George Cowgill
Encyclopedia
George L. Cowgill is an American
anthropologist and archaeologist. He is currently professor emeritus at Arizona State University
. He received his PhD from Harvard in 1963 with a dissertation on The Post-Classic Period in the Southern Maya Lowlands. Most of his career has been devoted to research at the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan
. He taught at Brandeis University
between 1960 and 1990. Cowgill has made important contributions in a number of areas, including the archaeology of Mesoamerica
, the comparative study of early states and cities, and quantitative methods in archaeology.
Cowgill was selected as the 1992 Distinguished Lecturer in Archaeology by the American Anthropological Association
. In 2004 he was awarded the
Alfred Vincent Kidder Award of the American Anthropological Association for his contributions to the archaeology of the Americas. This is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of archaeology.
Cowgill's major archaeological fieldwork and analysis has been centered on Teotihuacan. With René Millon, Cowgill spent years systematically mapping the city of Teotihuacán in the Valley of Mexico
near modern Mexico City
. In the 1960s he compiled an extensive database of the artifacts collected in the survey. This was one of the first large-scale archaeological databases, and it continues to be used for research today. In the late 1980s, Cowgill co-directed excavations at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid at Teotihuacan with Saburo Sugiyama and Rubén Cabrera. Several of Cowgill's published articles on Teotihuacan are among the most important syntheses of archaeological information on this ancient city.
George Cowgill is also a pioneering researcher in the use of computers, databases, and quantitative methods in archaeology. He published important methodological papers on seriation (a quantitative method for determining the chronology of sites and artifacts) and on artifact classification. He and his students produced innovative studies of the spatial organization of Teotihuacan as determined from his artifact database. They were able to measure the extent of the city and track its growth and decline through the centuries for the first time.
Cowgill has made a number of major contributions to the comparative study of ancient states and cities. His 1975 work on demography and population growth helped reorient archaeological studies of ancient population trends, and served to link the study of ancient demography to demographic trends in the modern world. He co-edited an influential 1988 book on the collapse of ancient states and empires. Cowgill has also published important works on ancient cities around the world and their comparative analysis.
George Cowgill and his twin brother, linguist Warren Cowgill
(d. 1985), were born near Grangeville, Idaho
in 1929. George Cowgill graduated from Stanford University
in 1952 with a degree in physics.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
anthropologist and archaeologist. He is currently professor emeritus at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
. He received his PhD from Harvard in 1963 with a dissertation on The Post-Classic Period in the Southern Maya Lowlands. Most of his career has been devoted to research at the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...
. He taught at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
between 1960 and 1990. Cowgill has made important contributions in a number of areas, including the archaeology of Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
, the comparative study of early states and cities, and quantitative methods in archaeology.
Cowgill was selected as the 1992 Distinguished Lecturer in Archaeology by the American Anthropological Association
American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association is a professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 11,000 members, the Arlington, Virginia based association includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological anthropologists, linguistic...
. In 2004 he was awarded the
Alfred Vincent Kidder Award of the American Anthropological Association for his contributions to the archaeology of the Americas. This is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of archaeology.
Cowgill's major archaeological fieldwork and analysis has been centered on Teotihuacan. With René Millon, Cowgill spent years systematically mapping the city of Teotihuacán in the Valley of Mexico
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
near modern Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. In the 1960s he compiled an extensive database of the artifacts collected in the survey. This was one of the first large-scale archaeological databases, and it continues to be used for research today. In the late 1980s, Cowgill co-directed excavations at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid at Teotihuacan with Saburo Sugiyama and Rubén Cabrera. Several of Cowgill's published articles on Teotihuacan are among the most important syntheses of archaeological information on this ancient city.
George Cowgill is also a pioneering researcher in the use of computers, databases, and quantitative methods in archaeology. He published important methodological papers on seriation (a quantitative method for determining the chronology of sites and artifacts) and on artifact classification. He and his students produced innovative studies of the spatial organization of Teotihuacan as determined from his artifact database. They were able to measure the extent of the city and track its growth and decline through the centuries for the first time.
Cowgill has made a number of major contributions to the comparative study of ancient states and cities. His 1975 work on demography and population growth helped reorient archaeological studies of ancient population trends, and served to link the study of ancient demography to demographic trends in the modern world. He co-edited an influential 1988 book on the collapse of ancient states and empires. Cowgill has also published important works on ancient cities around the world and their comparative analysis.
George Cowgill and his twin brother, linguist Warren Cowgill
Warren Cowgill
Warren Cowgill was a professor of linguistics at Yale University and the Encyclopædia Britannica’s authority on Indo-European linguistics. He was unusual among Indo-European linguists of his time in believing that Indo-European should be classified as a branch of Indo-Hittite, with Hittite as a...
(d. 1985), were born near Grangeville, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
in 1929. George Cowgill graduated from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in 1952 with a degree in physics.
Major publications
- Cowgill, George L. (1975) On Causes and Consequences of Ancient and Modern Population Changes. American Anthropologist 77:505-525.
- Cowgill, George L. (1993) Distinguished Lecture in Archaeology: Beyond Criticizing New Archaeology. American Anthropologist 95:551-573.
- Cowgill, George L. (1997) State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Annual Review of Anthropology 26:129-161.
- Cowgill, George L. (2004) Origins and Development of Urbanism: Archaeological Approaches. Annual Review of Anthropology 33:525-549.
- Yoffee, Norman and George L. Cowgill (editors) (1988) The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.