Lewis, Kenneth
(Ph.D. University of Oklahoma, 1975)
Professor
lewisk@msu.edu

Historical archaeology, frontiers and colonization; Eastern North America

KENNETH LEWIS is a historical archaeologist whose research interests are focused on colonial expansion and the adaptation of agricultural societies to conditions encountered in newly-settled regions. He has carried out research in South Carolina since 1974, and work in Michigan since 1987. In South Carolina he investigated both rural and urban settlement sites to investigate social and economic change and adaptation on different levels of scale. Dr. Lewis’ interest in the formation of cultural landscapes has also resulted in the study of the evolution of settlement patterning in southern Lower Michigan. He continues to work actively in both areas. Dr. Lewis’ research has been funded by various federal, state, and local sources.

Dr. Lewis has recently completed three archaeological field projects at the site of Camden, an eighteenth century settlement in the South Carolina Backcountry. This work and the laboratory analyses resulting from it have focused on questions of environmental perception, adaptation, economic and social change, urban development, landscape, and gender on the Southern frontier.

He is currently involved in a multi-year project to assess the cultural significance of rural properties. This work, sponsored by the Michigan Department of Transportation, is being carried out by a group representing a number of university units and is engaged in analyzing a variety of data in order to document the changing nature of agriculture and its evolving role in Michigan’s social and economic development.

A few recent publications include:

• West to Far Michigan: Settling the Lower Peninsula, 1815-1860. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing. 2002.
• “Imagination and Archaeological Interpretation: A Methodological Tale.” Historical Archaeology 34(2):7-9. 2000.
• “Farmsteads and Landscapes in Antebellum Michigan.” In Retrieving Michigan’s Buried Past, edited by John R. Halsey, pp. 325-328. Cranbrook Institute of Science, Detroit. 1999.
• “The Metropolis and the Backcountry: The Making of Acolonial Landscape on the South Carolina Frontier.” Historical Archaeology 33(3):3-13. 1999.
• “Economic Development in the South Carolina Backcountry: A View from Camden.” In The Southern Colonial Backcountry: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Frontier Communities, edited by David Colin Crass, Stephen D. Smith, Martha A. Zierden, and Richard D. Brooks, pp. 87-107. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville. 1998.
• “Historical Landscapes in Archaeology: The Development of the Frontier.” In Carolina’s Historical Landscapes: Archaeological Perspectives, edited by Linda France Stine, Lesley Drucker, Martha Zierden, and Christopher Judge, pp. 35-41. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville. 1997.
• The American Frontier: An Archaeological Study of Settlement Pattern and Process. Academic Press, Orlando. 1984.