Jami Lockhart Retires From Archeological Survey
Jami Lockhart
Congratulations to Jami Lockhart on his retirement from the Arkansas Archeological Survey after 39 years of service! Lockhart was the computer services program coordinator as well director of archaeogeophysical research.
He has conducted research in all parts of Arkansas in collaboration with the Archeological Survey’s Research Station archeologists as well as Arkansas State Parks, cemetery researchers, historical associations, and the Archeological Conservancy. He also conducted research at major archaeological 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.
Lockhart started off in city planning, but the Archeologial Survey stole him away to be an archeologist. Starting in the mid-1980s, Lockhart played an important role in the development of cartographic applications for the leading open-source geographic information system then in wide use — called GRASS. He then continued to be an innovative practitioner, particularly as it applied to archeology and geophysics. Lockhart joined the Archeological Survey in 1985 after completing his M.A. in the University of Arkansas’ Geography Department.
His thesis was titled, “The influence of color combination on type legibility for maps viewed on computer monitors,” which was an imminent and growing problem with the use of computers and computer mapping becoming more common and widespread in the late 1900s. His first position at ARAS was as the geographic information systems coordinator and he was instrumental in the maintenance and growth of the Automated Management of Archeological Site Data in Arkansas (AMASDA) database, the statewide database of archeological sites and projects. In this role, he incorporated a lot more project information into AMASDA, which had only included site data up until that point.
Lockhart built an advanced archaeogeophysical program at the Arkansas Archeological Survey, allowing Arkansas archaeologists to investigate the contents and organization of ancient sites without having to dig beneath the ground. The Archeological Survey’s investment of over $100,000 in archaeogeophysical equipment in 1998 was quickly put to good use when he completed remote sensing work all over the state for all of the Archeological Survey’s research stations, as well as Los Adeas in Louisiana, and worked with the Caddo and Quapaw Nations to locate unmarked graves in their cemeteries.
Lockhart was promoted to the director of archaeogeophysical research and received his Ph.D. in environmental dynamics at the University of Arkansas in 2007. His dissertation is titled, “Prehistoric Caddo of Arkansas: a multiscalar examination of past cultural landscapes.” It is a study of settlement patterns in the Caddo region of Southwest Arkansas based on mound sites and their surrounding geological features at multiple scales. In the dissertation, Lockhart points out an atypical Caddo settlement pattern in the Blackland Prairie, which also features different environmental characteristics than other parts of the Caddo region in the study.
Lockhart served as research faculty in the Anthropology Department and as cooperating faculty in the Environmental Dynamics Program at the University of Arkansas, where he served on master’s and doctoral committees to train the next generation of archeologists and GIS and remote-sensing specialists.
In recent years, in addition to his work with Archeological Survey colleagues around the state, he has worked with Northwest Arkansas Black Heritage Association and the University of Arkansas Community Design Center on the creation of a Black Historic District in Fayetteville. He also does research about the Civil War in Northwest Arkansas, and in Fayetteville specifically. He was granted emeritus status by the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees upon his retirement on Dec. 31, 2024.
Thank you, Jami Lockhart, for your years of service to Arkansas archeology. Enjoy your retirement!
This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.