Stuart Struever

Stuart McKee Struever (born 1931) is an American archaeologist and anthropologist who gained much attention for his excavation of the Koster Site on the Koster Farm outside of Eldred, Illinois] . He has also held numerous positions on many boards and committees involving archaeology.

Early Life & Education

Struever was born in Lima, Illinois in 1931. As a boy, Stuart Struever enjoyed hunting and fishing with his two brothers, Rudy and Carl. His father, Carl Struever, was the manager of the American Nickeloid Company, where Stuart had his first exposure to archaeology when he was nine. From then on, he was determined to become an archaeologist. Struever received his Bachelors Degree in English Literature in 1953 from Dartmouth College, with a minor in Anthropology.Fact|date=January 2008 He then went on to do his graduate work at Northwestern University. It was there he earned his Masters Degree in Anthropology. Struever furthered his studies by earning his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics at the University of California Berkeley when he was only 24. Fact|date=January 2008

Archaeology

Struever returned to Northwestern so he could teach and later became the Chairman of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology. Every summer, Struever took a number of students on various excavation projects. He conducted excavations at Snyders Site, Hopewell Site, Apple Creek Site to name a few.

Koster

Struever's most well-known work was at the Koster site. The Koster Site was an unexpected discovery on a farm located in Greene County, Illinois, about fifty miles northwest of St. Louis, Missouri, and about 270 miles southwest of Chicago. The farm was owned by Theodore and Mary Koster. This famous site contained fourteen different identifiable layers or levels, which he termed "horizons", each of which contained a single prehistoric culture, spanning from from the early archaic period to the late woodland period. Struever orchestrated this site, which became the largest in North America.

After Koster

After the fame and recognition Koster brought him, Struever became the founder and director of the Center for American Archaeology in Kampsville, Illinois. This center became a main source of information on archaeology and procedures for the public including students. It explained how archaeologists interpret the past and provided a new vision of how archaeology could be done. This model was then carried to Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colorado, a second remarkable institution. Struever was the president of this institution until 1992. Also, in 1975 and 1976, he was the President of the Society for American Archaeology. He retired in 1992.

In 1995, after a lifetime of accomplishments, Struever received a Distinguished Service Award from the Society of American Archaeology.

Publications

* "Implications of Vegetal Remains from an Illinois Hopewell Site", 1962
* "", cowriter, 1979