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Boles, Steven L

Senior Research Archaeologist

Address and Contact Information

13 Gateway Drive
Collinsville, Illinois  62234

Education

M.A. Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
B.A. Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
A.A. Rend Lake College

Selected Publications

in press  The Copelin Valley Site: Documenting an Early Paleoindian Paradise in Central Kentucky. In Colonization, Aggregation, and Caribou Hunting: Early Paleoindian Mobility and Interaction in the Upper Midcontinent of North America, edited by Brad H. Koldehoff and Henry T. Wright. Peopling of the America Series, Texas A&M Press, College Station.

2020  Tracking Cahokians Through Material Culture. In Cahokia in Contexts: Diaspora and Hegemony, edited by Charles McNutt and Ryan Parish. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.

2019  Feast Provisioning: Indications of a Tame Deer Herd at Cahokia. Rediscovery. Journal of the Illinois Association for Advancement of Archaeology, No. 7. William R. Iseminger, editor.

2018  East St. Louis Precinct (11S706) Terminal Late Woodland and Mississippian Lithics: Data Summary and Interpretation, edited by Steven L. Boles, with contributions by Steven L. Boles, Matthew S. Holschen, Craig H. Kitchen, and Anna I. Poling. New Mississippi River Bridge Research Report 41. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

2018  Lithics at the East St. Louis Mound Complex: A 9-Ton Sample. In Revealing Greater Cahokia, North America's First Native City: Rediscovery and Large-Scale Excavations of the East St. Louis Precinct, edited by Thomas E. Emerson, Brad Koldehoff and Tamira K. Brennan, co-authors: Jenna M. Ely, Anna I. Poling, Matthew S. Holschen, and Craig H. Kitchen. pp. 333–385. Studies in Archaeology No. 12, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

2018  Crafting and Exotica at the East St. Louis Precinct. In Revealing Greater Cahokia, North America's First Native City: Rediscovery and Large-Scale Excavations of the East St. Louis Precinct, edited by Thomas E. Emerson, Brad Koldehoff, and Tamira K. Brennan, co-authors: Jenna M. Ely, Anna I. Poling, Matthew S. Holschen, and Craig H. Kitchen. pp. 387–443. Studies in Archaeology No. 12, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

2018  Human Remains in EB 73 at the East St. Louis Mound Precinct (11S706/5): Borrows and Burials. Editors Steven L. Boles and Lenna M. Nash with contributions by Steven L. Boles, Matthew Fort, Lenna M. Nash, Victoria Potter, and Clark Sturdevant. Skeletal Report No. 2016-8, HSRPA Log # 2011-44.

2018  Gypsy Rose Lee, An Early Mississippian Site in the Greater Cahokia Uplands: It's Not Just a Small Farmstead Like We Once Thought. With co-author Robert G. McCullough. Illinois Archaeology Journal, Vol. 30, pp. 43–79.

2018  Illinois Archaeologists' Legacy of Learning from Collectors. With lead author Dale L. McElrath, co-authors Thomas E. Emerson, Madeleine G. Evans, Thomas J. Loebel, David J. Nolan, and Robert J. Reeder. Midwest Archaeological Conference Occasional Papers, No. 3, pp. 83–96.

2017  Earth Diver and Earth Mother: Ancestral Flint Clay Figures from Cahokia. Illinois Archaeology, Vol. 28.

2017  The Rockcastle Shelter. Illinois Antiquity, Vol. 52(3):10–13.

2017  Creatures and the Cosmos: Images in Clay and Stone. Illinois Antiquity, Vol. 52(3):5–9.

2017  Numerous contributions in Projectile Points and the Illinois Landscape: People, Time, and Place, edited by Robert Reber and Dale McElrath. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

2011  Discovery, Recovery, and Preservation of a 100-year Old Dugout from Northeast Arkansas: The Guth Dugout. Co-author Bill Iseminger. Illinois Antiquity. Vol. 46, No. 2.

2010  Contextualizing Flint Clay Cahokia Figures at the East St. Louis Mound Center. Thomas E. Emerson, lead author, Illinois Archaeology Journal 22(2).

Selected Presentations

2019  The Great Unknowns: Cahokian Connections in the Ohio River Valley, A Clovis Mecca in Central Kentucky; and Rock Art Sites in Southern Illinois - Results of Professional and Avocational Collaborations. Presentation given to the May meeting of the Cahokia Archaeological Society at Cahokia Mounds Museum on May 16, 2019.

2018  Introducing the Copelin Valley Clovis site: Kentucky's Best Kept Paleo Secret. paper presented at the 62nd annual meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference in Norte Dame, Indiana, October 5, 2018.

2017  Bridging Troubled Waters: Professionals, Avocationals, and Collectors Find Common Ground at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey. Co-author with Thomas Emerson (lead), Madeline Evans, Thomas Loebel, David Nolan, Dale McElrath, and Robert Reber; paper presented at the Midwest Archaeological Conference, October 19–21, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

2016  Cahokian Diaspora: Tracking Migration Through Material Culture. Paper presented at the Mid-South Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, July 16, 2016.

2016  Organizing Cahokian Life North of Downtown: Geophysical Exploration of the Microlith and Shell Bead Industries at the Kunnemann Tract. Paper presented at the Fourth Science and Archaeology Symposium at Urbana. With authors Brent Lansdell (lead) and Edward R. Henry.

2014  Craft Specialization at the East St. Louis Mound Complex. Paper presented at the 60th annual meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Co-authors Jenna Ely and Justin Wallace.

2014  Supernaturals in the Confluence Region. Paper presented at the 71st annual meeting of the Southeast Archaeological Conference in Greenville, South Carolina.

2010  Sourcing Cahokian Earspools. Lead author: Thomas E. Emerson. Other co-authors: Randall Hughes, Sarah Wisseman, and John Richards. Paper presented at the Second Science and Archaeology Symposium in Urbana, Illinois, November 12, 2010.

2010  Feature 181: A Burnt Stirling Phase Structure at East St. Louis. Co-author Erin Benson. Paper presented at the 67th annual meeting of the Southeast Archaeological Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, October 29, 2010.

2008  Relating the Dr. Riser-Healy “Cache” to the Colby Complex. co-authors George Frison and Marvin Kay. Paper presented at the 66th annual Plains Anthropological Conference at University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming, October 1–4, 2008.

2008  Fluorite Workshops at Kincaid and Cahokia Mounds. presented at the 65th meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, November 12–15, 2008.

Current Projects

Collaboration with Thomas Jennings and Ashley Smallwood in investigating a Paleoindian complex in central Kentucky.

Conducting analyses for publication of ceramic, lithic, and faunal material recovered from surface collections from various sites in the Cache River drainage, the Linn-Heilig site in Union County, Illinois, the Orr-Herl site in Hardin County, Illinois, and the Twenhafel site in Jackson County, Illinois.

Analyzed lithics, ceramics, and features of various components of the Janey B. Goode site (11S1232) and report writing is in progress for ISAS publication.



Research Interests

My general focus and expertise are in lithic studies spanning Midwestern prehistory and public outreach. Outreach is heavily directed at avocational groups, recording private collections, distributing educational material, giving presentations, and providing instruction and assistance in caring for cultural resources and material. I’m also interested in Paleoindian studies, Mississippian iconography, geophysical survey, and material culture in general and how these avenues of research can offer insights into community organization and identity as well as tracking migration of peoples and lifeways.

Additional Resources

LDAP Details for Boles, Steven L