Earth Search, Inc.

Archaeology, History, & Historic Preservation

Personnel Detail

                 Daniel Leard meets the Archeologist Qualifications as published in the Louisiana Register on April 20, 1994, and he meets the standards of the professional guidelines established by the Secretary of Interior (SOI) for Archaeology and History.  He graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2001.  After graduating, Mr. Leard completed the Cabrillo College Archaeological Survey and Excavation field school in 2001.  The field school investigations involved survey and excavation of historic and prehistoric sites near Santa Cruz, CA.  He followed this by working in the Cabrillo College archaeology lab from September-December 2001 sorting and recording cultural material obtained from the excavation.

                 Mr. Leard was awarded his M.A. in Anthropology at the University of California (UC), San Diego, in 2004, specializing in prehistoric archaeology of Andean South America.  His research focused on the exchange of ritual and esoteric artifacts during the Chauvin Horizon (500-200 B.C) and its relation to socio-political change in the Andean region.  After completing his graduate research, Mr. Leard participated in the Jabal Hamrat Fidan Archaeological Fieldschool with the UC, San Diego in the Feynan region of western Jordan.  Here he was involved with the excavation of an Early Iron Age cemetery at Wadi Fidan. 

                 Mr. Leard’s professional CRM experience began in October 2004 when he was hired by Larson Anthropological Archaeological Services Limited (LAAS).  With LAAS, Mr. Leard was employed as an Archaeological Field Technician for Phase III investigation at the Tse Whit Zen site in Port Angeles, WA, one of the largest prehistoric sites recorded in the state of Washington.

                 Throughout 2005 and the first half of 2006, Mr. Leard was employed, as needed, by several CRM firms, where he honed his survey and excavation skills on a variety of projects.  For Brian F. Smith and Associates (BFSA), he undertook all phases of archaeological investigations throughout San Diego County.  For Kautz Environmental Consulting (KEC), Mr. Leard undertook numerous archaeological surveys across northern Nevada.  For Statistical Research, Inc. (SRI), Mr. Leard participated in NRHP testing and data recovery excavations at a prehistoric site in the Los Angeles area, as well as conducted archaeological surveys in southwestern Arizona.  Mr. Leard was an archaeological monitor at sites in Coachella, CA, for Stantec.  Also, he was hired by ASM Affiliates for whom he undertook data recovery at Camp Pendleton, CA.  After the completion of fieldwork, Mr. Leard remained at ASM as a laboratory technician sorting and categorizing prehistoric artifacts.

                 In May 2006, Mr. Leard joined the ESI staff as a Field Technician for a Phase I pipeline survey in southwestern Arkansas.  On this project he was quickly promoted to the position of Crew Chief and managed a small team of Field Technicians.  Mr. Leard was promoted to Assistant Project Manager in September 2006.  As such, he has been involved with project planning and supervising fieldwork for phase I projects in Louisiana and Mississippi.  He co-authored his first technical report in September 2006, and has been involved in report writing for a variety of projects since then.  Mr. Leard was responsible for several archaeological reconnaissance and Phase I surveys and reports for borrow pit sites for levee repairs and cell tower sites across southern Louisiana.  He has also worked in the ESI Laboratory performing analysis of historic glass artifacts, historic metal artifacts, and prehistoric lithic remains.

                 Mr. Leard’s field experience with ESI includes all phases of archaeology, such as data recovery at some of the oldest sites recently recorded in New Orleans.  Hurricane disaster recovery related field experience includes reconnaissance, Phase I, II, and III projects for FEMA, New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (NODCOE), Louisiana Army National Guard (LANG), Louisiana Road Home Program, Housing, Authority of New Orleans (HANO), and the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (MCLNO). 

                 Since June 2010, Mr. Leard has conducted archaeological reconnaissance, monitoring and Phase I field surveys as a member of MC 252 BP Oil Spill Event response team.  As an archaeological field manager on this project Mr. Leard has worked closely with HDR, Inc. archaeologists, Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Teams (SCAT), and BP Oil Spill Response Operations to identify and assess the conditions of archaeological sites, make recommendations for the oil spill cleanup operations near archaeological sites, and implement procedures for the protection of archaeological sites along the entire gulf coast of Louisiana.

Project Manager

E-mail: esi@earth-search.com

Daniel Leard, M.A.

Phone: Phone: (504) 947-0737