John McHugh

John McHugh earned a Master’s degree from Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah, USA) with a dual emphasis on Near Eastern and Native American Archaeology (1999). He has extensive archaeological excavation and survey experience throughout Syria, Jordan, and the American Southwest. He specializes in Near Eastern and Native American archaeoastronomy as well as American Indian rock art and possesses reading knowledge of Sumerian, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Qur’anic Arabic. He serves on the Board at the Utah Rock Art Research Association. He holds a valid teaching license and engages in educational outreach through the Utah Division of Antiquities and Smith Archaeological Conservancy. John is the lead archaeologist for the Utah Cultural Astronomy Project, which is committed to exposing and celebrated the wealth of scientific wisdom embedded in the religious cosmologies of Ancestral Puebloan peoples and their modern Puebloan descendants. 

His work has been read at the Society of Biblical Literature, and appeared on Good Morning America and National Public Radio (NPR). His current book, The Celestial Code of Scriptures (Monkfish Publishing), will appear in Autumn, 2021. Recent articles include: “The Mesopotamian Stellar Tableau that May Have Inspired Revelation 12:1-6,” European Journal of Science and Theology, Vol. 16, No. 6 (December 2020); “Losing Your Head over the Sun,” Ancient Origins (Sept. 2020, coauthored with Dr. John Lundwall). He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.