Patty Jo Watson | |
---|---|
Born | |
Known for | Processual Archaeology, Cave Archaeology |
Spouse | Richard "Red" Watson |
Academic background | |
Education | University of Chicago |
Thesis | Early-village farming in the Levant and its environment. (1959) |
Doctoral advisor | Robert John Braidwood |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Archaeology |
Patty Jo Watson (born 1932) [1] is an American archaeologist noted for her work on Pre-Columbian Native Americans,especially in the Mammoth Cave region of Kentucky. [2] Her early investigations focused on the origins of agriculture and pastoralism in the Near East.
She is now Distinguished University Professor Emerita,Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis. [3] Until her retirement in 2004,she was the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis. [4]
In 1952,Watson,a junior at Iowa State,transferred into a three-year master's program at the University of Chicago. [4] In 1953,Watson attended the University of Arizona's Point of Pines field school where she became interested in flotation techniques. [5] Later from 1954 to 1955,Watson participated in the Iraq-Jarmo Project in Northern Iraq as a field assistant to Robert Braidwood. [5]
Watson earned her M.A. in 1956 and her Ph.D. in 1959 from the University of Chicago. [3] [5] Watson's dissertation examined "Early Village Farming in the Levant and its Environment." [6]
Watson devoted much of her early career to the archaeological study of the Ancient Near East. [2] [3] Her husband Richard A. Watson convinced her to change her focus from Near Eastern archaeology to work in North America. [4]
Watson is a proponent of processual archaeology and has contributed greatly to that approach. [2] [7]
In addition,Watson has been instrumental in applying ethnography to the archaeological record. [8] In the 1960s in Mammoth Cave,she introduced the practice of performing recreations of ancient lifeways as a method of filling in gaps from incomplete archaeological data. "She has contributed centrally to techniques for recovering carbonized plant remains from archaeological deposits and to understanding the independent origin of pre-maize agriculture in pre-Columbian eastern North America." [8] Her work on the diet of Native Americans who lived in Mammoth Cave has included examining the intestines of bodies found in the cave and has been notably interdisciplinary in scope. [4]
Watson was hired to teach anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis in 1968. She retired in 2004. [5]
In 1988,Watson was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. [4] In its November 2002 issue, Discover included Watson among "The 50 Most Important Women in Science." [9] The article credited Watson with "establishing the best qualitative and quantitative data for an early agricultural complex in North America" and with helping to "introduce the scientific method into archaeological studies." [9] Watson received the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement in 1999,and the Pomerance Award for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology in 2007 from the Archaeological Institute of America. [10] [11] The Southeastern Archaeological Conference gives an award in her name. [12]
Mammoth Cave National Park is a national park in south-central Kentucky,encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave,the longest cave system known in the world. The park's 52,830 acres (21,380 ha) are located primarily in Edmonson County,with small areas extending eastward into Hart and Barren counties. The Green River runs through the park,with a tributary called the Nolin River feeding into the Green just inside the park.
The Cave Research Foundation (CRF) is an American private,non-profit group dedicated to the exploration,research,and conservation of caves. The group arose in the early 1950s from the exploration efforts at Floyd Collins Crystal Cave,now within Mammoth Cave National Park. Its stated goals were:to promote exploration and documentation of caves and karst areas,initiate and support cave and karst research,aid in cave conservation and protection,and to assist with the interpretation of caves and karst to the public.
Margaret W. Conkey is an American archaeologist and academic,who specializes in the Magdalenian period of the Upper Paleolithic in the French Pyrénées. Her research focuses on cave art produced during this period. Conkey is noted as one of the first archaeologists to explore the issues of gender and feminist perspectives in archaeology and in past human societies,using feminist theory to reinterpret images and objects from the Paleolithic Era or the late Ice Age. She is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of California,Berkeley. She was named by Discover magazine in their 2002 article,"The 50 Most Important Women in Science".
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Judith Ann Bense is an American academic,Florida historical archaeologist,and a former president of the University of West Florida. She is also the chairwoman of the Florida Historical Commission at the University of West Florida,she served as a faculty member and department chair in the anthropology program,which she started at the school. In 2008,she started her 7-year term as president of the university. Prior to this,she was the executive director of anthropology and archaeology at UWF. During her career,she was fundamental in drafting the legislation to create the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN).
Susan D. Gillespie is an American academic anthropologist and archaeologist,noted for her contributions to archaeological and ethnohistorical research on pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures,in particular the Aztec,Maya and Olmec. As of 2009 Gillespie holds a position as professor in the Department of Anthropology at University of Florida,Gainesville,USA,having also been associate chair of the department from 2003 until 2009.
The Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement is awarded by the Archaeological Institute of America in "recognition of a scholar who has made distinguished contributions to archaeology through his or her fieldwork,publications,and/or teaching."
Anna Curtenius Roosevelt 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. 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.
Henry Tutwiler Wright is an American archeologist and educator. Wright has had significant contributions to the field of archaeology through his fieldwork,publications,and teaching. He serves as the Albert Clanton Spaulding Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology,and Curator of Near Eastern Archaeology in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He is also an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and a member of the Santa Fe Institute's Science Board.
Dolores Rita Piperno is an American archaeologist specializing in archaeobotany. She is a senior scientist emeritus of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa,Panama and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History,Washington.
Jan F. Simek is an American archaeologist and educator who was the interim president of the University of Tennessee system from 2009 to 2010.
Ivar Skarland was a Norwegian anthropologist.
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Melinda A. Zeder is an American archaeologist and Curator Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution. Her zooarchaeological research has revolutionized understandings of animal domestication.
Salts Cave Archeological Site,near Munfordville,Kentucky,is a cave and archeological site which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The cave is part of Mammoth Cave National Park.
Linda Sue Cordell was an American archaeologist and anthropologist. She was a leading researcher of the archaeology of the Southwest United States and Ancestral Pueblo communities. She authored a number of notable books familiar to both the general public and scholars,including the Prehistory of the Southwest. Cordell was well recognized for her mentorship and leadership in the field;she received many awards and honors throughout her career,including being elected to the National Academies of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,and an endowed Peabody Award was named in honor of her in 2014.
Virginia Drew Watson was an American cultural anthropologist who conducted fieldwork among the indigenous Guarani-Kaiowás people of Mato Grosso do Sul,Brazil and the Tairora and Gadsup tribes in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Watson also conducted archaeological research,analyzing 25,000 artifacts excavated by J. David Cole and publishing her findings with Cole in Prehistory of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea.