David Hally


David Judson Halley is an American archaeologist known for his work at several southeastern sites. He retired from the University of Georgia in 2010 and currently resides in Athens, Georgia.

Early life

Hally was born on April 16, 1940 in Natick, Massachusetts. He attended Dartmouth for his undergraduate degree and was one of the first two students at Dartmouth to graduate with a major in anthropology. He then received his Masters and PhD in anthropology from Harvard University. He wrote his dissertation, which he did not finish until 1972, on his fieldwork from 1963-1964 in the Tensas Basin in northeastern Louisiana.

Academic career

Hally was appointed assistant professor at the University of Georgia in 1967. He worked there on various projects including one of his most important works, the King site, where he worked in 1974 and again from 1992-1993. His work most often pertains to Mississippian life in chiefdoms of the southeastern United States and the pottery associated with these chiefdoms. He has multiple publications including Pottery Form and Function in American Antiquity published in 1986, and papers published separately in 1993 and 1996 describing chiefdoms.

Publications