Staff News - Arkansas Archeological Survey

Rachael Martin Wiest (BA, Anthropology, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville) is the new Society/Survey Liaison. As an anthropology student Rachael participated in a ground survey at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois and a bioarcheology excavation at Yasileh in Jordan under Dr. Jerome Rose in a collaboration between Yarmouk University and University of Arkansas. Rachael has worked in International Education administration at the University of Arkansas overseeing programming for international and study abroad students. Most recently Rachael has worked with arts-based community non-profits, The Art Experience, Inc, Theater Squared, and University of Arkansas Theater. Her passions involve projects that engage the community to tap into all the scientific, cultural, and artistic opportunities Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas offer. When not working Rachael can be found fending off invasive species of plants on her little 3 acres, tending chickens, herding cats and dogs, camping, and cold water swimming.

Leanda Gavin (BA, University of Arkansas) is the new Registrar and Collections Assistant at the Coordinating Office in Fayetteville. Leanda began volunteering at the survey in 2016 working with Dr. Ann Early, cleaning and cataloging donated collections. She has most recently been a technician in the CO lab under an ANCRC grant, bringing older collections up to current curation standards and entering artifact records into the Survey’s digital database. When she’s not at the survey, she is chasing after her kids and all their silly farm animals.

Collections and NAGPRA Assistant Liley Bozard is leaving the ARAS to get her PhD at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Liley has worked for the ARAS for four years, first as a lab assistant and later lab lead. Liley has interests in ceremonialism, foodways, and community-making in southeastern Indigenous communities, specifically in the Central Mississippi River Valley. Outside of her work, Liley is also one of the executive vice-presidents of the Arkansas Archeological Society. Although Liley is sad to leave us, she will continue to be involved in Arkansas archeology and the Society’s affairs!

Sunni Deb Weaver (BA and BS, University of Arkansas at Monticello, 2025) is the new Archeological Assistant at the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s Research Station at University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM). Sunni’s passion for community service and public engagement started in her undergraduate research as she studied the fields of anthropology, psychology, and political science. She began working for the Survey in July 2023 as a Project Assistant at the UAM Research Station, where she restored collections, archived and digitized data, and participated in fieldwork—screening artifacts, profiling walls, and preparing sites for GPR. She has also served as Vice President of the Tunican Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society (2024–present). Sunni believes in the importance of public education and making Arkansas land and culture accessible; she hopes Arkansans can learn and share the passion she has for the history of the state well into the future.

Congratulations to Kathy Cande on her retirement from the Arkansas Archeological Survey after 37 years of service! Kathy started with the Survey in 1987 as a Project Archeologist for the Sponsored Research Program (SRP) which dealt with archeological contract projects usually associated with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Throughout her career, she consulted and worked with multiple outside agencies on research and historic preservation, including Arkansas State Parks. She authored educational flyers for the Survey and authored or co-authored web articles for the Survey’s 50 Moments series and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. She has given many public presentations on Arkansas archeology/history and provided tours of the archeological lab to visiting scholars, schoolchildren, and other groups.

Kathy Cande Retirement

Dr. Jami Lockhart retired on December 31, 2024 after 39 years of service. Jami was our Computer Services Program Coordinator as well our Director of Archaeogeophysical Research. He has conducted research in all parts of Arkansas in collaboration with our Research Station Archeologists as well as Arkansas State Parks, the National Park Service, cemetery researchers, historical associations, and the Archeological Conservancy. He also conducted research at major archeological sites in Arkansas such as Parkin, Plum Bayou Mounds, Carden Bottoms, and Menard-Hodges among many others as well as at sites in surrounding states, such as Spiro Mounds in eastern Oklahoma. He was instrumental in the growth of the Automated Management of Archeological Site Data in Arkansas (AMASDA) database, and built an advanced archaeogeophysical program at the Arkansas Archeological Survey.

Dr. Jami Lockhart Retires

On September 26, 2024, Arkansas archeology, and indeed Central Mississippi Valley, southeastern and midwestern, and all of American archeology, lost a great colleague and scholar earlier this week, Dan F. Morse. Dan had conducted archeology in many states, and made important discoveries at a lot of well-known sites, some made more so because of his work and prolific writings on those sites, including Etowah, Cahokia, Steuben, Pinson, Nodena, Parkin, Brand, Sloan, Zebree, and many, many more.

Dan F. Morse

The passing of Mary Lynn Kennedy on August 19, 2023, touched many of us who were her colleagues here at the Arkansas Archeological Survey with sadness but also fond memories. Mary Lynn retired from the Survey back in 2006, after 31 years as editor for the publications program. During those 31 years she brought to print 52 volumes of the ARAS Research Series, two Popular Series books, 11 Technical Papers, and 32 Research Reports. Learn more about Mary Lynn's life and contributions to the Survey.

Honoring Mary Lynn Kennedy