource management plans, consultation with Native American tribes, and prehistoric and historic site monitoring programs on reservoir systems. Besides fieldwork, Bob has spent many hours in laboratories analyzing artifacts and sediment for professional and research projects.
In addition, Bob has presented papers at regional and national conferences on topics ranging from Paleoindian site formation and chemical markers in cultural deposits and soil development to preservation of traditional cultural properties. His latest work is co-authorship on a book on the Fish Lake Dam Site to be published by the Minnesota Archaeological Society. His areas of interest lie especially in geoarchaeology, in particular site formation processes in alluvial and glacial deposits, and the effects of the environment on human settlement patterns, resource utilization, and tool manufacture/use. He is also interested in the procurement and distribution of native copper from the Great Lakes region and the development of wild rice and maple sugar use, including modern and traditional cultural usage.
When not working on archaeology, Bob likes to remain active as an environmentalist (from his days as a “tree hugger” in the 1980s) and is interested in preserving watersheds and maintaining native plant communities such as indigenous emergent vegetation and prairies. Bob also plays several instruments, including the bass guitar, flute, and various percussion instruments. He has arranged and recorded the vocal music of the French Canadian voyagers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and has researched Native American music.