Jan F. Simek

Jan F. Simek (born April 15, 1953) is an American archaeologist and educator who was the interim president of the University of Tennessee system from 2009 to 2010.

A faculty member in the department of anthropology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Simek's research interests include Paleolithic archaeology, human evolution, quantitative analysis, spatial analysis, archaeology of the southeastern United States, and cave archaeology. He has been involved in the discovery and exploration of numerous “Unnamed Caves”, a naming practice used to protect their location, in the Cumberland Plateau for the past fifteen years. He has been instrumental in the discovery of prehistoric artwork; dating back thousands of years. He has also conducted important research in France at Neanderthal habitation sites.

Before his stint as interim president of the University of Tennessee system, he served in leadership and administration positions including department head, interim Director of the School of Art, interim Dean of Architecture and Design, and interim Chancellor of the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

Early life and education Simek was born April 15, 1953, in Glen Cove, New York. His mother, Susan Tours Simek, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and worked after the war at the new Radio Free Europe in Germany, where she met her future husband, Vasek. His father, Vasek Simek, was a Czechoslovakia-born New York theater director and Hollywood character actor whose roles included Soviet premiers, Russian chess players, and ambiguously “foreign” scientists. Their research has aided in the understanding of Neanderthal ways of life. Specifically, Simek and Riguad found evidence revealing more sophisticated Neanderthal behavior than what was widely thought possible. Their discovery of well-preserved fireplaces, including ashes of several different types of wood as well as different grasses, within Grotte XVI, suggests that Neanderthals may have been using fire in complex ways.

He has conducted archaeological research in France, Italy, Croatia, California, and Tennessee, and has spent time at the University of Washington, the University of Bordeaux, and the Autonomous University of Barcelona as a visiting faculty member. Faulkner’s study inspired Simek to pursue his own research of early southeastern prehistoric cave art. Since 1979, many other caves have been discovered. Sites such as- Third Unnamed Cave, provide contextual information on dark zone cave art.

While many of the caves yielding art have been dated back to the Mississippian period, some images are thought to be from the Woodland and even Archaic period. Third Unnamed Cave, for example, possesses the same kind of characteristics such as simple shapes, meandering lines, and geometric patterns similar to other cave art depictions dated to be Archaic. The team has gone on to produce substantial findings which offer a glimpse into once lost Native American cultures and traditions. Many of the cave images exemplify classic Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC) iconography, which is found widely in Eastern North America in the centuries around 1200 A.D., a part of Mississippian culture that is yet to be fully understood.

Much of the artwork related to the SECC is quite gruesome, which has inspired some archaeologists to refer to it as the “Southern Death Cult”. 2002 — University Citation for Extraordinary Community Service, University of Tennessee 2001 — Distinguished Professor of Science, University of Tennessee, Present 2001 — University Award for Research and Creative Achievement, University of Tennessee 2001 — College of Arts and Sciences Public Service Award, University of Tennessee 2000 — Marshall of College of Arts and Sciences Convocation, University of Tennessee 1996 — Certificate of Appreciation for Valuable Service to our Natural Heritage. Tennessee Valley Authority Regional Natural Heritage Project 1991 — Commencement Flagbearer, College of Liberal Arts. University of Tennessee. 1987 — Phi Beta Kappa Certificate of Merit for scholarly achievements in the Social Sciences. 1980 — University Fellow. State University of New York, Binghamton. 1976 — Honors in Anthropology. University of California, Santa Cruz. 1974 — National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Participation Award.

Fieldwork 2002–Present — Co-director of archaeological survey of Fall Creek Falls State Park(Tennessee) with N. Herrmann and S. Sherwood. 1992–Present — Director, fieldwork at various dark zone prehistoric cave art sites in the southeastern USA. 1984-2002 — Co-director of excavations at the Grotte XVI (Dordogne, France), with J-Ph. Rigaud 1986 — Excavator at La Micoque, (Dordogne, France), Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud and A. Debenath. 1985-1986 — Analysis of Krapina stone tool assemblage (Croatia). 1983 — Test excavations at the Grotte XVI (Dordogne, France), with J-Ph. Rigaud. 1978-1984 — Field supervisor for excavations at Le Flageolet I (Dordogne, France), Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud. 1981 — Excavator at Combe Sauniere, Laugerie Basse, and Grotte Maldidier. All in Dordogne, France. 1979-1980 — Research on Aurignacian materials from Le Flageolet I (Dordogne, France), Direction des Antiquites Prehistoriques d'Aquitaine, Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud.6 1979 — Field supervisor for excavations at Piana Di Curinga (Calabria, Italy), Directed by A. Ammerman. 1979 — Survey and intensive surface collection at Burrone Scierra I (Calabria, Italy). 1976-1979 — Excavator at the Abri Vaufrey (Dordogne, France), Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud. 1976-1977 — Excavator at Le Flageolet II (Dordogne, France), Directed by J-Ph. Rigaud. 1974 — Excavator, University of Arizona Undergraduate Fieldschool in Archaeology. Directed by J. Fritz and W. Longacre. 1973 — Site Survey in Southwestern Michigan; Excavator at Schmidt Site, Directed by E. Baldwin. Various CRM survey and excavation technical reports

Publications

Selected articles 2005. J. F. Simek and A. Cressler. Images in Darkness: Prehistoric Cave Art in Southeast North America. In, Discovering North American Rock Art, edited by L. Loendorf, C. Chippendale, and D. Whitley, Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, pp. 93–113. 2004. J. F. Simek, A. Cressler, and E. Pope. Association Between A Southeastern Rock Art Motif and Mortuary Caves. In, The Rock-Art of Eastern North America: Capturing Images and Insight, edited by C. Diaz-Granados and J. R. Duncan, Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press, pp. 159–173. 2004. C. H. Faulkner, J. F. Simek, and A. Cressler. On the Edges of the World: Prehistoric Open Air Rock Art in Tennessee. In, The Rock-Art of Eastern North America: Capturing Images and Insight, edited by C. Diaz-Granados and J. R. Duncan, Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press, pp. 77–89. 2004. G. Lucas, M. Soressi, J-Ph. Rigaud, and J. F. Simek. The Chatelperronian of the Grotte XVI and the Middle/Upper Paleolithic "Transition" in southern France. In, The Chronology of the Aurignacian and of the Transitional Technocomplexes: Dating, Stratigraphies, Cultural Implications, edited by J. Zilhao and F. d'Errico. Trabalhos de Arqueologia 33. Lisbon, Portugal: Instituto Português de Arqueologia, pp. 289–298. 2001. K. Panagiotis, J-Ph. Rigaud, J.F. Simek, Albert, R.M., and S. Weiner. Ash, Bones, and Guano: a Study of the Minerals and Phytoliths in the Sediments of Grotte XVI, Dordogne, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 29: 721-732. 1998. Simek, Jan F., Jay D. Franklin, and Sarah C. Sherwood. “The Context of Early Southeastern Prehistoric Cave Art: A Report on the Archaeology of 3rd Unnamed Cave”. American Antiquity 63: 663-677.

Books and edited volumes 2001 S. C. Sherwood and J. F. Simek (editors). Cave Archaeology in the Eastern Woodlands. Special issue of the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 26(2). 1984 J. Simek. A K-means Approach to the Analysis of Spatial Structure in Upper Paleolithic Habitation Sites: Le Flageolet I and Pincevent Section 36. British Archaeological Reports International Series #S205. Oxford: B.A.R.