Dr. Herrmann is a geoarchaeologist and Principal Investigator at Far Western using Earth science methods and theories to understand the context of archaeological sites. His training and research are multidisciplinary, straddling the fields of anthropology, archaeology, history, geology, and earth science. His work provides insight into how people lived in the past, the environments and resources people exploited, and how archaeological sites are altered through time. Ed has experience working in a wide range of environments, time periods, cultures, and settings. His research interests are broad and include project planning, sediments, stratigraphy, stone and bone tools, human evolution, predictive modeling, public outreach, and descendant community engagement. Ed is an active leader of field schools that train participants in both archaeology and Earth sciences in places like Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and the Great Plains. His has applied his expertise in areas as diverse as Indiana, Utah, Montana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Wyoming, as well as Germany.
Dr. Herrmann was the inaugural Executive Director of the IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology where he directed the new museum’s concept, design, social justice mission, and research focus while fostering relationships with Native colleagues to provide an Indigenous voice to the museum. During this time, he oversaw the IU Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Office and worked with American Indian communities to repatriate IU’s NAGPRA-related collections to associated tribes. Ed also works with the International Commission on Missing Persons.
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Selected Publications
Hawkins, Rebecca A., R. Scott Willard, Julie L. Olds, Jayne-Leigh Thomas, and Edward W. Herrmann
n.d. At the Speed of Trust: Building Collaborative Tribal-Institutional Relationships In Collaborative and Community Engaged Archaeology, edited by Carolyn, Dillian, M.K. Clary, C. Bello, editors, University of Florida Press, Gainesville. (Spring 2026).
Herrmann, Edward, W., and Mackenzie Cory
n.d. Modeling Early Paleoindian settlement and mobility in Indiana. In Paleoindians in the Midcontinent, edited by B. Koldehoff and H. Wright. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas. (Spring 2026).
Romain, William, Edward W. Herrmann, H. Martin, E. A. Barefoot, and S. Scott
2025 High resolution lidar drone imagery assessment of the Rattlesnake Mound complex at Cahokia, Illinois, USA. The Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 50(1):31-62.
Herrmann, Edward W., Rebecca Hawkins, Christina Friberg, Jayne-Leigh Thomas, Jack Rossen, and August Costa
2023 Furrows without Ridges: Evidence for an Agricultural Field at Angel Mounds (12Vg1), Southwestern Indiana, USA. Journal of Field Archaeology 48(7):534-550. DOI: 10.1080/00934690.2023.2259179
Romain, William F., and Edward W. Herrmann
2022 An archaeoastronomic assessment of Angel Mounds, Indiana with commentary on Moundville, Alabama and Cahokia, Illinois. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 47(1):25-46 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5406/23274271.47.1.02
Stollhofen, Harald, Ian G. Stanistreet, Nicholas Toth, Kathy D. Schick, Agata Rodríguez-Cintas, Rosa M. Albert, Paul Farrugia, Jackson K. Njau, Michael C. Pante, Edward W. Herrmann, Lana Ruck, Marion K. Bamford, Robert J. Blumenschine, Fidelis T. Masao
2021 Olduvai’s oldest Oldowan. Journal of Human Evolution 150:102910.
Herrmann, Edward W., and G. William Monaghan
2019 Post-glacial drainage basin evolution in the midcontinent, North America: implications for prehistoric human settlement patterns. Quaternary International 511:68-77. DOI: /10.1016/j.quaint.2018.02.005.
Herrmann, Edward W., Rebecca A. Nathan, Matthew J. Rowe, and Timothy McCleary
2017 Bacheeishdiio/ place where men pack meat. American Antiquity 82(1):151-167. DOI: /10.1017/aaq.2016.5.
Herrmann, Edward W.
2016 How bedrock-controlled channel migration can structure selective preservation of archaeological sites: implications for modeling Paleoindian settlement. Geoarchaeology 31(1):58-74. DOI: /10.1002/gea.21537.
Herrmann, Edward W., G. W. Monaghan, W. F. Romain, T. M. Schilling, J. Burks, K. L. Leone, M. P. Purtill, A. C. Tonetti
2014 A New Multistage Construction chronology for the Great Serpent Mound, USA. Journal of Archaeological Science 50:117-125. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2014.07.004.