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

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

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, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and h ...

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 Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. 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 (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

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 The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, an ...

, 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 Hueyatlaco is an archeological site in the Valsequillo Basin near the city of Puebla, Mexico. After excavations in the 1960s, the site became notorious due to geochronologists' analyses that indicated human habitation at Hueyatlaco was dated to c ...

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.

Personal life

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

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. 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, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is th ...

Publications

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 women writers 20th-century American archaeologists