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Birth of Eulalia Guzmán and location of her work
Most of Guzmán’s work was done in Mexico. Particularly Gorda, and Chachoapam, Nochistlán, Tamazulapan, and Teposcolula Yanhuitlán. She also studied Mexican artifacts in Europe and the United States. -
Birth of V Gordon Childe
He worked with the University of Edinburgh then the University of London. He coined the term “urban revolution” 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. -
Birth of Maria Reiche
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Alfonso Caso's work with Mesoamerica civilizations seeking to explain their development in terms of continuity and internal evolution, rejecting earlier theories about cultural change being the result of trans-cultural diffusion
Notably, he discovered the site of the ancient Zapotec city of Mount Alban and studied the burial offerings at the Tomb Seven, proving that Mount Alban has been occupied by the Mixtec people before the Spanish conquest. He also recognized five phases in Mount Alban’s history dating back to the 8th century BC and established a chronology of that history. -
Childe's Works
His works include: The Dawn of European Civilization (1925) and The Danube in Prehistory (1929) for academics, and Man Makes Himself (1936) and What Happened in History (1942) for more general readers. -
Kathleen Kenyon starts her work with early farming settlements in Levant (Eastern Mediterranean)
Her careful excavation of the Early Bronze Age sites and cemeteries and analysis of this pottery led her to notice an absence of certain Cypriot pottery type, which led her to argue the site was destroyed much earlier than previously thought. Her use of pottery for more precise dating was one of her major contributions to the field. She also conducted research at Jericho, which led to the realization that it was the oldest continuously occupied settlement in history. -
Maria Reiche moved to Peru
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Tatiana Proskouriakoff began her work in the Maya Region of Central America
Proskouriakoff was a key figure in the decipherment of the Maya script (written language). Specifically, she discovered that the dates listed appeared to correspond to human life spans and must be referring to the life spans of rulers. She proposed that the carved monuments at Maya sites were recording dynastic history. Previously, they were believed to be simply mystical writings and possibly undecipherable. This enabled future scholars to fully decipher ancient Maya writing. -
Maria Reiche began her work on the Nazca Lines
Reiche is most notably known for her work preserving and documenting the Nazca Lines, geoglyphs in Peru. The Nazca Lines were geoglyphs created by the Nazca culture in South America. Reiche believed these giant designs could have been used by the Nazca culture for “calendrical and astronomical” purpose. -
Death of V Gordon Childe
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Kathleen Kenyon concluded her archaeological work
Her major contributions were to excavation techniques and ceramic analysis. She excavated using precise techniques which allowed her to better document the things she found and their relationship to other artifacts and features. The careful documentation of artifact location combined with an analysis of ceramic styles allowed her to more precisely date the sites. -
Tatiana Proskouriakoff concluded her archaeological work
Proskouriakoff was also a skill draftsman and created some of the most accurate drawings we have of Maya pyramids. She also helped to draw reconstructed versions which show what the pyramids looked like before they were abandoned. Her reconstructions are still used today and considered to be the most accurate conceptualizations of what the pyramids looked like when they were in use. -
Guzmán'a Work
Guzmán was an educator before an archeologist. She was a longtime champion of women’s rights in Mexico, fighting for greater educational and professional opportunities for women. Through this, she traveled to Europe and the U.S. to study their education systems and recover parts of Mexican history. After arriving back in Mexico, she earned a degree in archaeology. Toward the end of her career Guzmán discovered bones that she claimed to belong to the Aztec Emperor, Cuauhtémoc. -
Death of Eulalia Guzmán
After her death, the authenticity of this discovery was questioned. It has been subsequently confirmed that these bones did not belong to Cuauhtémoc, but there is still a large population who believes her discovery to be true. Guzmán was a champion of women’s rights and education. She ran a literacy campaign in Mexico and fought for uncovering Mexico’s history. She also created Mexico’s National Library of Anthropology and History. -
Death of Maria Reiche
Her work contributed to the recognition of the Nazca Lines as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and her former home in Peru has been transformed into a museum,