Dr. Robert Riordan Collection of Miami Valley Archaeological Surveys (MS-659)

Dr. Robert V. Riordan is a distinguished archaeologist. He received his BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Colgate University in 1968 and completed his PhD in Anthropology from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale in 1975. In the fall of 1976, Dr. Riordan started teaching in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. He later became the chair of the department. He’s academic focus was on the mound-building Hopewell culture. Dr. Riordan, now Professor Emeritus, retired in 2014. He worked for Wright State University for nearly 40 years.

Dr. Riordan taught an archaeological field school every summer at Wright State. Many of the surveys in this collection came from those summer field schools. The remaining surveys were completed by Dr. Riordan as a private contractor. Contract archaeology became increasing necessary in the late-1960s with the passing of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Section 106 of the Act dictates that organizations must submit to a review process for all federally funded and federally permitted projects that could impact sites listed on, or qualified for listing on, the National Register of Historic Places. Many archaeologists joined or started Cultural Resource Management (CRM) firms or worked independently as contractors to fill the growing need for archaeological surveys on federally funded or permitted projects. The privately contracted archaeological surveys in this collection likely were conducted due to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.