Clement Woodward Meighan (1925–1997) was an archaeologist who made notable contributions to reconstructing the prehistory of southern

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, and west central

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Early life and education

Meighan was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and raised in that city, in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

, and in California’s

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

. Serving in

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, he was severely wounded. After the war, while still convalescing, he began studies at the

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 ...

, where he received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

Career

Meighan was hired as an instructor in anthropology at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

in 1952 and continued at UCLA until his retirement in 1991. He founded UCLA’s Archaeological Survey, chaired its anthropology department, and played key roles in several regional and national organizations. His fieldwork was widely dispersed, including stints throughout various parts of California and in

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, Baja California, western and central Mexico,

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, Costa Rica,

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, and Syria. Meighan published scores of archaeological monographs, and reviews. Topically, his contributions to faunal analysis, rock art studies, and obsidian hydration analysis may be particularly noted. His work was seminal for the prehistoric archaeology of at least four regions: southern California’s

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, Baja California, and west central Mexico. In his later years, he advocated for retention of archaeological collections on merit of their scientific value, a perspective that has been hotly contested since his passing.

References

* Dillon, Brian D. 1997
“In Memoriam: Clement Woodward Meighan, 1925-1997.”
* Dillon, Brian D., and Matthew A. Boxt (editors). 2005. ''Archaeology without Limits: Papers in Honor of Clement W. Meighan''. Labyrinthos, Lancaster, California. * Johnson, Keith L. (editor). 2005. ''Onward and Upward: Papers in Honor of Clement W. Meighan''. Stansbury Publishing, Chico, California. {{DEFAULTSORT:Meighan, Clement W. 1925 births 1997 deaths Archaeologists of California Archaeologists of the Baja California peninsula University of California, Los Angeles faculty Academics from San Francisco People from Topanga, California 20th-century American archaeologists 20th-century American anthropologists Historians from California