Patty Jo Watson
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Patty Jo Watson | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 26, 1932 Superior, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | August 1, 2024 (aged 92) Arlington, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Known for | Processual Archaeology, Cave Archaeology |
| Spouse | Richard "Red" Watson |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Chicago |
| Thesis | Early-village farming in the Levant and its environment. (1959) |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert John Braidwood |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Archaeology |
Patty Jo Watson (April 26, 1932 – August 1, 2024) was an American archaeologist noted for her work on Pre-Columbian Native Americans, especially in the Mammoth Cave region of Kentucky.[1] Her early investigations focused on the origins of agriculture and pastoralism in the Near East.
Watson was a Distinguished University Professor Emerita, Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis.[2] Until her retirement in 2004, she was the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis.[3]
Watson was born in Superior, Nebraska, on April 26, 1932.[4] In 1952, Watson, a junior at Iowa State, transferred into a three-year master's program at the University of Chicago.[3] In 1953, Watson attended the University of Arizona's Point of Pines field school where she became interested in flotation techniques.[5] Later from 1954 to 1955, Watson participated in the Iraq-Jarmo Project in Northern Iraq as a field assistant to Robert Braidwood.[5]
Watson earned her M.A. in 1956 and her Ph.D. in 1959 from the University of Chicago.[2][5][6] Watson's dissertation examined "Early Village Farming in the Levant and its Environment."[7][8][6]
Career
Watson devoted much of her early career to the archaeological study of the Ancient Near East.[1][2] Her husband Richard A. Watson convinced her to change her focus from Near Eastern archaeology to work in North America.[3]
Watson was a proponent of processual archaeology and has contributed greatly to that approach.[1][9]
In addition, Watson has been instrumental in applying ethnography to the archaeological record.[10] In the 1960s in Mammoth Cave, she introduced the practice of performing recreations of ancient lifeways as a method of filling in gaps from incomplete archaeological data. "She has contributed centrally to techniques for recovering carbonized plant remains from archaeological deposits and to understanding the independent origin of pre-maize agriculture in pre-Columbian eastern North America."[10] Her work on the diet of Native Americans who lived in Mammoth Cave has included examining the intestines of bodies found in the cave and has been notably interdisciplinary in scope.[3]
Watson was hired to teach anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis in 1968. She retired in 2004.[5]
Death
Watson died in Arlington, Massachusetts, on August 1, 2024, at the age of 92.[11]
