Sabo Named Director of Arkansas Archeological Survey

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George Sabo III

LITTLE ROCK – George Sabo III, a professor of anthropology and environmental dynamics at the University of Arkansas, will be the next director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey, a division of the University of Arkansas System.

Sabo, who has served as an archeologist with the survey for more than 30 years, will replace  Thomas J. Green, who will retire June 30 after more than 20 years as director of survey, a statewide research, public service and educational institution with 11 research stations. UA System President Donald R. Bobbitt selected Sabo after a national search for a new director.

“Dr. Sabo has led an outstanding career with extensive experience in archeological research and public service. His familiarity with the work of the survey will be a major asset to the organization moving forward,” Bobbitt said. “I’m also grateful for Dr. Tom Green’s service as director of the survey the past two decades. I know a little bit about the challenge of following someone who has done a job so wonderfully for so long, but I’m confident that Dr. Sabo is up to the task of continuing Dr. Green’s outstanding work.”

With a mission to study and protect the archeological heritage of Arkansas, the Arkansas Archeological Survey works to preserve and manage information and collections from archeological sites and communicate its findings to the people of the state.

“I am grateful to Dr. Bobbitt for entrusting me with the survey directorship, and I look forward to working with him to pursue our mission in support of the University of Arkansas System,” Sabo said.

Sabo has served as the Arkansas Archeological Survey research station archeologist at the University of Arkansas since 1979. During that time he has secured more than $1 million in grants and contracts, including three major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has written, co-authored and edited 12 books and monographs and contributed to the award-winning University of Arkansas Press volume, Arkansas: A Narrative History, which recently released its second edition.

Sabo has directed several major archeological research projects in Arkansas, including excavations of pre-Columbian Indian mound sites, excavation of a Buffalo River site with a 10,000-year record of occupation and investigations of historic sites including the Van Winkle Mill in Hobbs State Park and Conservation Area.

Sabo earned his B.S., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology from Michigan State University. Before joining the survey, he worked as an assistant archeologist for the Michigan Department of State and as an instructor at Michigan State University and the University of Windsor.

Green has been director of the survey since 1992. Prior to joining the Arkansas Archeological Survey, Green was the Idaho State Archeologist and deputy state historic preservation officer where he was in charge of Section 106 review and National Register programs.

Green’s publications deal with pre-Columbian Native American life, the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act and cultural resource management. He received a B.A. in anthropology from the University of Southern California in 1968 and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Indiana University in 1977.

About the Arkansas Archeological Survey

The mission of the Arkansas Archeological Survey is to study and protect the 13,000-year archeological heritage of Arkansas, to preserve and manage information and collections from archeological sites and to communicate what is learned to the people of the state. The survey has 11 research stations across the state, each with a full-time doctoral-level archeologist associated with regional higher education institutions and state parks. The archeologists conduct research, assist other state and federal agencies and are available to local officials, amateur archeologists, landowners, educators and students in need of information about archeology or archeological sites.