Anna Curtenius Roosevelt

Last updated
Anna Curtenius Roosevelt
Born1946 (age 7677)
Alma mater Stanford University
Columbia University
Scientific career
FieldsArchaeology
Institutions University of Illinois Chicago
Field Museum of Natural History
Museum of the American Indian

Anna Curtenius Roosevelt (born 1946 [1] ) is an American archaeologist and Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois Chicago. She studies human evolution and long-term human-environment interaction. She is one of the leading American archeologists studying Paleoindians in the Amazon basin. [2] Her field research has included significant findings at Marajo Island and Caverna da Pedra Pintada in Brazil. She does additional field work in the Congo Basin. She is the great-granddaughter of United States President Theodore Roosevelt.

Contents

Education and career

Roosevelt recalls that, inspired by her mother, through reading and a trip to Mesa Verde, she became interested in archaeology at the age of nine. [3] [4] She graduated from Stanford University in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts in History, Classics, and Anthropology. [5] In 1977, she earned a Ph.D. degree in anthropology from Columbia University. [6]

From 1975 to 1985, she worked as a curator at the Museum of the American Indian. Roosevelt was a guest curator at the American Museum of Natural History from 1985 to 1989. She was later a curator of archaeology at the Field Museum of Natural History. [7] Her early field work took her to the Andes mountains of Peru, and then to Mexico and Venezuela. [7] She is currently a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. [8]

Marajo Island

Praia de Sao Joao - Marajo Island Praia de Sao Joao - Salvaterra - Ilha do Marajo - Para.jpg
Praia de São João - Marajó Island

In 1991, Roosevelt published, Moundbuilders of the Amazon: Geophysical Archaeology on Marajo Island, Brazil, which detailed her work throughout the 1980s on pre-Columbian Marajoara culture. [9] Her research team employed remote sensing geophysical surveys, together with excavation. [9] The Marajo Island lies near the mouth of the Amazon River and contains evidence of pre-Columbian settlement. [7]

In this work, Roosevelt challenged the theory that the pre-Columbian Amazon was a "counterfeit paradise" unable to sustain increasingly complex human culture. [10] Roosevelt posited that this pre-Columbian society was "one of the outstanding indigenous cultural achievements," with a high population and territory, intensive subsistence agriculture, as well as public works. [11] These findings and arguments have led to continuing debates in South American archaeology and anthropology. [12] Meanwhile, they have led others to follow up and build upon her work. [13]

Painted Rock Cave

From 1990 to 1992, Roosevelt led the excavation of the Painted Rock Cave ( Caverna da Pedra Pintada ) near Monte Alegre in the State of Pará, Brazil. The Monte Alegre rock art contains many examples of ancient rock paintings, including handprints, as well as human and animal figures and geometrics. [14] Dating of these paintings suggests they are among the oldest art in the Western Hemisphere. [2] [15] Roosevelt's investigation found evidence for human habitation in the Amazon much older than previously known, perhaps twice as old. [14]

Over a 1000-year period, about 10,000-11,000 years ago, humans used the cave and left behind unique projectile points, as well as evidence that they had transported plant seeds from far away to the site. [2] [7] They lived in a different way from the cultures of the earliest-known, Western Hemisphere big-game-hunters, relying instead on the rivers and forest. [16] Also suggesting a later human reoccupation at the site and along the nearby riverbank was evidence of 7,500-year-old pottery, which would make it the oldest, or among the oldest pottery found in the Americas. [14] Roosevelt's findings suggested that the study of migration of humans into the Americas, as well as the development of civilization in the Amazon, needed to be revisited. [2] [15] [17] [18]

Current

Roosevelt continues field work at various sites in Brazil, most recently at underwater sites in the middle Xingu, to look at the activities of Paleoindians in the interfluves of Amazonia. In addition, she has expanded her research focus to the African Congo Basin. Her archaeological work in the Congo basin has centered on preceramic sites in Bayanga in the southwestern Central African Republic. [19]

Awards

Roosevelt has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has been awarded the Explorers Medal and the Society of Woman Geographers' Gold Medal. Brazil has awarded her the Order of Rio Branco and the Bettendorf Medal. In 1988, she received a five-year fellowship from the MacArthur Fellows Program. She has received honorary doctorates from Mount Holyoke and Northeastern University. In 2012 She received the University Scholar and Distinguished Professor awards from University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright Commission, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the University of Illinois. [19]

Family

She is a daughter of Quentin Roosevelt II, and Frances Blanche Webb, [20] and granddaughter of Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Her great grandfather was United States President Theodore Roosevelt. Her sisters are Susan Roosevelt Weld, and Alexandra Roosevelt Dworkin. [21]

Works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples in Brazil</span> Diverse range of ethnic groups

Indigenous peoples in Brazil or Indigenous Brazilians once comprised an estimated 2000 tribes and nations inhabiting what is now the country of Brazil, before European contact around 1500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pará</span> State in Brazil

Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana and Suriname, to the northeast of Pará is the Atlantic Ocean. The capital and largest city is Belém, which is located at the Marajó bay, near the estuary of the Amazon river. The state, which is home to 4.1% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for just 2.2% of the Brazilian GDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marajó</span> Island

Marajó is a large coastal island in the state of Pará, Brazil. It is the main and largest of the islands in the Marajó Archipelago. Marajó Island is separated from the mainland by Marajó Bay, Pará River, smaller rivers, Companhia River, Jacaré Grande River, Vieira Grande Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clovis culture</span> Prehistoric culture in the Americas c. 11, 500 to 10,800 BCE

The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican archaeological culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 and 1937. It existed from roughly 11,500 to 10,800 BCE near the end of the Last Glacial Period. It is characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools, and it is represented by hundreds of sites, from which >10,000 Clovis points have been recovered. The Clovis culture is primarily known from North America. In South America, the similar related Fishtail or Fell projectile point style was contemporaneous to the usage of Clovis points in North America, and possibly developed from Clovis points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceramics of indigenous peoples of the Americas</span> Pottery produced by the indigenous people of the Americas

Native American pottery is an art form with at least a 7500-year history in the Americas. Pottery is fired ceramics with clay as a component. Ceramics are used for utilitarian cooking vessels, serving and storage vessels, pipes, funerary urns, censers, musical instruments, ceremonial items, masks, toys, sculptures, and a myriad of other art forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleo-Indians</span> Classification term given to the first peoples who entered the American continents

Paleo-Indians, Paleoindians or Paleo-Americans were the first peoples who entered, and subsequently inhabited, the Americas during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period. The prefix paleo- comes from the Greek adjective palaios (παλαιός) 'old; ancient'. The term Paleo-Indians applies specifically to the lithic period in the Western Hemisphere and is distinct from the term Paleolithic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niède Guidon</span> Brazilian archaeologist

Niède Guidon is a Brazilian archaeologist known for her work in pre-historic archeology of South American civilizations and her efforts to secure the conservation of the World Heritage Site Serra da Capivara National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betty Meggers</span> American archaeologist (1921-2012

Betty Jane Meggers was an American archaeologist best known for her work in South America. She was considered influential at the Smithsonian Institution, where she was long associated in research, and she wrote extensively about environmental determinism as a shaper of human cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marajoara culture</span> Indigenous Amazon-river society

The Marajoara or Marajó culture was an ancient pre-Columbian era civilization that flourished on Marajó island at the mouth of the Amazon River in northern Brazil. In a survey, Charles C. Mann suggests the culture appeared to flourish between 800 AD and 1400 AD, based on archeological studies. Researchers have documented that there was human activity at these sites as early as 1000 BC. The culture seems to have persisted into the colonial era.

Darrell Addison Posey was an American anthropologist and biologist who vitalized the study of traditional knowledge of indigenous and folk populations in Brazil and other countries. He called his approach ethnobiology and combined research with respect for other cultures, especially indigenous intellectual property rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedra Furada</span> Collection of archaeological sites in Brazil

Pedra Furada is an important collection of over 800 archaeological sites in the state of Piauí, Brazil. These include hundreds of rock paintings dating from circa 12,000 years before present. More importantly, charcoal from very ancient fires and stone shards that may be interpreted as tools found at the location were dated from 48,000 to 32,000 years before present, suggesting the possibility of a human presence tens of thousand of years prior to the arrival of the Clovis people in North America.

Juliet Morrow is an American archaeologist and a professor of Anthropology at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Caleb Vance Haynes Jr., known as Vance Haynes or C. Vance Haynes Jr., is an archaeologist, geologist and author who specializes in the archaeology of the American Southwest. Haynes "revolutionized the fields of geoarchaeology and archaeological geology." He is known for unearthing and studying artifacts of Paleo-Indians including ones from Sandia Cave in the 1960s, work which helped to establish the timeline of human migration through North America. Haynes coined the term "black mat" for a layer of 10,000-year-old swamp soil seen in many North American archaeological studies.

Vance T. Holliday is a professor in the School of Anthropology and the department of Geosciences as well as an adjunct professor in the department of Geography at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caverna da Pedra Pintada</span> Archaeological site in Brazil

Caverna da Pedra Pintada, is an archaeological site in northern Brazil, with evidence of human presence dating ca. 11,200 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedra Pintada, Roraima</span> Archaeological site in Brazil

The Pedra Pintada or "Painted Rock", is a large rock located in the state of Roraima, Brazil. It is 85 metres long, 35 metres high and 30 metres wide, and is found in the Boa Vista savanna. There are many pictograms and other archaeological evidence inscribed on the walls of the rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toca da Tira Peia</span> Rock shelter archaeological site in Brazil

Toca da Tira Peia is a rock shelter site, located in the municipality Coronel José Dias, Piauí state, near the Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil, thought to hold evidence of prehistoric human presence in South America dating to 22,000 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gault (archaeological site)</span>

The Gault archaeological site is an extensive, multicomponent site located in Florence, Texas, United States on the Williamson-Bell County line along Buttermilk Creek about 250 meters upstream from the Buttermilk Creek complex. It bears evidence of almost continuous human occupation, starting at least 16,000 years ago—making it one of the few archaeological sites in the Americas at which compelling evidence has been found for human occupation dating to before the appearance of the Clovis culture. Archaeological material covers about 16 hectares with a depth of up to 3 meters in places. About 30 incised stones from the Clovis period engraved with geometric patterns were found there as well as others from periods up to the Early Archaic. Incised bone was also found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anzick site</span> Ancient Clovis site in Montana, US

The Anzick site (24PA506) in Park County, Montana, United States, is the only known Clovis burial site in the New World. The term "Clovis" is used by archaeologists to define one of the New World's earliest hunter-gatherer cultures and is named after the site near Clovis, New Mexico, where human artifacts were found associated with the procurement and processing of mammoth and other large and small fauna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Columbian history of Brazil</span> History of Brazil before the arrival of Europeans (antiquity-1500)

The pre-Columbian history of Brazil is the stage in Brazil's history before the arrival of the navigators Cristopher Columbus in 1492 and Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500, at a time when the region that is now Brazilian territory was occupied by thousands of so-called indigenous peoples.

References

  1. "93926681".
  2. 1 2 3 4 Scientist at Work: Anna C. Roosevelt: Sharp and To the Point In Amazonia. New York Times. John Nobile Willford. 23 April 1996
  3. "Dig into the life of archaeologist Anna Roosevelt". Medill Reports. Ani Vrabel. March 15, 2011
  4. SCA Interview: ANNA C. ROOSEVELT (2000) Society for California Archaeology.
  5. "Anna C. Roosevelt" Linkedin.com
  6. "European Science Awards, The Grand Jury 2003", European Commission. 2003
  7. 1 2 3 4 "The Amazon Trail". Discover Magazine. Jennifer Tzar and John Dorfman. (May 2002).
  8. UIC Anthropoly Faculty - Dr. Anna Roosevelt Archived 2012-09-25 at the Wayback Machine .
  9. 1 2 Book Review: Moundbuilders of the Amazon, The Society for Archaeological Sciences Bulletin. James I. Ebert (9/98).
  10. Mann, Charles C. (2006) [2005]. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus . Vintage Books. pp.  326–337. ISBN   1-4000-3205-9. anna c roosevelt field museum.
  11. Mann, 1491. p. 335.
  12. Earthmovers of the Amazon, Science.Charles C. Mann. Vol. 287:786-789. 4 February 2000.
  13. Scientists find evidence discrediting theory Amazon was virtually unlivable. The Washington Post. Juan Forero. September 5, 2010
  14. 1 2 3 Grann, David (2009). The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon . p.  315. ISBN   978-0-385-51353-1.
  15. 1 2 "Dating a Paleoindian Site in the Amazon in Comparison with Clovis Culture." Science. March 1997: Vol. 275, no. 5308, pp. 1948–1952.
  16. Mann, 1491. p. 338.
  17. 'Discoveries in Clovis Cave Suggest Clovis Wasn't First", and "Anna Roosevelt Makes Headlines" Mammoth Trumpet. Oregon State University - Center for the Study of the First Americans. Vol.11, No. 3. (July 1996) pp. 1, and 16-20.
  18. The Myth of the Passive Indian. Reason. Amy Sturgis. (April 2006)
  19. 1 2 "Anna C Roosevelt bio". uic.edu. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  20. "Frances Roosevelt, Portrait Artist, 78", The New York Times, September 13, 1995
  21. "Alexandra Roosevelt Wed To Dr. Ronald W. Dworkin", The New York Times, March 6, 1988