Personnel

Bighorn has assembled a highly qualified staff experienced in all types of work. Our key personnel meet or exceed the qualifications established in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines (48 FR Part IV).

Dale R. Gourley and Jon R. Baxter serve as Principal Investigators for Bighorn. They are responsible for the management and compliance of all archaeological projects. In addition to these principals, Bighorn employs a staff of trained archaeologists and office support personnel who will assist in field work, report preparation, archival research, and administration.

The principal investigators working on projects involving prehistoric or historic resources have all of the necessary federal and state antiquities permits. If ARPA permits are required for special excavation or monitoring work, Bighorn has the ability to acquire them.

Dale R. Gourley, Principal Investigator / Co-owner
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‍Dale has over 16 years experience working as an archaeologist in the Great Basin and Southwest on projects in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. He holds an MA in Anthropology from Brigham Young University and a BS degree in Anthropology from the University of Utah. Additional experience includes one field season in the Near East where he worked on a Classical-age temple in southern Jordan. He has served as a principal investigator, site supervisor / field supervisor and crew chief on numerous projects and has authored and coauthored numerous cultural resource technical reports. His expertise includes all phases of field archaeology, the use of global positioning systems, total station mapping equipment, archival research, report writing, map generation, and studies in ancient jewelry.

Jon R. Baxter, Principal Investigator / Co-owner
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‍Jon received both his MA and BS degrees in Anthropology from Brigham Young University. He has over 15 years of experience in archaeology and cultural resource management in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada. He has been a principal investigator on a number of survey and excavation projects within Utah, including several in Southwestern Utah, i.e. Capitol Reef National park, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Sand Hollow near St. George. Aside from Jon’s experience from running a small business, he also has an extensive knowledge of field archaeology, site testing and excavation, data recovery, and monitoring construction activity. In addition, he has experience in the preparation of technical reports, including writing, editing, formatting, and generating graphics.

Aaron Jordan, Field Supervisor
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‍Aaron has received BS degrees in Anthropology from Brigham Young University in 2001. He has over 10 years of experience in archaeology and cultural resource management in Utah and Nevada. His field experience has placed him on multiple projects throughout the state of Utah, and he has been the primary director of fieldwork for Bighorn since joining the staff three years ago. Before his arrival to Bighorn, his employment with the Fishlake National Forest trained him to work as a field supervisor and team manager on all types of archaeological projects. His experience also involves knowledge of field archaeology, site testing and excavation, data recovery, and monitoring construction activity.