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R.E. BURRILLO
RALPH "R.E." BURRILLO is a researcher, author, conservationist, and cultural preservationist. He holds a Master of Science in Archaeology from the University of Utah and is a Research Associate with Archaeology Southwest. His writing has appeared in Kiva, American Antiquity, Archaeology Southwest Magazine, Colorado Plateau Advocate, and The Salt Lake Tribune, along with many regional publications. He is also the author of Behind the Bears Ears: Exploring the Cultural and Natural Histories of a Sacred Landscape, which was chosen by ForeWord Book Reviews as their critic's choice in nonfiction for the year 2020; and The Backwoods of Everywhere: Words from a Wandering Local, an essay collection published in 2022. He currently lives in Tucson, AZ.
BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR
COMING APRIL 2026
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Living History, Stolen Pasts, and Defending the Future
A gripping, often irreverent exploration of the past, present, and future of archaeology in America.
Archaeology has long captivated the American public, yet pop culture mythology often obscures the harsh realities, thrilling discoveries, and complex moral decisions that archaeologists confront out in the field. Journalist and conservation archaeologist R. E. Burrillo illuminates the joys and contradictions of digging into humanity’s past: the history of the practice, its evolution into science, the influences of nationalism and colonialism, and its ongoing problems with exploitation and misrepresentation.
Now, profit-driven practices are shaping how we study and preserve the past—and pose a serious and growing threat to our scientific and cultural understanding of history itself. With rollicking storytelling and an insider’s expertise, Burrillo challenges us to celebrate curiosity even as we rethink what archaeology is, whom it serves, and what’s at stake for our future and our understanding of ourselves as a species.
“Burrillo's observations are acerbic and erudite, as well as funny and big-hearted.”
—BETSY GAINES QUAMMEN, True West
BEHIND THE BEARS EARS
Exploring the Cultural and Natural Histories of a Sacred Landscape
For more than 12,000 years, the wondrous landscape of southeastern Utah has defined the histories, cultures, and lives of everyone who calls it home. Archaeologist and conservationist R. E. Burrillo takes readers on a journey of discovery through the stories and controversies that make this place so unique, from traces of its earliest inhabitants through its role in shaping the study of Southwest archaeology itself—and into the modern battle over its protection.
"Fierce yet playful, admonishing and ambitious, Behind the Bears Ears is as vast and consuming as the landscape itself.”
—AMY IRVINE, Desert Cabal
THE BACKWOODS OF EVERYWHERE
Words from a Wandering Local
After an upstate New York childhood and a bartending stint in New Orleans’ French Quarter, seasonal resort work led R. E. Burrillo to the desert Southwest, whose redrock landscapes were a source of stability through mental and physical illness. In The Backwoods of Everywhere, archaeologist Burrillo excavates his past, examining Indigenous and tourist cultures, the complexities of American archaeology, and what it means to be a local. In the vein of Bill Bryson, Tim Cahill, and Ellen Meloy, Burrillo’s is a fresh voice in humor-spiked nature writing and cultural commentary.
“Mixing fighting words and wonder, Burrillo extends the boundaries of ‘backwoods’ to back yards, city riots, and the depth of the Grand Canyon. He reminds us to be vexed, amused, and serious about the mark we put on the world.”
—CRAIG CHILDS, The Wild Dark and Tracing Time