James Olan Mills,[1] also known as Jay Mills,[2] is an American archaeologist primarily known for his work in paleopathology and the excavations at Nekhen (Hierakonpolis), the capital of Upper Egypt in the late 4th millennium BC, ancient Egypt's Protodynastic Period.
[3] He was a professor with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida,[1] with a particular focus on Egyptology, paleopathology,[4][5] and the importance of beer and bread in ancient Egyptian culture and health.
[6][7] He served as codirector of the Egyptian Studies Association at the University of South Carolina[1] and worked with its excavations in Nekhen, participating under Michael Hoffman in 1985–6[8][9][10][11] and directing them in 1987–8[12] and the early 1990s[2][13][14] with Walter Fairservis,[15][16][17] and returning in the late 1990s under Barbara Adams and Renée Friedman.
[18] In 1986, together with Ahmed Irawy Radwan, he discovered and studied a petroglyph which possibly preserves a predynastic record of the solstices which influenced the development of the 365-day Egyptian civil calendar.
[19] He also assisted with the archaeological survey during the establishment of Old Santee Canal Park near Charleston, South Carolina.