Jan Simek
Encyclopedia
Jan F. Simek is an American archaeologist and educator who was the interim president of the University of Tennessee system
from 2009-2010.
A faculty member in the department of anthropology at the University of Tennessee
, Knoxville, Simek's research interests include Paleolithic archaeology, human evolution, quantitative analysis, spatial analysis, archaeology of the southeastern United States
, and cave archaeology. He has been involved in the discovery and exploration of numerous “Unnamed Caves”, a naming practice used to protect their location, in the Cumberland Plateau for the past fifteen years. He has been instrumental in the discovery of prehistoric artwork; dating back thousands of years. He has also conducted important research in France at Neanderthal habitation sites.
Before his stint as interim president of the University of Tennessee system, he served in leadership and administration positions including department head, interim Director of the School of Art, interim Dean of Architecture and Design, and interim Chancellor of the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
. His father, Vasek Simek, was a Czechoslovakia
-born New York theater director and Hollywood character actor
whose roles included Soviet premiers, Russian chess players, and ambiguously “foreign” scientists. His mother, Susan Tours Simek, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II
and worked after the war at the new Radio Free Europe
in Germany
, where she met her future husband, Vasek. Jan Simek grew up in California
.
Simek received a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1976 and master's
and Ph.D degrees from the State University of New York at Binghamton
in 1978 and 1984, respectively.
He joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee
anthropology
department in 1984 and advanced in rank to become a distinguished professor of anthropology. In addition to his faculty duties, he served the university as head of the anthropology department, interim director of the School of Art, and interim dean of the College of Architecture and Design. He was interim chancellor of the university's Knoxville
campus for one year (from January 2008 to January 2009), after having been chief of staff to the chancellor from 2005 to 2008. He became acting president of the university system on March 1, 2009, after John D. Petersen
announced his resignation, and interim president on July 1, 2009, when Petersen's resignation became official.
He has conducted archaeological research in France
, Italy
, Croatia
, California
, and Tennessee
, and has spent time at the University of Washington
, the University of Bordeaux
and the Autonomous University of Barcelona
as a visiting faculty member.
s had been noticed on Tennessee cave walls for years, Faulkner was the first to conduct an archaeological study of the artwork in 1979. Faulkner’s study inspired Simek to pursue his own research of early southeastern prehistoric cave art. Since 1979, many other caves have been discovered. Sites like- 3rd Unnamed Cave, provide contextual information on dark zone cave art. .These caves also force scholars to rethink the analytic and interpretive approaches used in considering Southeastern cave art.. The archaeological contents of the cave were not fully appreciated until Dr. Simek and a team of archaeologists from the University of Tennessee spent time researching and documenting detailed findings of the cave.. Over 15,000 artifacts were mapped and recovered from 3rd Unnamed Cave.. This same attention to detail has become a recurring practice in the caves Simek and his colleagues continue to visit. While many of the caves yielding art have been dated back to the Mississippian period, some images are thought to be from the Woodland and even Archaic period. 3rd Unnamed Cave, for example, possesses the same kind of characteristics such as simple shapes, meandering lines, and geometric patterns similar to other cave art depictions dated to be Archaic. .
Simek became the founder of the Cave Archeology Research Team at the University of Tennessee in 1996. The team has gone on to produce substantial findings which offer a glimpse into once lost Native American cultures and traditions. Many of the cave images exemplify classic Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC) iconography, which is found widely in Eastern North America in the centuries around 1200 A.D., a part of Mississippian culture that is yet to be fully understood. Much of the artwork related to the SECC is quite gruesome, which has inspired some archaeologists to refer to it as the “Southern Death Cult”.
Recurring images include the Toothy Mouth, a round, severed head with gore spilling out of the neck.The face also encases weeping eyes and an exaggerated grin. This image is commonly found where dead are buried.
2001- Distinguished Professor of Science, University of Tennessee, Present
2001 University Award for Research and Creative Achievement, University of Tennessee
2001 College of Arts and Sciences Public Service Award, University of Tennessee
2000 Marshall of College of Arts and Sciences Convocation, University of Tennessee
1996 Certificate of Appreciation for Valuable Service to our Natural Heritage.
Tennessee Valley Authority Regional Natural Heritage Project
1991 Commencement Flagbearer, College of Liberal Arts. University of Tennessee.
1987 Phi Beta Kappa Certificate of Merit for scholarly achievements in the
Social Sciences.
1980 University Fellow. State University of New York, Binghamton.
1976 Honors in Anthropology. University of California, Santa Cruz.
1974 National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Participation Award.
1992- Present Director, fieldwork at various dark zone prehistoric cave art sites
in the southeastern USA.
1984- 2002 Co-director of excavations at the GROTTE XVI (Dordogne, France),
with J-Ph. Rigaud
1986- Excavator at LA MICOQUE, (Dordogne, France),
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud and A. Debenath.
1985- 1986 Analysis of KRAPINA stone tool assemblage (Croatia).
1983- Test excavations at the GROTTE XVI (Dordogne, France),
with J-Ph. Rigaud.
1978- 1984 Field supervisor for excavations at LE FLAGEOLET I (Dordogne, France)
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud.
1981- Excavator at COMBE SAUNIERE, LAUGERIE BASSE, and GROTTE MALDIDIER. All in Dordogne, France.
1979- 1980 Research on Aurignacian materials from LE FLAGEOLET I (Dordogne, France)
Direction des Antiquites Prehistoriques d'Aquitaine,
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud.6
1979- Field supervisor for excavations at PIANA DI CURINGA (Calabria, Italy),
Directed by A. Ammerman.
1979- Survey and intensive surface collection at BURRONE SCIERRA I (Calabria, Italy).
1976- 1979 Excavator at the ABRI VAUFREY (Dordogne, France),
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud.
1976- 1977 Excavator at LE FLAGEOLET II (Dordogne, France),
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud.
1974- Excavator, University of Arizona Undergraduate Fieldschool in Archaeology.
Directed by J. Fritz and W. Longacre.
1973- Site Survey in SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN; Excavator at SCHMIDT SITE,
Directed by E. Baldwin.
Various CRM survey and excavation technical reports
2004. J. F. Simek, A. Cressler, and E. Pope. Association Between A Southeastern Rock Art Motif and Mortuary Caves. In, The Rock-Art of Eastern North America: Capturing Images and Insight, edited by C. Diaz-Granados and J. R. Duncan, Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press, pp. 159-173.
2004. C. H. Faulkner, J. F. Simek, and A. Cressler. On the Edges of the World: Prehistoric Open Air Rock Art in Tennessee. In, The Rock-Art of Eastern North America: Capturing Images and Insight, edited by C. Diaz-Granados and J. R. Duncan, Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press, pp. 77-89.
2004. G. Lucas, M. Soressi, J-Ph. Rigaud, and J. F. Simek. The Chatelperronian of the Grotte XVI and the Middle/Upper Paleolithic "Transition" in southern France. In, The Chronology of the Aurignacian and of the Transitional Technocomplexes: Dating, Stratigraphies, Cultural Implications, edited by J. Zilhao and F. d'Errico. Trabalhos de Arqueologia 33. Lisbon, Portugal: Instituto Português de Arqueologia, pp. 289-298.
2001. K. Panagiotis, J-Ph. Rigaud, J.F. Simek, Albert, R.M. and S. Weiner. Ash, Bones and Guano: a Study of the Minerals and Phytoliths in the Sediments of Grotte XVI, Dordogne, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 29: 721-732.
1998. Simek, Jan F., Jay D. Franklin and Sarah C. Sherwood. “The Context of Early Southeastern Prehistoric Cave Art: A Report on the Archaeology of 3rd Unnamed Cave”. American Antiquity 63: 663-677. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2694114
1984 J. Simek. A K-means Approach to the Analysis of Spatial Structure in Upper Paleolithic Habitation Sites: Le Flageolet I and Pincevent Section 36. British Archaeological Reports International Series #S205. Oxford: B.A.R.
University of Tennessee system
The University of Tennessee system is one of two public university systems in the state of Tennessee. It consists of three primary campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Martin, a health sciences campus in...
from 2009-2010.
A faculty member in the department of anthropology at the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, Knoxville, Simek's research interests include Paleolithic archaeology, human evolution, quantitative analysis, spatial analysis, archaeology of the southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
, and cave archaeology. He has been involved in the discovery and exploration of numerous “Unnamed Caves”, a naming practice used to protect their location, in the Cumberland Plateau for the past fifteen years. He has been instrumental in the discovery of prehistoric artwork; dating back thousands of years. He has also conducted important research in France at Neanderthal habitation sites.
Before his stint as interim president of the University of Tennessee system, he served in leadership and administration positions including department head, interim Director of the School of Art, interim Dean of Architecture and Design, and interim Chancellor of the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
Early life and education
Simek was born April 15, 1953 in Glen Cove, New YorkGlen Cove, New York
Glen Cove is a city in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 26,964....
. His father, Vasek Simek, was a Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
-born New York theater director and Hollywood character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
whose roles included Soviet premiers, Russian chess players, and ambiguously “foreign” scientists. His mother, Susan Tours Simek, served in the U.S. Navy during 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...
and worked after the war at the new Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where she met her future husband, Vasek. Jan Simek grew up in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Simek received a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1976 and 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...
and Ph.D degrees from the State University of New York at Binghamton
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
in 1978 and 1984, respectively.
Career
Simek began his career research in Europe where he studied Neanderthal habitation sites. He and his colleague, Jean-Phillippe Riguad, began excavating a site in southwestern France, called Grotte XVI, in the mid-1980’s. Their research has aided in the understanding of Neanderthal ways of life. Specifically, Simek and Riguad found evidence revealing more sophisticated Neanderthal behavior than what was widely thought possible. Their discovery of well-preserved fireplaces, including ashes of several different types of wood as well as different grasses, within Grotte XVI, suggests that Neanderthals may have been using fire in complex ways. The types of grasses found in the fireplace remains would have had to be carried in from outside the cave, dried, and then used to start fires. Furthermore, evidence was found to suggest that Neanderthals may have even been using the grasses to create enough smoke to repel mosquitoes. The presence of fish bones in the cave suggested that Neanderthals were smoking fish for later use. Simek’s research discoveries provide contrasting evidence against the idea that Neanderthals were incapable of planning ahead, or imagining the future.He joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
department in 1984 and advanced in rank to become a distinguished professor of anthropology. In addition to his faculty duties, he served the university as head of the anthropology department, interim director of the School of Art, and interim dean of the College of Architecture and Design. He was interim chancellor of the university's Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
campus for one year (from January 2008 to January 2009), after having been chief of staff to the chancellor from 2005 to 2008. He became acting president of the university system on March 1, 2009, after John D. Petersen
John D. Petersen
John D. Petersen is an American chemist and educator who was president of the University of Tennessee system.A native of Los Angeles, California, John Petersen attended California State University, Los Angeles, where he received a B.S. degree in chemistry in 1970. In 1975 he received a Ph.D...
announced his resignation, and interim president on July 1, 2009, when Petersen's resignation became official.
He has conducted archaeological research in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, and has spent time at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, the University of Bordeaux
University of Bordeaux
University of Bordeaux is an association of higher education institutions in and around Bordeaux, France. Its current incarnation was established 21 March 2007. The group is the largest system of higher education schools in southwestern France. It is part of the Academy of Bordeaux.There are seven...
and the Autonomous University of Barcelona
Autonomous University of Barcelona
The Autonomous University of Barcelona is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain....
as a visiting faculty member.
Research
Inspired by one of his colleagues, Charles Faulkner, Simek developed a passion for ancient cave art in Tennessee. Although petroglyphPetroglyph
Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
s had been noticed on Tennessee cave walls for years, Faulkner was the first to conduct an archaeological study of the artwork in 1979. Faulkner’s study inspired Simek to pursue his own research of early southeastern prehistoric cave art. Since 1979, many other caves have been discovered. Sites like- 3rd Unnamed Cave, provide contextual information on dark zone cave art. .These caves also force scholars to rethink the analytic and interpretive approaches used in considering Southeastern cave art.. The archaeological contents of the cave were not fully appreciated until Dr. Simek and a team of archaeologists from the University of Tennessee spent time researching and documenting detailed findings of the cave.. Over 15,000 artifacts were mapped and recovered from 3rd Unnamed Cave.. This same attention to detail has become a recurring practice in the caves Simek and his colleagues continue to visit. While many of the caves yielding art have been dated back to the Mississippian period, some images are thought to be from the Woodland and even Archaic period. 3rd Unnamed Cave, for example, possesses the same kind of characteristics such as simple shapes, meandering lines, and geometric patterns similar to other cave art depictions dated to be Archaic. .
Simek became the founder of the Cave Archeology Research Team at the University of Tennessee in 1996. The team has gone on to produce substantial findings which offer a glimpse into once lost Native American cultures and traditions. Many of the cave images exemplify classic Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC) iconography, which is found widely in Eastern North America in the centuries around 1200 A.D., a part of Mississippian culture that is yet to be fully understood. Much of the artwork related to the SECC is quite gruesome, which has inspired some archaeologists to refer to it as the “Southern Death Cult”.
Recurring images include the Toothy Mouth, a round, severed head with gore spilling out of the neck.The face also encases weeping eyes and an exaggerated grin. This image is commonly found where dead are buried.
Awards and honors
2002 University Citation for Extraordinary Community Service, University of Tennessee2001- Distinguished Professor of Science, University of Tennessee, Present
2001 University Award for Research and Creative Achievement, University of Tennessee
2001 College of Arts and Sciences Public Service Award, University of Tennessee
2000 Marshall of College of Arts and Sciences Convocation, University of Tennessee
1996 Certificate of Appreciation for Valuable Service to our Natural Heritage.
Tennessee Valley Authority Regional Natural Heritage Project
1991 Commencement Flagbearer, College of Liberal Arts. University of Tennessee.
1987 Phi Beta Kappa Certificate of Merit for scholarly achievements in the
Social Sciences.
1980 University Fellow. State University of New York, Binghamton.
1976 Honors in Anthropology. University of California, Santa Cruz.
1974 National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Participation Award.
Fieldwork
2002- Present Co-director of archaeological survey of Fall Creek Falls State Park(Tennessee) with N. Herrmann and S. Sherwood.1992- Present Director, fieldwork at various dark zone prehistoric cave art sites
in the southeastern USA.
1984- 2002 Co-director of excavations at the GROTTE XVI (Dordogne, France),
with J-Ph. Rigaud
1986- Excavator at LA MICOQUE, (Dordogne, France),
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud and A. Debenath.
1985- 1986 Analysis of KRAPINA stone tool assemblage (Croatia).
1983- Test excavations at the GROTTE XVI (Dordogne, France),
with J-Ph. Rigaud.
1978- 1984 Field supervisor for excavations at LE FLAGEOLET I (Dordogne, France)
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud.
1981- Excavator at COMBE SAUNIERE, LAUGERIE BASSE, and GROTTE MALDIDIER. All in Dordogne, France.
1979- 1980 Research on Aurignacian materials from LE FLAGEOLET I (Dordogne, France)
Direction des Antiquites Prehistoriques d'Aquitaine,
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud.6
1979- Field supervisor for excavations at PIANA DI CURINGA (Calabria, Italy),
Directed by A. Ammerman.
1979- Survey and intensive surface collection at BURRONE SCIERRA I (Calabria, Italy).
1976- 1979 Excavator at the ABRI VAUFREY (Dordogne, France),
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud.
1976- 1977 Excavator at LE FLAGEOLET II (Dordogne, France),
Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud.
1974- Excavator, University of Arizona Undergraduate Fieldschool in Archaeology.
Directed by J. Fritz and W. Longacre.
1973- Site Survey in SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN; Excavator at SCHMIDT SITE,
Directed by E. Baldwin.
Various CRM survey and excavation technical reports
Selected articles
2005. J. F. Simek and A. Cressler. Images in Darkness: Prehistoric Cave Art in Southeast North America. In, Discovering North American Rock Art, edited by L. Loendorf, C. Chippendale, and D. Whitley, Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, pp. 93-113.2004. J. F. Simek, A. Cressler, and E. Pope. Association Between A Southeastern Rock Art Motif and Mortuary Caves. In, The Rock-Art of Eastern North America: Capturing Images and Insight, edited by C. Diaz-Granados and J. R. Duncan, Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press, pp. 159-173.
2004. C. H. Faulkner, J. F. Simek, and A. Cressler. On the Edges of the World: Prehistoric Open Air Rock Art in Tennessee. In, The Rock-Art of Eastern North America: Capturing Images and Insight, edited by C. Diaz-Granados and J. R. Duncan, Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press, pp. 77-89.
2004. G. Lucas, M. Soressi, J-Ph. Rigaud, and J. F. Simek. The Chatelperronian of the Grotte XVI and the Middle/Upper Paleolithic "Transition" in southern France. In, The Chronology of the Aurignacian and of the Transitional Technocomplexes: Dating, Stratigraphies, Cultural Implications, edited by J. Zilhao and F. d'Errico. Trabalhos de Arqueologia 33. Lisbon, Portugal: Instituto Português de Arqueologia, pp. 289-298.
2001. K. Panagiotis, J-Ph. Rigaud, J.F. Simek, Albert, R.M. and S. Weiner. Ash, Bones and Guano: a Study of the Minerals and Phytoliths in the Sediments of Grotte XVI, Dordogne, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 29: 721-732.
1998. Simek, Jan F., Jay D. Franklin and Sarah C. Sherwood. “The Context of Early Southeastern Prehistoric Cave Art: A Report on the Archaeology of 3rd Unnamed Cave”. American Antiquity 63: 663-677. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2694114
Books and edited volumes
2001 S. C. Sherwood and J. F. Simek (editors). Cave Archaeology in the Eastern Woodlands. Special issue of the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 26(2).1984 J. Simek. A K-means Approach to the Analysis of Spatial Structure in Upper Paleolithic Habitation Sites: Le Flageolet I and Pincevent Section 36. British Archaeological Reports International Series #S205. Oxford: B.A.R.