Dorothy Anne Humpf was born March 26, 1960 in Sellersville, Penn., and died of cancer on Nov. 1 at the age of 42.
At the time of her death, Humpf was an assistant professor of anthropology at ETSU, joining the department of sociology and anthropology in August 1999. She received all of her degrees at Penn State University, beginning with a B.A. in anthropology in 1982, M.A. in anthropology in 1984 and her Ph.D. in anthropology and demography in 1995.
Before joining ETSU, Dr. Humpf had been the cultural resource manager for Native American affairs at Fort Campbell, Ky., and before that had served as the state historic preservation officer in Harrisburg, Penn.
Humpf was an archaeologist who specialized in the study of mortality and morbidity among southeastern Native American people before contact with Europeans.
She had extensive training in human osteology (paleodemography and paleopathology) as well as demography and conducted research on prehistoric skeletal materials in Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Maryland. She published a number of articles in professional journals as well as site reports based on these investigations and had developed and supervised numerous archaeological excavations.
In her short time at ETSU, Humpf made a strong positive impression on her colleagues in the department, and on other faculty and numerous students. Her extensive knowledge of human evolution and biology and her quiet enthusiasm for the archaeological enterprise drew many students to her, the courses she taught and the field of anthropology.
A course she developed and offered twice, Forensic Anthro-pology, allowed her to share with students her specialty in the technical and legal aspects of the identification of human skeletal materials. This course was very popular and drew students from various majors and interests.
Her greatest desire was to develop a summer archaeology field school at ETSU, and she had made extensive preparations for one at the Tipton-Haynes Historical Farm in 2001. The number of students wanting to enroll in the field school overwhelmed the course maximum of 14 and Humpf actually had to take applications and interview some of those desiring to enroll.
Unfortunately, small-cell lung cancer prevented her from being able to offer the field school, a great disappointment to her, the students and the department. However, the tremendous interest in local archaeology spurred by her teaching was in itself a great testimony to her enthusiasm for anthropology and her effectiveness as a teacher.
An example of Humpf’s generous spirit, basic kindness and also the breadth of her knowledge was her involvement in the Gray fossil site. In the summer of 2000, Humpf was called upon to quickly investigate fossils uncovered on a road construction site in Gray.
Though totally out of her field of expertise, she identified the bones as non-human mammals, most likely from the Miocene epoch. Because at that time there was not a paleontologist at ETSU, Humpf was called on repeatedly to help make decisions about the scientific significance of the site and the manner in which to properly secure it.
Humpf’s contributions to ETSU and the wider community of Northeast Tennessee were significant in the three short years she was here. It was she and her husband’s wish that upon her death a scholarship fund be established that would help interested students to enroll in archaeology summer field schools.
In accordance with that wish, the Dorothy A. Humpf Scholarship fund has been established at ETSU. Those desiring to make a contribution to the scholarship fund may make a check out to the ETSU Foundation, noting that it is for the Dorothy A. Humpf Scholarship, and send it to ETSU Foundation, Box 70732, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614.
A memorial service for Humpf will be held on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 2 p.m. in Room 118, Rogers-Stout Hall.
Any questions or inquiries should be directed to the department of sociology and anthropology at 439-4371.
This article was submitted by Scott Beck, ETSU professor of sociology and anthropology.

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