William Meacham () is an American archaeologist living and working in Hong Kong since 1970. Meacham has written several books on archaeology in southern China.
In 1977, he published an article on South China archaeology in the journal ''Current Anthropology'', opposing the then general consensus that innovations spread south from the Central Plains of North China. This "nuclear area hypothesis" was promoted by
Kwang-chih Chang
Kwang-chih Chang (15 April, 1931 – January 3, 2001), commonly known as K. C. Chang, was a Chinese / Taiwanese-American archaeologist and sinologist. He was the John E. Hudson Professor of archaeology at Harvard University, Vice-President of th ...
, the prominent doyen of ancient China archaeology. In 2000, in a preface to his own Festschrift, Chang acknowledged: "On the concept of 'Regional Cultures,' I was very much a late-comer. Judith Treistman (1972) and William Meacham (1977) were both pioneers on this question."
Meacham has written several papers
[William Meacham]
"The Authentication of the Turin Shroud, An Issue in Archeological Epistemology"
''Current Anthropology'', 1983 24(3): 283-311 and a book on the restoration of the
Shroud of Turin
The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...
in 2002, where Meacham is questioning the restoration methods used by the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
He recently conducted a successful search to locate a Confederate burial ground of 227 soldiers in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
. In researching the epidemic that killed these soldiers encamped at Hopkinsville in 1861, Meacham developed a hypothesis that the disease, at the time called "Black Measles", was influenza. He published a lengthy article on the subject.
[William Meacham]
Was measles a powerful killer, as widely believed, during the Civil War?
''Journal of Civil War Medicine '' 17, 4, 2013
References
External links
Bibliography of Meacham's major publications, most available to download
Living people
Shroud of Turin
Forgery controversies
American archaeologists
American expatriate academics
American expatriates in Hong Kong
Year of birth missing (living people)
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