Philip Drucker (1911–1982) was an American anthropologist and archaeologist who specialized in the Native American peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America. He also played an important part in the early excavations under Matthew Stirling of the Smithsonian of 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 ...

culture in Mexico, especially the site of

La Venta La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in nearby Villahermosa, t ...

. Born in Chicago on January 13, 1911, he began his college career studying animal husbandry at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

before switching to Liberal arts and archaeology. He then took further degrees in Anthropology at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. The main Olmec expeditions were in 1940–42 when he worked for the Bureau of American Ethnology in Washington, D.C. His first Olmec period ended when he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1942, seeing active service until 1945. He then joined the Smithsonian but in 1948 he was ordered to active duty by the US Navy Reserve as anthropologist to the American occupation administration for

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

, with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, serving until 1952. From 1955–66 he largely gave up academic work and farmed in ''Mexico,'' marrying and having two children. From 1968 he returned to academic life at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

, and elsewhere as a visiting professor.Smithsonian

Bibliography

* Drucker, Philip (1965) ''Cultures of the North Pacific Coast.'' San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Company. * McFeat, Tom (ed.) (1966) ''Indians of the North Pacific Coast: Studies in Selected Topics.'' Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. * "Smithsonian
Register to the Papers of Philip Drucker
National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, with chronology of his life.

References

1911 births 1982 deaths 20th-century American archaeologists 20th-century American anthropologists {{US-archaeologist-stub