When starting to pull this post together, I found this quote describing MacNeish and could not resist including it here:. A strange, bifurcated goatee decorates his chin, and there is a shimmering reddishness about his hair and face. He has spent, literally, more than 20 years in the field β longer than any other archaeologist. He has published more than books and articles. Despite two heart bypass operations, he retains the pounding mental metabolism of a furious shrew.
That turned into something far too long and meandering to share. So, instead, I will point you to the wonderful short biography from the Peabody Institute archival catalog records and the much more in-depth biographical memoir from the National Academy of Sciences. I will use this space to highlight his impact at the Peabody Institute and my daily work. Throughout his career, MacNeish sought the intertwined origins of agriculture and civilization. Because of this particular interest, the Peabody Institute is home to a number of plant remains and botanical specimen s.
Some of these tiny early maize cobs are an important part of a much larger story on the origin of modern corn. They are so fascinating but also so delicate β I want to share them, but decades of storage without climate control have left them brittle.
Gentle handling is required for sure! MacNeish was also particularly interested in excavating sites that would push back the archaeological framework for understanding when people arrived in the New World. I think it appealed to his pugnacious disposition to tell everyone else that they were wrong. His work is proving relevant as Indigenous scholars push to rewrite the archaeological understanding of the Americas. This applies less to the object collections MacNeish was not always allowed to retain the artifacts he excavated in foreign countries but very much applies to his archives.
His archives include everything from thank you cards to financial records to drafts of publications to excavation images. With over boxes of archival material, I am confident that I can find the documentation that anyone is looking for β but I am regularly daunted by volume of material.
