Cynthia Irwin-Williams (April 14, 1936 – June 15, 1990) was an

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

of the prehistoric American Southwest. She received a B.A. in

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

from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

in 1957; the next year she received a M.A. in the same field. In 1963 she completed her educational career in Anthropology with a PhD. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Beginning her career in the 1950s, Irwin-Williams was considered a groundbreaker for women in archaeology, like her friend and supporter Hannah Marie Wormington.Cassells, E. Steve. (1997). ''The Archaeology of Colorado, Revised Edition.'' Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books. pp. 298-299. .

Archaeological career

She worked with her brother, Henry Irwin, a fellow archaeologist, in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

from the mid-1950s to 1960. In 1966 Irwin-Williams and her brother published a book of her findings from the Magic Mountain site excavation performed for the Peabody Museum of

in 1959–1960. They also worked on the nearby and related LoDaisKa site between 1958 and 1960.Irwin, Henry J.; Irwin, Cynthia C. (1966). ''Excavations at Magic Mountain: A Diachronic Study of Plains-Southwest Relations.'' Denver Museum of Natural History Proceedings Number 12. October 20, 1966.Gibbon, Guy E., and Kenneth M. Ames. (1998). ''Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia.'' New York: Taylor and Francis. p. 488. . In the 1960s she defined the Picosa culture, an Archaic culture of people from three locations with interconnected artifacts and lifestyles. It was named by Irwin-Williams for those areas: Pinto Basin (PI), Cochise tradition (CO) and San Jose (SA), which all together is "Picosa".Gibbon, Guy E., and Kenneth M. Ames. (1998). ''Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia.'' New York: Taylor and Francis. p. 640. . Irwin-Williams developed the sequence of Archaic culture for the Oshara tradition, which followed the Picosa culture, during her work in the Arroyo Cuervo area of northwestern New Mexico. Irwin contended that the Ancient Pueblo People, or Anasazi, developed, at least in part, from the Oshara.Stiger, Mark. (2008). ''Hunter-Gather Archaeology of the Colorado High Country.'' Boulder: The University Press of Colorado. p. 28. . In 1962, Irwin-Williams led the team that first excavated the Hueyatlaco site in Mexico. The site became mired in controversy about the age of human habitation in the site, and Irwin-Williams never published a final report on the excavation despite decades of research.Webb, Mark Owen and Suzanne Clark. (1999).
Anatomy of an Anomaly
" Disputatio, 6. Irwin-Williams lectured at Hunter College in New York in 1963-1964. She then moved to Eastern New Mexico University where she taught from 1964-1982, where she held the endowed Llano Estacado Distinguished Research Professorship from 1978 to 1982. Irwin-Williams moved to Reno, Nevada in 1982 to her new appointment as the executive director of the Social Science Center, Desert Research Institute, later achieving the position of Research Professor, Quaternary Science Center in 1988, which she held until her untimely death in 1990 at age 54. She was active in many professional organizations, holding officer positions or committee memberships in such groups as the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) (Executive Committee member. She was the second woman to perform as the Society's President (1977 to 1979). Irwin-Williams served as Chair of the SAA Federal Archaeology Committee (1979 to 1984), member of the Committee on Native American Relations from 1974 to 1976, member of the Executive Committee of the American Quaternary Association and the Nevada Council on Professional Archaeology. She was a Fellow of the American Anthropological Association and served on various research panels for the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Irwin-Williams authored over 60 publications in archaeology and related fields.

Personal life

Cynthia Irwin-Williams was born April 14, 1936, in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. After a long chronic illness, Irwin-Williams died on June 15, 1990, in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

Publications

For an additional partial list of her papers, see pages 2-5 in ref. Irwin, Henry J.; Irwin, Cynthia C. (1966). ''Excavations at Magic Mountain: A Diachronic Study of Plains-Southwest Relations.'' Denver Museum of Natural History Proceedings Number 12. October 20, 1966. Irwin-Williams, Cynthia, and C.Vance Haynes, Jr. (1970). "Climatic Change and Early Population Dynamics in the Southwestern United States." ''Quaternary Research.'' 1(1):59-71. Irwin-Williams, Cynthia. (September 1973). "The Oshara Tradition: Origins of Anasazi Culture." ''Eastern New Mexico University Contributions in Anthropology.'' 5(1) Portales: Eastern New Mexico University Paleo-Indian Institute. Irwin-Williams, Cynthia. (1979). "Post-Pleistocene Archaeology, 7000-2000 B.C." in ''Handbook of North American Indians.'' Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. 9 Southwest:31-42. Irwin-Williams, Cynthia; Shelley, Phillip H. (editors) (1980). ''Investigations at the Salmon Site: The Structure of Chacoan Society in the Northern Southwest.'' Portales: Eastern New Mexico University Publications in Anthropology. Irwin-Williams, Cynthia; Baker, Larry L. Baker (editors) (1991). ''Anasazi Puebloan Adaptation in Response to Climatic Stress: Prehistory of the Middle Rio Puerco Valley.'' pp. 325–341. On file, Bureau of Land Management, Albuquerque, NM.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin-Williams, Cynthia 1936 births 1990 deaths American women archaeologists 20th-century American women scientists Radcliffe College alumni 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American archaeologists Eastern New Mexico University faculty