Neil Merton Judd (October 27, 1887 – December 19, 1976) was an American
archaeologist who studied under both
Byron Cummings
Byron Cummings (September 20, 1860 – May 21, 1954) is known as the dean of Southwestern archaeology. Cummings served as the University of Arizona’s 9th president (1927–28), Arizona State Museum’s first director (1915–38), founding head ...
and
Edgar Lee Hewett
Edgar Lee Hewett (November 23, 1865 – December 31, 1946) was an American archaeologist and anthropologist whose focus was the Native American communities of New Mexico and the southwestern United States. He is best known for his role in ...
. He was the long-term curator of archaeology at the
United States National Museum
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, part of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
. He is noted for his discovery and excavation of ruins left by the
Ancestral Pueblo People (also known as
Anasazi
The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, a ...
) of the
Four Corners area, especially sites located within
Chaco Canyon
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in the American Southwest hosting a concentration of pueblos. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Farmington, in a remote c ...
, a region located within the now-arid
San Juan Basin
The San Juan Basin is a geologic structural basin located near the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. The basin covers 7,500 square miles and resides in northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and parts of Utah ...
of northwestern
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
. He headed the first federally backed archeological expeditions sent to Chaco Canyon, excavating the key ruins of
Pueblo Bonito
Pueblo Bonito (Spanish for ''beautiful town'') is the largest and best-known great house in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico. It was built by the Ancestral Puebloans who occupied the structure between AD 828 and 1126 ...
and Pueblo del Arroyo.
[Strutin 1994, pp. 20–24.] He was also a member of the
1909 expedition that publicized Utah's Rainbow Bridge.
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Citations
References
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Further reading
*Neil M. Judd, ''Men Met along the Trail: Adventures in Archaeology'', 1968, University of Oklahoma Press. Judd's professional memoirs.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park: A Brief History of Investigations & Excavations in Chaco Canyon: 1877 to PresentRegister to the Papers of Neil Merton Judd National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
External links
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1887 births
1976 deaths
Smithsonian Institution people
20th-century American archaeologists
{{US-archaeologist-stub