Rate My Professor Reid Ferring

Reid Ferring, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of North Texas, is an archaeologist and geologist whose work exemplifies Geoscience research. He holds a Ph.D. in Archaeology from Southern Methodist University and a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Texas at Dallas. His research specializations include Quaternary geology, geoarchaeology, Paleoindian archaeology of the North American Great Plains, and Early Paleolithic archaeology in Eurasia. Ferring has conducted fieldwork in Texas, Oklahoma, Israel, Portugal, and Crimea. Since 1995, he has been a member of the Dmanisi Project in the Republic of Georgia. Dated to approximately 1.85 million years ago, the Dmanisi site is the oldest archaeological site in Eurasia and has yielded over 70 human fossils attributed to the earliest Homo erectus, thousands of animal fossils, and stone artifacts.

Over his 40-year career at the University of North Texas, Ferring discovered the Aubrey Clovis Site (41DN479) in North Texas, recognized as the oldest campsite in North America. He assembled a team of leading U.S. experts, producing the seminal report 'The Archaeology and Paleoecology of the Aubrey Clovis Site (41DN479), Texas' in 2001. His contributions to the Dmanisi excavations have secured nearly two decades of external funding and resulted in publications in Nature and Science, including 'Earliest human occupations at Dmanisi (Georgian Caucasus) dated to 1.85–1.78 Ma' (PNAS, 2011) and 'Earliest Pleistocene Hominid Cranial Remains from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia' (Science, 2000), along with a feature in National Geographic. Ferring also co-edited 'Earth Sciences and Archaeology: Paradigms, Practices, and Prospects' (2001). He served as Department Chair twice and Interim Chair, participated in hiring every current department member, and elevated the program's stature. Ferring taught courses such as Physical Geology, Soils Geomorphology, Geology of Texas, Origins of Civilization, and regional archaeological surveys. He advised graduate students on theses covering technological change among Archaic and Late Prehistoric populations in North Texas, geoarchaeology in Texas alluvial settings, and site formation processes at Aztec Ruins, New Mexico, while supervising projects on soils-vegetation relationships in the Trinity River Valley.