Lewis H. Larson Jr. (1927-2012) was professor of anthropology at the University of West Georgia and state archaeologist for Georgia, a post he held 1972-1998. He was director of UWG's Waring Archaeological Laboratory from 1988 until his retirement in 1998.

Larson was born January 24, 1927 in Minnesota and earned a B.A. degree in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota in 1949, an M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1952, and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1969.

He held teaching positions at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, and Eastern Kentucky University, and the University of West Georgia.

Larson conducted fieldwork throughout Georgia, specializing on the Etowah site in northwestern Georgia and on the Georgia coast. He often divided his year between these two areas, working on the coast in the winter and at Etowah in the summer. On the coast, Larson conducted extensive site survey, including a search for Spanish missions that lead eventually to the discovery of Mission Santa Gatalina de Guale on St. Catherines Island.

Lewis H. Larson, Jr. died at the age of 86 in Carrollton on November 25, 2012.