Senior Archaeologist and President Emeritus

M.P.A., Public Administration, Portland State University, 1992
B.A. with honors, Anthropology, Ball State University, 1972

David V. Ellis has directed cultural resource projects in the Pacific Northwest for over 40 years. He was a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff archaeologist for two years, and then owned a private CRM company for 10 years. From 1990 until co-founding Willamette Cultural Resources Associates in 2007, he was a senior archaeologist for the region’s largest CRM firm.

One of David’s strengths is his ability to assist clients with challenging, if not controversial, projects with difficult compliance issues. David has assisted in addressing cultural resources for projects involving multiple state and federal agencies and multiple Tribes, as well as directing evaluation and excavation at large precontact sites and complex historic-period sites. He has evaluated historic-period buildings and structures and directs traditional cultural place studies.

His experience includes major projects with both NHPA and NEPA requirements, the development of predictive models and cultural resource management plans, agreement documents, and archaeological monitoring protocols. David has particular experience with Superfund sites and hazardous waste remedial actions, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 404 permit requirements, natural-gas pipeline and wind energy projects, wastewater treatment systems, and traditional cultural properties.

His research interests include the prehistory and archaeology of the Columbia Basin and western Oregon, with a focus on the Portland Basin. He also conducts ethnographic and historical research. This interest is reflected in his authorship of the chapter on cultural geography for Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia River published by University of Washington Press in 2013.

From 2000 to 2006, David served as chair of the Oregon Heritage Commission and from 2006 to 2009 he served as president of the Association of Oregon Archaeologists. In 2020, he received a Heritage Excellence Award from the Oregon Heritage Commission for his contributions to Oregon heritage.