A. T. Hill
Encyclopedia
Asa Thomas Hill generally known as A. T. Hill, was an American businessman and archaeologist. His work on sites in and around Nebraska
, with such collaborators as William Duncan Strong
and Waldo Wedel
, was instrumental in the development of Great Plains
archaeology.
, the oldest of six children of David D. Hill and Angenora Leak Hill. In about 1875, the family moved to Logan
in Phillips County, Kansas
. After a brief return to Illinois, they settled permanently on a homestead
in Phillips County in 1878.
Hill grew up in a sod house
. As a child, he was hidden in a straw stack by his mother during the Northern Cheyenne Exodus
. On the frontier, schools and teachers were few, and the responsibilities of an oldest son on a dryland farm were many; Hill's formal education ended in the fourth grade.
At the age of 18, Hill left home to ride the rails throughout the western United States. As he travelled, he worked a variety of odd jobs: dishwasher in a mining camp, photographer, portrait painter, and market hunter. In jumping from a moving freight train, he severely injured an ankle; the injury troubled him for the rest of his life.
Hill returned to Logan, where he and his father opened a general store. He married Mayme Rouse of Plainville, Kansas
.
had visited a Pawnee village on the Republican River
shortly after the departure of a much larger Spanish expedition. At the village, Pike had persuaded the Pawnee chief to lower a Spanish flag and to raise that of the United States.
The site of the Pike flag incident was thought to be the Pawnee Indian Village Site
near Republic, Kansas
. In 1901, the state of Kansas erected a monument on the site; in 1906, a four-day celebration was held to commemorate the centennial of the occurrence.
Hill was one of those who attended the 1906 celebration. Intrigued, he read Pike's journal and the publications of the Kansas and Nebraska historical societies concerning Pike's expedition. From Pike's account of his route, and from a study of the topography of the area, he concluded that the Kansas monument was at the wrong site, and that the Pike flag event must have taken place somewhere in the vicinity of present-day Red Cloud, Nebraska
.
The Hills' general store failed, and Hill had to seek work elsewhere. He was hired by an automobile dealer in Fairbury, Nebraska
, where he and his family moved in about 1910. When that dealer went out of business in 1912, Hill moved to Hastings, Nebraska
, where he went to work selling cars for the A. H. Jones Company; later, he became the company's wholesale manager. His work took him throughout the area in which he thought that the missing Pawnee village must be located, and he took advantage of his business travel to search for artifacts and to query local residents for clues as to its location.
In 1923, he learned of a site near Guide Rock
in Webster County, Nebraska
, at which Spanish artifacts had been discovered. The owner, the son of the original homesteader, told him that when the ground was first plowed, it was covered with Native American
artifacts. Over the next year and a half, Hill excavated at the site, discovering additional Spanish material and other evidence that there had been an important Pawnee village there. He also compared the local topography to Pike's account, and attempted to follow Pike's route to and from the site. All of this persuaded him that he had found the true village that Pike had visited.
In 1925, in order to protect the site and to make it available for archaeological investigation, Hill bought the two farms that covered it, totalling 320 acres (129.5 ha). Through 1930, he continued his investigations at the site. Today, there is a strong consensus among archaeologists that Hill correctly identified the Pike village.
joined the University of Nebraska
faculty as a professor of anthropology. In the following year, he began fieldwork along the Republican River in southern Nebraska, assisted by graduate student Waldo Wedel
. Hill made contact with the party and, once he was convinced that they were serious students of the past and not mere relic-hunters, invited them to his property in Webster County. Strong's University of Nebraska Archaeological Survey spent two weeks excavating at the site; after the excavation was done, Wedel continued to study the artifacts that they had recovered. This was the first application of Strong's direct historical approach
to Central Plains archaeology; in 1936, Wedel published his 1930 master's
thesis as the seminal An Introduction to Pawnee Archeology.
Hill did not limit his investigations to the Pike village. In the course of searching for it, he had discovered archaeological sites throughout much of Nebraska and Kansas; and he continued to seek new sites as he travelled through the area. To augment his own efforts, he recruited his salesmen to scout for him. Although he did not give them their present names, he recognized the existence of distinct indigenous cultures in the region: the Woodland, Upper Republican, Lower Loup, and Pawnee complexes.
In the mid-1930s, Hill, Wedel, and Strong found archaeological evidence in Nebraska of a previously unknown prehistoric culture, different from the Central Plains
and Woodland
traditions. The new culture was named the Dismal River culture
, or Dismal River aspect, for its location in the Dismal River basin
of Nebraska. It is dated between 1650-1750 A.D.
. In that year, the Nebraska State Historical Society
named him Director of the Museum and Field Archeology.
Hill proved a great asset to the Society. At a time when the Great Depression
had forced deep budget cuts, he was able to work without a salary and to finance excavations out of his own pocket. With his managerial ability and business acumen, he was able to secure federal funds to hire archaeological crews of unemployed persons, and to organize and direct the crews efficiently in the field. From 1933 until 1941, when the United States' entry into World War II
put a halt to it, he oversaw extensive excavation projects in Nebraska and Kansas.
During the war, Hill concentrated on the museum, and on the study of material collected in previous years. He managed the conversion of the museum from a library and research institution to one with popular appeal, and contributed his "unsurpassed" collection of Pawnee artifacts to it.
With the conclusion of the war, Hill was eager to return to field work. In 1947, he led a NSHS crew to Frontier County, Nebraska
, where sites in the basin of Medicine Creek
were threatened by the construction of the Medicine Creek Reservoir. However, failing health forced him to retire in 1949.
Hill died in Los Angeles in 1953.
The Pike-Pawnee Village Site, where Pike's flag incident took place, is also known as the Hill Farm Site.
In 1948, the University of Nebraska gave Hill its "Nebraska Builder" award, citing him as the "father of systematic archeology in Nebraska".
In 1975, the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation established its Asa T. Hill Award for notable archaeological work in Nebraska or the Great Plains. Recipients have included professional and amateur archaeologists.
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, with such collaborators as William Duncan Strong
William Duncan Strong
William Duncan Strong was an American archaeologist and anthropologist noted for his application of the direct historical approach to the study of indigenous peoples of North and South America....
and Waldo Wedel
Waldo Rudolph Wedel
Waldo Rudolph Wedel was an American archaeologist and a central figure in the study of the prehistory of the Great Plains. He was born in Newton, Kansas to a family of Mennonites. In 1939 he married Mildred Mott, a fellow archaeologist and ethnohistorian...
, was instrumental in the development of Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
archaeology.
Early life and career
Hill was born in 1871 in Cisne, IllinoisCisne, Illinois
Cisne is a village in Wayne County, Illinois, United States. The population was 673 at the 2000 census. Cisne was named in 1870 in honor of Levi Cisne on the suggestion of Charles A. Beecher, who was influential in building the railroad and the station around which the village of Cisne...
, the oldest of six children of David D. Hill and Angenora Leak Hill. In about 1875, the family moved to Logan
Logan, Kansas
Logan is a city in Phillips County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 589.-Geography:Logan is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 603...
in Phillips County, Kansas
Phillips County, Kansas
Phillips County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 5,642...
. After a brief return to Illinois, they settled permanently on a homestead
Homestead Act
A homestead act is one of three United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River....
in Phillips County in 1878.
Hill grew up in a sod house
Sod house
The sod house or "soddy" was a corollary to the log cabin during frontier settlement of Canada and the United States. The prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone; however, sod from thickly-rooted prairie grass was abundant...
. As a child, he was hidden in a straw stack by his mother during the Northern Cheyenne Exodus
Northern Cheyenne Exodus
The Northern Cheyenne Exodus, also known as Dull Knife's Raid, the Cheyenne War, or the Cheyenne Campaign, was the attempt of the Northern Cheyenne to return to the north, after being placed on the Southern Cheyenne reservation in the Indian Territory, and the United States Army operations to stop...
. On the frontier, schools and teachers were few, and the responsibilities of an oldest son on a dryland farm were many; Hill's formal education ended in the fourth grade.
At the age of 18, Hill left home to ride the rails throughout the western United States. As he travelled, he worked a variety of odd jobs: dishwasher in a mining camp, photographer, portrait painter, and market hunter. In jumping from a moving freight train, he severely injured an ankle; the injury troubled him for the rest of his life.
Hill returned to Logan, where he and his father opened a general store. He married Mayme Rouse of Plainville, Kansas
Plainville, Kansas
Plainville is a city in Rooks County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,903.-19th century:The area was first settled in 1877 by Hiram Keas. Plainville, previously known as Paradise Flats, was established in 1888, in Rooks County, Kansas...
.
Hill and the Pike site
In 1806, a party led by Zebulon PikeZebulon Pike
Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. was an American officer and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806-1807, he led the Pike Expedition to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase and to find the headwaters of the Red River,...
had visited a Pawnee village on the Republican River
Republican River
The Republican River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, flowing through the U.S. states of Nebraska and Kansas.-Geography:...
shortly after the departure of a much larger Spanish expedition. At the village, Pike had persuaded the Pawnee chief to lower a Spanish flag and to raise that of the United States.
The site of the Pike flag incident was thought to be the Pawnee Indian Village Site
Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site
The Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site is an archaeological site and museum, located near the city of Republic in Republic County, Kansas, in the central United States. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places under the name Pawnee Indian Village Site...
near Republic, Kansas
Republic, Kansas
Republic is a city in Republic County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 116.-Geography:Republic is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 161...
. In 1901, the state of Kansas erected a monument on the site; in 1906, a four-day celebration was held to commemorate the centennial of the occurrence.
Hill was one of those who attended the 1906 celebration. Intrigued, he read Pike's journal and the publications of the Kansas and Nebraska historical societies concerning Pike's expedition. From Pike's account of his route, and from a study of the topography of the area, he concluded that the Kansas monument was at the wrong site, and that the Pike flag event must have taken place somewhere in the vicinity of present-day Red Cloud, Nebraska
Red Cloud, Nebraska
Red Cloud is a city in and the county seat of Webster County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,131 at the 2000 census.-History:The region of present-day Red Cloud was intermittently occupied and used as hunting grounds by the Pawnees until 1833. In that year, a treaty was signed in...
.
The Hills' general store failed, and Hill had to seek work elsewhere. He was hired by an automobile dealer in Fairbury, Nebraska
Fairbury, Nebraska
Fairbury is a city in Jefferson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 4,262 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Jefferson County....
, where he and his family moved in about 1910. When that dealer went out of business in 1912, Hill moved to Hastings, Nebraska
Hastings, Nebraska
Hastings is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, United States. It is the principal city of the Hastings, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Adams and Clay counties. The population was 24,907 at the 2010 census...
, where he went to work selling cars for the A. H. Jones Company; later, he became the company's wholesale manager. His work took him throughout the area in which he thought that the missing Pawnee village must be located, and he took advantage of his business travel to search for artifacts and to query local residents for clues as to its location.
In 1923, he learned of a site near Guide Rock
Guide Rock, Nebraska
Guide Rock is a village in Webster County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 245 at the 2000 census. The town was the first settlement in Webster County, with the first white settlers arriving in 1870. The town was named after Guide Rock, a hill on the opposite bank of the Republican River...
in Webster County, Nebraska
Webster County, Nebraska
-History:Webster County was formed in 1871. It was named after the statesman Daniel Webster.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 4,061 people, 1,708 households, and 1,118 families residing in the county. The population density was 7 people per square mile . There were 1,972 housing...
, at which Spanish artifacts had been discovered. The owner, the son of the original homesteader, told him that when the ground was first plowed, it was covered with Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
artifacts. Over the next year and a half, Hill excavated at the site, discovering additional Spanish material and other evidence that there had been an important Pawnee village there. He also compared the local topography to Pike's account, and attempted to follow Pike's route to and from the site. All of this persuaded him that he had found the true village that Pike had visited.
In 1925, in order to protect the site and to make it available for archaeological investigation, Hill bought the two farms that covered it, totalling 320 acres (129.5 ha). Through 1930, he continued his investigations at the site. Today, there is a strong consensus among archaeologists that Hill correctly identified the Pike village.
Strong and Wedel
In 1929, William Duncan StrongWilliam Duncan Strong
William Duncan Strong was an American archaeologist and anthropologist noted for his application of the direct historical approach to the study of indigenous peoples of North and South America....
joined the University of Nebraska
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a public research university located in the city of Lincoln in the U.S. state of Nebraska...
faculty as a professor of anthropology. In the following year, he began fieldwork along the Republican River in southern Nebraska, assisted by graduate student Waldo Wedel
Waldo Rudolph Wedel
Waldo Rudolph Wedel was an American archaeologist and a central figure in the study of the prehistory of the Great Plains. He was born in Newton, Kansas to a family of Mennonites. In 1939 he married Mildred Mott, a fellow archaeologist and ethnohistorian...
. Hill made contact with the party and, once he was convinced that they were serious students of the past and not mere relic-hunters, invited them to his property in Webster County. Strong's University of Nebraska Archaeological Survey spent two weeks excavating at the site; after the excavation was done, Wedel continued to study the artifacts that they had recovered. This was the first application of Strong's direct historical approach
Direct historical approach
The direct historical approach was an archaeological and anthropological technique developed and promoted by such American scholars as William Duncan Strong, Waldo Wedel, and others during the 1920s and 1930s....
to Central Plains archaeology; in 1936, Wedel published his 1930 master's
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
thesis as the seminal An Introduction to Pawnee Archeology.
Hill did not limit his investigations to the Pike village. In the course of searching for it, he had discovered archaeological sites throughout much of Nebraska and Kansas; and he continued to seek new sites as he travelled through the area. To augment his own efforts, he recruited his salesmen to scout for him. Although he did not give them their present names, he recognized the existence of distinct indigenous cultures in the region: the Woodland, Upper Republican, Lower Loup, and Pawnee complexes.
In the mid-1930s, Hill, Wedel, and Strong found archaeological evidence in Nebraska of a previously unknown prehistoric culture, different from the Central Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
and Woodland
Woodland period
The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures was from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic header for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the...
traditions. The new culture was named the Dismal River culture
Dismal River culture
The Dismal River culture refers to a set of cultural attributes first seen in the Dismal River area of Nebraska in the 1930s by archaeologists William Duncan Strong, Waldo Rudolph Wedel and A. T. Hill...
, or Dismal River aspect, for its location in the Dismal River basin
Dismal River (Nebraska)
The Dismal River is a winding river in the state of Nebraska. It is formed by the confluence of two forks, one of which has its origins in Grant County and the other in Hooker County. The forks meet near Nebraska Highway 97 between Mullen and Tryon. From here the Dismal River flows...
of Nebraska. It is dated between 1650-1750 A.D.
Nebraska State Historical Society
In 1933, Hill retired from the automobile dealership and moved from Hastings to LincolnLincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
. In that year, the Nebraska State Historical Society
Nebraska State Historical Society
The Nebraska State Historical Society is a Nebraska state agency, founded in 1878 to "encourage historical research and inquiry, spread historical information .....
named him Director of the Museum and Field Archeology.
Hill proved a great asset to the Society. At a time when the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
had forced deep budget cuts, he was able to work without a salary and to finance excavations out of his own pocket. With his managerial ability and business acumen, he was able to secure federal funds to hire archaeological crews of unemployed persons, and to organize and direct the crews efficiently in the field. From 1933 until 1941, when the United States' entry into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
put a halt to it, he oversaw extensive excavation projects in Nebraska and Kansas.
During the war, Hill concentrated on the museum, and on the study of material collected in previous years. He managed the conversion of the museum from a library and research institution to one with popular appeal, and contributed his "unsurpassed" collection of Pawnee artifacts to it.
With the conclusion of the war, Hill was eager to return to field work. In 1947, he led a NSHS crew to Frontier County, Nebraska
Frontier County, Nebraska
-History:Frontier County was formed in 1872. It was named for its location along the frontier border in the late 19th century.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 3,099 people, 1,192 households, and 828 families residing in the county. The population density was 3 people per square...
, where sites in the basin of Medicine Creek
Medicine Creek
The Medicine Creek is a tributary of the Republican River in Nebraska- References:* USGS - Water Resources of the United States...
were threatened by the construction of the Medicine Creek Reservoir. However, failing health forced him to retire in 1949.
Hill died in Los Angeles in 1953.
Recognition
According to Wedel, Hill had an "aversion to setting down in print what he had seen or inferred", which kept his contributions to the field from being recognized by the larger archaeological community.The Pike-Pawnee Village Site, where Pike's flag incident took place, is also known as the Hill Farm Site.
In 1948, the University of Nebraska gave Hill its "Nebraska Builder" award, citing him as the "father of systematic archeology in Nebraska".
In 1975, the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation established its Asa T. Hill Award for notable archaeological work in Nebraska or the Great Plains. Recipients have included professional and amateur archaeologists.