David L. DeJarnette

David Lloyd DeJarnette (1907-1991) was an archaeologist and professor with the University of Alabama, generally considered the "Father of Alabama Archaeology".

DeJarnette was born in Bessemer, Alabama in 1907 and studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Alabama, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in 1929. In 1930 he became curator of the Alabama Museum of Natural History, and in 1932 received archaeological training from the University of Chicago Field School.

In 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority announced plans to construct a series of three hydroelectric dams in the Tennessee River which would lead to the flooding of millions of acres of property within the Tennessee Valley.William S. Webb of the University of Kentucky was chosen to direct archaeological salvage operations in Alabama and Tennessee and DeJarnette was hired to lead these efforts in Alabama. This Great Depression era effort employed hundreds of men and women via the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal agency, and resulted in the discovery and excavation of hundreds of archaeological sites now inundated in Wilson Lake, Wheeler Lake and Guntersville Lake.

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