Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-21T23:35:02.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

MESOAMERICA'S FORMATIVE SCHOLAR: GARETH W. LOWE, 1922–2004

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

John E. Clark ,
Mary E. Pye  and
Fred W. Nelson
John E. Clark
Affiliation:
New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University, 876 SWKT, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Mary E. Pye
Affiliation:
New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University, 876 SWKT, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Fred W. Nelson
Affiliation:
New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University, 876 SWKT, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The challenge in summing up the active life and productive career of any famous person is to put the important facts on record while steering a respectful path between hagiography and recitation of his curriculum vitae. We attempt to do this for our esteemed colleague and mentor, one of Mesoamerica's last originals, Gareth W. Lowe (Figure 1). With his death on March 8, 2004, in Tucson, Arizona, at age 82, Gareth left behind a legacy that reaches far beyond his well-deserved international reputation. Gareth spent 50 years of his life working in Mesoamerica, principally on the Formative period in Chiapas, Mexico. He first went to southern Mexico in 1953 as a crew member of the newly organized New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF). Two years later, the NWAF was rescued by the sponsorship of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and much later (in 1976) it became part of Brigham Young University. Gareth served two stints as NWAF field director (1956–1959, 1961–1975), basically as de facto director, and finally served officially as director from 1975 to 1987. In a real sense, Gareth was the NWAF, and its successes and agenda were largely his. The story of one cannot be understood without the other.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , July 2005 , pp. 147 - 154
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agrinier, Pierre, David Cheetham, and Gareth W. Lowe 2000 Appendix: Three Early Ceramic Complexes from Miramar, Chiapas, Mexico. In Mound 27 and the Middle Preclassic Period at Mirador, Chiapas, Mexico, by Pierre Agrinier, pp. 177–213. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 58. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Bryant, Douglas D., and John E. Clark 1983 Los primeros mayas precolombinas de la cuenca superior del Río Grijalva. In Homenaje a Frans Bloom: Antropología e historia de los mixe-zoques y mayas, edited by Lorenzo Ochoa and Thomas A. Lee Jr., pp. 223–239. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Bryant, Douglas D., John E. Clark, and David Cheetham (editors) 2005 Ceramic Sequence of the Upper Grijalva Region, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 67. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., Thomas A. Lee Jr., and Douglas Donne Bryant 2005 Introducing the Grijalva Maya Project. In Ceramic Sequence of the Upper Grijalva Region, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 67. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1961 La Victoria, an Early Site on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnohistory, Vol. 53. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D., and Kent V. Flannery 1967 Early Cultures and Human Ecology in South Coastal Guatemala. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, Vol. 3. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekholm, Susanna M. 1969 Mound 30a and the Early Preclassic Ceramic Sequence of Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 25. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Green, Dee F., and Gareth W. Lowe 1967 Altamira and Padre Piedra: Early Preclassic Sites in Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 20. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Lee Jr., Thomas A. 1974 Mound 4 Excavations at San Isidro, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 34. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Lee Jr., Thomas A. 1975 The Uppermost Grijalva Basin: A Preliminary Report of a New Maya Archaeological Project. In XIII Mesa Redonda: Balance y perspective de la antropología de Mesoamérica y del norte de México, vol. 2, pp. 5–47. Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1959 Archaeological Exploration of the Upper Grijalva River, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 2. Orinda, CAGoogle Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1967 Eastern Mesoamerica, Current Research. American Antiquity 32(1):135–141.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1971 The Civilizational Consequences of Varying Degrees of Agricultural and Ceramic Dependency within the Basic Ecosystems of Mesoamerica. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility 11:212–248.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1978 Eastern Mesoamerica. In Chronologies in New World Archaeology, edited by Robert Taylor and Clement Meighan, pp. 331–393. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1981 Olmec Horizons Defined in Mound 20, San Isidro, Chiapas. In The Olmec and Their Neighbors, edited by Elizabeth Benson, pp. 231–255. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1998a Mesoamérica olmeca: Diez preguntas. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1998b Los olmecas de San Isidro en Malpaso, Chiapas. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1999 Los zoques antiguos de San Isidro. Libros de Chiapas. Consejo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes de Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 2000 Middle Preclassic Chronology at Mirador: Some Additional Comments. In Mound 27 and the Middle Preclassic Period at Mirador, Chiapas, Mexico, by Pierre Agrinier, pp. 36–37. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 58. Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., and Pierre Agrinier 1960 Mound 1, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 8. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., and Douglas Donne Bryant 1981 Excavaciones en las ruinas de Ojo de Agua, Municipio de La Trinitaria, Chiapas, 1980. Report submitted to the Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., and J. Alden Mason 1965 Archaeological Survey of the Chiapas Coast, Highlands, and Upper Grijalva Basin. In Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 2, edited by Gordon Willey, 195–236. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., Thomas A. Lee Jr., and Eduardo Martínez Espinosa 1982 Izapa: An Introduction to the Ruins and Monuments. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 21. Brigham Young University Press, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Lowe, Lynneth 1998c El salvamento arqueológico de la presa de Mal Paso, Chiapas: Excavaciones menores. Centro de Estudios Mayas, cuaderno 24. Universidad Autónoma Nacional de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Miller, Donald E. 1976 La Libertad: A Major Middle and Late Preclassic Ceremonial Center in Chiapas, Mexico. Preliminary report submitted to the Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Miller, Donald E., and Gareth W. Lowe 1976 Test Excavations at Sites on or near the La Libertad–Entre Ríos Peninsula: Field Report. Preliminary report submitted to the Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Navarrete, Carlos 1959 A Brief Reconnaissance of the Tonalá Region, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 4. Orinda, CA.Google Scholar
Navarrete, Carlos 1960 Archaeological Explorations in the Region of the Frailesca, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 7. Orinda, CA.Google Scholar
Navarrete, Carlos 1973 El sistema prehispánico de comunicaciones entre Chiapas y Tabasco. Anales de Antropología X:33–92.Google Scholar
Norman, V. Garth 1973 Izapa Sculpture, Part 1: Album. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 30, Part 1. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Norman, V. Garth 1976 Izapa Sculpture, Part 2: Text. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 30, Part 2. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Peterson, Frederic 1958 Reconnaissance of the La Venta and Cintalapa Rivers. Manuscript on file, New World Archaeological Foundation, Chiapas, Mexico.Google Scholar
Shook, Edwin M. 1956 An Archaeological Reconnaissance in Chiapas, Mexico. New World Archaeological Foundation, Publication 1, pp. 20–37. Orinda, CA.Google Scholar
Sorenson, John L. 1956 An Archaeological Reconnaissance of West-Central Chiapas, Mexico. New World Archaeological Foundation, Publication 1, pp. 7–19. Orinda, CA.Google Scholar
Stirling, Matthew W. 1943 Stone Monuments of Southern Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 138. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar