Robert McCormick Adams Jr.

Robert McCormick Adams as 9th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

Robert McCormick Adams Jr. (born July 23, 1926 in Chicago , Illinois - † January 27, 2018 in Chula Vista , California ) was an American anthropologist and archaeologist .

Robert McCormick Adams studied at the University of Chicago , where he received his doctorate in 1957 and worked from 1962 to 1968 and from 1981 to 1983 as director of the Oriental Institute . His scientific focus was the Near and Middle East as well as Mesoamerica . His work in Iraq attracted particular attention in scientific circles. He was Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1984 to 1994 .

In 1967 he became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1970 a member of the National Academy of Sciences and in 1976 of the American Philosophical Society . In 2002, he received the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement from the Archaeological Institute of America for his achievements .

Publications (selection)

• Level and Trend in Early Sumerian Civilization. University of Chicago, Chicago 1956.
• Land behind Baghdad. A History of Settlement on the Diyala Plains. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1965.
• The Evolution of Urban Society: Early Mesopotamia and Prehispanic Mexico. Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago 1966.
• with Hans Jörg Nissen : The Uruk Countryside. The Natural Setting of Urban Societies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1972.
• Heartland of Cities. Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1981.
• Paths of Fire. An Anthropologist's Inquiry into Western Technology. Princeton University Press, Princeton (NJ) 1996.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ryan P. Smith: Smithsonian Leader Who Helped Launch the American Indian Museum Dies at 91. In: Smithsonian Magazine. January 29, 2018, accessed January 30, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Robert McCormick Adams 2002 Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement . In: Award Citation . Archaeological Institute of America. 2002. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
3. ^ Adams, former Oriental Institute director and anthropology professor, honored with Alumni Medal . In: The University of Chicago Chronicle , June 11, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2015. 
4. ↑ member History: Robert McC. Adams. American Philosophical Society, accessed April 6, 2018 (with a short biography). 

literature

• Adams, Robert McCormick. In: Academic American Encyclopedia . Volume 1, 1991 edition, p. 97.
• Caplan, Lincoln: The Secretary . In: The New Yorker . 60, No. 49, Jan. 21, 1985, pp. 24-25.