George Clapp Vaillant (April 5, 1901 – May 13, 1945) was an American

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 ...

. George Clapp Vaillant was born 1901 in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, and attended

Noble and Greenough School The Noble and Greenough School, commonly known as Nobles, is a coeducational, nonsectarian day and five-day boarding school in Dedham, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. It educates 638 boys and girls in grades 7–12. The school's campus border ...

in his hometown. After finishing his secondary education at

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...

, he went to

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 ...

where he received his bachelor's degree in 1922 and Ph.D. in 1927. His Ph.D. thesis established a chronology of

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

ceramics. Later on, his work launched the historical sequence of cultures in pre-Columbian

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. During his college years, he worked at the Harvard Peabody Museum, and continued on excavating in Pecos,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. At the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

in New York, N.Y., Vaillant was appointed the position of Assistant Curator in 1927, and promoted to Associate Curator three years later. He became an Honorary Curator at AMNH in 1941, when he accepted an invitation to become the Museum Director at the University of Pennsylvania. His position there was interrupted during the war when he became an Honorary Professor at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico in 1942, followed by a year in Peru where he served as the US State Department Cultural Relations Officer stationed in Lima (1943-1944). In 1944, he returned to Philadelphia, resuming his museum directorship at Penn. Vaillant was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1943. Vaillant conducted archaeological expeditions in the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

from 1921 to 1922 and 1922 to 1925, in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

from 1923 to 1924, and in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

in 1926 and 1928 to 1936. He also organized archaeological programs throughout

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Three major excavation sites in the Basin of Mexico, Zacatenco, Ticomán, and El Arbolillo, are located. ''

Aztecs The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

of Mexico: Origins, Rise and Fall of the Aztec Nation'' was completed in 1941, and a second edition was published posthumously. His other book, ''Indian Arts in North America'', was written in 1939. Vaillant also wrote several monographs on Middle American excavations. Vaillant was known for the reconstruction of the early stages of Mexican Culture. His excavations at Zacatenco, Ticomán and El Arbollo established the framework for the Formative or Preclassic period in central Mexico. He was also known for his synthesis of Aztec history, which is also written in ''Aztecs in Mexico''. Throughout his research of relating archaeology to the events and descriptions of colonial sources and Mexican traditions, Vaillant concentrated on problems of chronology and culture history. Later in his career Vaillant excavated at several Aztec sites (Chiconautla and Nonoalco), but failed to publish these projects. Several decades later Christina Elson and other scholars at the American Museum of Natural History completed the study of artifacts from these sites and began a program to publish them. Vaillant shot himself in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in 1945, at the age of 44. His wife Suzannah Beck Vaillant found him in their yard, a revolver next to him and a fatal wound through his head. The last person to see him alive was his elder son and namesake,

George Eman Vaillant George Eman Vaillant (; born June 16, 1934) is an American psychiatrist and Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of Research for the Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital. Vaillant has spent his research career charting ...

, who at that time was 10 years old.

Major publications

* Vaillant, George C. (1930) Excavations at Zacatenco. Anthropological Papers vol. 32, no. 1. American Museum of Natural History, New York. * Vaillant, George C. (1931) Excavations at Ticoman. Anthropological Papers vol. 32, no. 2. American Museum of Natural History, New York. * Vaillant, George C. (1935) Excavations at El Arbolillo. Anthropological Papers vol. 35, no. 2. American Museum of Natural History, New York. * Vaillant, George C. (1939) Indian Arts in North America. Harper and Brothers, New York. * Vaillant, George C. (1941) Aztecs of Mexico: Origin, Rise and Fall of the Aztec Nation. Doubleday Doran, Garden City.

External links

Mexican and Central American Archaeological Projects
– Electronic articles published by the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaillant, George Clapp American Mesoamericanists Mayanists Scholars of the Aztecs Harvard University alumni Mesoamerican archaeologists Mesoamerican anthropologists 20th-century Mesoamericanists 1901 births 1945 deaths People associated with the American Museum of Natural History Suicides by firearm in Pennsylvania Noble and Greenough School alumni 20th-century American scientists Scientists from Boston 20th-century American anthropologists 1945 suicides Members of the American Philosophical Society