Cultural History Archaeologists

By summermcclintic

  • Eulalia Guzmán

    Guzman is referred to as the first female Mexican archaeologist. She is well known for leading the investigation which discovered remains in Ixcateopan, Guerrero. This investigation determined the remains to be belonging to the last Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc. This caused some controversy because some archaeologists did not believe these remains were of significance. Additionally, she is known for the creation of the National Library of Anthropology and History (BNAH) in the early 1940s.

  • Alfonso Caso

    Caso wrote books on early Meso-American civilizations including the Olmec, Mixtec, Aztec, and more. He was one of the first to identify Olmec as the earliest civilization to exist in the area and he described them as the "cultural madre" or mother culture of Mexico. His theory has been debated since there's confusion how the Olmec interacted with other cultures during their existence. Caso's notable discoveries include the excavations at Monte Alban, Mixteca, Yucuita, Yucundahui and Montenegro.

  • V. Gordon Childe

    Childe coined the term “urban revolution”. He is also well-known for describing the transition of small villages to towns and cities. He also used the term agricultural revolution to describe the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. He also insisted on an international, comparative, and materialist approach
    to culture change.

  • Kathleen Kenyon

    Kenyon made many discoveries mainly related to early farming settlements in the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean). Her use of pottery for more precise dating was one of her major contributions to the field. She conducted research at Jericho, which led to the realization that it was the oldest continuously occupied settlement in history. She excavated using precise techniques which allowed her to better document the things she found and their relationship to other artifacts and features.

  • Tatiana Proskouriakoff

    Proskouriakoff was very skilled at drawing reconstructions, which helped her receive a position at the Carnegie Institution. She was one of the only women archaeologists at the time. One of her most famous achievements is deciphering Mayan hieroglyphics at the Takalik Abaj ruins in Guatemala. She discovered they were detailing the birth, ruling, and death dates of Mayan rulers. This challenged the original belief that the hieroglyphics were not astronomical or religious but historical.

  • Maria Reiche

    She devoted her life to studying the Nazca Lines, a network of geoglyphs in Nazca Desert in southern Peru. She believed that they formed a massive celestial calendar because they lined up with the position of the sun. While her theories have not necessarily held up, she did inspire other’s interest in the lines. In addition to studying the Nazca lines, she worked to protect them from being interfered with, eventually convincing the Peruvian government to restrict access to the area.