David Hurst Thomas

Last updated

David Hurst Thomas (born 1945) is the curator of North American Archaeology in the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History and a professor at Richard Gilder Graduate School. [1] [2] He was previously a chairman of the American Museum of Natural History's Anthropology Division. [3]

Contents

Career

Thomas was born and raised in California, and after initially wanting to major in pre-med, ended up receiving all of his degrees in anthropology (including a Ph.D. in 1971) from the University of California, Davis [1] instead. He is one of the founding trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1989, and received the Presidential Recognition Award from the Society for American Archaeology. [3]

During his 35-year tenure at the AMNH, Thomas has published dozens of books, ranging from technical site reports to widely used popular textbooks and has been involved in archaeological fieldwork throughout North America. His best known projects include excavations at the Gatecliff Rockshelter in Nevada, which is the deepest stratified rockshelter in North America; on St. Catherines Island in Georgia, where he discovered the site of the Franciscan mission Santa Catalina de Guale; and the Spanish mission south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. [1] [4]

Thomas's academic research is varied, with concentrations on the human response to environmental change in the Great Basin, as well as the consequences of Spanish exploration and colonization of the South on indigenous people in the region.

One of Thomas's main foci is the relationship between Native American and anthropological communities. He has written extensively about the lawsuit against the federal government that prevented the repatriation of the Kennewick Man remains and has worked to support positive relationships between the scientific and native communities in North America. He believes that if better working relationships had been established before and during the Kennewick case, both sides could have come to an agreement without taking it to the level of the federal courts.

Thomas is a major supporter of Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and is sympathetic to Native American rights. The NAGPRA is legislation passed in November 1990 recognizing that Native American people have a special stake in the history of this country, and that museums have acquired items that are inappropriate (human remains, grave goods, items of cultural patrimony), that tribes need to be notified by museums with these items in their collections, and that decisions have to be made by both sides about repatriation. The law also applies to new finds, so that there are rules that apply to federal/state/Indian lands where artifacts are found as well.

Thomas is also known as an educator and proponent of public involvement in archaeology. In addition to the many textbooks that he has written or co-authored, he is also actively involved in public outreach through the AMNH, and has helped produce a children's television show, called DIGS, that introduces kids (and their parents) to the discipline of archaeology in an easy to understand, fun, “hands-on” way. He has held several university positions and he has also made a major contribution to the field (and managed to start his own academic lineage) by acting as a mentor to one of the current top names in hunter-gatherer archaeology. Robert Kelly, who worked as a volunteer with Thomas at Gatecliff Rockshelter as a teenager, has published numerous books and articles, has been voted president of the Society for American Archaeology, is currently head of the Anthropology Department at the University of Wyoming, and has mentored dozens of students himself in a relatively short period of time.

Published works

[5]

See also

Related Research Articles

Effigy Mounds National Monument National monument of prehistoric mounds built by Native Americans, in Iowa, United States

Effigy Mounds National Monument preserves more than 200 prehistoric mounds built by pre-Columbian Mound Builder cultures, mostly in the first millennium AD, during the later part of the Woodland period of pre-Columbian North America. Numerous effigy mounds are shaped like animals, including bears and birds.

Kennewick Man Hominin fossil

Kennewick Man, or the Ancient One, is the name generally given to the skeletal remains of a prehistoric Paleoamerican man found on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, United States, on July 28, 1996. It is one of the most complete ancient skeletons ever found. Radiocarbon tests on bone have shown it to date from 8,900 to 9,000 calibrated years before present, but it was not until 2013 that ancient DNA analysis techniques had improved enough to shed light on the remains. In June 2015, it was announced that Kennewick Man had the most genetic similarity among living peoples to Native Americans, including those in the Columbia River region where the skeleton was found.

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 1990 US law protecting Native American remains and artifacts

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law enacted on November 16, 1990.

Repatriation

Repatriation is the process of returning an asset, an item of symbolic value, or a person—voluntarily or forcibly—to its owner or their place of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the process of returning military personnel to their place of origin following a war. It also applies to diplomatic envoys, international officials as well as expatriates and migrants in time of international crisis. For refugees, asylum seekers and illegal migrants, repatriation can mean either voluntary return or deportation.

Alfred V. Kidder American archaeologist

Alfred Vincent Kidder was an American archaeologist considered the foremost of the southwestern United States and Mesoamerica during the first half of the 20th century. He saw a disciplined system of archaeological techniques as a means to extend the principles of anthropology into the prehistoric past and so was the originator of the first comprehensive, systematic approach to North American archaeology.

Archaeological ethics refers to the moral issues raised through the study of the material past. It is a branch of the philosophy of archaeology. This article will touch on human remains, the preservation and laws protecting remains and cultural items, issues around the globe, as well as preservation and ethnoarchaeology.

National Museum of the American Indian Act 1989 United States law

The National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAI) was enacted on November 28, 1989, as Public Law 101-185. The law established the National Museum of the American Indian as part of the Smithsonian Institution. The law also required the Secretary of the Smithsonian to prepare an inventory of all Indian and Native Hawaiian human remains and funerary objects in Smithsonian collections, as well as expeditiously return these items upon the request of culturally affiliated federally recognized Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

Buhla is the name for a skeleton of a prehistoric (Paleo-Indian) woman found in a quarry near Buhl, Idaho, United States, in January 1989. The skeleton's age has been estimated by radiocarbon dating at 10,675 ± 95 BP, which confirms this as one of the oldest sets of human remains found in the Americas. The discovery was made by a quarry worker when he noticed what was found to be a thigh bone in the screen of a rock crusher. The nearly complete skeleton was subsequently unearthed nearby.

Gatecliff Rockshelter United States historic place

Gatecliff Rockshelter (26NY301) is a major archaeological site in the Great Basin area of the western United States that provides remarkable stratigraphy; it has been called the "deepest archaeological rock shelter in the Americas". Located in Mill Canyon of the Toquima Range in the Monitor Valley of central Nevada, Gatecliff Rockshelter has an elevation of 7,750 feet (2,360 m). David Hurst Thomas discovered Gatecliff Rockshelter in 1970 and began excavations in 1971. Full scale excavations occurred at Gatecliff Rockshelter for about seven field seasons in which nearly 33 feet (10 m) of sediments were exposed for a well-defined stratigraphic sequence. The well-preserved artifacts and undisturbed sediments at Gatecliff Rockshelter provides data and information have been applied to a range of research topics. Based on the analysis of the artifacts at Gatecliff Rockshelter, it can be determined that it was most likely a short-term field camp throughout prehistory. The latest evidence for human usage at Gatecliff occurs between ca. 5500 B.P. to 1250 B.P.

James C. Chatters is an American archaeologist and paleontologist. As of 2012, he is the owner of forensics consulting firm, Applied Paleoscience; and serves as a Research Associate in the Office of Graduate Studies, Research, and Continuing Education at Central Washington University; Deputy Coroner of Benton County, Washington; and a consulting scientist on staff with Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation of Bothell, Washington. In 1996, Chatters was the first scientist to excavate and study the prehistoric (Paleo-Indian) skeletal remains, known as Kennewick Man, which were discovered on the banks of the Columbia River.

The repatriation and reburial of human remains is a current issue in archaeology and museum management, centering on ethical issues and cultural sensitivities regarding human remains of long-deceased ancestors which have ended up in museums and other institutions. Historical trauma as a result of colonialism is often involved. Various indigenous peoples around the world, such as Native Americans and Indigenous Australians, have requested that human remains from their respective communities be repatriated to their local areas and burial sites from various institutions, often in other countries, for reburial.

Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology

The Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, formerly known as the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, is a learning center and archaeological collection in Andover, Massachusetts. Founded in 1901 through a bequest from Robert Singleton Peabody, an 1857 Phillips Academy alumnus, the institute initially held the archaeological materials collected by Peabody from Native American cultures. Peabody's passionate interest in archaeology led him to create the institute at Phillips Academy to encourage young people's interest in the sciences, and to foster respect and appreciation for the Native American peoples who have inhabited that hemisphere for thousands of years.

Robert L. Kelly American anthropologist (born 1957)

Robert Laurens Kelly is an American anthropologist who is a Professor at the University of Wyoming. As a professor, he has taught introductory Archaeology as well as upper-level courses focused in Hunter-Gathers, North American Archaeology, Lithic Analysis, and Human Behavioral Ecology. Kelly's interest in archaeology began when he was a sophomore in high school in 1973. His first experience in fieldwork was an excavation of Gatecliff Rockshelter, a prehistoric site in central Nevada. Since then, Kelly has been involved with archaeology and has dedicated the majority of his work to the ethnology, ethnography, and archaeology of foraging peoples, which include research on lithic technology, initial colonization of the New World, evolutionary ecology of hunter-gatherers, and archaeological method and theory. He has been involved in research projects throughout the United States and in Chile, where he studied the remains of the Inca as well as coastal shell middens, and Madagascar, where in order to learn about farmer-forager society, Kelly has participated in ethnoarchaeological research. A majority of his work has been carried out in the Great Basin, but after moving to Wyoming in 1997 he has shifted his research to the rockshelters in the southwest Wyoming and the Bighorn Mountains.

Douglas W. Owsley American anthropologist (born 1951)

Douglas W. Owsley, Ph.D. is an American anthropologist who is the current Head of Physical Anthropology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). He is widely regarded as one of the most prominent and influential archaeologists and forensic anthropologists in the world in some popular media. In September 2001, he provided scientific analysis at the military mortuary located at Dover Air Force Base, following the 9/11 attack in Washington D.C. The following year, the US Department of Defense honored him with the Commander's Award for Civilian Service for helping in the identification of 60 federal and civilian victims who died when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.

Yuquot Whalers Shrine Collection of carved figures previously serving as a Yuquot ritual site

The Yuquot Whalers' Shrine, previously located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, was a site of purification rituals, passed down through the family of a Yuquot chief. It contained a collection of 88 carved human figures, four carved whale figures, and sixteen human skulls. Since the early twentieth century, it has been in the possession of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, but is rarely displayed. Talks are underway regarding repatriation.

Conservation and restoration of human remains

The conservation and restoration of human remains involves the long-term preservation and care of human remains in various forms which exist within museum collections. This category can include bones and soft tissues as well as ashes, hair, and teeth. Given the organic nature of the human body, special steps must be taken to halt the deterioration process and maintain the integrity of the remains in their current state. These types of museum artifacts have great merit as tools for education and scientific research, yet also have unique challenges from a cultural and ethical standpoint. Conservation of human remains within museum collections is most often undertaken by a conservator-restorer or archaeologist. Other specialists related to this area of conservation include osteologists and taxidermists.

Osteoware is a free data recording software for human skeletal material that is managed through the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It is used by biological anthropologists to, in a standardized and consistent way, document data relevant to research and forensic applications of human skeletal remains. It has influenced other skeletal recording software, and has been successfully used at the Smithsonian for collecting data relevant to biological anthropology. Osteoware is the only free, individual-use software for the collection of data on skeletal material in anthropology.

Elizabeth Reitz Zooarchaeologist

Elizabeth Jean "Betsy" Reitz is a zooarchaeologist and Professor Emerita in the Georgia Museum of Natural History and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Georgia. She was born in 1946 in Lake Alfred, Florida. She attended Florida Presbyterian College from 1966-1967. She received her BA (1969), MA (1975), and her PhD (1979) in Anthropology from the University of Florida. Her dissertation was directed by Elizabeth Wing. In 2012, she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2014, she was named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was the recipient of the 2016 Fryxell Award for Interdisciplinary Research in Archaeology, given by the Society for American Archaeology. The Fryxell Award is given to scholars who have made significant contributions in the application of the zoological sciences in archaeology. She is a member of the Committee of Honor of the International Council for Zooarchaeology (ICAZ). In 2019, Reitz was awarded the Southeastern Archaeological Conference's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Clark Spencer Larsen is an American biological anthropologist, author, and educator. His work focuses on bioarchaeology, the study of human remains from archaeological settings. Although his interests span the entire record of human evolution, his research largely pertains to the last 10,000 years, a period of dynamic change in health, well-being, and lifestyle, much of which relates to population increase, overcrowding, and nutritional decline that co-occurred with the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, creating living conditions that humans are grappling with to the present day.

Donna L. Moody is a scholar, author, teacher, public speaker, Abenaki Repatriation and Site Protection Coordinator, and the Director of the Winter Center for Indigenous Traditions.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "David Hurst Thomas". American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Faculty". American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  3. 1 2 Thomas, David (2000). The Skull Wars: Kennewick Man, Archaeology, and The Battle for Native American Identity . New York: Basic Books. pp.  Back Cover. ISBN   978-0-465-09225-3.
  4. ↑ "Profile: David Hurst Thomas". YouTube. American Museum of Natural History. 24 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "Complete List of David Thomas' Publications". American Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.