August 2005 FAIR Conference

John E. Clark earned his B.S. and M.A. in archaeology from Brigham Young University, and his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1994. He is currently a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Brigham Young University where, for many years, he directed BYU’s New World Archaeological Foundation. At BYU, he was awarded the Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Research Award in 2005 and, in 2008, was chosen to deliver the Martin B. Hickman Outstanding Scholar Lecture for the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences.

Among his numerous publications are, with Michael Blake, “El origen de la civilizacíon en Mesoamérica: Los olmecas y mokaya del Soconusco de Chiapas, México,” in El preclásico o formativo: Avances y perspectivas (1989); “A Key for Evaluating Nephite Geographies,” Review of Books on the Book of Mormon (1989); “Olmecas, olmequismo, y olmequización en Mesoamérica,” in Arqueología (1990); “The Beginnings of Mesoamerica: Apologia for the Soconusco Early Formative,” in The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica (1991); with Michael Blake, “The Power of Prestige: Competitive Generosity and the Emergence of Rank Societies in Lowland Mesoamerica,” in Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World (1994); as editor, Los Olmecas en Mesoamérica (1994); “Los olmecas, pueblo del primer sol,” in Los Olmecas en Mesoamérica (1994); “Antecedentes de la cultura olmeca,” in Los Olmecas en Mesoamérica (1994); “Mesoamerica Goes Public: Early Ceremonial Centers, Leaders, and Communities,” in Mesoamerican Archaeology (2004); “The Birth of Mesoamerican Metaphysics: Sedentism, Engagement, and Moral Superiority,” in Rethinking Materiality: The Engagement of Mind with the Material World (2005); with Michelle Knoll, “The American Formative Revisited,” in Gulf Coast Archaeology, the Southeastern U.S. and Mexico (2005); “Archaeological Trends and the Book of Mormon Origins,” BYU Studies (2005); “Archaeology, Relics, and Book of Mormon Belief,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (2005); as editor, with Mary E. Pye, Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2006); with Mary Pye, “The Pacific Coast and the Olmec Question,” in Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica (2006); with Michael Blake, Richard G. Lesure, Warren D. Hill, and Luis Barba, “The Residence of Power at Paso de la Amada, Mexico,” in Palaces and Power in the Americas: From Peru to the Northwest Coast (2006); with David Cheetham, “Investigaciones recientes en Cantón Corralito: Un possible enclave olmeca en la costa del Pacífico de Chiapas, México,” in XIX Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2005 (2006); “Mesoamerica’s First State,” in The Political Economy of Ancient Mesoamerica: Transformations During the Formative and Classic Periods (2007); “Who’s Minding Production?” in Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association; “In Craft Specialization’s Penumbra: Things, Persons, Action, Value, and Surplus,” in Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association (2007); “La Alba de Mesoamérica,” in Procesos y Expresiones de Poder, Identidad y Orden Tempranos en Sudamérica (2007); “The Arts of Government in Early Mesoamerica,” in Annual Review of Anthropology (2007); with Arlene Colman, “Time Reckoning and Memorials in Mesoamerica,” in Cambridge Archaeological Journal (2008); “Teogonia Olmeca: Perspectivas, Problemas y Propuestas,” Olmeca, Balance y Perspectivas: Memoria de la Primera Mesa Redonda (2008); “Las Sociedades Complejas del Occidente de México en el Mundo Mesoamericano,” in Homenaje al Dr. Phil C. Weigand: El Origin del Estado en Mesoamérica (2009); “Hands and Hearts: How Aztecs Measured Their World,” in Mesoamerican Voices (2009).

Wade Ardern is originally from New Zealand. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Waikato. He received a Nibley Fellowship while pursuing graduate studies in archaeology at Brigham Young University, where he completed a master’s degree in anthropology. Wade served as a research assistant for John L. Sorenson at FARMS, worked with the New World Archaeological Foundation, and was a research associate for John E. Clark at BYU. Since 2003, he has taught for Seminaries and Institutes, including at the Church College of New Zealand and various locations in Cache Valley, Utah. Since 2018, he has been an instructor at the Logan Institute of Religion at Utah State University. Wade married Jessica Chandler in the Portland Oregon Temple, and they have five children.

Matthew Roper (MS from Brigham Young University), is a resident scholar at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University.