Nolan, David James

Associate Research Scientist, Archaeology
Western Illinois Field Station Coordinator

Address and Contact Information

209 Nuclear Physics Laboratory
M/C 571
23 E. Stadium Dr.
Champaign, IL  61820

Education

B.A. Anthropology/History, Western Illinois University
M.A. History, Western Illinois University

Research Interests

David Nolan’s research focus is centered upon North American Eastern Woodlands archaeology, principally that of the Upper Mississippi River Valley region. He has worked in western Illinois for forty years and his interests include lithic technology, settlement patterning, ceramic analysis, and cultural resource management. Dave is especially interested in Paleoindian/Early Archaic and protohistoric/historic Native American cultures but his pursuits are quite diverse; his body of work includes analysis and reporting from nearly the full range of aboriginal and initial EuroAmerican activity in western Illinois.

Nolan has been a fellow in the Illinois Archaeological Survey for three decades or more and previously served as a member of the Board of Directors for this professional organization. Dave is also a long-standing member of the Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology and is active in the avocational/amateur archaeological community.

Professional Affiliations

Illinois Archaeological Survey

Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology

Midwest Archaeological Conference

Upper Mississippi Valley Archaeological Research Foundation (Board of Directors)


Mallo, Andrew L., and David J. Nolan

2020 Archaeological Investigations at 11MD1180 (Lost Pond site) for the FAP 315/IL 336 Macomb Bypass Project. Archaeological Testing Short Report No. 524 Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Hickson, Robert N., Lauren M. Fitts, and David J. Nolan

2020 Project History, Field Methodology, and Mapping Methods. In Excavations at Bethel: The Archaeological Signature of a Mid-Nineteenth Century Service Center in Rural Central Illinois, edited by Robert Mazrim, pp. 23-42. Technical Report No. 194. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Roberts, Aimee N., and David J. Nolan

2019   Archaeological Investigations at Site 11MD1230 (Noonthirty) for the FAP 315/IL 336 Macomb Bypass Project. Archaeological Testing Short Report No. 522. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign. 

Hickson, Robert N., Christine Nycz, and David J. Nolan

2018   Archaeological Investigations at the Mary Craig Site (11PK1567) for the FAP 304/IL 96 ROW for Bridges over Brewster and Brown Creeks. Archaeological Testing Short Report No. 500. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Reber, Robert J., Steven L. Boles, Madeleine G. Evans, Thomas J. Loebel, Dale L. McElrath,and David J. Nolan

 2017 Projectile Points and the Illinois Landscape: People, Time, and Place. Studies in Archaeology No. 11. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Walthall, John A., and David J. Nolan (editors)

2017 Cahokia and Beyond: Essays in Illinois Archaeology in Honor of Thomas E. Emerson. Illinois Archaeology Volume 29, Illinois Archaeological Survey, Inc., Urbana-Champaign.

2016 Cahokia and Beyond: Essays in Illinois Archaeology in Honor of Thomas E. Emerson. Illinois Archaeology Volume 28, Illinois Archaeological Survey, Inc., Urbana-Champaign.

Nolan, David J., and Lawrence A. Conrad

2016 Appendix A: The Orendorf Experience. Illinois Archaeology 28:53-60.

Nolan, David J., Andrew L. Mallo, and Timothy Boyd

2016 An Overview of Terminal Archaic Cultures in the Upper LaMoine River Drainage of West-Central Illinois. Illinois Archaeology 28:257-290.

Hickson, Robert N., David J. Nolan, and Lauren M. Fitts

2016 A Closer Look at the Schild Spike: A Distinctive, Short-Lived Late Woodland Arrowhead Type. Illinois Archaeology 28: 405-424.

Nolan, David J.

2015 Lithics. In Archaeological Investigations at Marlin Miller #2: Weaver in the LaMoine Valley of Hancock County, Illinois, edited by Richard L. Fishel, pp. 31-73. Research Report No. 35. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Nolan, David J. 

2013 Lithics. In Woodland Habitations in the Interior of Western Illinois: A View from White Bend, edited by Richard L. Fishel, pp. 109-224. Research Report 30, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

2013 Lithic Analysis. In Archaic Occupations at White Bend: Helton, Falling Springs, and Hemphill Horizons of the LaMoine Valley, Hancock County, Illinois, edited by Richard L. Fishel, pp. 57-146. Research Report 29, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Nolan, David J., Robert N. Hickson, Steven R. Kuehn, and Mark C. Branstner
2012 Preliminary Examination of Archaeological Remains from Fort Johnson and Cantonment Davis: Two War of 1812-era Military Posts at the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi River. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 37(2):257–298.

Bartholomew, Joseph L., Steven L. Tieken, and David J. Nolan
2012 Searching for Fort Johnson, Hancock County, Illinois. Illinois Antiquity 47(3):16–18.

Nolan, David J., Steven R. Kuehn, and Steven L. Tieken
2012 The Lima Lake Bison: Found Together, More Than a Millennium Apart. Illinois Antiquity 47(2):3–5.

Nolan, David J., and Steven L. Tieken
2011 Ahead of their Time: Public Mound Preservation Efforts in Quincy, Illinois. Illinois Antiquity 46(3):4–8.

Fishel, Richard L., and David J. Nolan
2010 Middle and Late Archaic Occupations at the White Bend Site. Illinois Archaeology 22(2):798–818.

Nolan, David J.
2010 “Dem Bones” An Aboriginal Winter Hunting Camp from Mercer County, Illinois. Illinois Archaeology 22(1):287–316.

Kuehn, Steven R., Steven L. Tieken, and David J. Nolan
2010 A Preliminary Report on the Andrew Farm Mastodon, Adams County, Illinois. Current Researchin the Pleistocene 27:109–111.

Nolan, David J., and Richard L. Fishel
2009 Archaic Cultural Variation and Lifeways in West Central Illinois. In Archaic “Societies: Diversity and Complexity Across the Midcontinent,” pp. 401–490, edited by Thomas E. Emerson, Dale L. McElrath, and Andrew Fortier. SUNY Press, New York.

Nolan, David J.
2009 Military Sites in Warsaw, Illinois: Fort Johnson, Cantonment Davis, and Fort Edwards, 1816–1824. In Frontier Forts in Iowa: Indians, Traders, and Soldiers 1682–1862, pp. 85–94, edited by William E. Whittaker, University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.

2009 Prehistoric Landscape Utilization in the Uplands of West Central Illinois. Research Reports No. 98. Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

2008 Remembering the WPA Excavations at the Dickison Mound Group, Peoria County, Illinois. Illinois Antiquity 43(3):16–18.

2007 Reexamination of Red Pipestone Artifacts from the Lima Lake Locality in Western Illinois. Illinois Antiquity 4(3&4):23–25. 

Moffat, Charles R., and David J. Nolan
2006 Examining the Early to Late Bluff Transition in the Lower Illinois River Valley: A View from the Adcock Site (11GE487). Illinois Archaeology 18:1–29.

Nolan, David J., and Robert N. Hickson
2006 Archaeological Testing Short Report for the Ed Walch Site (11A1542): FAS 1597/IL 96 Project. Submitted by ITARP to the IDOT, Springfield, Illinois.

Nolan, David J.
2005 Protohistoric to Early Historic Aboriginal Remains from the Lima Lake Locality. Illinois Archaeology 17. In Press.

Nolan, David J., and Amy K. Graham
2005 Archaeological Testing Short Report for the Cabin Corner Site (11A1392): FAS 1600 North Bottom Road Project. Submitted by ITARP to the IDOT, Springfield, Illinois.

Nolan, David J., and Thomas N. Bainter
2004 Flint Ridge Artifacts from the Central Illinois River Valley. Illinois Antiquity 39(3):2, 8–9.

Moffat, Charles R., Mary Simon, David J. Nolan, K. Shane Vanderford, and Amy K. Graham
2003 Archaeological Investigations at the Adcock Site (11GE487), Greene County, Illinois. Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, Research Reports No. 86.

Nolan, David J., Amy K. Graham, and Bruno Calgaro
2003 U.S. 34 Phase I Archaeological Survey, Henderson and Warren Counties, Illinois. Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, Research Reports No. 87.

Nolan, David J.
2002 A Distinctive Paleoindian Assemblage from the Central Illinois River Valley. Illinois Antiquity 37(4):3–7.

Nolan, David J., and Amy K. Graham
2002 Archaeological Testing Short Report for the Chatellereau Tract of French Peoria (11P544): FAP 64, US 24/IL 29 (Adams St. and Jefferson Ave.) Project. Submitted by ITARP to the IDOT, Springfield, Illinois.

Nolan, David J.
2001 Examining the Role of Nets in South Branch Phase Ceramic Vessel Production. Illinois Antiquity 36(3):7–8.

Green, William and David J. Nolan
2000 Late Woodland Peoples in West Central Illinois. In: Late Woodland Societies: Tradition and Transformation across the Midcontinent, edited by Thomas E. Emerson, Dale L. McElrath, and Andrew C. Fortier, pp. 345–386. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

Nolan, David J., and Lawrence A. Conrad
1998 Characterizing Lima Lake Oneota. The Wisconsin Archaeologist 79(2):116-145.

Hansen, Eric G., and David J. Nolan
1998 Was the Cochran 10 Site A Theban Persistent Place? Assemblage Structure and Settlement Patterns in the Early Archaic of West Central Illinois. Illinois Archaeology 10:294–330.

Nolan, David J., Kyle Ullman, and Julieann Van Nest
1997 Preliminary Archaeological Overview Study of the Macomb Bypass Alternates in McDonough County, Illinois. Center for American Archaeology, Contract Archaeology Program, Report of Investigations No. 241.

Nolan, David J. and Eric G. Hansen
1995 The Payson Chert Toolkit: Scale of Mobility and Technologica Organization in the Early Archaic of West Central Illinois. In 1994–1995 Interim Report of the FAP 407-Route 336 Project: Tested Sites in the Bear Creek Segment; Geological Overview; and a Study of Payson Chert, pp. 288–360, edited by Eric G. Hansen, Center for American Archaeology, Contract Archaeology Program, Report of Investigations No. 197F.

Nolan, David J., and Eric G. Hansen
1994 Excavations on the FAP 407-Route 336 Quincy to Mendon Priority Segment. Reports of Investigations No. 197E. Contract Archeology Program, Center for American Archeology, Kampsville, IL.

Nolan, David J.
1993 A Late Woodland Keyhole Structure from Adams County, Illinois. Illinois Antiquity 28(1):10–14.

Nolan, David J. and Robert N. Hickson
1993 Buried Upland Sites: Practical Considerations for Archaeologists and Cultural Resource Managers. Illinois Antiquity 28(4):4–11.

Nolan, David J., Lawrence A. Conrad, and Sarah J. Studenmund
1992 Preliminary Cultural Resources Identification and Predictive Modeling for The Chautauqua, Cameron, and Meredosia National Wildlife Refuges, Mason, Marshall, Morgan, and Cass Counties, Illinois. Reports of Investigations 22, Archaeological Research Laboratory, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL.

Nolan, David J.
1991 Final Report of Phase II Testing on the FAP 53 (U.S. Rt 136) Project: Archaic and Weaver Occupations in the Confluence Area of the LaMoine River. Reports of Investigations 24, Archaeological Research Laboratory, Western Illinois University, Macomb.

Nolan, David J., and Floyd Mansberger
1989 Results of Archaeological Testing and National Register of Historic Places Determination of Archaeological site 11MC122, Mercer County, Illinois. Reports of Investigations 15. Archaeological Research Laboratory, Western Illinois University, Macomb.

Selected Papers Presented

Nolan, David J., and Claire P. Dappert
2012 The Archaeology of Fort Johnson and Cantonment Davis: Illinois Forts of the War of 1812. Paper presented at the 2012 Illinois History Symposium (“Contested Lands: 1763–1840”), East Peoria, Illinois.

Nolan, David J.
2012 Fort Johnson: A War of 1812 Military Installation at the Des Moines Rapids on the Mississippi River. Paper presented at the Annual Society for Historical Archaeology Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology, Baltimore, Maryland.

2011 Exploring the Land Between the Rivers: Recent Excavations in Jersey County, Illinois. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology, Danville, Illinois.

Kuehn, Steven R., and David J. Nolan
2010 The Lima Lake Bison: A Possible Early Woodland Bison from Adams County, Illinois. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois.

Nolan, David J., Robert N. Hickson, and Mark Branstner
2009 Recent Investigations at War of 1812-era Military Sites in Warsaw, Illinois. Paper presented in the Symposium entitled Frontier Forts of the Midwest. Midwest Archaeological Conference, Iowa City.

Nolan, David J., and Jennifer Edwards-Ring
2007 Reexamining the Terminal Archaic Logan phase of Western Illinois. Midwest Archaeological Conference, Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana.

Nolan, David J., Richard L. Fishel, and Robert N. Hickson
2006 Building a Regional Chronology: A Review of Recent Excavations in the LaMoine River Basin of Western Illinois. Midwest Archaeological Conference, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.

Branstner, Mark C., and David J. Nolan
2006 Horseshoe Pond (11BR442): A Pre-Civil War Farmstead on the Western Illinois Settlement Frontier. Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference, Ball State University, Muncie, IN.

Conrad, Lawrence A., David J. Nolan, and Richard L. Fishel
2004 A Brief Overview of the “Archaic” in West Central Illinois. Urbana Conference on the Archaic Societies of the Midcontinent, Urbana, Illinois.

Nolan, David J., and Robert N. Hickson
2002 Middle Woodland and Early Late Woodland Remains from the Upper Reaches of the Sandy Creek Drainage. Annual Meeting of the Illinois Archaeological Survey, Bloomington, IL.

Nolan, David J.
2002 Sacred Stone: Catlinite Depictions of Oneota Art and Symbolism. Presented in lecture seriesentitled “Voices from the Past: A Celebration of Native American Art and Culture. Quincy Museum, Quincy, IL.

2001 Down in the Boondocks: An Overview of Recently Discovered Middle Woodland Massey Phase Remains from Morgan County, Illinois. Midwest Archaeological Conference, La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Farkas, Michael and David J. Nolan
1999 An Examination of Mississippian Settlement in the Lower Illinois River Valley. Midwest Archaeological Conference, East Lansing, Michigan.

Nolan, David J., and Michael Farkas
1998 The Archaeology of Lima Lake Alluvial Fans: Some Initial Observations. Annual Meeting of the Illinois Archaeological Survey, Springfield, IL.

Current Projects

Warsaw Forts Project. Joint project with Dr. Michael Hargrave (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, CERL), Steven Tieken (North American Archaeological Institute), and Joe Bartholomew (Warsaw Historical Society) to identify the locations of Fort Johnson and Fort Edwards, two early 19th century military installations located on the Mississippi River bluffs opposite the Des Moines River confluence in Warsaw, Illinois. Project involves the use of documentary sources as well as geophysical (magnetometer & electrical resistance) and standard archaeological survey techniques to document the physical locations of each fort.

Brandon’s Point Project. This research focuses upon an unfunded study of a Middle Paleoindian Folsom-age habitation site located in the Central Illinois River Valley of Fulton County. The project involves multiple revisit survey, controlled surface collection, and lithic analysis of remains recovered from the Brandon’s Point site (11F2989) complex using volunteer labor consisting of both avocational and professional archaeologists. The project also includes collections research at regional institutions as well as collector interview to document additional Folsom-age materials from western Illinois.

Additional Resources

LDAP Details for Nolan, David James