2016 Awards

Charles J. Bareis Distinguished Service Awards

Kenneth B. Farnsworth. Ken Farnsworth has been doing Illinois archaeology for nearly 50 years and has made significant contributions to Illinois Archaeology and the Illinois Archaeological Survey. These contributions stem from his publications and incorporating modern scientific approaches in archaeological research. Farnsworth specializes in the archaeology of the Eastern Woodlands, with a study emphasis on the Great Lakes-Riverine area of the northeastern USA. His research is principally focused on subsistence and trade from the end of the Archaic period to the end of the Woodland period, using excavated data from sites in western Illinois and the adjacent Mississippi Valley. A continuing theme of his research has been the detailed study of changing Woodland ceramic styles and sherd assemblages to help develop fine-grained cultural chronologies and to identify regional social boundaries. He recently retired from the Illinois State Archaeological Survey as a Senior Research Editor, a position he had held since 2002. From 1998 to 2001, Ken was a Senior Archaeologist at the Center for American Archaeology in Kampsville, and a Senior Researcher for ITARP (now ISAS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was the Director of the Contract Archaeology Program at the Center for American Archaeology from 1974 to 1998. Ken has been a member of the Illinois Archaeological Survey since 1971. He was on the IAS Board of Directors from 1983 to 1990 and served as President from 1993 to 1996. Ken is dedicated to the publication of archaeological information and ideas, and has edited two fieldwork-focused publication series (Center for American Archeology Reports of Investigations and Technical Reports) and overview archaeology volumes: Early Woodland Archeology (1986), Early Hopewell Mound Explorations (2004), Illinois Hopewell and Late Woodland Mounds, and The Excavations of Gregory Perino 1950–1975 (2006). Over the past decade, Ken has developed a research interest in historic site documentation and interpretation, with an emphasis on Pioneer to Civil War-era industrial, commercial, manufacturing, and military sites. Some of the publications from this research includes: "Good for What Ailed You" in Springfield, Illinois: Embossed Pharmaceutical Bottles Used by Springfield Druggists from the Civil War Era to the Early Twentieth Century by Frederick M. Brown with Introductions by Curtis Mann and Kenneth B. Farnsworth (2015) and Bottled in Illinois: Embossed Bottles and Bottled Products of Early Illinois Merchants from Chicago to Cairo 1840–1880 by Farnsworth and John A. Walthall (2011).

David J. Nolan. Dave Nolan has been performing Illinois Archaeological research for nearly 35 years. He has made significant contributions to the archaeology of the state and the Illinois Archaeological Survey. These contributions include publications, research, and field experience. Dave’s research focuses on North American Eastern Woodlands archaeology, principally that of the Upper Mississippi River Valley region. His interests include lithic technology, settlement patterns, ceramic analysis, and cultural resource management. Dave is especially interested in Paleoindian/Early Archaic and protohistoric/historic Native American cultures; his body of work includes analysis and reporting from nearly the full range of aboriginal and initial Euro-American activity in western Illinois. Dave began as a Staff Archaeologist for the Center for American Archeology, Contract Archeology Program in Kampsville from 1984 to 1988 and then held the same position for the Western Illinois University Archaeological Research Laboratory in Macomb from 1989 to 1993. He was a Project Director for the Contract Archeology Program at the Center for American Archeology in Kampsville from 1993 to 1998. He then became the District Archaeologist/Assistant Coordinator for the Western Illinois Survey Division of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program from 1998 to 2001. Since 2002, he has been the Coordinator of the Western Illinois Field Station for the Illinois State Archaeological Survey. He has written many technical reports, project reports, and chapters in regional study publications. He has also authored many articles and presented several papers at archaeological conferences throughout the years. Dave Nolan is a great advocate for archaeology, fun to work with, and freely helps anyone with their research.

Public Service Awards

Kincaid Mounds Support Organization. The Kincaid Mounds Support Organization (KMSO) was nominated for the Illinois Archaeology Public Service Award for their outstanding efforts to promote, protect, and preserve the Kincaid Mounds site in southern Illinois. The KMSO was formed as a non-profit volunteer organization in 1998. It was borne out of a desire to highlight the site as a singular example of the region’s complex prehistory, and also out of a concern that the overgrown site be restored. To this effect, the KMSO works in consultation with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Its members and many recruited outside groups have since cleared full growth trees and building footings off of six of the largest mounds on state lands, and they maintain this landscape with an annual burn. The KMSO built an interpretive viewing platform in 2007 which now houses the site’s National Historic Landmark plaque. It installed entryway signage in 2015, and they have hosted multiple archaeological programs and conferences. Members regularly give educational lectures to the community, and the group hosts Kincaid Days each fall to heighten awareness of this site and others in southern Illinois. They have also supported Southern Illinois University Carbondale field schools. The KMSO has additionally paved nearly four miles of dirt country roadways leading to Kincaid Mounds over the past decade, and this work is ongoing. This has greatly improved the accessibility of the site to the public.

New Philadelphia Association. The New Philadelphia Association (NPA) is a not-for-profit organization formed by members of descendant and local communities to preserve the archaeological site known as the town of New Philadelphia, Illinois. New Philadelphia was founded in 1837 by Frank McWorter, a former slave, and it grew as a racially integrated community before it was abandoned in the late 1800s. For over two decades, the NPA has worked relentlessly, and with outstanding results, to ensure the integrity of this 42-acre site and to promote research, conservation, and commemoration of its archaeological and heritage resources. The NPA initiated a broad, collaborative project of researchers to document this extraordinary town’s history. NPA stands as a paradigm case of how a local organization can be a catalyst to create large-scale research projects. As a result of NPA’s efforts, archaeologists, historians, geophysicists, geoscience experts, and local and descendant communities have worked together for nearly two decades. This project has pursued the goal of expanding our knowledge of the social history of this demographically integrated town and enhancing its focus in our national memory and heritage. This project also convened six years of archaeological and geoscience field schools at the site, with grant support from the National Science Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities (among others). These field schools advanced research and also worked to recruit undergraduate students from underrepresented groups. In 2005, the NPA and the project it launched successfully nominated the site to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, the site was nominated as a National Historic Landmark, and this was approved the following year. The NPA has demonstrated outstanding commitment to preservation, commemoration, and research of this significant site.