Thomas Des Jean
Thomas Des Jean is an American anthropologist who has conducted extensive field research in the American Southeast, in CRM (cultural resources management), and has worked for over twenty years with the National Park Service. He has recorded over a thousand archaeological sites in the Midsouth, as well as aided in the preservation of sites and the conviction of looters who have destroyed some of the archaeological record in the area. Early life Thomas was born in 1948, and lived his early life outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. After graduating from a Catholic high school, he joined the U.S. Navy, where he served for four years. In 1975, he earned a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of Florida, and also minored in Ecology. Early archaeological career Des Jean attended several field schools directed by Jerald T. Milanich, a professor at the University of Florida. His first field schools focused on Woodland period sites, the time around 2,000 BC to 1,000 AD, that within the Southeast includes the new technologies of food processing and storage, burial mounds with an emphasis on grave goods, and a great deal of pottery. Perhaps this was an influence that led Tom to choose pottery as