Dale Henning

    Dale Henning is a midwestern archaeologist. He is currently the Director of Archaeological Services at the Illinois State Museum and participates in various projects, including the Oneota Bibliographic Database Project for the University of Minnesota. This project concentrated on archaeological materials that are associated with the ancestors of the American Indian nations that lived in the region which is now Iowa. Henning is a Consultant for the University of Minnesota in the field of North American Prehistory.

    Dr. Henning has said that he cannot remember when his interest in archaeology began. He found his first arrowhead near a light pole in his boyhood home of Decorah, Iowa. His mother and Dr. H.P. Field, a neighbor and archaeology enthusiast encouraged his interest in the field. It was Field, along with C.E. Chase who took Henning on trips to the Upper Iowa River to examine Oneota sites. As he grew up, his interest in archaeology continued, as well as interests in Indian lore and technology. In 1953, Henning received a Bachelor of the Arts degree in History from Luther College. The next two years of his life were spent in the U.S. Army.

    In 1955, after his time with the Army, Dr. Henning further pursued his education at the University of Iowa. Included in his class schedule were two anthropology courses, including field training in archaeology. It was after taking these courses that he decided to focus his attention on anthropology, specifically archaeology receiving his M.A. in Sociology/Anthropology. From there, Henning continued on to the University of Missouri in 1958. According to Henning, it was at the University of Missouri that he learned the values of hard work, forced enthusiasm, over-commitment, client satisfaction, well-prepared lectures and the complexities of so-called "simple" technologies. He says that Carl H. Chapman and R.F.G. Spier instilled these values in him.

    He went on to Graduate School at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1962, where he achieved his Ph.D. in Anthropology. After this, he went back to Missouri in 1965. During his second period at Missouri, he was able to participate in the Missouri Archaeology Society, which he stated as being a good experience. In 1968, Henning headed for the University of Nebraska. He was given the freedom to experiment with teaching methods and pursue contracts and grants.

    After spending 11 years at Nebraska with field schools in Iowa and Minnesota, Dr. Henning returned to Luther College. In 1992, he moved to the Twin Cities and spent four years working for private firms. Beginning in 1996, Dr. Dale R. Henning assumed the role of Director of Archaeological Services at the Illinois State Museum Society.

    One particular area of interest for Henning is his research on the Dhegihan-speaking people of the Great Plains. The Dhegihan language was spoken by native groups across the Midwest, and archaeologists have broken them apart into 5 separate tribes based upon the tool evidence found at archaeological sites: Quapaw, Osage, Kansa, Omaha and Ponca.

    Henning believes that in order to truly understand the cultures, you must look past their material goods and focus on their social and religious traditions to see what defines their cultural origin. According to Henning, the range of technology is merely adaptations to different environments. Using Henning's religious/social ruler, the five separate tribes of Dhegihan speakers become a single, widespread tribal group.

You can contact Dale Henning via email at henning@museum.state.il.us.

References:

The Institute for Minnesota Archaeology Newsletter. IMA Quarterly Newsletter. v 12, no. 2 August 1997. pp 5, 11 http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/oneota/obib.html

Written by: Josh Davidson and Matt Bune