Jeremy R. Davis
I’m a native of Savannah in the Georgia Low Country - a place rich in history, culture, and natural beauty - and my parents exposed me to anthropology long before I understood what the discipline was. It’s not surprising, then, that I felt drawn to study archaeology at this southern university. My interest in Southeastern Indians specifically was greatly enhanced by my undergraduate studies at the University of Georgia where I completed a double major in History and Anthropology in 2004. Every day of my summer before graduation was spent volunteering at the Berry site, a Catawba Indian town in the North Carolina foothills where conquistador Juan Pardo established one of several forts in the 1560s. This, my first field experience in archaeology, only encouraged me further.
I wanted to gain more practical experience before attending graduate school, so after graduation I joined Brockington Cultural Resources Consultants in Atlanta as an archaeological field technician. The next fourteen months were chock full of Phase III projects in and around Georgia: a large Late Mississippian/Contact period town on the upper Savannah River, a Late Archaic shell midden on the South Carolina coast, a Civil War cannonball, cannon, and ironclad factory in downtown Savannah, and an early 20th century stoneware kiln outside Augusta to name a few. Phase Is and IIs took me further afield: Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas. These varied projects introduced me to a range of field methods in addition to a smattering of Southeastern material culture.
I returned to the classroom once again in the fall of 2006, this time at the University of Alabama. With the direction of my advisor, Dr. John Blitz, my Master’s research involved comparing the distribution of certain lithic crafting residues and finished products between three late Moundville period hamlets. These data yielded insights into the nature of Moundville's economy during the period of the polity's decline from regional political preeminence. It was my great honor to be awarded 1st Place in the SEAC Student Paper Competition in 2008 for a paper based on this research.
The department has provided me with multiple opportunities for field work. I’ve served as teaching assistant for four departmental fall field schools beginning in 2007. Additionally, my summer of 2008 was spent in the hills of eastern Cuba at Chorro de Maíta (under Brooke Persons and Jim Knight), a late prehistoric/early historic Taino civic-ceremonial center and one of the island nation’s major tourist draws. I also acted as a staff archaeologist on the Graveline Mound Archaeological Project, summer 2010 (with Lauren Downs and John Blitz), one of the last surviving Late-Middle Woodland platform mounds on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In the fall of 2010, I directed field school excavations at Asphalt Plant Mound (1Tu50), an early Mississippian platform mound located less than half of a mile from the monumental arrangement at Moundville Archaeological Park.
I will soon begin doctoral field work in Moundville's plaza, investigating several subsurface anomalies recently brought to light by magnetometer and ground penetrating radar surveys (courtesy Drs. John Blitz and Chet Walker). My primary research interests include economy, ritual, identity, experimental archaeology, iconography, and the American Southeast. I spend my free time with my wife and dogs at our home in Northport. With optimism and enthusiasm, I am very much looking forward to the future.
Contact Mr. Davis at: jrdavis1@crimson.ua.edu
Office: 27 ten Hoor Hall - Archaeology Lab
Phone: (205) 339-3106