Waldo Rudolph Wedel

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Waldo Wedel
Born(1908-09-10)September 10, 1908
Carl Sauer

Waldo Rudolph Wedel (September 10, 1908 – August 27, 1996) was an American

archaeologist and a central figure in the study of the prehistory of the Great Plains. He was born in Newton, Kansas to a family of Mennonites
.

In 1939 he married

ethnohistorian.[1] Wedel died in 1996 in Boulder, Colorado, about one year after Mildred's death.[2]

Education

Wedel began studying at

Nebraska State Historical Society. In 1934, he published his first report on the Medicine Creek site,[3] under Nebraska State Historical Society archaeologist A. T. Hill
.

In 1932 Wedel went to the

Carl Sauer. In 1936 Wedel was the first person to receive a Ph.D. in anthropology
with a specialization in archaeology from Berkeley.

Career

After receiving his Ph.D., Wedel moved back to Nebraska and worked as an archaeologist for the Nebraska State Historical Society for one field season. In August 1936, he began his career with the Smithsonian Institution. His original position was Assistant Curator of Archaeology. Over the next 29 years, Wedel held numerous positions at the Smithsonian until his ultimate position of Senior Archaeologist. In 1976 Wedel retired from the Smithsonian but continued to remain active in research as Archaeologist Emeritus for the Institution.

In the 1930s, Wedel,

Dismal River basin,[4][5][6] dated between 1650 and 1750 A.D.[7]

Among the positions that Wedel held was that of field director and party chief for the

Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers. During its time, the Interagency Archeological Salvage Program accomplished more archaeological recovery than any other river basin in the nation.[8] The River Basin Project was eventually transferred to the National Park Service and led to the development of the Midwest Archeological Center.[9]

Wedel remains a key figure in archaeological studies. Because he never held an academic position he is important for shaping the image of the professional federal archaeologist. He has been referred to as "the professor without a classroom".[10]

Influences on archaeology

Wedel was influential to the study of prehistory for numerous reasons. Due to his experience with the Missouri Basin Project he developed a chronology of the Great Plains prehistoric cultural groups.[11][12] One of his most used publications was Prehistoric Man on the Great Plains,[13] which was widely read by both professional and amateur archaeologists.[14]

Wedel has also been cited as a central figure in the utilization of the direct historical approach for archaeology. This approach in archaeology focused on identifying cultural links between modern native groups with complexes found in the material record. Wedel explains his project: "Here the task becomes one of linking the archaeological record with the documentary, of correlating late material culture complexes with the various tribal units known or thought to have inhabited certain localities".[13] This tool for archaeologists has become especially important in recent times as a result of the effect of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which requires the identification of cultural affinity for repatriation of remains.

Wedel undoubtedly influenced archaeological theory due to his focus on Plains ecology and human history. In "Primitive Man in the Boulder Area" Wedel discussed the need to study archaeological materials from a multidisciplinary approach. He cited archaeology, geology, climatology, and biology as useful disciplines for explaining the past in a more comprehensive and insightful manor than typically practiced.[15] He also was a long advocate for the use of the scientific method in archaeology, stating:

…I hold that, whatever its ultimate goal, archaeology can progress surely only as its practitioners adhere to the method and attitude of science – in essence, the acceptance of observed and verifiable facts, the eschewing of unsupported speculations and personal dicta, and a circumspect tolerance of that for which the observational, experimental, or experiential evidence is not immediately at hand.[16]

These two views were inspiring to the direction that the new processual archaeology began to take in the 1960s.[citation needed]

Awards

  • 1991 Plains Anthropological Society—first Distinguished Service Award to Waldo and Mildred Mott Wedel[17]
  • 1986 Society for American Archaeology—Distinguished Service Award[18]
  • 1985 Kansas State University—Honorary Sc.D. degree
  • 1972 University of Nebraska—Honorary Sc.D. degree
  • 1971 Bethel College—Distinguished Alumnus Award
  • 1965 Elected to the
    U.S. National Academy of Sciences
  • 1947 Washington Academy of Sciences—Award for Distinguished Service in Biological Sciences[10]

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-58729-724-3
    .
  2. doi:10.1080/2052546.1995.11931778
    . Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  3. ^ Wedel, W.R.: "Preliminary Notes on the Archaeoogy of Medicine Valley in Southwestern Nebraska", Nebraska History Magazine, 14(3):144-166, 1934.
  4. ISBN 1-55566-193-9
    .
  5. ^ The Dismal River Culture. Archived 2016-03-15 at the Wayback Machine. Nebraska Studies. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  6. ISBN 0-8153-0725-X
    .
  7. ISBN 0-8153-0725-X
    .
  8. ^ Thiessen, T.D.: "Emergency Archeology on the Missouri River Basin: The Role of the Missouri River Basin Project and the Midwest Archeological Center in the Interagency Archeological Salvage Program, 1946-1975". Midwest Archeological Center Special Report 2, Midwest Archeological Center, National Park Service, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1999.
  9. ^ "What Is MWAC?" Midwest Archeological Center. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
  10. ^ a b Gunnerson, J.H.: Waldo R. Wedel, Archeologist: Perspectives that Grew on the Plains. Plains Indian Studies: A Collection of Essays in Honor of John C. Ewers and Waldo R. Wedel, Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology 30, Washington, D.C., 1982.
  11. ^ Wedel, W.R.: "Culture Chronology in the Central Great Plains". American Antiquity, 12(3), 148-156, 1947.
  12. ^ Wedel, W.R.: "Some Provisional Correlations in Missouri Basin Archaeology". American Antiquity, 14(4), 328-339, 1949.
  13. ^ a b Wedel, W.R.: Prehistoric Man on the Great Plains. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1961
  14. ^ Gradwohl, D.M.: "Waldo R. Wedel: 1908-1996". Plains Anthropologist, 41(158), 317-332, 1996.
  15. ^ Wedel, W.R.: "Primitive man in the Boulder Area". Natural History of the Boulder Area, University of Colorado Museum Leaflet, 13, 90-96, 1964
  16. ^ Wedel, W.R.: "Facts and Comments on the Illinois Confederacy and Middle Mississippi Culture in Illinois". American Antiquity, 10(4), 383-386, 1945.
  17. ^ "Past Recipients of the Distinguished Service Award". Archived 2010-12-21 at the Wayback Machine Plains Anthropological Society. Archived 2014-03-25 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2011-03-07.
  18. ^ "Distinguished Service Award". Society for American Archaeology. Retrieved 2011-03-07.

External links

Scholia has an author profile for Waldo Rudolph Wedel.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Waldo_Rudolph_Wedel&oldid=1179860658"