D. Ryan Gray

Project Manager

D. Ryan Gray is currently enrolled in the PhD program in the University of Chicago’s Department of Anthropology, where he is working on a dissertation on historical archeology and urban development in New Orleans.  He completed his M.A. at the University of Chicago in March 2009, with a thesis entitled “Material Dimensions of Public and Private Practice: Archaeology of a Chinese Laundry in New Orleans”.  Mr. Gray began his academic career at Columbia College of Columbia University in the fall of 1991.  He completed the course work for a B.A. degree in Archeology in only three years.  Besides taking the required classes in archeology, anthropology, and art history, Mr. Gray also studied in the field of linguistics and completed an independent research project on Maya hieroglyphic writing.  His undergraduate degree was conferred in May of 1996.  He graduated with honors.

While enrolled at Columbia. Mr. Gray participated in the Belize River Archaeological Settlement Survey (BRASS) project’s field school under the supervision of Dr. Anabel Ford.  As only six weeks of study were required to fulfill the field school requirement for his degree, Mr. Gray also served as a volunteer for the project.  During the 1995 field season, investigations by the BRASS project were focused on architectural delineation and testing at the mid-sized Maya center of El Pilar.  During the latter portion of the field season, Mr. Gray took over the responsibilities of assistant to the laboratory supervisor.  He helped oversee the processing of artifacts, including washing, sorting, labeling, and, when necessary, stabilization.  He also assisted in the preliminary analysis of much of the collection, including the analysis of ceramic body sherds (which were not being curated).  In addition, Mr. Gray attended to many of the day-to-day needs of the project, such as vehicle and equipment maintenance.

After returning to the U.S. and receiving his undergraduate degree, Mr. Gray continued to study archeology and history independently while honing his organizational skills as the assistant manager at a busy retail shop.  He became involved in actively pursuing archeology again when he volunteered to work on the Archaeology in Treme project sponsored by the Greater New Orleans Archaeology Program (GNOAP), under the supervision of Dr. Christopher Matthews.  Excavations centered on the site of the Treme Plantation, constructed in the eighteenth century and in continual use until the early part of the twentieth century.  The public was invited to participate in the dig, and local schoolchildren toured the site as excavations were in progress.  Mr. Gray assisted in excavations in the area of the main house’s back patio and aided in tours of the site.

Mr. Gray’s employment with ESI began with fieldwork at the conclusion of the data recovery at North Bend Plantation.  He also worked as a field archeologist for testing of three sites as part of the Morgan City/ Berwick floodproofing project, for railroad embankment testing at Hollygrove, and for a cultural resource survey for the West Bank vicinity of New Orleans, all for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District.  He also assisted in the ongoing public archeology project at Orange Grove Plantation for Cytec Industries.

Because of the volume of artifacts recovered during the North Bend and Morgan City projects, as well as from the concurrent archeological monitoring at the Iberville Housing Project, Mr. Gray began to assist in processing the collections.  He oversaw the processing of the flotation samples from North Bend, aided in the analysis of metal, glass, and personal items from the projects, helped organize this information, and prepared the collections for curation with Louisiana’s Division of Archaeology.  He also began to assist in the administrative work required for ESI’s daily operation.  As a result of taking on these added responsibilities, Mr. Gray was promoted to Assistant Laboratory Supervisor in December of 1999.

Since then, Mr. Gray has undertaken the processing, analysis, and curation of a number of artifact collections.  He has overseen the analysis and preparation of artifacts from the Enterprise pipeline survey, the Mustang/Motiva pipeline survey, the Citgo project survey, the Grand Terre cultural resources survey, the I-49 expansion survey, the Fountainebleau State Park cultural resources survey, the Bayou Barataria Bridge replacement survey, the Kansas Lane Connector cultural resources survey, the cultural resources survey of portions of the JESTC property and testing of 16EBR181 and 16EBR182, the data recovery at the South Tall Timbers site (16RA660), the data recovery at the Old Hickory Plantation (16IV50, 16IV51, and 16IV52), to name just a few examples.  In working with these varied artifact collections, Mr. Gray has developed a keen interest in material culture.  Accordingly, he presented a paper at the 2001 meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, co-authored with Mr. Barry South, about possible modified glass at the North Bend Plantation site and its relationship to broader ideas about African-American material culture.

Since 2001, Mr. Gray has served in a supervisory capacity on numerous major ESI projects, including linear and areal Phase I surveys, Phase II National Register-eligibility testing projects, and Phase III data recoveries.  Among these projects are a Phase I survey of approximately 900 Acres in the vicinity of the Malmaison National Register property (conducted for the Mississippi Band of the Choctaw), testing and excavations at the garconnieres at Oak Alley Plantation (16SJ20), archeological testing and limited data recovery at the Kingsley House Trailer Site (16OR221), data recovery at the St. Thomas Housing Project, data recovery for the National World War II Museum expansion, archeological monitoring and testing at numerous FEMA emergency housing sites in Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes.  More recently, Mr. Gray has developed research designs, historic contexts, and ArcGIS models for other projects in Orleans Parish, including data recoveries at the C.J. Peete and Lafitte Housing Projects and at the projected location of the LSU Medical Center in downtown New Orleans.  He has also continued in a supervisory capacity on projects in an academic setting, working as a crew chief and laboratory supervisor for the University of Chicago’s excavations at St. Antoine’s Garden in New Orleans.

Mr. Gray has worked to present the results of investigations conducted as part of ESI projects in academic settings, with papers at the national meetings of the Society for Historical Archaeology and the Society for American Archaeology, the Haag Symposium at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the University of Chicago’s Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop.  He has three academic publications in preparation: a co-authored chapter with Dr. Yakubik for a volume on the archaeology of Louisiana, a paper for a special issue of the journal Historical Archaeology on archaeologies of poverty, and a co-authored article with Dr. Shannon Dawdy on French colonial archaeology for an Oxford University Press volume on historical archaeology.  Mr. Gray is a member of the Society for Historical Archaeology and the Louisiana Historical Society.

Mr. Gray has also worked to integrate a public outreach component into many of his projects in the New Orleans area.  Mr. Gray has presented public lectures about archeology and history to the Delta Chapter of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, at the Jefferson Parish Public Library as part of Louisiana Archaeology Week, at the St. Alphonsus Arts and Cultural Center’s Irish Channel Roots Symposium, at the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, at the national meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America, and at Loyola University.  Projects in which Mr. Gray has managed public outreach have been the subject articles in local, regional, and national newspapers, magazines, radio, and television, and the excavations at St. Thomas were featured in the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism’s 2002 Louisiana Archaeology Week poster.

Mr. Gray has coordinated public outreach for other projects as well, in the form of direct public involvement.  In November and December of 2001, Mr. Gray organized a volunteer salvage excavation of a privy in the back yard of a home formerly occupied by New Orleans jazz musician Edward ‘Kid’ Ory.  The house was to be renovated by the local Preservation Resource Center, and it was expected that construction would impact subsurface remains in the rear of the lot.  The results of this excavation were presented in a lecture at the African-American Heritage Council’s Jazz Lecture Series.  Mr. Gray has also organized volunteer days for excavations at Oak Alley Plantation, St. Antoine’s Garden, and 535 Conti Street, and conducted salvage excavations with volunteers at Ursuline and N. Rampart.