Ann M. Early

Dr. Ann M. Early is an American archaeologist who joined the Arkansas Archeological Survey (ARAS) in 1972 as research station archaeologist at Henderson State University after completing her PhD at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, with a dissertation on the Upper Mississippian Occupation of the Fox River Valley in Illinois.[1] She previously earned a bachelor’s degree from Beloit College and a master’s from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and succeeded Hester A. Davis as State Archeologist in 1999, serving until her retirement in June 2020 after a 48-year career focused on Caddo Indian culture history in southwest Arkansas.[1][2] Her work includes authoring books, chapters, and articles on Caddo archaeology in and south of the Ouachita Mountains.[1]