Dena F. Dincauze

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Dena Ferran Dincauze , nee Dena Ferran, (born March 26, 1934 in Boston , Massachusetts , † August 14, 2016 in Amherst , Massachusetts) was an American archaeologist . Her research focus was on the study of prehistory in New England, especially Massachusetts.

Life

Dincauze grew up with four siblings in Concord , Massachusetts. She studied at Barnard College in New York City with a major in anthropology and a minor in geology , where she received a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in 1956 . She then continued her studies as part of the Fulbright program at the University of Cambridge in Great Britain , where she received a diploma in prehistoric archeology in 1957 . In 1967 she received her PhD from Harvard University with a thesis on Cremation Cemeteries of Eastern Massachusetts on her research into prehistoric burial sites in eastern Massachusetts.

For nearly five years she worked at the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology , first as a Research Fellow for the archeology of New England, and later as an assistant curator for North American archeology, and did research on the archeology of eastern Massachusetts. She then taught anthropology for a year at State University College at Buffalo . In 1973 she moved to the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and taught there until her retirement in 2001. In 1985 she was appointed full professor. Under her leadership, a program to study the prehistory of New England was set up at the university. During her academic career, she made more than 50 publications.

As part of her archaeological research, she carried out surveys and excavations in Illinois , South Dakota and New England. Especially her research in the 1970s at the Neville Site , an excavation site on the Merrimack River in New Hampshire , had a great influence on the further archaeological studies of New England.

Dincauze was a member of the American Society for Conservation Archeology , the Archaeological Institute of America , the American Anthropological Association , the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, and the Canadian Archaeological Association , among others . Furthermore, she was president of the Society of Professional Archaeologists and editor of the journal American Antiquity and president of the Society for American Archeology .

In 1997 she received the Society for American Archeology's Distinguished Service Award . She was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science . In 2001 she received the Preservation Award from the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

Dincauze was married and had two children, a daughter and a son. Her burial took place on September 17, 2016 at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.

Publication (selection)

  • Cremation Cemeteries of Eastern Massachusetts (= Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology Vol. 59, No. 1). Peabody, Museum, Cambridge MA 1968.
  • The Neville Site. 8000 Thousand Years at Amoskeag, Manchester, New Hampshire . Peabody, Museum, Cambridge MA 1976.
  • Environmental Archeology. Principles and Practice . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000, ISBN 0-521-31077-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Obituary in The Concord Journal August 24 - September 1, 2016.
  2. ^ A b c David L. Browman, Stephen Williams: New Perspectives on the Origins of Americanist Archeology . University of Alabama Press 2002.
  3. ^ Distinguished Service Award , Society for American Archeology website
  4. ↑ Dena Ferran is Fiancee; '56 Barnard Graduate Engaged to Robert F. Dincauze , Aug. 23, 1956, The New York Times
personal data
SURNAME Dincauze, Dena F.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dincauze, Dena Ferran; Ferran, Dena (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 2016
Place of death Amherst , Massachusetts