Dennis J. Stanford (born 13 May 1943) in Cherokee, Iowa[1] is an archaeologist and Director of the Paleo-Indian Program at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution.[2] Along with Prof. Bruce Bradley, Stanford is known for advocating the Solutrean hypothesis, which contends that stone tool technology of the Solutrean culture in prehistoric Europe may have influenced the development of the Clovis tool-making culture in the Americas.
He is one of the nation foremost authorities on the early inhabitants of North America.[3]