Mary Butler Lewis

Mary Butler Lewis (1903–1970)[1] was an American archaeologist, anthropologist, and public educator best known for her contributions to the fields of Mesoamerican archaeology and Northeastern and Central U.S. prehistory.[2] She was the first female archaeologist to earn a doctorate degree from the department of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as one of the first female archaeologists to earn a Ph.D. in the United States.[3][1] She worked with the University of Pennsylvania Museum as the assistant of the American section and as a research assistant, where she conducted her own fieldwork in Piedras Negras in Guatemala.[4] She pioneered research on Mesoamerican pottery and ceramics, which paved the way for many new projects.[3][2] President of the Philadelphia Anthropological Society, Butler conducted historical research in Pennsylvania and New York.[5]

  1. ^ a b Keur, Dorothy (1 February 1971). "Mary Butler Lewis 1903-1970". American Anthropologist. 73 (1): 255–256. doi:10.1525/aa.1971.73.1.02a00200.
  2. ^ a b Claassen, Cheryl (1994). Women in Archaeology. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. Chapter 2.
  3. ^ a b Simon, Janet A. (March 2, 2017). "Mary Butler Lewis Papers" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania Museum.
  4. ^ Satterthwaite, Linton; Butler, Mary; Mason, John Alden (2005-03-04). Piedras Negras Archaeology, 1931-1939. UPenn Museum of Archaeology. ISBN 978-1-931707-75-6.
  5. ^ Simon, Janet (2014). "The Old Guatemala Trotters: A Friendship Deepened through War". Penn Museum. 56.