Thomas Des Jean

Thomas Des Jeanis an Americananthropologistwho has conducted extensivefield researchin theAmerican Southeast,in CRM (cultural resources management), and has worked for over twenty years with theNational Park Service.He has recorded over a thousandarchaeological sitesin theMidsouth,as well as aided in the preservation of sites and the conviction oflooterswho have destroyed some of thearchaeological recordin the area.

Early life

Thomas was born in 1948, and lived his early life outside ofIndianapolis, Indiana.After graduating from aCatholichigh school,he joined theU.S. Navy,where he served for four years. In 1975, he earned a bachelor's degree inAnthropologyfrom theUniversity of Florida,and also minored inEcology.

Early archaeological career

Des Jean attended several field schools directed byJerald T. Milanich,a professor at the University of Florida. His first field schools focused onWoodland periodsites, the time around 2,000 BC to 1,000 AD, that within the Southeast includes the new technologies offood processingandstorage,burial moundswith an emphasis ongrave goods,and a great deal ofpottery.Perhaps this was an influence that led Tom to choose pottery as a focus for his graduate thesis research. He participated infield schoolsat a burial mound site onCades Pond culturesites. Under Milanich, he also participated in ahistorical archaeologyfield school that focused on an early-17th-century Spanish mission site.

As an undergraduate, DesJean also worked on several other field projects. These consisted of some archaeological work on small, medium, and largeplantation housesites off the coast ofGeorgia,and excavations ofslave quarters.He also worked under the direction ofCharles H. Fairbanks,by excavating and testing trash pits associated with 19th-centuryOrange Hall,aparsonageinSt. Mary's, Georgia.Under Fairbanks, Des Jean also worked on the expansion of a Deerfieldcoal-fired generating stationinFlorida,as well as the excavation of slave cabins associated with theKing Plantationin Georgia.

He went on to become a graduate assistant for various field schools, including at an “Orange II”Late Archaic periodcampsite. Late Archaic refers to a period from about 5,900 years ago to 3,200 years ago. It was a period characterized by a greater utilization ofmusselsand other water-available sources.He also worked on the stable andplantation houseon the Georgia coast in theKings Bay Projectarea. During the Kings Bay Project he also worked on Early Archaic, Orange II,Swift Creek,and Savannah I sites.

Career

Upon graduation with his bachelor's degree, Des Jean spent several years working in contract archaeology. His work included an inventory survey on property inJulington Creeknear Jacksonville, Florida. The sites here included the testing of a late-19th-century/early-20th-century black lumber camp, a 19th-centurywatermill,a small Woodland period St. Johns II campsite, and a 20th-centurycharcoal-making site. He also worked at theCrooked River State Parkin Georgia, doing testing of someMiddle WoodlandSavannah II phase house mounds.

His MA thesis research was an analysis of pottery vessels from the Little Egypt Site in Carters, Georgia,thought to be the location of the principal town of the 16th-centuryCoosa chiefdomvisited byHernando de Soto.His research focused on the ceramics in twelveProtohistoricLamar Phase contact period structural remains at theLittle Egypt Site.

The research consisted of collecting clays from around the Carters area and compared them with the clays in the pottery vessels that were found at the Little Egypt Site. The pottery was used forcooking vessels,serving vessels, and vessels for dry and liquid storage. Des Jean received his master's degree in 1986.

The same year he was awarded his master's degree DesJean joined the National Park Service as an Archaeological Technician at TheBig South Fork.The Big South Fork is an area on theCumberland Plateauthat includesScott,Morgan,Fentress,andPickettcounties inTennesseeandMcCreary County, Kentucky.The area includes the river gorge, numerous archaeological cliff sites, and the two largestland bridgesin the Southeast.

DesJean developed a monitoring plan for the archaeological sites in the park to reduce looting. The area has nearly 300 miles of cliff lines, ridge-top sites,farmsteads,coalmines,coal camps, andfarmingcommunities.

The monitoring program includedremote sensingdevices near a site being regularly looted, and in December 1987, four individuals were caught red-handed. The case did not go to court until 1988, but it became nationally recognized and very significant since it was the first time that thefelonythreshold for theArchaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979violations had been invoked.

Des Jean has overseen the recording of some 1,342 archaeological cliff sites in the park, as well as being involved in three additional Archaeological Resources Protection Act looting cases.

Des Jean also has taught various archaeology and sociology classes atRoane State Community College,and has supervised field projects with students. He retired from Big South Fork in 2014 and currently teaches AP high school classes in his spare time. He has a family of four. He lives near the Big South Fork.

Selected works

• Looting Activity: a Folk Tradition of the Upper Cumberland Plateau.Lamar Briefs No.11:6-7.Watkinsville, GA.
• The Archeological Sites Monitoring Program at the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area,1986-1989(223-234). In, Protecting the Past, Edited by G. W. Smith and J. E. Erenhard.CRC Press,Boca Raton.
• The Cost Benefit of Making an ARPA Case.In, CRM Bulletin, Vol.13,#4, pp24. National Park Service,Washington, D.C.
• Archeological Teaching Equipment.Tennessee Anthropological Newsletter, Vol. 18, January–February, 1990, No.1. pp2–5.
• The History of Southern Clay Manufacturing Company atRobbins, Tennessee.In Historical Archeology in Kentucky, Edited by K. A. McBride, W. S. McBride and D. Pollack. Kentucky Heritage Council,Frankfort.
• Niter Mining in the Area of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River(178-225). Tennessee Anthropologist 22(2).
• Chuqualataque(Doublehead). InTennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture.Carol Van West, Editor, pp158. Rutledge Hill Press,Nashville.
• Stearns Coal and Lumber Company.In Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, Carol Van West, Editor, pp884. Rutlege Hill Press, Nashville.
• Inter-Agency Public Archeology:Archeological Testing at BISO1065, the Wet Ledge Rockshelter 1996, (15McY847). In, Archeology in Kentucky, Edited by K. A. McBride, W.S. McBride and D. Pollack. Kentucky Heritage Council, Frankfort.
• Volume 1: The Kings Bay and Devils Walkingstick Sites.1986 William Hampton Adams, editor, with contributions by William Hampton Adams, Thomas Desjean, Christopher Espenshade, Rebecca Saunders, and Karen Jo Walker.
• The Archaeology of Mission Santa Catalina de Guale: 1. Search and Discovery.1987 editor, David Hurst Thomas with research contributions by Thomas Desjean, Rebecca Saunders, and Karen Jo Walker.

Awards

In 2004, after his third successful ARPA case, he was awarded the “Outstanding Service in Archaeological Resource Protection” award by The National Park Service.

External links

• Vandalism Behavior In The Southeast National Parks: Diagnoses And Treatment
• National Park Service Directory
• Cliffline Archaeological Survey Project
• Tennessee Archaeology
• Article: Archaeological Protection
• Big South Fork River and Recreation Area