Alfred Vincent Kidder (1885 - 1963) was considered the foremost archaeologist of the southwestern United States and Middle America 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. Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος, human) consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo). ...

Born in Marquette, Michigan on Oct. 29, 1885, Kidder was the son of a mining engineer. He entered Harvard College with the intention of qualifying for medical school, but found himself uninspired by premedical courses. He applied for a summer job in archaeology with the University of Utah in 1907. Kidder spent two successive summers in the mesa and canyon country of southwestern Colorado, southeastern Utah and areas of New Mexico. Kidder and promising young archaeologist, Jesse L. Nusbaum (later Superintendent of Mesa Verde National Park), came to the Mesa Verde area with ethnologist Jesse Walter Fewkes to conduct an archaeological survey and to photograph ruins. He obtained his bachelor's degree at Harvard in 1908 and a doctorate in anthropology in 1914. The old ore dock in Marquette Marquette is a city located in Marquette County in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ... Look up Engineer on Wiktionary, the free dictionary An engineer is someone who practices the profession of engineering – a person who uses scientific knowledge to solve practical problems using technology. ... Harvard, see Harvard (disambiguation) Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... The University of Utah (also The U or the U of U) was established by Mormon leader Brigham Young. ... State nickname: The Centennial State Other U.S. States Capital Denver Largest city Denver Governor Bill Owens (R) Official languages English Area 269,837 km² (8th)  - Land 268,879 km²  - Water 962 km² (0. ... // History Early history Native Americans have lived in Utah for several thousand years; most archeological evidence dates such habitation about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. ... State nickname: Land of Enchantment Other U.S. States Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Governor Bill Richardson Official languages English and Spanish Area 315,194 km² (5th)  - Land 314,590 km²  - Water 607 km² (0. ... Mesa Verde National Park is a United States National Park, located in southwest Colorado. ... Jesse Walter Fewkes, (1850-1930), was an American anthropologist, archaeologist, writer and naturalist. ...

Archaeological career

Kidder then embarked on a series of expeditions to the Southwest, many in northeastern Arizona. These expeditions were sponsored by Harvard’s Peabody Museum and the associated Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. State nickname: The Grand Canyon State, The Copper State Other U.S. States Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Governor Janet Napolitano (D) Senators John McCain (R) Jon Kyl (R) Official languages English Only State Area 295,254 km² (6th)  - Land 294,312 km²  - Water 942 km² (0. ... The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University was founded by the philanthropist George Peabody in 1866 at the behest of his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh, the early paleontologist. ... Andover is a town located in Essex County, Massachusetts. ...

From 1915 to 1929, Kidder conducted site excavations at an abandoned pueblo in Pecos, near Santa Fe, New Mexico. He excavated levels of human occupation at the pueblo going back more than 2000 years, and gathered a detailed record of cultural artifacts, including a large collection of pottery fragments and human remains. From these items, he was able to establish a continuous record of pottery styles from 2000 years ago to the mid to late 1800s. Kidder then analyzed trends and changes in pottery styles in association with changes in the Pecos people’s culture and established a basic chronology for the Southwest. With Samuel J. Guernsey, he established the validity of a chronological approach to cultural periods. Kidder asserted that deductions about the development of human culture could be obtained through a systematic examination of stratigraphy and chronology in archaeological sites. This research laid the foundation for modern archaeological field methods, shifting the emphasis from a "gentlemanly adventure" adding items such as whole pots and cliff dwellings to museum coffers to the study of potsherds and other artifacts in relation to the cultural history. Pioneering archaeologists in other regions of the United States completed the transformation of professional methodology initiated by Kidder. Santa Fe (Spanish, Holy Faith) (full form: La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís, English: Royal City of the Holy Faith of St. ... A man shapes pottery as it turns on a wheel. ...

His “Introduction to the Study of Southwestern Archaeology,” published in 1924, was the first synthesis of North American prehistory based on professionally recovered empirical data. In spite of his efforts at documentation, Kidder’s conclusions have sometimes been criticized for a lack of integration between his field reports and his later synthesis and interpretation of that data. However, Kidder clearly emphasized archeology's need for a scientific "eye" in the development of fact collecting techniques and clear definitions.

In the late 1920s, Kidder started the Pecos Conferences for archaeologists and ethnologists working in the American southwest. In 1927, a formal dating system, known as the Pecos Classification System, was established for use in southwestern sites. Archaeologists have since used the sequence, with later variations, to assign approximate dates to dozens of sites throughout the Southwest and to determine cultural ties and differences among them. In 1936, Kidder formally used the Navajo term “Anasazi” to define a specific cultural group of people living in the southwest between approximately 200 BC and 1300 AD. This term had been casually used by excavators for many of the “ancient people” since the early explorations of Richard Wetherill, and had been informally used in the work of the Pecos Conferences. The Pecos Classification is a division of all of known Ancient Pueblo Peoples culture into chronological phases, based on changes in architecture, art, pottery, and cultural remains. ... Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park Ancient Pueblo People, or Ancestral Puebloans is the preferred term for the group of peoples often known as Anasazi who are the ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples. ...

As an associate in charge of archaeological investigations (1927-29) and as chairman of the division of historical research (1929-50) at the Carnegie Institution, Kidder conducted a broad-scale multidisciplinary research program in the Guatemalan highlands which established the framework of Mayan stratigraphy. In 1939 he became honorary curator of Southwestern American archaeology at the Peabody Museum, Harvard. The Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) is a foundation established by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to support scientific research. ... The word Maya or maya can refer to: The Maya – a Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America the modern Maya people the pre-Columbian Maya civilization the Maya language Maya – a concept in Hindu/Vedic philosophy a state of misperception of reality the inherent force of...

In 1951, Kidder, in discussions with Thomas Stuart Ferguson and Gordon Willey of Harvard University, was instrumental in establishing a foundation dealing with the status of archaeology in Mexico and Central America. In regard to those discussions, Ferguson wrote that the three scholars agreed “...it was unfortunate that so little work was being carried on in so important an area and that something should be done to increase explorations and excavations....Despite the amazing discoveries made between 1930 and 1950, work on the Pre-Classic was virtually at a standstill in 1951. The result of the discussion was that we agreed to set up a new organization to be devoted to the Pre-Classic civilizations of Mexico and Central America—the earliest known high cultures of the New World.” The following year, the New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF) was incorporated in the state of California, as a nonprofit, scientific, fact-finding body. Gordon Willey (b. ... Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles [[List of Governors of California|Governor]] Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ...

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation

During Kidder’s studies and excavations at Pecos Pueblo, particularly between 1915 and 1929, pottery and other artifacts were sent to Andover, Massachusetts, while excavated human remains were sent to the Peabody Museum at Harvard. In the early 1900s, no archaeologist consulted with Native American descendants concerning the excavation of their ancestors' homes and graves. Although Kidder was aware of the long standing relationship between the abandoned Pecos Pueblo and the modern Pueblo of Jemez, he did not consider that any local population had a claim on artifacts and remains. ...

By a 1936 Act of Congress, the Pueblo of Jemez became the legal and administrative representative of the Pueblo of Pecos, which had been privately owned during Kidder’s excavation. As a consequence of The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which requires federal and other museum facilities to inventory, establish cultural affiliations, and publish in the Federal Register any and all Native American human remains and certain objects in their possession, the Pueblo of Jemez made a formal claim on behalf of the Pecos people. This repatriation was primarily due to the efforts of William J. Whatley, the Jemez Pueblo tribal archaeologist, who searched through museum records for these remains and artifacts for eight years. The human remains from Kidder’s excavations were returned to the Jemez Pueblo in 1999 and ritually reburied. In a sense, they rejoined Kidder, as he is buried on a hillside not far away, close to Pecos Pueblo. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is a piece of American legislation passed in 1990 requiring that the remains of all Native American peoples be returned to their respective peoples if/when they have been excavated, where the archeological team is allowed a short time for analysis before... The Federal Register contains most routine publications and public notices of United States government agencies. ...

Publications

Kidder’s writings include "Introduction to the Study of Southwestern Archaeology (1924)", regarded as the first comprehensive archaeological study of a New World area; "The Pottery of Pecos (2 vol., 1931-36)"; "The Artifacts of Pecos (1932)"; and "Pecos, New Mexico: Archaeological Notes (1958)".

• Kidder, Alfred V. “Prehistoric cultures of the San Juan drainage - 1914.” Reproduced in Alfred V. Kidder, by Richard B. Woodbury, Columbia University Press, New York, 1973, pp. 99-107.
• Kidder, Alfred V. and Kidder, Mary A. “Notes on the pottery of Pecos - 1917.” American Anthropologist 19(3):325-360.
• Kidder, Alfred V., Jennings, Jesse D., Shook, Edwin M. Shook, with technological notes by Anna O. Shepard. “Excavations at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala.” Carnegie Institution of Washington. Publication 561. Washington, D.C. 1946.

External link

• Student biography.

Reference

• Woodbury, Richard B. “Alfred V. Kidder.”, Columbia University Press, New York, 1973. ISBN 0231034857.