Name Joe Caldwell Role Archaeologist | Died December 1973 Education University of Chicago | |
Prime joe caldwell rare clips from the 1971 aba asg
Joseph (Joe) Ralston Caldwell (June 14, 1916 – December 23, 1973) was an American archaeologist was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He conducted major excavations in the Savannah, Georgia area in the late 1930s at the Irene site as part of Depression era archaeology program. He also worked at other archaeology sites in Georgia. During his career he was a professor in the United States and Iran.
Contents
- Prime joe caldwell rare clips from the 1971 aba asg
- United States
- Iran
- Later years
- Published works
- References
United States
Joe Caldwell was a prominent figure in Georgia archaeology. In 1937, Caldwell began work at the Irene site in Chatham County, Georgia. This work was done as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Caldwell's workforce consisted of almost totally African American women. Their excavation of this site is still recognized as some of the best of the era. Caldwell remained at this site until 1941. During this time he worked with several other prominent Georgia archaeologists including Antonio J. Waring, Jr., Preston Holder and Catherine McCann. In the late 1930s he also visited Stallings Island with Waring, Jr. and collected a large number of artifacts during a surface survey. From 1939 to 1940, Caldwell also excavated at Wilmington Island, Georgia.
Caldwell served as a scientific aide to the Director of Anthropology of the United States National Museum from 1943 to 1945.
Caldwell returned to Georgia for more excavations in the 1950s. He did large block excavations at the Lake Spring site in 1951 and conducted survey and excavation at Lake Hartwell and Lake Strom Thurmond as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s River Basin Survey. This survey located and excavated hundreds of archaeological sites that were destroyed when man-made lakes were created. In 1957, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Iran
From 1963 to 1964, Caldwell moved to Iran to be a Fulbright professor of Archaeology at the University of Tehran and a professor of Anthropology at the Medical School of the National University of Iran. He worked with the Jiroft culture while in the Middle East.
Later years
Caldwell accepted a position at the University of Georgia as a professor of Anthropology and the Director of the Laboratory of Archaeology in 1967. He remained there until his death in 1973.
Caldwell’s contribution to devising ceramic sequences included the St. Catherine’s series type. Two works regarding ceramic sequencing this were published one in 1971 and one posthumously in 1977.