The interest continued in his experience as a field archaeologist, in 1966, for the Harvard-Cornell Archaeological Exploration of the site of ancient Sardis in Turkey.
Anneius appears to have had some pecuniary dealings with the inhabitants of Sardis, and Cicero gave him a letter of introduction to the propraetor Quintus Minucius Thermus, that the latter might assist him in the matter.
Weishan's research in landscape design overlaps with a life-long love of architecture, architectural design and archaeology, and his first published work (1991) was as editor and co-contributor (along with noted Harvard archaeologist George M.A. Hanfmann) of The Byzantine Shops at Sardis, volume 9 of the Sardis Archaeological Series published by the Harvard University Press.
Sardis is at the intersection of Ohio State Routes 7 and 255.
The lake, a flood control project, also held tourism potential and Oklahoma State Highway 43 was straightened and paved with blacktop all the way from the interchange at Daisy, Oklahoma on the Indian Nation Turnpike to the lake, where it crosses the dam and connects to Oklahoma State Highway 2.
He and his collaborators documented the coinage of Sardis, in modern-day Turkey (and formerly under the control of the Persian and Roman Empires), and, as part of a long-term Princeton University project, he also investigated the coinage at Morgantina, in modern-day Sicily.
Born the son of Alvin and Sherry Jackson, Alvin prepped at North Panola High School in Sardis, Mississippi, where he was a three-sport athlete, lettering in football, basketball, and track and field.