In honor of women in the field of anthropology, we have provided links to the following biographies of women anthropologists

1887-1948

Ruth Benedict
One of the first female anthropologists, Dr. Ruth Benedict was an important figure in the young  field of anthropology and in cultural anthropology.........

  http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/abcde/benedict_ruth.html

 

1924- Present

Erika Bourguignon,
  Professor Erika Bourguignon  is renowned especially for her contributions to the anthropology of religion and psychiatric anthropology.........

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/abcde/bourguignon_erika.html

 

1934-Present 

Inga Clendinnen 
 Inga Clendinnen deserves great acknowledgment for her work with Latin American civilization...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/abcde/clendinnen_inga.html

 

1874-1941 

   Elsie Clews Parsons 
First Female president of the American Anthropological Association (1940), Dr. Elsie Clews Parson wrote on the Pueblo Indian culture of the American Southwest and on Mexican cultures...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/abcde/clewsparsons_elsie.html

 

1867-1957 

Frances Densmore
 Frances Densmore recorded the music of the Chippewa Indians in Minnesota, and the Teton Sioux Music which she  published in 1918. It is among the best ethnographies of the Sioux...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/abcde/densmore_frances.html

 

1934-Present 

Dena Ferran Dincauze 
Dr. Dincauze was a Senior Scientist in coordinating multi-disciplinary
investigations of the Boylston Street Fish, Dr. Dincauze has been 

and continues to be involved in many organizations...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/abcde/dincauze_dena.html

 

1903-Present 

Cora Du bois
"People without culture are inconceivable. Similarly, culture
without man is meaningless. Both are constantly interactive." (Du Bois, 1959.pp.9)... 

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/abcde/dubois_cora.html

 

1943-Present 

Carol Ember 
Dr. Carol Ember has done cross-cultural research on marriage, family, 
war and peace, and descent groups...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/abcde/ember_carol.html

 

To Present 

Patricia Emerson
The biggest challenge for Patricia Emerson is to make people understand that archaeology is the understanding of human culture and human cultural behavior. She feels that progress has been made in raising awareness in the importance of cultural resources...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/abcde/emerson_patricia.html

 

1932-1985 

Dian Fossey
After her favorite mountain gorilla was killed by poachers Dian Fossey started a campaign against gorilla poaching, now gorillas are protected by many international organizations...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/fghij/fossey_dian.htm

 

1892-1969 

Dorothy Garrod
Dr. Garrod  is most famous for her excavation of caves at Mt. Carmel in Palestine. She was also the first woman professor at Cambridge in 1939...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/fghij/garrod_dorothy.html

 

1934- 

Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall research has an effect on the world of animal; her research had an impact on how animals are treated in zoos and laboratories...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/fghij/goodall_jane.html

http://www.janegoodall.org/jane/jane_bio_day.html

 

1928-1982 

Vera Mae Green
Dr. Green pointed out misconnected relationships between different black and Afro-American cultures.  She forced racial minorities around her to disbelieve the preface stating they shouldn't be allowed to hold important job titles or be scientifically inclined...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/fghij/green_vera.html

 

1915-1955 

Helen Hause
 Dr. Hause did research on African languages, cultures, linguistics and on ethno musicological surveys in western Algeria...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/fghij/hause_helen.html

 

1946-1986 

Mary G. Hodge
Dr. Hodge contributed the understanding of Mesoamerican archaeology and state theory .  She focused on the traditional Tenochtitlan and studied the lower levels of government...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/fghij/hodge_mary.html.

1944- Present 

Christy A. Homan-Caine

Dr. Homan-Caine  has also surveyed and authenticated more than 100 Native American and Euro-American burial sites. Her experience also includes the planning and execution of data gathering for purposes of defining Native American traditional  and use areas sacred sites... 

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/fghij/hohman_caine_christy.html

1891-1960 

Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston's work was not
political in nature, but her characters' use of dialect, her manner of portraying black culture and her conservatism created controversy within the black community...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/fghij/hurston_zora.html

1906-1978 

Kathleen Mary Kenyon

Jericho, one of the earliest continuous settlements in the world, was excavated by Kathleen Mary Kenyon. She found evidence that pushed back the occupation of the mound at Jericho from the Bronze Age and Neolithic to the Natufian
culture at the end of the Ice Age (10,000 – 9,000 BC)... 

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/klmno/kenyon_kathleen.html

 

1902-1996 

Madeline Kneberg Lewis

Dr. Kneberg Lewis was instrumental in Tennessee archaeology and southeastern archaeology. She was awarded for her work in 1995 by the Southeastern Archaeological Conference with their Distinguished Service Award... 

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/klmno/kneberglewis_madeline.html

 

1897-1979 

Theodora Kroeber-Quinn

Theodora Krowber-Quinn was a member of the University of California's board
of regents in 1978, the Society of Women Geographers and the Women's Faculty Club for the Univ. of California. She received the Silver Medal from the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco in 1961 for her Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/klmno/kroeberquinn_theodora.html

 

1913-1996 

Mary Leakey

In October of 1947, while on Rusinga Island, Mary Leakey unearthed a Proconsul africanus skull (pictured upper left) which was the first skull of a fossil ape ever to be found. It was dated to be twenty million years old... 

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/klmno/leakey_mary.html

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/mleakey.html

http://www.pro-am.com/origins/news/article16.htm

 

1901-1978 

Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead fieldwork consisted of studying sex roles in culture. Mead found that in the Arapesh culture, both men and women were expected to be equal. This culture was found to be very simple as both genders actively raised the children...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/klmno/mead_margaret.html

 

1921-Present 

Betty Meggers

Dr. Meggers'  field research has been concentrated in South America. She has done research in the area of the Amazon, along the Andes, Guyana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Chile... 

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/klmno/megger

 

Present 

Natalia Polosmask

Natalia Polosmask specializes in the Pazyryk period and has conducted many
excavations in the Alti mountains. Polosmak is most famous for her discovery in 1993 of what is commonly referred to as the 'Siberian Ice Maiden...' 

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/pqrst/polosmak_natalia.html

 

1951-Present 

Kathleen Roetzel

Dr. Roetzel's  areas of interest include field archaeology, Minnesota prehistory, eastern North American prehistory, paleoecology, conservation archeology, cultural resource
management, computer applications in anthropology and database management...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/pqrst/roetzel_kathleen.html

 

1942-1998 

Linda Schele

Dr. Schele often said that the ancient Mayan use of art as a metaphorical agent
to depict their cosmological vision was central to her understanding of them...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/pqrst/schele_linda.html

 

1944- Present 

Olga Soffer

Dr. Soffer’s professional activities include serving on the Editorial Board of Soviet Anthropology and Archaeology as well as the Editorial Board for the Journal of World
Prehistory. Her fields of study include archaeology of the Old World, hunter-gatherer adaptations, anthropological and archaeological theory, paleoanthropology, and
archaeozoology...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/pqrst/soffer_olga.html

 

1917-1997 

Margaret Summer

Professor Summer's  interests focused on adaptation of Mexican Americans who adopted Protestantism, compared with those with who remained Catholics... 

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/pqrst/sumner_margaret.html

 

1947- Present 

Shirley Carol Strum

Dr.Strum has studied one population of baboons in Kenya for over 25 years. When
Dr. Strum first traveled to Kenya in 1972, she hoped to study the dynamics of baboon societies, as well as gain insights into human origins...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/pqrst/strum_shirley.html

 

Present 

Jo Anne Van Tilburg

Working with a staff of computer analysts and digital artists, Dr. Van Tilburg directs efforts to preserve priceless documentation of ancient prehistoric rock art on
archaeological sites in California, the Far West and the Pacific islands...

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/uvwxyz/vantilburg_joanne.html

 

1932-Present 

Patty Jo Watson

Dr. Watson's fieldwork in the Lower Salts Cave, within the Mammoth Cave system led to alternative conclusions about maize horticulture and the cultural revolution of the early Woodland period... 

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/information/biography/uvwxyz/watson_pattyjo.html

 

  
Return to the Department of Anthropology Homepage

Published:02/08/2000byMireilleSmith,Webmaster,smithmg2@gwm.sc.edu                                                               
© Copyrighted 1995-1999 by the University of South Carolina. All rights reserved.