author
E. H. (Edwin Hamilton) Davis
1811–1888
A physician with a detective’s eye for the past, he helped turn the ancient earthworks of the Mississippi Valley into a serious subject of study. His careful fieldwork and collecting made him one of the key early figures in American archaeology.
1 Audiobook
Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. I.
by E. G. (Ephraim George) Squier, E. H. (Edwin Hamilton) Davis
About the author
Born in Ohio in 1811, Edwin Hamilton Davis trained as a doctor at Cincinnati Medical College and practiced medicine in Chillicothe. Alongside his medical work, he became deeply interested in the ancient mounds and earthworks of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.
Davis is best remembered for his pioneering investigations of these sites and for his collaboration with Ephraim G. Squier on Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, published by the Smithsonian in 1848. The book was a landmark in early American archaeology, helping document important prehistoric sites with unusual care and detail.
He later taught at New York Medical College, but his reputation endured largely through his archaeological work. Davis also assembled what was said to be the largest private collection of prehistoric Native American artifacts in the United States at the time, reflecting both his intense curiosity and his lasting influence on the study of North America’s ancient past.