Samuel Kirkland Lothrop
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Samuel Kirkland Lothrop (July 6, 1892 – January 10, 1965) was an American archaeologist and anthropologist who specialized in Central and South American Studies. His two-volume 1926 work ''Pottery of Costa Rica and Nicaragua'' is regarded as a pioneering study. Lothrop was a longtime research associate of Harvard's
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with ...
and made many contributions based on fieldwork, laboratory analysis, and evaluations of private and public collections that focused on Central and South America. He is known for archaeological excavations in
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
as well as investigations of the archaeological contexts for the
stone spheres of Costa Rica The stone spheres of Costa Rica are an assortment of over 300 petrospheres in Costa Rica, on the Diquís Delta and on Isla del Caño. Locally, they are also known as bolas de piedra (literally stone balls). The spheres are commonly attributed t ...
. Lothrop is also known for his research on goldwork and other artifacts from Costa Rica, the
Veraguas Province Veraguas () is a province of Panama, located in the centre-west of the country. The capital is the city of Santiago de Veraguas. It is the only Panamanian province to border both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It covers an area of 10,587.6&nb ...
of Panama, and the
Sacred Cenote The Sacred Cenote ( es, cenote sagrado, , "sacred well"; alternatively known as the "Well of Sacrifice") is a water-filled sinkhole in limestone at the pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site of Chichen Itza, in the northern Yucatán Peninsula. It ...
at Chichen Itza, Mexico.


Early life

Lothrop was a descendant of his namesake, prominent Unitarian minister Samuel Kirkland Lothrop.Lothrop, Thorton Kirkland. Some Reminiscences of the Life of Samuel Kirkland Lothrop. Cambridge: John Wilson and Son. UP, 1888. Print. He was born in
Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and an affluent suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and architect Buckminster Fuller. ...
on July 6, 1892 to William and Alice Lothrop. His childhood was split between Massachusetts and
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
. Lothrop’s interest in Latin America may have been sparked in his childhood as a result of his having spent time in Puerto Rico, where his father was a banker with interests in the sugarcane industry.Ayala, César J. American Sugar Kingdom: the Plantation Economy of the Spanish Caribbean, 1898-1934. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1999. Print.


Education

Lothrop began his education at Groton School, a private boarding school in Massachusetts. He entered
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 high ...
in 1911, where he completed his
undergraduate studies Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...
in 1915. In 1914 he married Rachel Warren, daughter of
Fiske Fiske is a surname of Scandinavian origins. According to ''Burke's Peerage'', "The family of Fiske has long flourished in the counties of Norfolk (recorded as landowners in the Domesday Book) and Suffolk England.html"_;"title="n_England">n_Englan ...
and Gretchen Osgood Warren. After completing his undergraduate studies he began
graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...
at Harvard, focusing on anthropology and archaeology. He traveled extensively throughout Central America as a research associate of the Peabody Museum, excavating various areas and studying collections. His travels and excavations were interrupted by the eruption of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, where he served in
military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
.Harris, Charles H., and Louis R. Sadler. The Archaeologist Was a Spy: Sylvanus G. Morley and the Office of
Naval intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 2003. Print.
After the war, he returned to his graduate work, eventually earning his
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
with a doctoral dissertation, a version of which was
published Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, news ...
in 1926 as ''Pottery of Costa Rica and Nicaragua''.


Military career

Lothrop was engaged in
espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
for the U.S. prior to and during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and for the Office of Strategic Services prior to and during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Using anthropologists for gathering
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be des ...
was a common practice of the time. Given their ability to observe cultural practices as well as those useful to strategies of war, not to mention the fact that they could use their careers as a cover for their intelligence gathering, anthropologists are ideal choices for spies.Price, David (2000
Anthropologists as Spies
''The Nation''.
During World War II, he was not excavating once again, because of the time spent working for the military. His position in the military did however give him the opportunity to travel while compositing notes on various sites.


Career

After completing his doctorate studies, Lothrop worked field excavations in the Yucatan and Guatemala under the employment of the Carnegie Institution’s Historical Division. His research resulted in the 1924 publishing of the monograph of his mapping of the Mayan Ruin of
Tulum Tulum (, yua, Tulu'um) is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Carib ...
. From 1924 until the end of the
stock market crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a major cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic selling and underlying economic factors. They often foll ...
in 1929 Samuel Kirkland Lothrop was employed by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. It was during 1929 also that he married his second wife, Eleanor Bachman of
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. His work while he was on staff at the museum was also focused on
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
and it was during this time that he established a relationship with Fernando Marquez Miranda. It was through this relationship that Lothrop was one of the few foreigners allowed to conduct excavations in Argentine Territory.


Notable excavations


Sitio Conte

In the 1930s after the closing of the museum, Lothrop returned to the Peabody Museum staff as field director of the
Sitio Conte Sitio Conte is an archaeological site located in the Coclé province of Panama near Parita Bay. It can best be described as a necropolis and a "paradigmatic example of a ranked or chiefdom society". Based on dates from the goldwork and polyc ...
in Central Panama. Before he returned, the Peabody museum had purchased a collection of jewelry excavated from a burial ground. After obtaining permission from the government and the landowner, the museum excavated the burial grounds during the dry seasons from 1930-1933.


Stone spheres of Costa Rica

In 1943 through a publication of ''
American Antiquity The professional journal ''American Antiquity'' is published by Cambridge University Press for the Society for American Archaeology, an organization of professional archaeologists of the Americas. The journal is considered to be the flagship jou ...
'' by
Doris Stone Doris Zemurray Stone (November 19, 1909 – October 21, 1994) was an archaeologist and ethnographer, specializing in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and the so-called " Intermediate Area" of lower Central America. She served as the director of the Nat ...
, Lothrop first encountered the mysterious stone spheres. In 1948 he and his wife met up with Doris Stone and she collaborated with them, setting them up with a place to excavate. The stone spheres are a topic of discussion, concerning how these objects were formed and by whom. Lothrop’s research resulted in the theory that the balls were placed in alignments significant astronomically. Weird News , Strange Pictures , Videos. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. ./ref> During his research Lothrop recorded 186 balls as reported in his 1963 publication, ''Archaeology of the Diquís Delta''. ..html" ;"title="oppins, Phillip. "Rolling Stones." Philip Coppens.com. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. .">oppins, Phillip. "Rolling Stones." Philip Coppens.com. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. ./ref> Lothrop determined that the spheres were formed over many centuries, suggesting a cultural practice and continuity over an extended period of time. His conclusions were based on analyzing the pottery types. he Diquis Spheres - Costa Rican Stone Spheres - An Archaeological Mystery - By Dr. Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <>./ref>


Notable accomplishments

Lothrop continued to be a contributor to the field up until his death in 1965. Late in life he wrote a book titled ''The Treasures of Ancient America: The Arts of the Pre-Columbian Civilizations from Mexico to Peru'' (1964), Editions d'Art Albert
Skira The festival of the Skira ( grc, Σκίρα) or Skirophoria ( grc, Σκιροφόρια) in the calendar of ancient Athens, closely associated with the Thesmophoria, marked the dissolution of the old year in May/June. Description At Athens, t ...
, Geneva, 230 pp. As a result of his numerous publications and contributions to the field he was the recipient of numerous honors, medals, and awards. Lothrop was cited by the American Society for American Archaeology in 1960. He also received the Loubat Prize awarded by Columbia University. The Alfred Kidder Vincent Medal given by the Society of American Archaeology. The Royal Anthropological Institute awarded Lothrop the Huxley Memorial Medal.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lothrop, Samuel Kirkland 1892 births 1965 deaths Harvard University alumni Groton School alumni 20th-century American archaeologists 20th-century American anthropologists