Dr. Keith Eppich

Tyler Junior College is set to begin training future anthropologists.

Dr. Keith Eppich recently joined the full-time faculty at TJC, and he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in anthropology and archeology to the classroom. He holds multiple degrees from Louisiana State University and San Diego State University, and a Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University.

Eppich joined his first archaeological project at age eight at Bedico Creek, Louisiana. Since then, he has excavated Tchefuncte shell mounds, Pleistocene bone beds, antebellum plantations, California missions, Chumash camp-sites, and ancient Maya cities.

With his co-directors, he heads the Proyecto Arqueológico Waka’, a large-scale and long-term archaeological project in northwestern Guatemala, at the ruined city of El Perú-Waka’.

There he excavated one of the seven great tombs from the site and is involved in planning a major presentation of these materials in North Texas.

Eppich holds bachelor’s degrees in history and anthropology as well as a master’s in education from Louisiana State University, a master’s in anthropology from San Diego State University and a master’s and doctorate in anthropology from Southern Methodist University. 

He specializes in the study of the Classic Maya ceramic arts, Native American urbanism and the Mesoamerican economy. He has recently published on all three.

He is the author of the forthcoming volume Lineage and State at El Perú-Waka’: ceramics and the social history of the Classic Maya city-state and the co-editor of Breath and Smoke: Tobacco among the Maya.

“We are excited to add anthropology to our curriculum, and with Dr. Eppich’s experience, these classes will be fascinating to the students,” History/Geography Department Chair Dr. Jeffrey Owens said. “We’re always looking to build the credentials, abilities and breadth of our faculty.”