Richard L. Burger

Last updated

Richard L. Burger
Born
Manhattan, New York
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma mater Yale College University of California, Berkeley
Known forResearch on Andean civilization
Scientific career
Fields Anthropology, Archaeology
Institutions Yale University
Doctoral advisor John H. Rowe

Richard Lewis Burger, Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley, 1978), is an archaeologist and anthropologist from the United States. [1] He is currently a professor at Yale University and holds the positions of Charles J. MacCurdy Professor in the Anthropology Department, Chair of the Council on Archaeological Studies, and Curator in the Division of Anthropology at the Peabody Museum of Natural History. He has carried out archaeological excavations in the Peruvian Andes since 1975, publishing several books and many articles on Chavin culture, a pre-Hispanic civilization that developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru from 1000 BC to 400 BC. [2] Burger is married to Lucy Salazar, a Peruvian archaeologist and long time collaborator on many research projects. [3] His former doctoral student Sabine Hyland has become well-known as an Andean anthropologist. [4]

Contents

Education

Burger received his education in the public schools of Great Neck, New York. He went on to get his bachelor's degree in archaeology at Yale College (1972) where he studied under Thomas Patterson and Michael Coe. He received a doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley (1978) where he studied under John Howland Rowe and Dorothy Menzel.

Career

Burger began teaching as a faculty member at Yale University in 1981. During his tenure at Yale, he has been Chair of the Anthropology Department (1990-1994), Director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History (1995-2002). He has also taught in Peru at the National University of San Marcos and Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Burger is also an honorary member of the faculties of the University of Cusco and the University of Iquitos. He is co-curator in the Museo Machu Picchu, Casa Concha in Cusco, Peru, and has been president of the Institute of Andean Research in New York since 2006.

Burger's archaeological fieldwork has focused on the northern highlands and central coast of the Peruvian Andes. His research focuses on the emergence and development of early civilizations in the Central Andes and he has illuminated the ways that religious institutions rather than stratified states are involved in the rise of complex societies in the case of the Andes. Burger has carried out field projects in the highlands of the Department of Ancash at the sites of Chavín de Huantar (1975-1976), Huaricoto (1978-1980), as well as in the Lurín Valley just south of Lima at the sites of Cardal (1984-1987, 2007-2008, 2017–2019), Mina Perdida (1990-1991, 1993-1994), and Manchay Bajo (1998-1999). [3]

Burger helped to pioneer the sourcing of cinnabar in the Andes with geochemist Colin Cooke and did important research on Andean diet using carbon isotopes from Machu Picchu, Chavin de Huantarl [5] and Cardal. [6] Burger located the seven major obsidian sources used in ancient Peru and used this analysis to describe the changing patterns of trade in volcanic glass in the pre-Hispanic Andes. [7] This work on obsidian sourcing was based on a series of archaeological surveys that Burger conducted in the south-central highlands of Department of Huancavelica (1999-2000) and Department of Ayacucho (2003-2006). [3]

With Lucy Salazar, Burger co-curated a block-buster traveling exhibit on MachuPicchu that traveled for two years to seven cities in the United States from 2003-2005. [8] Burger and Salazar played a vital role in Yale University's repatriation and exhibition of Hiram Bingham's Machu Picchu collections in Cuzco at the Museo Machu Picchu, Casa Concha. [9]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Machu Picchu</span> 15th-century Inca citadel in Peru

Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a 2,430-meter (7,970 ft) mountain ridge. Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is the most familiar icon of the Inca Empire. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, which is 80 kilometers (50 mi) northwest of Cusco. The Urubamba River flows past it, cutting through the Cordillera and creating a canyon with a tropical mountain climate. In reference to the site's name, for most English or Spanish speakers, the first 'c' in Picchu is silent. In English, the name is pronounced MAH-choo PEE-choo or MATCH-oo PEAK-choo, in Spanish as or, and in Quechua as.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chavín de Huántar</span> Archaeological site in Peru

Chavín de Huántar is an archaeological site in Peru, containing ruins and artifacts constructed as early as 1200 BC, and occupied until around 400–500 BC by the Chavín, a major pre-Inca culture. The site is located in the Ancash Region, 434 kilometers (270 mi) north of Lima, at an elevation of 3,180 meters (10,430 ft), east of the Cordillera Blanca at the start of the Conchucos Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chavín culture</span> Pre-Columbian civilization

The Chavín culture is an extinct, pre-Columbian civilization, developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru around 900 BCE, ending around 250 BCE. It extended its influence to other civilizations along the Peruvian coast. The Chavín people were located in the Mosna Valley where the Mosna and Huachecsa rivers merge. This area is 3,150 metres (10,330 ft) above sea level and encompasses the quechua, suni, and puna life zones. In the periodization of pre-Columbian Peru, the Chavín is the main culture of the Early Horizon period in highland Peru, characterized by the intensification of the religious cult, the appearance of ceramics closely related to the ceremonial centers, the improvement of agricultural techniques and the development of metallurgy and textiles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacred Valley</span> Valley in the Andes Mountains of Peru

The Sacred Valley of the Incas, or the Urubamba Valley, is a valley in the Andes of Peru, north of the Inca capital of Cusco. It is located in the present-day Peruvian region of Cusco. In colonial documents it was referred to as the "Valley of Yucay." The Sacred Valley was incorporated slowly into the incipient Inca Empire during the period from 1000 to 1400.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lanzón</span> Sacred monolith in Chavin temple, Peru

The Lanzón is a granite stela that is associated with the Chavín culture. It is located in the Old Temple of Chavin de Huantar which rests in the central highlands of Peru. The Chavín religion was the first major religious and cultural movement in the Andes mountains, flourishing between 900 and 200 BCE. The Lanzón itself was erected during the Early Horizon period of Andean art circa 500 BCE and takes its name from the Spanish word for "lance," an allusion to the shape of the sculpture. The name is deceiving, as its form more closely resembles a highland plow which would have been used for agricultural purposes at the time. It is suspected because of this that the deity depicted is linked to agrarian worship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raimondi Stele</span>

The Raimondi Stele is a sacred object and significant piece of art of the Chavín culture of the central Andes in present-day Peru. The Chavín were named after Chavín de Huantar, the main structure found in ruin at this archaeological site. The Chavín are believed to have occupied this space from 1500 BCE to 300 BCE, which places them in the Early Horizon period of Andean cultures. The Early Horizon came to rise after the spread and domination of Chavín art styles, namely the hanging pendant eye and anthropomorphism/zoomorphism of feline, serpent, and crocodilian creatures. The stele is seven feet high, made of highly polished granite, with a lightly incised design featuring these key artistic choices shown in the depiction of the Staff God. After not being found in situ, the stele now is housed in the courtyard of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología Antropología e Historia del Perú in Lima.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru</span> Museum in Peru

The Museo Nacional de Arqueología Antropología e Historia del Perú is the largest and oldest museum in Peru, located on Plaza Bolívar in the Pueblo Libre district of Lima. The museum houses more than 100,000 artifacts spanning the entire history of human occupation in what is now Peru. Highlights include the Raimondi Stele and the Tello Obelisk from Chavín de Huantar, and an impressive scale model of the Incan citadel, Machu Picchu. The museum is currently (2023) under restoration and very few rooms are open for visitors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chakana</span> Andean symbol

The Chakana is a stepped cross motif used by the Inca and pre-incan Andean societies. The most commonly used variation of this symbol today is made up of an equal-armed cross indicating the cardinal points of the compass and a superimposed square. Chakana means 'bridge', and means 'to cross over' in Quechua. The Andean cross motif appears in pre-contact artifacts such as textiles and ceramics from such cultures as the Chavín, Wari, Chancay, and Tiwanaku, but with no particular emphasis and no key or guide to a means of interpretation. The anthropologist Alan Kolata calls the Andean cross "one of the most ubiquitous, if least understood elements in Tiwanaku iconography". The Andean cross symbol has a long cultural tradition spanning 4,000 years up to the Inca Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Reinhard</span> American anthropologist

Johan Reinhard is an American anthropologist and archaeologist. He is Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. He is also a senior research fellow at The Mountain Institute, a visiting professor at Catholic University, Salta, Argentina, an honorary professor of Catholic University, Arequipa, Peru, and a research professor at Future Generations University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julio C. Tello</span> Peruvian archaeologist

Julio César Tello Rojas was a Peruvian archaeologist. Tello is considered the "father of Peruvian archeology" and was the first indigenous archaeologist in South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federico Kauffmann Doig</span>

Federico Kauffmann Doig is a Peruvian historian, archaeologist, and anthropologist. He has made great contributions to the study of the civilizations of Ancient Peru, particularly on the Chavín culture and the Chachapoya culture.

The Chivay obsidian source is the geological origin of a chemical group of obsidian that is found throughout the south-central Andean highlands including southern Peru and western Bolivia. Chemical characterization studies using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) have shown that the Chivay obsidian source, also known as the Cotallalli type or the Titicaca Basin type, makes up over 90% of the obsidian artifacts analyzed from the Lake Titicaca Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mojeque</span> Archaeological site in Peru

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andean civilizations</span> Civilizations of South Americas Andes Mountains

The Andean civilizations were South American complex societies of many indigenous people. They stretched down the spine of the Andes for 4,000 km (2,500 mi) from southern Colombia, to Ecuador and Peru, including the deserts of coastal Peru, to north Chile and northwest Argentina. Archaeologists believe that Andean civilizations first developed on the narrow coastal plain of the Pacific Ocean. The Caral or Norte Chico civilization of coastal Peru is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, dating back to 3500 BCE. Andean civilization is one of the six "pristine" civilizations of the world, created independently and without influence by other civilizations.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peru–Yale University dispute</span> Custody dispute over cultural artifacts

The Peru–Yale University dispute was a century-long conflict between the government of Peru and Yale University about the rightful ownership of Inca human remains and artifacts from Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca site high in the Peruvian Andes active c. 1420–1532. In the several years following his re-discovery of Machu Picchu in 1911, Yale explorer Hiram Bingham III removed thousands of objects – including pottery, stone tools, and human bones – from the archaeological site and brought them to New Haven, Connecticut. The circumstances of these transfers were disputed, with some, including Bingham, claiming that Yale agreed to borrow the artifacts for a period of 18 months to conduct studies. Peru attempted to regain the collection in the 1920s, but Yale resisted. Tensions rose between 2006 and 2010 with a lawsuit, activism by Peruvians and Yale alumni, and a plea to then–U.S. President Barack Obama by then–Peruvian President Alan Garcia. On November 19, 2010, Peru and Yale reached an agreement that the remains and artifacts would be returned. In early 2011, Yale and University of Cusco (UNSAAC) signed a further agreement that the two institutions would partner to create a museum and research center in Cusco. The museum, the Museo Machu Picchu, was opened to the public in November 2011. The collection is regarded by experts to be among the most valuable collections of Inca artifacts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stela of the cactus bearer</span> Stone sculpture at Chavín de Huántar

The stela of the cactus bearer is a monolith or stele of a single piece of granite, belonging to the Chavín culture of ancient Peru, which remains in its original location on the northwest side of the circular plaza at the archaeological site known as the ceremonial center of Chavín de Huántar in the Ancash region of Peru. It was discovered during the 1972 excavation season by Peruvian archaeologist Luis Guillermo Lumbreras.

References

  1. Kitchel, Zoe. "Alumnus Profile: Professor Richard Burger '72". Yale Scientific. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  2. Roach, John. "Mercury Pollution's Oldest Traces Found in Peru". National Geographic News. Archived from the original on May 22, 2009. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Brown, Nicholas E. (2019), "Burger, Richard", Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–4, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3476-1, ISBN   978-3-319-51726-1 .
  4. "Hyland, Sabine P. 1964- | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  5. Burger, Richard L.; Merwe, Nikolaas J. Van Der (March 1990). "Maize and the Origin of Highland Chavin Civilization: An Isotopic Perspective". American Anthropologist. 92 (1): 85–95. doi:10.1525/aa.1990.92.1.02a00060. ISSN   0002-7294.
  6. Tykot, Robert H.; Burger, Richard L.; Van der Merwe, Nikolaas J. (2006), "The Importance of Maize in Initial Period and Early Horizon Peru", Histories of Maize, Elsevier, pp. 187–197, doi:10.1016/b978-012369364-8/50266-7, ISBN   0-12-369364-0 .
  7. Glascock, Michael D.; Speakman, Robert J.; Burger, Richard L. (August 16, 2007), "Sources of Archaeological Obsidian in Peru: Descriptions and Geochemistry", ACS Symposium Series, Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, pp. 522–552, doi:10.1021/bk-2007-0968.ch028, ISBN   978-0-8412-7413-6 .
  8. "Major Exhibition on Machu Picchu Opens January 26 at Yale Peabody Museum". YaleNews. January 15, 2003. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  9. Blumenstyk, Goldie (December 10, 2012). "After Century of Dispute, Peru and Yale Join Forces to Give Incan Artifacts a Home". www.chronicle.com. Retrieved July 14, 2020.