John Edward Clark (born 1952) is an American archaeologist and academic researcher of

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...

n cultures. he holds a position as professor of anthropology at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

(BYU), and is also the director of the New World Archaeology Foundation. Clark pursued undergraduate and postgraduate studies in archaeology and anthropology at BYU, completing a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1976 and obtaining his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1979. His doctorate studies were completed at

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, from where he was awarded his PhD in 1994. Clark has written and lectured extensively theoretical topics and the archaeology of

, where he has particularly focused on the

Olmec The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that ...

s and their culture. He has also written papers on the Book of Mormon and archaeology. Among books Clark was involved in writing is ''Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica''. Clark has lived in and performed extensive archaeological research while living and working in Mexico for several decades. In 2005 Clark was one of the speakers at ''the Worlds of Joseph Smith symposium'' at the Library of Congress.Meridian Magazine report on the symposium
Clark is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

who accepts the historicity of the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

Notes

External links

FARMS bioClark's vitaBYU bioentry on Clark at the Virtual Mesoamerica Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, John Edward Brigham Young University alumni University of Michigan alumni Latter Day Saints from Michigan Brigham Young University faculty American archaeologists American Mesoamericanists Mesoamerican archaeologists Mormon studies scholars 20th-century Mesoamericanists 21st-century Mesoamericanists Living people 1952 births Latter Day Saints from Utah