Ignacio Bernal (February 13, 1910 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

- January 24, 1992 in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

) was an eminent Mexican

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

and

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, ...

. Bernal excavated much of

Monte Albán Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain i ...

, originally starting as a student of Alfonso Caso, and later led major archeological projects at

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'', ; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...

. In 1965 he excavated Dainzú. He was the director of Mexico's National Museum of Anthropology 1962-68 and again 1970–77. In 1965, he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. Bernal was awarded the Premio Nacional in 1969. He was a founding member of the Third World Academy of Sciences in 1983.

Biography

Bernal was the son of Rafael and Rafaela (Garcia Pimentel) Bernal. He married Sofia Verea on October 14, 1944 and had four children: Ignacio, Rafaela, Carlos, and Concepcion. He received his M.A. from the Escuela Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico in 1946 and his Ph.D. from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in 1949. His younger brother was the novelist Rafael Bernal.

Books

Bernal's many publications include: *''Ancient Mexico in Colour'' (1979) * ''A History of Mexican Archaeology: the Vanished Civilizations of Middle America'' (1980). London, Thames and Hudson. *''Mexico Before Cortez: Art, History, Legend'' (1963) * ''The Mexican National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico'' (1968) * ''The Olmec World''. Berkeley, University of California Press. (1969) and * Paddock, J., & Bernal, I. (1966). ''Ancient Oaxaca; Discoveries in Mexican Archeology and History''. Stanford, Calif, Stanford University Press.

Awards

* H.H.D., University of Americas * L.H.D. (Doctor of Humane Letters), University of California, Berkeley * LL.D. (Doctor of Laws), St. Mary's University * National Science Award, Mexico

References

External links

Bio details, Colegio Nacional

1910 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Mesoamericanists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Members of El Colegio Nacional (Mexico) Mesoamerican archaeologists Mexican Mesoamericanists Mixtec scholars Teotihuacan scholars Zapotec scholars TWAS fellows 20th-century Mexican archaeologists 20th-century Mexican anthropologists Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Mexican expatriates in France {{mesoamerica-stub