Ben Pelletier

Ben Pelletier grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He received his early field school experience in underwater archaeology, but changed directions shortly after he fell in love with the Colorado Plateau while living in Flagstaff. He attended Northern Arizona University, first receiving a B.A. in Anthropology and a B.S. in Environmental Studies, and later an M.A. in Archaeology.

Ben has worked in archaeology for the last 10 years, most of which has been spent working for private Cultural Resource Management (CRM) companies in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. He spent a year working in Maui for Aina Archaeology, a Hawaiian-owned CRM firm. During this period, Ben documented and mapped hundreds of agricultural features and trained staff for the Ho’Opai vocational field school.

In addition to working for private CRM firms, he has also been employed by the National Park Service at Glen Canyon Recreation Area and Mesa Verde. At Mesa Verde, Ben supervised condition assessment and architectural documentation for the alcove site Oak Tree House. Ben has also worked for the Museum of Northern Arizona on a variety of projects, including an overview of ethnographic literature about the geological blowholes at Wupatki National Monument.

Ben served as an instructor for the Archaeology Southwest–University of Arizona Preservation Archaeology Field School in 2022, teaching students about archaeological survey and fieldwork. He is passionate about the protection of culturally significant and ecologically sensitive landscapes. Ben recently relocated to Aztec, New Mexico, where he assists Paul Reed as a Preservation Archaeologist. When not at work, Ben prefers to spend time outside and around water.