Kent V. Flannery | |
---|---|
Born | 1934 (age 90–91) |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Archaeologist |
Known for | Broad Spectrum Revolution |
Spouse | Joyce Marcus |
Parent | Vaughn Flannery |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Chicago |
Doctoral advisor | Robert John Braidwood |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Archaeologist and anthropologist |
Sub-discipline | |
Institutions | University of Michigan |
Notable students | Susan H. Lees, Robert Drennan, Charles S. Spencer |
Kent Vaughn Flannery (born 1934) [1] is an American archaeologist who has conducted and published extensive research on the pre-Columbian cultures and civilizations of Mesoamerica, and in particular those of central and southern Mexico. He has also worked in Iran and Peru.
Flannery grew up in Maryland on a farm near the Susquehanna River [2] , and attended the Gilman School in Baltimore [3] . His father was artist Vaughn Flannery [2] . He entered the University of Chicago after his sophomore year of high school, and gained his B.A. degree in zoology in 1954. He began studying for an M.A. in zoology, but shifted to Anthropology following fieldwork in Mexico; he then excavated in Iran with Robert Braidwood in 1960 [1] . His 1961 M.A. differentiated wild and domestic pigs in Near Eastern Neolithic sites. His 1964 Ph.D. examined the Tehuacán formative [1] .
Flannery is known for proposing the Broad Spectrum Revolution in 1961 [4] . In the 1960s and 70s, Flannery was a leading proponent of Processual Archaeology and the use of Systems Theory in archaeology [2] . He has published influential work on origins of agriculture and village life in the Near east, pastoralists in the Andes, and cultural evolution, and many critiques of modern trends in archaeological method, theory, and practice [1] [2] . From 1966 to 1980 he directed project "Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico," dealing with the origins of agriculture, village life, and social inequality in Mexico [5] .
At the University of Michigan, Flannery is the James B. Griffin Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Curator of Human Ecology and Archaeobiology at the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology [5] . He has chaired thirteen doctoral dissertation committees. His students include Robert Drennan, Susan H. Lees, and Charles S. Spencer. [6]
Flannery was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1978 [7] [8] , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996 [9] , and the American Philosophical Society in 2005. [10] He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 [5] , and in 1992 his scholarship was recognized by the American Anthropological Association with the Alfred Vincent Kidder Award for Eminence in the Field of American Archaeology [11] .
In 1973 Flannery married fellow archaeologist and frequent collaborator Joyce Marcus [2] .
Cocijo is a lightning deity of the pre-Columbian Zapotec civilization of southern Mexico. He has attributes characteristic of similar Mesoamerican deities associated with rain, thunder and lightning, such as Tlaloc of central Mexico, and Chaac of the Maya civilization. In the Zapotec language, the word cocijo means "lightning", as well as referring to the deity.
The Zapotec are an Indigenous people of Mexico. Their population is primarily concentrated in the southern state of Oaxaca, but Zapotec communities also exist in neighboring states. The present-day population is estimated at 400,000 to 650,000, many of whom are monolingual in one of the Native Zapotec languages and dialects.
Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain in the central section of the Valley of Oaxaca, where the latter's northern Etla, eastern Tlacolula, and southern Zimatlán and Ocotlán branches meet. The present-day state capital Oaxaca City is located approximately 9 km (6 mi) east of Monte Albán.
San José Mogote is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Zapotec, a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in the region of what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca. A forerunner to the better-known Zapotec site of Monte Albán, San José Mogote was the largest and most important settlement in the Valley of Oaxaca during the Early and Middle Formative periods of Mesoamerican cultural development.
The Zapotec civilization is an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows that their culture originated at least 2,500 years ago. The Zapotec archaeological site at the ancient city of Monte Albán has monumental buildings, ball courts, tombs and grave goods, including finely worked gold jewelry. Monte Albán was one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica. It was the center of a Zapotec state that dominated much of the territory which today is known as the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
The causes and degree of Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures has been a subject of debate over many decades. Although the Olmecs are considered to be perhaps the earliest Mesoamerican civilization, there are questions concerning how and how much the Olmecs influenced cultures outside the Olmec heartland. This debate is succinctly, if simplistically, framed by the title of a 2005 The New York Times article: “Mother Culture, or Only a Sister?”.
The Central Valleys of Oaxaca, also simply known as the Oaxaca Valley, is a geographic region located within the modern-day state of Oaxaca in southeastern Mexico. In an administrative context, it has been defined as comprising the districts of Etla, Centro, Zaachila, Zimatlán, Ocotlán, Tlacolula and Ejutla. The valley, which is located within the Sierra Madre Mountains, is shaped like a distorted and almost upside-down “Y,” with each of its arms bearing specific names: the northwestern Etla arm, the central southern Valle Grande, and the Tlacolula arm to the east. The Oaxaca Valley was home to the Zapotec civilization, one of the earliest complex societies in Mesoamerica, and the later Mixtec culture. A number of important and well-known archaeological sites are found in the Oaxaca Valley, including Monte Albán, Mitla, San José Mogote and Yagul. Today, the capital of the state, the city of Oaxaca, is located in the central portion of the valley.
The Zapotec script is the writing system of the Zapotec culture and represents one of the earliest writing systems in Mesoamerica. Rising in the late Pre-Classic era after the decline of the Olmec civilization, the Zapotecs of present-day Oaxaca built an empire around Monte Albán. One characteristic of Monte Albán is the large number of carved stone monuments one encounters throughout the plaza. There and at other sites, archaeologists have found extended text in a glyphic script.
Richard Stockton MacNeish, known to many as "Scotty", was an American archaeologist. His fieldwork revolutionized the understanding of the development of agriculture in the New World and the prehistory of several regions of Canada, the United States and Central and South America. He pioneered new methods in fieldwork and materials analysis and brought attention to the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. His legacy has influenced generations of archaeologists.
Joyce Marcus is an archaeologist and professor in the Department of Anthropology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She also holds the position of Curator of Latin American Archaeology, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology. Marcus has published extensively in the field of Latin American archaeological research. Her focus has been primarily on the Zapotec, Maya, and coastal Andean civilizations of Central and South America. Much of her fieldwork has been concentrated in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. She is known for her "Dynamic model", four-tiered hierarchy, and her use of interdisciplinary study.
Ronald M. Spores is an American academic anthropologist, archaeologist and ethnohistorian, whose research career has centered on the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. He is Professor Emeritus of anthropology at Vanderbilt University's College of Arts and Science, where he has been a faculty member for over four decades. Spores is most renowned for his scholarship conducted on the cultural history of the Oaxacan region in southwestern Mexico. In particular, he has made many contributions on the Mixtec culture, investigating its archaeological sites, ethnohistorical documents, political economies, and ethnohistory in both the pre-Columbian and Colonial eras. He was co-director of the Proyecto Arqueológico de la Ciudad Yucundaa Pueblo Viejo de Teposcolula, Oaxaca, sponsored by the Fundación Alfredo Harp Helu, the National Geographic Society, and INAH (2004–2010), and currently (2017) directs research on the sixteenth century Casa del Cacique de Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca, and related investigation of the surrounding Prehispanic-Colonial city and region. He is also Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and at the University of Oregon and investigator on the Proyecto Geoparque de la Mixteca Alta, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México/UNESCO, centered at Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca (2016-2017). Recent research relates to the colonial Manila Galleon trade between the Philippines and Acapulco.
Lambityeco is a small archaeological site about three kilometers west of the city of Tlacolula de Matamoros in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is located just off Highway 190 about 25 km (16 mi) east from the city of Oaxaca en route to Mitla. The site has been securely dated to the Late Classical Period.
Richard E. Blanton is an American anthropologist, archaeologist, and academic. He is most renowned for his archaeological field and theoretical research into the development of civilizations in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, particularly those from the central Mexican plateau and Valley of Oaxaca regions. Blanton taught at Rice University and Hunter College of the City University of New York before joining the faculty at Purdue University in 1976. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Purdue's College of Liberal Arts.
Joseph W. Whitecotton is an American academic anthropologist and ethnohistorian, a specialist in Latin American cultural anthropology and in particular of Mesoamerican cultures. His primary research focus has been on the Zapotec civilization of central Mexico and Oaxaca, and he is the author of half a dozen monographs on the subject. In addition to his research on the Zapotec, Whitecotton has made contributions in historical ethnography, the study of political economies and the effects of globalization trends on local cultures. He has also investigated evidence for pre-Columbian contacts and trade between Mesoamerica and cultures in the American Southwest, and conducted ethnographical research of the Hispanos in New Mexico. Whitecotton is also a performing jazz musician and has written on the influences of jazz in popular culture.
Robert Norman Zeitlin is an American professor emeritus of anthropology at Brandeis University. He has a B.A. in psychology from Cornell University, a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Boston University, an M.A. in anthropology from City University of New York, and a M.Phil. and Ph.D. in anthropology from Yale University.
Gheo-shih, which translates to “River of the Gourd Trees” in the Zapotec language, is an open-air site found in the Oaxaca Valley that holds what is considered as the earliest representation of civic-ceremonial architecture. Within this site is a cleared area lined by boulders that is thought to have been used for rituals, dances or athletic competitions. This site could have held 25-30 people and is believed to be a congregation site for microbands during the rainy seasons of the Archaic period.
Tierras Largas is a formative-period archaeological site located in the Etla arm in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mexico. It is considered to be one of the first villages where sedentism originated in the Oaxaca area. The name is Spanish for “Long Lands”.
Edward Craig Morris was an American archaeologist who was best known for his Inca expeditions and creating a modern understanding of the Inca civilization. Morris was dean of science and chair of Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The New York Times called Morris "a towering figure in Inca expeditions" and said that he "helped transform modern knowledge of the Inca civilization". The National Academy of Sciences said that his studies became classics of the field.
Lynn Meskell is an Australian archaeologist and anthropologist who currently works as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Elsa Marion Redmond is an American archaeologist at the American Museum of Natural History. She specializes in Latin American archaeology. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.