DR. JILL-KAREN YAKUBIK, President and sole owner of ESI, is a Registered Professional Archeologist. She holds a B.A. in Archaeology from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology with a specialization in Historical Archaeology from Tulane University. Her dissertation, Ceramic Use in Late-Eighteenth and Early-Nineteenth-Century Southeastern Louisiana, included the analysis of over 20,000 sherds from 12 rural and urban sites from six parishes. With over 25 years experience in cultural resources management in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, and New Jersey, Dr. Yakubik has served as both Project Manager and Principal Investigator on intensive cultural resources surveys, National Register evaluations, mitigation efforts, and construction monitoring projects.
Dr. Yakubik has coordinated and directed large, multi-disciplinary project teams for National Register evaluation of buildings, engineering structures, objects, and sites, as well as for archaeological data recovery. She has served as Principal Investigator on uncounted archaeological services contracts for the New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and on numerous projects for private firms.
Dr. Yakubik is the author or co-author of over 178 cultural resources reports and papers on both historic and prehistoric site investigations. In addition, she has extensive experience in both historic material culture analysis and archival/historical research. Dr. Yakubik is committed to the dissemination of the results of Earth Search’s investigations, and she has made numerous presentations to both professional and lay audiences.
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Contact: jill@earth-search.com
Phone: (504) 947-0737
DR. AUBRA
L. "BUTCH" LEE, Vice President and Senior Project Manager of ESI, is a Registered Professional Archeologist. Dr. Lee received his first M.A. from Northwestern State University in 1986, and his second in 1990, also from NSU, in History. He recently completed his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma, in 2003. His doctoral research focused upon several sites affiliated with the Post-Removal Choctaw located in southeast Oklahoma. Utilizing a series or nested set of theories, Dr. Lee investigated the processes of dominance and resistance between the developing United States and the Choctaw. Archeological, ethnohistorical, and historical data concerning the Choctaw are compared to models developed for African-American populations resisting slavery in order to identify similarities and differences in their respective historic trajectories. Information from these comparisons is applied to extant models of Choctaw development to address issues of political and economic development, ethnic identity creation and maintenance, the effects of immigration and migration on these identities, and gender relations.
Dr. Lee has worked in the CRM industry since his undergraduate years, first at
Heartfield, Price, and Greene, Inc. (1978-1984), then later at Archaeological Assessments, Inc.
(1984-1991) as a Supervisory Archaeologist, and as a Project Manager at New World Research. Dr. Lee joined the ESI staff in 1996, and since that time has directed numerous projects for federal, state, and local agencies, and for private firms and developers. Recently, Dr. Lee developed research designs for data recovery at the South Tall Timbers Site (16RA660), for which he served as project manager, and for archaeological investigation at the Troyville Mound Site. During his
31 years of CRM experience, Dr. Lee has conducted archeological and historical investigations at prehistoric and historic period sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, and has authored or co-authored over seventy cultural resource technical reports and professional papers.
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Contact: alee@earth-search.com
Phone: (504) 947-0737 ext. 234
RHONDA L. SMITH holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Tulane University, where she graduated with honors and was named the Arden King Outstanding Student in Anthropology for 1990. While attending Tulane University , Smith was employed as Laboratory Technician for the Center for Archaeology from 1987-1990. In addition, she did lab work for the 1986 New Orleans Garbage Project and for the Tulane Archaeological field school in Antigua, West Indies. Ms. Smith received a Master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Georgia in 1996. While at the University of Georgia, Ms. Smith worked in the Zooarchaeology Lab under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Reitz, where she continued to develop her writing and leadership skills. Her lab duties included sorting, identifying, and analyzing vertebrate fauna material from numerous archaeological sites. She worked with vertebrate faunal collections from throughout the Southeast US, including Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida, and Georgia.
Ms. Smith was originally employed full-time at ESI from 1990-1992. Initially, she served as Laboratory Supervisor, overseeing two to four laboratory aids in processing artifacts and preparing them for permanent curation. She requested a field position in 1991 and went on to serve as Crew Chief for various projects throughout Louisiana. Ms. Smith entered graduate school in 1992. She continued working at ESI during the summers while in school. Ms. Smith rejoined the ESI staff full-time in 1995. Since that time, she has served as Project Manager for numerous Phase I surveys, Phase II testing, and Data Recovery excavations. She has authored or co-authored more than 115 cultural resources reports and papers. Ms. Smith has been responsible for training new Project Managers, Assistant Project Managers, and many field personnel hired at ESI. It is also her responsibility to edit the content of many of the cultural resources reports produced by ESI. Ms. Smith is RPA certified. She has completed both the Advisory Council’s Section 106 Review Course and the National Highway Institute’s NEPA and Transportation Decision Making training. She is fully familiar with the cultural resources compliance requirements (generally Section 106 of the NHPA) of federal agencies including USACE, FERC, FCC, FHWA, FTA, and BRAC. She has prepared appropriate sections for various environmental documents (EA and EIS) and has drafted effective MOA.
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Contact: rlsmith@earth-search.com
Phone: (504) 947-0737 ext. 227
laboratory manager/project manager
david bruner
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Phone: (504) 947-0737 ext. 232
Senior Marine Archaeologist/ Director, Marine Archaeology Division
JOHN K. RAWLS, Senior Marine Archaeologist and Director of ESI’s Marine Archaeology Division, came to Earth Search, Inc., in 2006. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology in 1997 from Northwestern State University (NSU) in Natchitoches, Louisiana focusing on Louisiana prehistoric and historic archaeology and a Master of Arts degree in History and Historical Archaeology in 2004 from University of West Florida (UWF) in Pensacola, Florida. His research interests include southeast prehistoric archaeology, colonial archaeology, underwater archaeology, historic ship construction and architecture, and remote sensing. Mr. Rawls meets the standards of the professional guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Interior and is a certified member of the Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA) (2006). In addition, Mr. Rawls is a USACE-certified Working Diver (2009) who is committed to safe scientific diving practices.
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Email: rawls@earth-search.com
Phone: (504) 947-0737 ext. 235
project managers
MICHAEL GODZINSKI holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Arts in Anthropology from Rutgers University. His experience in architectural history began as assistant to the Curator of Structures for the Nantucket Historical Association. Subsequently, Mr. Godzinski served as assistant Curator at the Gallier House Museum in New Orleans. As architectural historian, he has supervised and participated in projects in Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
Most recently, Mr. Godzinski served as Architectural Historian for cultural resource investigations for the Desire Corridor Major Investment study for the Regional Transit Authority. This study involved the recordation and NRHP evaluation of over 600 historic structures along eight alternative routes that crossed New Orleans’ Vieux
Carré, Esplanade Ridge, Marigny, and Bywater Historic Districts. As a field archaeologist, Mr. Godzinski has regularly supervised two to ten field technicians on pipeline survey projects in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, as well as coordinated the operation of multiple crews. In addition to survey, Mr. Godzinski also has led NRHP test excavations.
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Phone: (504) 947-0737 ext. 236
ANGELE MONTANA received her B.A. in Anthropology in 1989 from the University of New Orleans. Her undergraduate field school was completed under the direction of Dr. Richard Shenkel of the University of New Orleans. This field school consisted of the excavation of several prehistoric shellmidden sites in Jean Lafitte National Park Barataria Preserve located in Marrero, Louisiana. In 1990, Ms. Montana entered the Master's program at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, focusing on the prehistory of the southeastern United States, as well as human osteology and bioarchaeology. She served as an assistant supervisor at the university's summer field school, and as an undergraduate instructor in the anthropology department. Her master's thesis, An Analysis and Interpretation of the Shellfish Remains (Rangia cuneata) from the Diamondhead Site (22Ha550), focused on growth-line seasonality analysis of the shellfish remains from that site, as well as issues related to local exploitation of estuarine resources.
After completing her M.S., Ms. Montana spent several years in the employ of RCG&A, Inc. as a laboratory analyst and archaeologist. While at RCG&A, Miss Montana gained extensive experience as a lithic analyst and also participated in prehistoric southeastern ceramic and faunal analysis. While at RCG&A, Ms. Montana served as an Assistant Project manager and conducted archaeological survey and excavations throughout the southeastern United States. In April of 2004, Ms. Montana accepted a position at Earth Search, Inc. Since that time she has led and participated in multiple field projects in Louisiana and Mississippi. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Ms Montana worked in Cameron Parish on behalf of FEMA and the USACE as part of the storm cleanup archaeological monitoring process. She also participated in the post-Katrina architectural survey of several of New Orleans Historic Districts including the newly proposed Eastlake District. After the surveys of new districts were completed in 2005, Ms. Montana served ESI and FEMA as a Project Manager for the architectural survey of “red tag” buildings as well as the architectural resurvey of the entire Esplanade Ridge NRHD as well as parts of the Lower Garden District NRHD and the Carrollton NRHD. Ms. Montana’s analytical responsibilities at Earth Search include prehistoric ceramic, faunal and lithic analyses. Ms. Montana has authored multiple reports based upon projects to which she contributed during her professional exploits, and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist.
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Phone:
(504) 947-0737 ext. 315
JASON L. PARRISH graduated from Mississippi State University in the summer of 2003 with his B.A. in Anthropology. Directly following graduation, Mr. Parrish was accepted into the Master of Arts Applied Anthropology graduate program at Mississippi State University. He graduated with his M.A. in Applied Anthropology in the summer of 2006. His thesis: An Archaeological Investigation of Four Woodland-Period Sites in the North Central Hills Physiographic Region of Mississippi: 22CH653, 22WI536, 22WI588, and 22WI670, focuses on understanding the amount of variability among archaeological sites in north Mississippi and attempts to determine the main reason for this variability. In graduate school, Mr. Parrish's focus was on archaeology of the Southeast United States. Prior to graduation, Mr. Parrish attended the 2004 Archaeological Geophysical Prospection Workshop in Fort Smith, Arkansas, hosted by the National Park Service, and participated in a private research project that focused on archaeological predictive modeling on State and Federal operated lands in Mississippi.
Mr. Parrish has participated in a four month internship and a four month assistantship with the USDA Forest Service, in which he assisted in the construction of a GIS database that linked modern land tract records to Depression Era land transaction records. He was subsequently employed by the USDA Forest Service as a temporary Field Archaeologist. After graduating with his M.A., Mr. Parrish was employed by ESI. Since his employment, Mr. Parrish has served as Project Manager on numerous surveys in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama. He has served as Project Manager for the SR 9, SR 15, and SR 601 highway expansion projects in Mississippi, and the St. Martinville Bypass of La 31 in Louisiana. He currently is serving as Project Manager for several borrow pit surveys in south Louisiana. Mr. Parrish has authored and co-authored over 30 cultural resources reports, is in the process of writing articles for Mississippi Archaeology and the Journal of Archaeological Science, and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist.
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Phone: (504) 947-0737 ext. 229
D. RYAN GRAY has been employed with ESI since 1999, in that time serving in numerous capacities, including Project Manager, Laboratory Manager, and Office Manager. He received his B.A. in Archaeology from Columbia University in New York in 1996 after working on the Belize River Archaeological Settlement Survey Project at the Maya site of El Pilar. Since working with ESI, Mr. Gray has specialized in historical archaeology, particularly urban sites and African-American archaeology. He has been involved in most of ESI’s major urban historic projects in the New Orleans metropolitan area, including the data recoveries at the sites of the St. Thomas, Lafitte, and Magnolia housing projects, the excavations at the Kingsley House site, the data recovery for the National World War II Museum Expansion, and the data recovery at the Rising Sun Hotel Site.
Mr. Gray has also managed large survey projects, including the survey of the Malmaison historic site near Greenwood, Mississippi, and analyzed historic artifacts from numerous other sites, most notably Old Hickory Plantation in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. Mr. Gray received his M.A. in March of 2009 from the University of Chicago, with a thesis entitled “Identity and the Material Dimensions of Public and Private Practice: Archaeology of a Chinese Laundry in New Orleans”. He is currently working on his PhD., focusing on informal development, race, and housing in New Orleans, at the University of Chicago.
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Phone: (504) 947-0737
BARRY SOUTH holds Bachelors' and Masters' degrees in Anthropology from Western Washington University. While working towards his M.A., he was employed with the United States Forest Service as Lead Archeological Technician. Mr. South was responsible for planning, organizing and executing all aspects of field work, in addition to pre-field research, lithic artifact analysis, and report documentation for the Central Zone of the Willamette National Forest. He is the co-author of many cultural resource reports on prehistoric site investigations. Mr. South has extensive experience in directing a field crew of one to eight people during pedestrian survey and test excavation activities. While employed by the forest service, Mr. South was given the opportunity to plan and execute an intensive survey and analysis of surface artifacts at a major prehistoric lithic resource procurement area in the Three Sisters Wilderness in the central Cascade Range of Oregon. Over ten thousand flakes were analyzed from the site. The data were compared to several other sites in the region and this was used as the basis of Mr. South's Masters Thesis.
Since joining Earth Search in 1999, Mr. South has served as Project Manager for Phase I surveys in Louisiana and Mississippi. He also played a key role during ESI's investigations on Grand Terre by mapping both the Fort Livingston and the Forstall sites. Mr. South served as Project Manager for the I-49 Expansion Project in St. Mary, St. Martin, Iberia, and Lafayette parishes. This project includes supervision of a crew of 10 for both intensive cultural resources survey and NRHP testing as well as standing structure survey. Mr. South has also mapped numerous sites using a Sokkia total station.
From 2007 to present Mr. South has been responsible for monitoring all subsurface activities during the extensive rebuilding of the Louisiana National Guard Facilities at Jackson Barracks, Orleans Parish, and served as a crew member during the Phase III data recovery excavations at HANO's Lafitte Housing project, also in Orleans Parish.
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Phone: (504) 947-0737 ext. 313
Senior Historian/Cultural Anthropologist/Ethnographer
DR. DAYNA BOWKER LEE holds a B.A in Anthropology and a M.A. in History from Northwestern State University. Dr. Lee obtained her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma. She has also received specialized training in archival management and archaic French. Dr. Lee currently serves as senior historian and ethnographer for Earth Search, Inc., as well as an adjunct professor at Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana. Dr. Lee’s thesis research explored the social and economic ramifications of Indian slavery during the French and Spanish Colonial administration of Louisiana, with an examination of the persistence of this practice on the colonial borderlands. Her dissertation research examined the population health of protohistoric and historic Caddo based upon bioarchaeological evidence to discover if presumptions of protohistoric demographic and cultural collapse are supportable and to identify Caddo adaptive responses to extreme biocultural and social stress. This research also examined community formation after 1859, when the Caddo merge into one tribal entity, as well as how the Caddo have adapted culturally to maintain a unique identity
Dr. Lee served as assistant director of the Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern State University from 1985-1991, and as traditional arts director for the Oklahoma Arts Council. Returning to Louisiana in 1996, Dr. Lee served as a private consultant on cultural resource management [CRM] and ethnographic projects before joining the faculty at Northwestern State University where she directed the Louisiana Regional Folklife Program and assistant professor. Dr. Lee has been an ethnographer and historian for 25 years, and has authored or co-authored over 75 academic and CRM publications. Dr Lee has conducted several ethnographic and ethnohistorical projects for the National Park Service, including the Ethnographic Overview and Assessment of Cane River Creole National Historical Park, Natchitoches, Louisiana. Dr. Lee continues to work as a pro bono consultant for Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Creole Heritage Center.
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Phone: (504) 947-0737 ext. 306
Architectural Historians
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Phone: ext.
THERESE GUILLORY attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology with a minor in History from the University of New Orleans in 1991. Ms. Guillory received a Master of Preservation Studies (MPS) from Tulane University, graduating in 2006 and studied under Dr. Eugene Cizek, the nation's leading expert on Creole architecture.
During summer 2005, Ms. Guillory completed an internship with noted Preservation Architect David Dillard concluding HABS documentation on Battery Ransom consutructed in 1880s at Fort Jackson in Plaquemines Parish. She assisted in taking HABS measurements of the large concrete battery in the middle of Fort Jackson.
in October 2005, Ms. Guillory joined ESI as an Historic Preservation Specialist. Later, she continued gaining experience with R. Christopher Goodwin. She rejoined ESI in the spring of 2007 as an Architectural Historian and Assistant Historian.
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Phone: (504) 947-0737 ext. 301
preservation architect/architectural historian
Virginia Lee
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Email:
Phone: (504) 947-6863 ext. 303