Walter B. Jones

Who was Walter B. Jones?

Walter Bryan Jones, Ph.D. was an American geologist and archaeologist. Born in Alabama, Jones earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama and his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.

Jones and his three brothers, Howard, Edwin and Raymond, served in World War I and World War II. During World War II, he was stationed in New Guinea and sent anthropological collections back to the Alabama Museum of Natural History. Jones's oldest son, Nelson Bolling Jones, was killed in Germany, April 2, 1945, fighting the German Army, but he lived to see another son, Douglas Epps Jones, become a professor of geology at the University of Alabama. His other son, Warren Phelps Jones, managed an electro-chemical manufacturing plant in Huntsville, until his retirement in 1994.

Jones excavated the Moundville Archaeological Site in Central Alabama, establishing an important Native American burial site and shedding light on its culture. Jones accepted the position of Assistant State Geologist under Eugene Allen Smith in 1924, and served as State Geologist of Alabama and Director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History from 1927 to 1961. He served as Secretary of Conservation, as well as Professor Emeritus, at the University of Alabama, till his death in 1977 in Huntsville, Alabama. Jones was an avid conservationist, hunter, explorer, collector, and photographer, especially of the state of Alabama and the Southeast.