The Roland Steiner Project

Roland A. Steiner was a man of mystery. Yet, in many ways, he was foremost among the founders of modern anthropology and archaeology in southeastern North America. Since about 1980 Roland Steiner attracted the attention of one of the LAMAR Institute's researchers [Dan Elliott] and Mr. Elliott has devoted many hours of research in an attempt to piece together the details of Roland Steiner's biography, scientific pursuits, and tangible artifacts. This Roland Steiner Project is an unfinished task and one that will surely captivate Mr. Elliott's scholarly attention for many years. The following series of vignettes of Roland Steiner's archaeological and anthropological endeavors are intended to stimulate interest in this man and his work. We also provide a very brief timeline highlighting major events in Steiner's life and in the subsequent study of his life by scholars.

TIMELINE

1840 Roland A. Steiner is born in Virginia to Dr. Henry Hagner and Susannah Wilhelmina Steiner.

February 28, 1862 Steiner enlists as a Private in Company C, 48th Georgia Infantry Regiment, Confederate States of America.

May 25, 1862 Steiner received a disability discharge (with a Distinguished Service decoration) from the Confederacy.

1864 Steiner receives  a degree from the Medical College in Richmond as a surgeon. He lived in Augusta in his father 's house and may have practiced medicine in his father's doctor's office.

1870 Steiner is married to Williamina J. Taylor, a very wealthy Georgian. They settle on a plantation in Burke County, Georgia.

18* to 19* Steiner conducts most of his archaeological studies.

1892 Steiner's father dies in Augusta.

189* Steiner establishes contacts with archaeologists William Henry Holmes and Thomas Wilson at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

1* The U.S. Congress appropriates funds to purchase a large collection of approximately 78,000 pieces from Steiner for the Smithsonian Institution.

190* Steiner contacts archaeologist George Dorsey at the Field Museum in Chicago.

190* Steiner contacts anthropologist Franz Boaz at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

19* Archaeologist Warren K. Moorehead uses artifacts collected by Steiner in his various publications.

1906 Steiner dies at his home in Columbia County, Georgia.

19* Arctic archaeologist Henry * discovers intriguing artifacts in Steiner's Smithsonian collection. He makes a research trip to Burke County to investigate.

194* and 5* Archaeologist Joseph R. Caldwell uses several of Steiner's relics from the Smithsonian collection in his research.

197* Archaeologist Rowe Bowen rediscovers Roland Steiner for the modern CRM generation of archaeologists.

1980 Archaeologist Daniel Elliott begins his initial research on Steiner and his Smithsonian Institution collection. A letter from the Smithsonian Institution to Elliott confirms that approximately 900 relics collected by Steiner are housed at their curation facility.

1990 Elliott receives a boost that reinvigorates his interest in Steiner after computerization of the Smithsonian's collection reveals it collection contains tens of thousands of relics.

For the first installment, Roland Goes to Etowah, click HERE!