E. H. (Edwin Hamilton) Davis

Born in 1811 and dying in 1888, Edwin Hamilton Davis was an American physician who also became a serious, self-taught archaeologist. He is best remembered for his investigations of the prehistoric earthworks and artifacts of the Mississippi Valley at a time when that field was still taking shape.

Working with Ephraim George Squier, he coauthored Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, a widely recognized early study of Native American mound sites. Davis also assembled what was described as the largest private collection of prehistoric Indigenous artifacts in the United States of his era, reflecting the depth of his interest in the material culture of ancient North America.

His reputation today rests on that combination of careful observation, collecting, and collaboration. Though not a professional archaeologist in the modern sense, he played an important role in documenting sites and artifacts that influenced later archaeological research in the United States.