Dr. Rose received his B.A. degree in anthropology in 1969 from the University of Colorado at Boulder where he studied archaeology and geology. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in biological anthropology, specializing in dental anthropology, from the University of Massachusetts, graduating in 1973.
He taught for three years at the University of Alabama in Birmingham before joining the University of Arkansas in 1976. His early interests were in the areas of developmental enamel defects and dental histology. In addition to working with the teeth of ancient peoples, he did experimental work with sheep and mice. Rose’s interests shifted to the general area of bioarchaeology where he conducted general skeletal and dental research, including mortuary site excavations, in the Lower Mississippi Valley and Trans-Mississippi South, working with both prehistoric and historic skeletal samples. His main interests are in CRM contract bioarchaeology and bioarchaeological syntheses and literature reviews covering large geographic areas.
More recently, Dr. Rose has worked in the Middle East and has excavated mortuary sites in Egypt and Jordan. He currently assists in conducting bioarchaeological analyses on the excavated human skeletal remains at the site of Amarna, Egypt. He is actively involved with the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.