Madeline Kneberg Lewis 1903-1996
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| Kneberg Lewis' advice to young archaeologists "...try to find something original" (1992)
Madeline had familial responsibilities
and when the Works
Progress Administration came along, she needed
money. In 1933 one of the largest
archaeological projects in the United States was
created by the Tennessee Valley Authority to
excavate hundreds of sites The funding came
from the WPA. Thomas M.N. Lewis,
director of TVA,
hired her in 1938 to supervise the archaeological
lab at the University of
Tennessee. As a physical anthropologist, she
examined over 2,000 skeletal remains,
Links of Interest: Oconoluftee
Sources: Lewis, Madeline Kneberg 1946 Hiawassee Island: An Archaeological Account of Four Tennessee Indian Peoples (with T.M.N. Lewis). The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville. 1992 Written interview on file. Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa. Sullivan, Lynn P. 1994 Madeline Kneberg Lewis: An Original Southeastern Archaeologist. In Women in Archaeology. Cheryl Classen, ed. Pp. 110-119. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia. 1994 The Prehistory of the Chickamauga Basin in Tennessee, 2 vols. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. 1999 Madeline
D. Kneberg Lewis: Leading Lady of Tennessee
Archaeology. In Grit-Tempered |
Kneberg Lewis
taught anthropology in 1940 at the University of
Tennessee, in 1944 she was instrumental in creating the Tennessee
Archaeological Society, and in 1946 she and Tom Lewis
chose to publish about Hiawassee Island, one site
in the Chicamauga Reservoir. Madeline and Tom
co-authored publications but it was she who created all
the illustrations that described early life in that
area. The 1950's saw her became the first woman
full professor at the U of Tennessee and being active in
the planning of the Oconoluftee Indian Village in
Cherokee, NC. in 1950. In 1961, she was
also a driving force behind the creation of the Frank H. McClung
Museum. It was in 1995 that
the Southeastern
Archaeological Conference honored her with the
Distinguished Service Award.  After what Madeline described as
the "longest courtship on earth" her colleague
Tom Lewis became her spouse in 1961.
Her approach to archaeology was unique. She presented her perception of prehistoric life, not only to the theoretical scholars of archaeology, but also to the layman, through her sculpture and illustrations, as well as through the material remains and artifacts. We celebrate Madeline Kneberg Lewis, sculptress, artist, opera singer, nurse, educator, and major contributor to archaeological research.
Selected works by Kneberg, Madeline: 1935 Improved Technique for Hair Examination. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 20:15-67. 1941 Prehistory of the Chicamauga Basin in Tennessee (with T.M.N. Lewis). University of Tennessee, Division of Anthropology, Tennessee Anthropological Papers No.1 (Mimeographed). 1945 The Persistent Potsherd. Tennessee Archaeologist, vol.1(4):4-5. 1946 Hiawassee Island: An Archaeological Account of Four Tennessee Indian Peoples (with T.M.N. Lewis). The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville. 1954 Oconoluftee Indian Village: An Interpretation of a Cherokee Community of 1750 (with T.M.N. Lewis). Cherokee Historical Association, Cherokee, North Carolina. 1961a Eva: An Archaic Site (with T.M.N. Lewis). University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.
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supervised forty workers hired to analyze, process,
restore, and catalogue materials from the tributaries of
the Tennessee River Valley. It was during this time
that she employed Andrew Whiteford, a University of
Chicago student, to be an artifact analyst. 
