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{{Short description|American archaeologist}}
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'''Bennie Carlton Keel''' is an American [[archaeologist]] who has made contributions to the foundational understanding of [[Cherokee]] archaeology and culture, [[North Carolina]] archaeology, and to the development of Americanist [[cultural resource management]] (CRM).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Ward|first=H. Trawick|date=2010|title=My Buddy Bennie|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41620050|journal=Southeastern Archaeology|volume=29|issue=1|pages=101–105|doi=10.1179/sea.2010.29.1.007|jstor=41620050|s2cid=218693199 }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Citation|last=Aubry|first=Michele C.|title=Keel, Bennie C.|date=2014|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology|pages=4261–4263|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=Claire|place=New York, NY|publisher=Springer New York|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229|isbn=978-1-4419-0426-3|access-date=2021-07-28}}</ref>
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{{Third-party|date=July 2021}}
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'''Bennie Carlton Keel''' is an American [[archaeologist]] who has made contributions to the foundational understanding of [[Cherokee]] archaeology and culture, [[North Carolina]] archaeology, and to the development of Americanist [[cultural resource management]] (CRM)<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Ward|first=H. Trawick|date=2010|title=My Buddy Bennie|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41620050|journal=Southeastern Archaeology}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Citation|last=Aubry|first=Michele C.|title=Keel, Bennie C.|date=2014|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229|work=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology|pages=4261–4263|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=Claire|place=New York, NY|publisher=Springer New York|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229|isbn=978-1-4419-0426-3|access-date=2021-07-28}}</ref>.


==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Keel was born in 1934 and grew up in [[Panama City, Florida]]. He played the trumpet while in elementary school. He graduated from [[Bay High School (Florida)|Bay High School]] in 1952 and completed one year of college at [[Florida State University]] (FSU) prior to attending boot camp at [[Fort Gordon]], Georgia, then serving in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] for three years (1954-1957) as a military policeman with the [[11th Airborne Division (United States)|11th Airborne Division]]. He was introduced to anthropology in an introductory social science course taught by [[Charles H. Fairbanks]] and attended the 1959 FSU archaeological field school in the Weiss Reservoir in northern [[Alabama]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />
Keel was born in 1934 and grew up in [[Panama City, Florida]]. He played the trumpet while in elementary school. He graduated from [[Bay High School (Florida)|Bay High School]] in 1952 and completed one year of college at [[Florida State University]] (FSU) prior to attending boot camp at [[Fort Gordon]], Georgia, then serving in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] for three years (1954-1957) as a military policeman with the [[11th Airborne Division (United States)|11th Airborne Division]]. He was introduced to anthropology in an introductory social science course taught by [[Charles H. Fairbanks]] and attended the 1959 FSU archaeological field school in the Weiss Reservoir in northern [[Alabama]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />


He completed his B.S. at FSU in 1960, and in 1965 earned his M.S. from FSU. His thesis was published in ''Southern Indian Studies'' as "The Preservation of Archaeological and Ethnological Specimens".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Keel|first=Bennie C.|date=1963|title=The Preservation and Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnological Specimens|journal=Southern Indian Studies.}}</ref> Keel earned his PhD in 1972 at [[Washington State University]] in [[Pullman, Washington|Pullman, WA]]. His dissertation, ''Woodland Phases of the Appalachian Summit Area''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel|first=Bennie C.|title=Woodland Phases of the Appalachian Summit Area|publisher=Department of Anthropology, Washington State University|location=Pullman, Washington}}</ref> was revised and published by the [[University of Tennessee Press]] as ''Cherokee Archaeology: A Study of the Appalachian Summit''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Keel|first=Bennie C|title=Cherokee Archaeology: a Study of the Appalachian Summit|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|year=1976|location=Knoxville, Tennessee}}</ref>
He completed his B.S. at FSU in 1960, and in 1965 earned his M.S. from FSU. His thesis was published in ''Southern Indian Studies'' as "The Preservation of Archaeological and Ethnological Specimens".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Keel|first=Bennie C.|date=1963|title=The Preservation and Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnological Specimens|journal=Southern Indian Studies.}}</ref> Keel earned his PhD in 1972 at [[Washington State University]] in [[Pullman, Washington|Pullman]]. His dissertation, ''Woodland Phases of the Appalachian Summit Area''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel|first=Bennie C.|title=Woodland Phases of the Appalachian Summit Area|publisher=Department of Anthropology, Washington State University|location=Pullman, Washington}}</ref> was revised and published by the [[University of Tennessee Press]] as ''Cherokee Archaeology: A Study of the Appalachian Summit''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Keel|first=Bennie C|title=Cherokee Archaeology: a Study of the Appalachian Summit|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|year=1976|location=Knoxville, Tennessee}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
Over the summer of 1960 he directed the final Weiss Reservoir data recovery program under the direction of [[David L. DeJarnette|David DeJarnette]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=DeJarnette, D. L., Kurjack, E. B., & Keel, B. C.|date=1973|title=Archaeological Investigations in the Weiss Reservior of the Coosa River in Alabama|journal=Journal of Alabama Archaeology}}</ref> From 1961 to 1963 he worked under Joffre Coe as an archaeologist at the [[Town Creek Indian Mound]] in [[North Carolina]].  In the summer of 1963, he became the senior staff archaeologist at Research Laboratories of Anthropology (RLA), now called Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina Chapel Hill]]. Keel served in this position for ten years. From 1973 to 1976 he was an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at [[Wright State University]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]] directing the university's archaeological field school in the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]]’s Normandy Reservoir project.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Davis|first=Stephen R. P.|date=1978|title=1975 Excavation at the Wiser-Stephens I Site (40CF81)|journal=Tennessee Valley Authority Publications|volume=19}}</ref> After receiving tenure and promotion in early 1976 he resigned and in June 1976 he joined [[National Park Service|National Park Service]] (NPS) as Chief of Interagency Archaeological Services Atlanta and in February 1980 he moved to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington DC]] where he served as the Departmental Consulting Archaeologist and NPS Assistant Director – Archaeology until June 1990 when he transferred to the NPS Southeast Archaeology Center (SEAC) in [[Tallahassee, Florida]] as Regional Archaeologist and Center Director until his retirement in March 2008.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Aubry|first=Michele C.|title=Keel, Bennie C.|date=2014|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229|work=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology|pages=4261–4263|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=Claire|place=New York, NY|publisher=Springer|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229|isbn=978-1-4419-0465-2|access-date=2021-07-27}}</ref>
Keel directed the final Weiss Reservoir data recovery program in 1960, which was overseen by archaeologist [[David L. DeJarnette]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=DeJarnette, D. L., Kurjack, E. B., & Keel, B. C.|date=1973|title=Archaeological Investigations in the Weiss Reservoir of the Coosa River in Alabama|journal=Journal of Alabama Archaeology}}</ref> From 1961 to 1963, he worked under Joffre Coe as an archaeologist at the [[Town Creek Indian Mound]] in North Carolina.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} In the summer of 1963, he became the senior staff archaeologist at Research Laboratories of Anthropology (RLA), now called Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]. Keel served in this position for ten years. From 1973 to 1976 he was an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at [[Wright State University]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]] directing the university's archaeological field school in the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]]’s Normandy Reservoir project.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Davis|first=Stephen R. P.|date=1978|title=1975 Excavation at the Wiser-Stephens I Site (40CF81)|journal=Tennessee Valley Authority Publications|volume=19}}</ref> After receiving tenure and promotion in early 1976, he resigned and in June 1976 he joined [[National Park Service]] (NPS) as Chief of Interagency Archaeological Services Atlanta and in February 1980 he moved to [[Washington, D.C.]] where he worked as the Departmental Consulting Archaeologist and NPS Assistant Director – Archaeology until June 1990 when he transferred to the NPS Southeast Archaeology Center (SEAC) in [[Tallahassee, Florida]] as Regional Archaeologist and Center Director until his retirement in March 2008.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Aubry|first=Michele C.|title=Keel, Bennie C.|date=2014|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology|pages=4261–4263|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=Claire|place=New York, NY|publisher=Springer|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229|isbn=978-1-4419-0465-2|access-date=2021-07-27}}</ref>


===Contributions to Southeastern Archaeology ===
===Contributions to southeastern archaeology===
Keel's numerous contributions southeastern archaeology, in particular to the development of North Carolina and Cherokee archaeology, were detailed in a special issue of Southeastern Archaeology in 2010 after his retirement from the National Park Service in 2008<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Edmond A. Boudreaux, III, Christopher B. Rodning|title=Special Thematic Section: Papers in Honor of Bennie C. Keel|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41620043|journal=Southeastern Archaeology}}</ref>. As noted by R.P. Stephen Davis Jr., over Keel's 50 year career including his work in North Carolina he "made lasting contributions to public archaeology and our understanding of the archaeological record, particularly as it relates to Cherokee ancestry and native peoples of the Piedmont region. Moreover, through his fieldwork at sites such as Garden Creek, Coweeta Creek, and Upper Saratown, he helped train dozens of future archaeologists, and the experience he gained from these projects served him well as one of the federal government's principal advocates for archaeology over the past three decades."<ref name=":2" />
Keel's contributions southeastern archaeology, in particular to the development of North Carolina and Cherokee archaeology, were detailed in a special issue of ''Southeastern Archaeology'' in 2010 after his retirement from the National Park Service in 2008.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Edmond A. Boudreaux, III, Christopher B. Rodning|title=Special Thematic Section: Papers in Honor of Bennie C. Keel|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41620043|journal=Southeastern Archaeology|jstor=41620043}}</ref> As noted by R.P. Stephen Davis Jr., over Keel's 50 year career including his work in North Carolina he "made lasting contributions to public archaeology and our understanding of the archaeological record, particularly as it relates to Cherokee ancestry and native peoples of the Piedmont region. Moreover, through his fieldwork at sites such as Garden Creek, Coweeta Creek, and Upper Saratown, he helped train dozens of future archaeologists, and the experience he gained from these projects served him well as one of the federal government's principal advocates for archaeology over the past three decades."<ref name=":2" />


During his tenure at the RLA he conducted surveys and excavations from [[Manteo, North Carolina|Manteo, NC]] to [[Murphy, North Carolina|Murphy, NC]]. The more significant of these efforts include the excavations at the [[Forbush, North Carolina|Forbush]], [[Hardins, North Carolina|Hardins]], Belk Farms, [[Upper Saratown]] sites and the Red Springs Mound,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Davis|first=Stephen R.P.|date=2010|title=The Contributions of Bennie Carlton Keel to the Development of North Carolina Archaeology|journal=Southeastern Archaeology|volume=29|pages=1–7}}</ref> His six field seasons (1964–67; 1970–71) in western North Carolina resulted in his ''Cherokee Archaeology'',<ref name=":0" /> which serves as a foundation for modern [[Cherokee]] research<ref name=":4" />.
During his tenure at the RLA he conducted surveys and excavations from [[Manteo, North Carolina|Manteo, NC]] to [[Murphy, North Carolina|Murphy, NC]]. The more significant of these efforts include the excavations at the [[Forbush, North Carolina|Forbush]], [[Hardins, North Carolina|Hardins]], Belk Farms, [[Upper Saratown]] sites and the Red Springs Mound,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Davis|first=Stephen R.P.|date=2010|title=The Contributions of Bennie Carlton Keel to the Development of North Carolina Archaeology|journal=Southeastern Archaeology|volume=29|pages=1–7|doi=10.1179/sea.2010.29.1.001|s2cid=218687502}}</ref> His six field seasons (1964–67; 1970–71) in western North Carolina resulted in his ''Cherokee Archaeology'',<ref name=":0" /> which serves as a foundation for modern [[Cherokee]] research.<ref name=":4" />


During his time at the Southeast Archaeological Center he carried out multi-year excavations at [[Charles Pinckney National Historic Site]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel, Bennie C., Kowal, Amy C.|title=The Archeology of Charles Pinckney's Snee Farm: A Summary of Fieldwork 1987- 1999|publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Southeast Archeological Center|year=2014|location=Tallahassee, Florida}}</ref> [[Fort Raleigh National Historic Site]] and Cane River Creole National Historic Site.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel|first=Bennie|title=A comprehensive subsurface investigation at Magnolia Plantation : 16NA295, Cane River Creole National Historical Park, Natchitoches, Louisiana|year=1999|location=https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sil_1095853}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Miller, Christina, and Susan E. Wood|title=Oakland Plantation: A Comprehensive Subsurface Investigation|year=2000|location=http://npshistory.com/publications/cari/index.htm}}</ref> Before retiring, Keel worked with the [[National Park Service]], [[Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians]], [[North Carolina State University|North Carolina State]] Historic Preservation Office, and the [[Advisory Council on Historic Preservation]] to develop a [[Memorandum of Agreement]] (MOA) for the land exchange between the Band and [[Great Smoky Mountains National Park|Great Smoky Mountain National Park]]. This involved creating the data recovery plan, which was a multimillion-dollar project paid for by the Band.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel|first=Bennie C.|title=The Ravensford Tract Archaeological Project|publisher=Southeast Archaeological Center, National Park Service|year=2007}}</ref> In his retirement he continues to contribute to [[Cherokee]] archaeology.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Keel|first=Bennie C.|date=2019|title=The Genesis of Cherokee Archaeology in Western North Carolina, North Carolina Archaeology|journal=North Carolina Archaeology|volume=68}}</ref>
During his time at the Southeast Archaeological Center he carried out multi-year excavations at [[Charles Pinckney National Historic Site]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel, Bennie C., Kowal, Amy C.|title=The Archeology of Charles Pinckney's Snee Farm: A Summary of Fieldwork 1987- 1999|publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Southeast Archeological Center|year=2014|location=Tallahassee, Florida}}</ref> [[Fort Raleigh National Historic Site]] and Cane River Creole National Historic Site.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel|first=Bennie|title=A comprehensive subsurface investigation at Magnolia Plantation : 16NA295, Cane River Creole National Historical Park, Natchitoches, Louisiana|year=1999|url=https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sil_1095853}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Miller, Christina, and Susan E. Wood|title=Oakland Plantation: A Comprehensive Subsurface Investigation|year=2000|url=http://npshistory.com/publications/cari/index.htm}}</ref> Before retiring, Keel worked with the [[National Park Service]], [[Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians]], [[North Carolina State University|North Carolina State]] Historic Preservation Office, and the [[Advisory Council on Historic Preservation]] to develop a [[Memorandum of Agreement]] (MOA) for the land exchange between the Band and [[Great Smoky Mountains National Park|Great Smoky Mountain National Park]]. This involved creating the data recovery plan, which was a multimillion-dollar project paid for by the Band.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel|first=Bennie C.|title=The Ravensford Tract Archaeological Project|publisher=Southeast Archaeological Center, National Park Service|year=2007}}</ref> In his retirement he continues to contribute to Cherokee archaeology.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Keel|first=Bennie C.|date=2019|title=The Genesis of Cherokee Archaeology in Western North Carolina, North Carolina Archaeology|journal=North Carolina Archaeology|volume=68}}</ref>


===Contributions to cultural resource management===
===Contributions to cultural resource management===
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Keel's career developed in tandem with the growth of [[cultural resource management]] (CRM) and public archaeology in the USA. Keel played a fundamental role in several significant [[Rescue archaeology|salvage archaeology]] projects, including his first experience in the field at the Hog Town Bayou site in 1959. Other prominent salvage projects Keel has been a part of include the [[Marmes Rockshelter]] conducted by [[Washington State University]], with archaeologist [[Roald H. Fryxell|Roald Fryxell]], from 1968 to 1969.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fryxell, Roland, Keel, Bennie C.|title=Emergency Salvage Excavations for the Recovery of Early Human Remains and Related Scientific Materials from the Marmes Rockshelter Archaeological Site, Southeastern Washington May 3-December 15 1968|publisher=U.S. Army Corps of Engineer District Walla Walla|year=1969}}</ref>
Keel's five decade long career developed in tandem with the growth of [[cultural resource management]] (CRM) and public archaeology in the USA. Federal and state legislation provided additional protection for the nation's cultural resources, and [[salvage archaeology]] is a starting point in the establishment of Americanist CRM as a profession in the discipline of archaeology.


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Keel played a major role in the authorship and passing of critical legislation and regulations directed at preservation of cultural heritage that has had widespread and continuing impacts to the present day.<ref name=":4" /> This includes the passage of the [[Abandoned Shipwrecks Act]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=NPS Archeology Program: Abandoned Shipwreck Act (ASA)|url=https://www.nps.gov/archeology/tools/laws/asa.htm|access-date=2021-07-27|website=www.nps.gov}}</ref> and the guidelines for its implementation. Keel's writing of key sections of the [[Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979|Archaeological Resource Protection Act]] (ARPA) and its regulations. Additionally, Keel developed the regulations (36 CFR 79) for the amendment to ARPA to establish much needed procedures for the curation of federally owned and administered archaeological collections. The National Archaeological Database (NADB) and the NPS Cultural Sites Inventory was developed under his direction. He developed a peer review program for federal archaeological projects <ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel, B.C., Little, B.J., Graham, M., Carroll, M., McManamon, F.P.|title=Peer Review of Federal Archaeological Projects and Programs|publisher=Washington Department of the Interior Departmental Consulting Archaeologist, National Park Service Archaeology Program|year=2007}}</ref> and cultural conservation <ref>{{Cite book|last=Loomis|first=Ormond H.|title=Cultural Conservation: the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the United States: a Study|publisher=National Park Service|year=1983}}</ref> and reported to [[United States Congress|Congress]] on Federal Archaeology. He promoted the publication of popular summaries of major projects for the general public.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Keel, B.C., McManamon, F.P., Smith, G.S.|date=1989|title=Federal archaeology: the current program. Annual report to congress on the Federal Archaeology Program FY1985 and FY1986|journal=United States Government Printing Office}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" />
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Keel played a fundamental role in several significant [[Rescue archaeology|salvage archaeology]] projects which set the stage for his career developed as CRM as a professional discipline expanded in the [[United States]]. [[Rescue archaeology|Salvage archaeology]] projects that Keel has been a part of include his first experience in the field at the Hog Town Bayou site in 1959. Other prominent salvage projects Keel has been a part of include the [[Marmes Rockshelter]] conducted by [[Washington State University]], with archaeologist [[Roald H. Fryxell|Roald Fryxell]], from 1968 to 1969.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fryxell, Roland, Keel, Bennie C.|title=Emergency Salvage Excavations for the Recovery of Early Human Remains and Related Scientific Materials from the Marmes Rockshelter Archaeological Site, Southeastern Washington May 3-December 15 1968|publisher=U.S. Army Corps of Engineer District Walla Walla|year=1969}}</ref>


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==Awards and honors==
At the [[National Park Service]], Keel took advantage of his "unique position to do groundbreaking work, and he had a profound influence on the direction the government took. He played a key role helping establish the framework for the federal archaeology program that exists today. Dr. Keel brought a fresh approach to contract management in the southeastern United States in the 1970s. Most importantly, he instituted transparency in archaeological contracting. He insisted that contracts not only were academically justifiable, they also were fiscally responsible and in the public interest. He promoted the concept of treating large-scale federal undertakings as single archaeological districts to optimize and rationalize decision-making and insisted that major projects produce popular publications."<ref name=":4" />
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Keel was named as a 1960 Fellow in the Social Sciences at FSU and 1967 award for a [[National Defense Education Act]] fellowship at WSU. In 1979 he was honored with a Department of the Interior Superior Service Award.<ref name=":4" /> The Society of Professional Archaeologists (later named the [[Register of Professional Archaeologists]]) awarded him its Distinguished Achievement Award In 1993.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Register of Professional Archaeologists|title=Awards History|url=https://rpanet.org/awards|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925050745/https://rpanet.org/awards |archive-date=September 25, 2020 }}</ref> In 2008 he was awarded the Southeastern Archaeological Conference's Lifetime Award<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lifetime Achievement Awards Recipients|url=https://www.southeasternarchaeology.org/grants-awards/lifetime-achievement-award/lifetime-achievement-award-recipients/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905190847/http://www.southeasternarchaeology.org/grants-awards/lifetime-achievement-award/lifetime-achievement-award-recipients/ |archive-date=September 5, 2015 }}</ref> and four years later he was awarded the [[Society for American Archaeology]]'s Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref name=":1" /> A special issue of the journal ''Southeastern Archaeology'' included a series of papers given in his honor that recognized his contributions to the development of Cherokee, North Carolina, and public archaeology.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />

⚫
Keel played a major role in the authorship and passing of critical legislation and regulations directed at preservation of cultural heritage that has had widespread and continuing impacts to the present day<ref name=":4" />. This includes the passage of the [[Abandoned Shipwrecks Act]] <ref>{{Cite web|title=NPS Archeology Program: Abandoned Shipwreck Act (ASA)|url=https://www.nps.gov/archeology/tools/laws/asa.htm|access-date=2021-07-27|website=www.nps.gov}}</ref> and the guidelines for its implementation. Keel's writing of key sections of the [[Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979|Archaeological Resource Protection Act]] (ARPA) and its regulations. Additionally, Keel developed the regulations ([https://www.nps.gov/archeology/tools/36cfr79.htm 36 CFR 79]) for the amendment to ARPA to establish much needed procedures for the curation of federally owned and administered archaeological collections. The [https://www.nps.gov/archeology/tools/nadb.htm National Archaeological Database (NADB)] and the NPS Cultural Sites Inventory was developed under his direction. He developed a peer review program for federal archaeological projects <ref>{{Cite book|last=Keel, B.C., Little, B.J., Graham, M., Carroll, M., McManamon, F.P.|title=Peer Review of Federal Archaeological Projects and Programs|publisher=Washington Department of the Interior Departmental Consulting Archaeologist, National Park Service Archaeology Program|year=2007}}</ref> and cultural conservation <ref>{{Cite book|last=Loomis|first=Ormond H.|title=Cultural Conservation: the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the United States: a Study|publisher=National Parks Service|year=1983}}</ref> and reported to [[Congress]] on Federal Archaeology. He promoted the publication of popular summaries of major projects for the general public.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Keel, B.C., McManamon, F.P., Smith, G.S.|date=1989|title=Federal archaeology: the current program. Annual report to congress on the Federal Archaeology Program FY1985 and FY1986|journal=United States Government Printing Office}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" />

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==Awards and honors ==
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Keel has received numerous awards and honors that highlight his contributions to southeastern archaeology and leadership roles in cultural resource management. Early honors include his naming as a 1960 Fellow in the Social Sciences at FSU and 1967 award for a [[National Defense Education Act]] fellowship at WSU. In 1979 he was honored with a Department of the Interior Superior Service Award<ref name=":4" />. The Society of Professional Archaeologists (later named the [[Register of Professional Archaeologists]]) awarded him its Distinguished Achievement Award In 1993.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Register of Professional Archaeologists|title=Awards History|url=https://rpanet.org/awards|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2008 he was awarded the Southeastern Archaeological Conference's Lifetime Award<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lifetime Achievement Awards Recipients|url=https://www.southeasternarchaeology.org/grants-awards/lifetime-achievement-award/lifetime-achievement-award-recipients/|url-status=live}}</ref> and four years later he was awarded the [[Society for American Archaeology]]’s Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref name=":1" /> A special issue of the journal ''Southeastern Archaeology'' included a series of papers given in his honor that recognized his contributions to the development of Cherokee, North Carolina, and public archaeology.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />


==References==
==References==
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{{reflist}}<kbd><nowiki>[[Category:List of archaeologists]]</nowiki></kbd>


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<kbd><nowiki>[[Category:American anthropologists]]</nowiki></kbd>{{uncategorized|date=July 2021}}
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Latest revision as of 13:00, 30 March 2024

Bennie Carlton Keel is an American archaeologist who has made contributions to the foundational understanding of Cherokee archaeology and culture, North Carolina archaeology, and to the development of Americanist cultural resource management (CRM).[1][2][3]

Early life and education

[edit]

Keel was born in 1934 and grew up in Panama City, Florida. He played the trumpet while in elementary school. He graduated from Bay High School in 1952 and completed one year of college at Florida State University (FSU) prior to attending boot camp at Fort Gordon, Georgia, then serving in the U.S. Army for three years (1954-1957) as a military policeman with the 11th Airborne Division. He was introduced to anthropology in an introductory social science course taught by Charles H. Fairbanks and attended the 1959 FSU archaeological field school in the Weiss Reservoir in northern Alabama.[2][3]

He completed his B.S. at FSU in 1960, and in 1965 earned his M.S. from FSU. His thesis was published in Southern Indian Studies as "The Preservation of Archaeological and Ethnological Specimens".[4] Keel earned his PhD in 1972 at Washington State University in Pullman. His dissertation, Woodland Phases of the Appalachian Summit Area[5] was revised and published by the University of Tennessee Press as Cherokee Archaeology: A Study of the Appalachian Summit.[6]

Career

[edit]

Keel directed the final Weiss Reservoir data recovery program in 1960, which was overseen by archaeologist David L. DeJarnette.[2][7] From 1961 to 1963, he worked under Joffre Coe as an archaeologist at the Town Creek Indian Mound in North Carolina.[citation needed] In the summer of 1963, he became the senior staff archaeologist at Research Laboratories of Anthropology (RLA), now called Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Keel served in this position for ten years. From 1973 to 1976 he was an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio directing the university's archaeological field school in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Normandy Reservoir project.[1] After receiving tenure and promotion in early 1976, he resigned and in June 1976 he joined National Park Service (NPS) as Chief of Interagency Archaeological Services Atlanta and in February 1980 he moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked as the Departmental Consulting Archaeologist and NPS Assistant Director – Archaeology until June 1990 when he transferred to the NPS Southeast Archaeology Center (SEAC) in Tallahassee, Florida as Regional Archaeologist and Center Director until his retirement in March 2008.[8]

Contributions to southeastern archaeology

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Keel's contributions southeastern archaeology, in particular to the development of North Carolina and Cherokee archaeology, were detailed in a special issue of Southeastern Archaeology in 2010 after his retirement from the National Park Service in 2008.[9] As noted by R.P. Stephen Davis Jr., over Keel's 50 year career including his work in North Carolina he "made lasting contributions to public archaeology and our understanding of the archaeological record, particularly as it relates to Cherokee ancestry and native peoples of the Piedmont region. Moreover, through his fieldwork at sites such as Garden Creek, Coweeta Creek, and Upper Saratown, he helped train dozens of future archaeologists, and the experience he gained from these projects served him well as one of the federal government's principal advocates for archaeology over the past three decades."[1]

During his tenure at the RLA he conducted surveys and excavations from Manteo, NC to Murphy, NC. The more significant of these efforts include the excavations at the Forbush, Hardins, Belk Farms, Upper Saratown sites and the Red Springs Mound,[10] His six field seasons (1964–67; 1970–71) in western North Carolina resulted in his Cherokee Archaeology,[6] which serves as a foundation for modern Cherokee research.[3]

During his time at the Southeast Archaeological Center he carried out multi-year excavations at Charles Pinckney National Historic Site,[11] Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and Cane River Creole National Historic Site.[12][13] Before retiring, Keel worked with the National Park Service, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to develop a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the land exchange between the Band and Great Smoky Mountain National Park. This involved creating the data recovery plan, which was a multimillion-dollar project paid for by the Band.[14] In his retirement he continues to contribute to Cherokee archaeology.[15]

Contributions to cultural resource management

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Keel's career developed in tandem with the growth of cultural resource management (CRM) and public archaeology in the USA. Keel played a fundamental role in several significant salvage archaeology projects, including his first experience in the field at the Hog Town Bayou site in 1959. Other prominent salvage projects Keel has been a part of include the Marmes Rockshelter conducted by Washington State University, with archaeologist Roald Fryxell, from 1968 to 1969.[16]

Keel played a major role in the authorship and passing of critical legislation and regulations directed at preservation of cultural heritage that has had widespread and continuing impacts to the present day.[3] This includes the passage of the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act[17] and the guidelines for its implementation. Keel's writing of key sections of the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA) and its regulations. Additionally, Keel developed the regulations (36 CFR 79) for the amendment to ARPA to establish much needed procedures for the curation of federally owned and administered archaeological collections. The National Archaeological Database (NADB) and the NPS Cultural Sites Inventory was developed under his direction. He developed a peer review program for federal archaeological projects [18] and cultural conservation [19] and reported to Congress on Federal Archaeology. He promoted the publication of popular summaries of major projects for the general public.[20][8][3]

Awards and honors

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Keel was named as a 1960 Fellow in the Social Sciences at FSU and 1967 award for a National Defense Education Act fellowship at WSU. In 1979 he was honored with a Department of the Interior Superior Service Award.[3] The Society of Professional Archaeologists (later named the Register of Professional Archaeologists) awarded him its Distinguished Achievement Award In 1993.[21] In 2008 he was awarded the Southeastern Archaeological Conference's Lifetime Award[22] and four years later he was awarded the Society for American Archaeology's Lifetime Achievement Award.[8] A special issue of the journal Southeastern Archaeology included a series of papers given in his honor that recognized his contributions to the development of Cherokee, North Carolina, and public archaeology.[3][9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Davis, Stephen R. P. (1978). "1975 Excavation at the Wiser-Stephens I Site (40CF81)". Tennessee Valley Authority Publications. 19.
  2. ^ a b c Ward, H. Trawick (2010). "My Buddy Bennie". Southeastern Archaeology. 29 (1): 101–105. doi:10.1179/sea.2010.29.1.007. JSTOR 41620050. S2CID 218693199.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Aubry, Michele C. (2014), "Keel, Bennie C.", in Smith, Claire (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, New York, NY: Springer New York, pp. 4261–4263, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229, ISBN 978-1-4419-0426-3, retrieved July 28, 2021
  4. ^ Keel, Bennie C. (1963). "The Preservation and Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnological Specimens". Southern Indian Studies.
  5. ^ Keel, Bennie C. Woodland Phases of the Appalachian Summit Area. Pullman, Washington: Department of Anthropology, Washington State University.
  6. ^ a b Keel, Bennie C (1976). Cherokee Archaeology: a Study of the Appalachian Summit. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press.
  7. ^ DeJarnette, D. L., Kurjack, E. B., & Keel, B. C. (1973). "Archaeological Investigations in the Weiss Reservoir of the Coosa River in Alabama". Journal of Alabama Archaeology.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b c Aubry, Michele C. (2014), "Keel, Bennie C.", in Smith, Claire (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 4261–4263, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1229, ISBN 978-1-4419-0465-2, retrieved July 27, 2021
  9. ^ a b Edmond A. Boudreaux, III, Christopher B. Rodning. "Special Thematic Section: Papers in Honor of Bennie C. Keel". Southeastern Archaeology. JSTOR 41620043.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Davis, Stephen R.P. (2010). "The Contributions of Bennie Carlton Keel to the Development of North Carolina Archaeology". Southeastern Archaeology. 29: 1–7. doi:10.1179/sea.2010.29.1.001. S2CID 218687502.
  11. ^ Keel, Bennie C., Kowal, Amy C. (2014). The Archeology of Charles Pinckney's Snee Farm: A Summary of Fieldwork 1987- 1999. Tallahassee, Florida: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Southeast Archeological Center.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Keel, Bennie (1999). A comprehensive subsurface investigation at Magnolia Plantation : 16NA295, Cane River Creole National Historical Park, Natchitoches, Louisiana.
  13. ^ Miller, Christina, and Susan E. Wood (2000). Oakland Plantation: A Comprehensive Subsurface Investigation.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Keel, Bennie C. (2007). The Ravensford Tract Archaeological Project. Southeast Archaeological Center, National Park Service.
  15. ^ Keel, Bennie C. (2019). "The Genesis of Cherokee Archaeology in Western North Carolina, North Carolina Archaeology". North Carolina Archaeology. 68.
  16. ^ Fryxell, Roland, Keel, Bennie C. (1969). Emergency Salvage Excavations for the Recovery of Early Human Remains and Related Scientific Materials from the Marmes Rockshelter Archaeological Site, Southeastern Washington May 3-December 15 1968. U.S. Army Corps of Engineer District Walla Walla.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ "NPS Archeology Program: Abandoned Shipwreck Act (ASA)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  18. ^ Keel, B.C., Little, B.J., Graham, M., Carroll, M., McManamon, F.P. (2007). Peer Review of Federal Archaeological Projects and Programs. Washington Department of the Interior Departmental Consulting Archaeologist, National Park Service Archaeology Program.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ Loomis, Ormond H. (1983). Cultural Conservation: the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the United States: a Study. National Park Service.
  20. ^ Keel, B.C., McManamon, F.P., Smith, G.S. (1989). "Federal archaeology: the current program. Annual report to congress on the Federal Archaeology Program FY1985 and FY1986". United States Government Printing Office.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Register of Professional Archaeologists. "Awards History". Archived from the original on September 25, 2020.
  22. ^ "Lifetime Achievement Awards Recipients". Archived from the original on September 5, 2015.
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