Scott F. Anfinson is a retired Minnesota State Archaeologist and current advisor on the Minnesota Statewide Survey of Historical and Archaeological Sites Board. He received his bachelor's degree in anthropology with an archaeology specialty from the University of Minnesota. After finishing his master's degree work in anthropology/archaeology at the University of Nebraska, he was hired by the Minnesota Historical Society to lead the Minnesota Municipal-County Highway Archaeology Survey.

He became the first full-time archaeologist for the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office (MnSHPO), helping to implement the National Historic Preservation Act. He also taught cultural heritage management at University of Minnesota's Anthropology Department. In 2019 he was awarded a Fulbright Research Grant to the University of Oslo in Norway to study CHM. In 2023, he was awarded a second Fulbright to Norway.

Anfinson has written and edited numerous publications including Practical Heritage Management (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), Manual for Archaeological Projects in Minnesota (2011), Southwestern Minnesota Archaeology (1997), The Archaeology of the Central Minneapolis Riverfront (1989, 1990), and A Handbook of Minnesota Prehistoric Ceramics (1978). He has served as president of the Council for Minnesota Archaeology and editor of the Minnesota Archaeologist.