Anna Osler Shepard (1903–1971) was an American

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, ...

whose work was foundational to the study of ancient

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

in the

American Southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

and

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

Biography

Shepard received her bachelor's degree from the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in 1926. She conducted postgraduate work in optical crystallography at Claremont College in 1930 and later studied chemical

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectro ...

in 1937 at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. In 1940, she studied at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

and received her PhD in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

in 1942. She pioneered the study of

ceramic petrography Ceramic petrography (or ceramic petrology) is a laboratory-based scientific Archaeology, archaeological technique that examines the mineralogical and microstructural composition of ceramics and other inorganic materials under the petrographic micros ...

in the United States, determining the

provenance Provenance () is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including archaeology, p ...

of painted vessels from sites throughout the Southwest. She demonstrated that

Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southe ...

, specifically women, produced pottery on a large scale for trade throughout the region. She also analyzed

Maya blue Maya blue () is a unique bright turquoise or azure blue pigment manufactured by cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, such as the Mayas and Aztecs, during a period extending from approximately the 8th century to around 1860 CE. It is found in ...

pigments, as well as glazed ''plumbate'' pottery from the Postclassic period in Mexico. Frog Vessel LACMA AC1993

Her book, ''Ceramics for the Archaeologist'', published in 1956, still serves as a comprehensive reference for archaeologists today. Shepard's papers and ceramic collections are held in the Anthropology Section at the

University of Colorado Museum of Natural History The University of Colorado Museum of Natural History is a museum of natural history in Boulder, Colorado. With more than four million artifacts and specimens in the areas of anthropology, botany, entomology, paleontology and zoology, the museum ...

Publications

* Shepard, Anna O. (1931). The Technology of Pecos Pottery, by Anna O. Shepard. (Part Two of The Pottery of Pecos, Volume II, A. V. Kidder and Anna O. Shepard), Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. *Shepard, Anna O. (1948). ''Plumbate, a Mesoamerican Trade Ware''. No. 573, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C. *Shepard, Anna O. (1956). ''Ceramics for the Archaeologist''. No. 609, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.

References

Bibliography

*Bishop, Ronald L. and Frederick W. Lange, editors (1991). ''The Ceramic Legacy of Anna O. Shepard''. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. *Morris, Elizabeth Ann (1974). Anna O. Shepard 1903–1971. ''American Antiquity'' 39:448-451. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Anna O. American women archaeologists 20th-century American women scientists 1903 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American archaeologists University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni Claremont Colleges people New York University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of Colorado alumni