Snow began his professional career in archeological research in 1966 at the
University of Maine, and established the first university-based archaeological research program in the state of Maine. Thereafter he continued to pursue his career at the
University at Albany, SUNY, in upstate New York, where he spent the next twenty-six years. Snow is known for his research into the
paleodemography of prehistoric populations in the highlands of Mexico, New England, New York and western Europe. His works include a new edition of
Archaeology of Native North America, co-authored with Nancy Gonlin and Peter Siegel, published in 2019. from which he used to construct a series of base maps that outlined earthworks, roads, and hidden foundations of old structures that existed at the time of the battles. In order to verify the identify of the various structures Snow performed numerous archeological test excavations in and around the battlefield, and in the process unearthed a number of artifacts, along with two human skeletons found at the location of the British
redoubts built in 1777. Snow's archaeological excavations and his research provided the basis for his 1977 work,
Archaeological Atlas of the Saratoga Battlefield, which includes 38 maps which uses a grid system of squares of 1000 x 1000 feet. Snow had originally wanted to use the metric system by instead used the English system of measurement as the latter was employed because the base maps used this system, as did the various map makers who outlined the battlefield in 1777. Snow also wrote an account of the project and his discoveries, in context with the actual battles, in his 2016 work,
1777: Tipping point at Saratoga. In 1977, given his extensive archeological research and works involved with the Indian nations of north-eastern United States, and the Indians of Maine in particular, Beginning in 1982 Snow initiated
The Mohawk Valley Project, which involved excavations and field investigations that continued over a 13-year period. To finance such an extensive project Snow received funding from the
National Endowment for the Humanities, the
National Science Foundation, the
National Geographic Society, and other such agencies. The undertaking involved twelve different projects involving site excavations and field testing along the
Mohawk Valley. The project included excavations at Cayadutta, Otstungo, and other locations along the Mohawk Valley and its river. The entire project proved to be the largest undertaking of Snow's career. Snow has developed techniques for distinguishing male from female hand stencils in European caves. The technical aspects of this research are outlined and charted in Snow's 2013 work. His techniques have focused on examples found in the
Upper Paleolithic caves in France and Spain, while his techniques have also been employed by others at archeological sites in North America and elsewhere. During his career Snow has received numerous awards and honors, including the
National Defense Education Act Fellowship for graduate study in anthropology, Senior Scholar Fellowship,
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D. C, and the Award for Service as President, Society for American Archaeology. ==Selected works==