‘Grit-Tempered’ Women of the Mountains: Pioneering Contributions of Women to West Virginia Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Behind the Scenes and on the Stage: The Women Who Shaped Archaeology" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

West Virginia was one of the first states to hire a “state archaeologist” in 1960. Soon after the need for another staff archaeologist was recognized and a woman, Bettye Broyles, was hired in 1963. Bettye spent over a decade excavating pre-contact and historic sites in West Virginia. Her work is evident in the dozens of recorded sites, reports, and publications, including a seminal projectile point typology that established a regional chronology.

Bettye’s legacy has been carried on by other notable women working in cultural resource management and the academy. Darla Spencer, whose research on Fort Ancient sites and ceramics specifically aided in identifying West Virginia artifact collections being stored outside of the state. Patricia C. Rice was a textbook author and past president of the General Anthropology division of the American Anthropological Association; she was recognized with multiple teaching awards and was known for her engaging pedagogy.

Recently, women in West Virginia archaeology have been inspiring the next generation of students through teaching at state institutions and practicing archaeologists in public or private roles. Their work is helping to define a new era of archaeological practice, preservation, and policy initiatives.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Behind the Scenes and on the Stage: The Women Who Shaped Archaeology

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53251