A Question of Parenthood: Who is the real Father of Peruvian Archaeology?

Premise and background:  Lineage and Legitimacy; two questions we should always ask ourselves any time we dissect history and comment on the past activities of historians and archaeologists.  For without understanding the lineage and assessing the legitimacy, we flail about in the quagmire of alien technology, trans-oceanic voyages and other pop culture reporting.  Peru, one of the most diverse countries of the world, has attracted it all; from cracked pots and the mystical to genuine scholarship with the questionable agendas of "legitimate" funding sources.  Most of us have only a surface collection of this heritage.

Many scholars would argue for Frederich Max Uhle, a German national who worked in Peru in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Others would attest it is John Howland Rowe of the University of California, Berkeley.

Still others would suggest, in keeping within an anthropological framework of relativism is good, that it should be a Peruvian and Julio Cesar Tello is nominated for Father of the Five Centuries!  Tello, after all, studied under Franz Boas for a few years and it does not get much more Dawn of the Anthropological Age than Boas!  Arguments could also be forwarded for the nomination of Pedro E Villar Cordova, Luis E Valcarcel, Luis G Lumbraras,  and from more of a museum point of view Manuel Chavez Ballon or Rafael Larco Hoyle.

Julio C Tello

Nominees could also include Alfred Louis Kroeber and William Duncan Strong for their 1920s work on the Uhle collection; other legendary names like Junius Bird, Gordon R. Willey, James A. Ford, Julian H. Steward and John Murra; more contemporary names like Michael Moseley, Alan Kolata, Donald Lathrop, Thomas Patterson, William Denevan (a geographer - gasp!), and E. Craig Morris for a variety of prolific reasons.

From a strictly chronological point of view, Uhle was the first to employ some assemblance of modern archaeological methods.  While some of his excavations were more "pot-hunter" like than vertically- or stratigraphically-controlled test units, he brought a scientific awareness to field research in Peru and to the new discipline of archaeology as a whole that has left a legacy of legitimate, research-minded and research-focused excavations and expeditions in Peru.

Although "glory and fame" would still motive explorer-archaeologists of Peru into the 20th century, Uhle's work marked a significant change as to the methodology and long-term objectives.  There is, perhaps, no greater glory than Machu Picchu.  However, Hiram Bingham is not a nominee nor is the National Geographical Society that brought this wonder to the fore-front of our knowledge.  And I am not even going to mention Nasca.

John Rowe, however, must be considered for his both his progeny as well as his scholarship. Simply and directly put, Rowe "created" more researchers in the field of Peruvian history and archaeology than any other professor.  And his students have students who have inspired and mentored students who continue to work in Peru and contribute to the "known record" of that geographical unit's past.

Although Peruvian, German and Japanese nationals may differ, I would also argue that the University of California at Berkeley is the Center of Creation or Garden of Eden for Peruvian archaeological studies.  Uhle's initial collection resides here in the womb and tomb that now bears his benefactor's name - Pheobe A. Hearst.  Toss in a little Kroeber, some Strong, and the nurturing departments of Anthropology AND Geography (under Carl Sauer with his own lineage of prolific academic progeny), incubate for 90 plus years and this is indeed the cradle of civilized archaeology as we want to know it.

And that is the rub because it simply should not be.  It should be Peruvian in country and in origin.  The father should be Tello or even better, a person of either Quechua or Aymara descendent and with a Quechua or Aymara name.   A central coast valley would make a wonderful cradle, sort of a hilly flanks environment with fresh seviche served daily.  Imagine the colors, the textures and the tastes; instead we have centuries of sterile white.