Donald Lathrap
Donald Ward Lathrap | |
---|---|
Born | California, U.S. | July 4, 1927
Died | May 13, 1990 Illinois, U.S. | (aged 62)
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Archaeologist, Professor |
Donald Ward Lathrap (4 July 1927 - 13 May 1990)
Education
Lathrap was raised in the area north of Berkeley, California.
Lathrap left California in 1959, taking a post at the Department of Anthropology at the
Lathrap took graduate studies at Harvard University, where he studied under Gordon Willey. He received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Harvard in 1962.
Career
In his career Lathrap curated several museum exhibits. His most influential exhibit, "Ancient Ecuador: Culture, Clay and Creativity 3000-300 B.C.," was organized for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and traveled to many major museums (Lathrap et al. 1975). In 1975 he was appointed a research associate with the Department of Anthropology at the Field Museum.
In one of his most recent works, Lathrap and R. C. Troike joined their expertise in California archaeology and linguistics to model the dynamics of West Coast culture history (Lathrap and Troike 1988). Using their understanding of linguistics, they suggested that the West Coast was an important corridor and had been occupied earlier than generally accepted today.
Lathrap was a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois when he died of an embolism following abdominal surgery in May 1990.[8]
Bibliography
By Lathrap:
- Lathrap, Donald W. 1970 The Upper Amazon. Ancient Peoples and Places, v. 70
- Lathrap, Donald W. 1973 "The Antiquity and Importance of Long-Distance Trade Relationships in the Moist Tropics of Pre-Columbian South America," World Archaeology, 5(2): 170-186
- Lathrap, Donald W. 1975 Ancient Ecuador-culture, clay and creativity, 3000-300 B.C. = El Ecuador antiguo-cultura, cerámica y creatividad, 3000-300 A.C. : [catalogue of an exhibit organized by Field Museum of Natural History, April 18-August 5, 1975]
- Lathrap, D.W. 1977 "Our Father the Cayman, Our Mother the Gourd: Spinden Revisited, or a Unitary Model for the Emergence of Agriculture in the New World," pp. 713-752 in Origins of Agriculture, edited by C. A. Reed
- Lathrap, Donald; Douglas, Jody; McGregor, John Charles "Variation in anthropology: essays in honor of John C. McGregor", Illinois Archeology Society, 1973
About Lathrap:
- Evans, Clifford and Betty J. Meggers 1964 "Guiana Archaeology: A Return to the Original Interpretations," American Antiquity, 30 (1): 83-84
- Weber, Ronald L. 1996 "Donald Ward Lathrap: 1927-1990," American Antiquity 61 (2): 285
References
- ^ Obituary of Donald W. Lathrap[dead link], American Antiquity
- ^ Trove.nla.gov.au
- ^ Answers.com Donald Ward Lathrap
- ^ Obituary
- ^ Kroeber provided Lathrap with an interest in the historical development of cultures, while Sauer's theory of plant domestication in the tropics sparked his interest in the culture history of New World tropical forest environments. (from Obituary)
- ^ Lathrap, Donald W. The Upper Amazon, Praeger, New York
- ^ Meggers, Betty J. Prehistoric America, Aldine, Chicago
- ^ Obituary