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 papersWilliam 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) {{archaeologist-stub