Alabama archaeology soon became DeJarnette's kingdom, and he treated it much in that manner.[1] After participating in the foundation of the Alabama Archaeological Society in 1954,[2] he supported a joint effort between the University of Alabama, the Alabama Archaeological Society and the Archaeological Research Association of Alabama (ARAA) to identify buried Paleoindian remains.[8] This research spanned almost two decades and resulted in numerous surface surveys and excavations, many of which had DeJarnette serving as primary investigator, most notably at Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter and La Grange Rock Shelter.
In 1962, Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter produced the first Dalton traditionradiocarbon date in Alabama, approximately 7,000 years BC.[8] The shelter produced 11,395 lots of specimens and 157 cubic feet of collection.[9] In 1972, a charcoal sample from La Grange Rock Shelter was dated to 11,280 BC, at the time of discovery one of the oldest dates east of the Mississippi River. Though the radiocarbon data could not be directly associated with a culture, the sample was taken from a stratum located below a Dalton zone and is believed to represent a Paleoindian occupation of the shelter.[10][11]
DeJarnette was a founding member of the University of Alabama's Department of Anthropology,[1] served as long time editor of the Alabama Archaeological Society's publication, the Journal of Alabama Archaeology,[2] compiled the first summary of Alabama archaeology,[7] and edited the Handbook of Alabama Archaeology.[7] He also served as the Alabama delegate to the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, the Eastern States Archaeological Federation, the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association among others.[2][7] DeJarnette performed numerous studies of the Moundville Archaeological Site,[12] but perhaps his most influential legacy was his annual field schools at the University of Alabama from 1958 to 1975, which produced an army of trained researchers that continued his legacy of successful investigation and reporting of Alabama's prehistory.[7]
References
^ abcBlitz, John (2008). Moundville. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. p. 28.
^ abWalthall, John A., Vernon J. Knight Jr. and Gregroy Waselkov (2002). Alabama Archaeology in the Twentieth Century in Histories of Southeastern Archaeology. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. p. 196.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Webb, William S. and David L. DeJarnette (1942). An Archeological Survey of Pickwick Basin in the Adjacent Portions of the States of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Washington, DC: Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 1.
^DeJarnette, David (1952). Alabama Archaeology: A Summary in Archaeology of the Eastern United States. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. pp. 272–284.
^ abcdeKnight, James Vernon Jr. (1998). David Lloyd Dejarnette (1907-1991) in Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia by Guy E. Gibbon and Kenneth M. Ames. New York, New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 101–102.
^ abDeJarnette, David; et al. (1962). "Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter Excavations". Journal of Alabama Archaeology. 8 (1–2).