Cultural Resource Archaeologist BA Anthropology Western Illinois University MA Anthropology Southern Illinois University, Carbondale E-mail: rfishel@illinois.edu

General Interest/Area of Focus

The primary research interests of Richard Fishel are the late prehistoric cultures of the Upper Midwest region. His research has generally centered on late prehistoric ceramics and the information they convey, as well as the trade relations among and between these cultures. He has conducted fieldwork primarily in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri and has authored more than 250 technical reports, publications, and professional papers on Midwestern archaeology.

Rich’s professional services have included memberships in the Society for American Archaeology, the Register of Professional Archaeologists, the Illinois Archaeological Survey, the Illinois Association for Advancement of Archaeology, the Midwestern Archaeological Conference, the Association of Iowa Archaeologists, the Iowa Archaeological Society, the Wisconsin Archaeological Society, and the Southeastern Archaeological Conference. He has instructed or co-instructed four field schools in Midwestern archaeology, one of which won the 2000 University of Iowa’s International Programs Mariko Mizuhara Award for Cross-Cultural Understanding, and also co-organized the 2003 Midwest Archaeological Conference symposium “Hidden in Plain Site: Early Nineteenth Century Native American Sites and Material Culture in the Midwest.” Rich currently serves as a board member for the Illinois Archaeological Survey.

Previous Positions

1981–1985 Field Technician, Western Illinois University, Macomb

1984–1989 Field Technician, Center for American Archeology, Kampsville, IL

1989–1993 Field Supervisor, Center for American Archeology, Kampsville, IL

1992–1993 Project Director, Center for American Archeology, Kampsville, IL

1993–2002 Project Archaeologist, Office of the State Archaeologist, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

1999–2001 Adjunct Instructor, American Indian and Native Studies Program, The University of Iowa, Iowa City

2001 Adjunct Instructor, Department of Anthropology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City

2002–present Staff Archaeologist (Cultural Resource Archaeologist), Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, The University of Illinois, Champaign

Selected Bibliography

Richard L. Fishel
2005 Recent Spanish Coin Discoveries in Illinois. Illinois Antiquity 40(4):3–8.

2005 The Gill Site (23RY102): An Early Woodland Encampment in Northwest Missouri. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 52:1–19.

2005 Ceramic Analysis. In The Cowan Site: A Great Oasis Community in Northwest Iowa, edited by Stephen C. Lensink and Joseph A. Tiffany, pp. 33–54. Report 22. Office of the State Archaeologist, The University of Iowa, Iowa City.

2003 The Search for Senachwine’s Village. Illinois Antiquity 38(3):3–5.

2001 Oneota Overview of South Central Iowa. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 48:59–69.

1999 Bison Hunters of the Western Prairies: Archaeological Investigations at the Dixon Site (13WD8), Woodbury County, Iowa. Editor and contributor. Report 21. Office of the State Archaeologist, The University of Iowa, Iowa City.

1997 Medicine Birds and Mill Creek-Middle Mississippian Interaction: The Contents of Feature 8 at the Phipps Site (13CK21). American Antiquity 62:538–553.

1996 A Reanalysis of Mill Creek Midden Formation. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 43:119–127.

1995 A Preliminary Analysis of Mississippian Jar Rim Heights from the Central Illinois River Valley. Illinois Archaeology 7:69–81.

1994 Vertically Punctated Late Woodland Ceramics in West-Central Illinois. Illinois Antiquity 29(1):4–10.

1992 Payson Chert:A Distinct Lithic Raw Material from Adams County, Illinois. Illinois Archeology 4:74–84.

1988 Preliminary Observations on the Distribution of the Agate Basin Projectile Point East of the Mississippi River. The Wisconsin Archeologist 69:125–138.

Richard L. Fishel, Rolfe D. Mandel, James M. Collins, and Michael T. Dunne
2003 The Archaic Occupations of the Allen Fan Site (13HA385) in the Iowa Valley of Central Iowa. The Plains Anthropologist Memoir 34.

Richard L. Fishel and Julieann Van Nest
1994 Flood Impact Assessment of Selected Iowa Archaeological Sites Damaged in 1993. In Archaeology and the Great Midwestern Floods of 1993, edited by William Green and Robin M. Lillie, pp. 55–143. Research Papers Vol. 19, No. 4. Office of the State Archaeologist, The University of Iowa, Iowa City.

Nolan, David J., and Richard L. Fishel
2006 A Review of Archaic Cultural Variation and Life Ways in West Central Illinois. In Archaic Societies of the Midcontinent, edited by Thomas E. Emerson, Dale L. McElrath, and Andrew C. Fortier. University of Nebraska, Lincoln. In press.

Complete Vitae (pdf)

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