A Brief History of AMNH Anthropological Research in Mexico and the

Development of the Hall of Mexico and Central America: 1873

to 1945

Research and Exploration in the Second Half

of the 19th century
The Turn of the Century and the Advent of
Middle American Archaeology
AMNH Researchers and their Dates of
Affiliation with the Institution
Sources of Information

Authors:
Christina M. Elson, American Museum of Natural History
Kathryn Venzor, American Museum of Natural History

This short article will trace the outlines of AMNH-sponsored research in Mexico
prior to 1945. It discuss some theoretical and practical implications of
anthropological research as well as how its results were presented to the public in
exhibitions and publications. The discussion will focus primarily on the activities
of individuals listed in the end of this article (with a time-line of activities for the
first four Curators of Mexico and Central American Archaeology.)

Research and Exploration in the Second Half of the 19th century

The American Museum of Natural History was established in 1869 and its first
location was in the armory
building. The Anthropology
Department was founded in
1873. The museum's
collections grew rapidly and
in 1881, it broke ground on a
new building on 77th Street.
A 1911 report on the history The armory building The 77th Street building
and growth of the AMNH provides valuable information on the early years of the
Anthropology Department. Under the first three Department heads, Albert Smith
Bickmore, Frederick Starr, and James Terry and until about 1893, the department's
main concern was acquiring collections from donors who traveled or lived
overseas such as Adolphe Bandelier or E.G. Squier. One of the first large
collections was accessioned in 1869 and came from E.G. Squier's travels in
Mexico and Central America.
Bandelier collected artifacts from Mexico during travels he undertook primarily
between 1880 and 1889 (before his official association with the AMNH) and his
collections were accessioned by the AMNH in 1894. A polyglot who immigrated to
the US from Switzerland at a young age, Bandelier spent many years studying
documents on pre-Hispanic Mexico before ever visiting the country. His first works
were published in 1877 with the help of Frederic Putnam (then at the Peabody
Museum Harvard) and his friend and patron Lewis Henry Morgan. Before
corresponding with Morgan, Bandelier's ethnohistoric studies led him to envision
Aztec Mexico as a state level society. Morgan convinced him this was not the case
and that the Aztecs never achieved a level of culture above that of the tribe. At the
time, Morgan's position was the prevailing American and European attitude
towards pre-Hispanic Mexican culture. However, after Bandelier visited Mexico in
the 1880s, he became less convinced of Morgan's position discounting information
contained in ethnohistoric documents as completely worthless. As noted by
anthropologist Leslie White, Bandelier came to believe that many colonial
descriptions of pre-Hispanic of native culture were substantially accurate.

In 1895, Frederic Putnam took charge of the Anthropology Department and a

program to conduct scientific expeditions was laid out. The 1911 report states that
Putnam oversaw the reorganization of the Anthropology Hall to show "the history
of man the same way we are showing the history of animal life." Putnam also
contracted a number of researchers to engage in scientific explorations. One of
these researchers was Marshall Saville who studied with and worked under
Putnam at Harvard between 1889-1894. Saville's 1898-1902 work in Oaxaca was
funded by the Duke of Loubat.

The first Mexico Hall was set up in 1899 with the patronage of the Duke of Loubat.

The Mexico and Central America Hall in 1910 and 1911

Some of the earliest archival pictures of the Mexico Hall are photographs taken in
1910 and 1911. These pictures clearly show that in its early years the philosophy
of exhibition gave little to no emphasis on quotidian objects or excavated pieces.
The images convey a noticeable focus on monumental sculpture. In addition, most
of the objects seen in these pictures are not original pieces, but rather are plaster
casts of Maya stele, lintels, and other large stone sculptures from sites like Tikal
and Chichen Itza. These casts (51 in all) were acquired in 1896 and their purchase
from the explorer Desir Charney was funded by the Duke of Loubat. Initially, they
were exhibited in the vestibule of the Museum. Saville made additional casts
during his own travels in Mexico.

Yet, by the end of the century the implementation of

scientific excavation was beginning to create a body of
knowledge which provided researchers with a better
understanding of the antiquity of pre-Hispanic culture
and allowed them to define the relationship between
cultures in different regions of Mexico. Saville was one

Zapotec urns photographed in

situ
of the first researchers to employ standardized field techniques. In his 1897
excavations at Xoxocotln (Oaxaca), he used regular excavation units,
documented the in situ location of many objects, and catalogued and kept all the
material he uncovered-not only the best or finest examples of objects. Saville also
established the precedent of working closely with Mexican colleagues. He co-
ordinated work in Oaxaca with Leopoldo Batres, who served as the first Director
of Monuments in Mexico and is credited with securing permanent funds from the
Mexican government for excavating and restoring monuments. In 1897 the Mexican
government enacted a law making all monuments and artifacts national property.

Other AMNH researchers were beginning to document areas of Mexico that had
received little formal attention. For example, between the years of 1892 and 1900,
Carl Lumholtz carried out research in the Sierra Madre mountains of Western
Mexico examining the lifeways of the Cora, Huichol, Tarasco, Tarahumara, and
Tepehuana cultures. William Niven's expedition acquired objects primarily from
the state of Guerrero.

It was the accumulation of new data from Central and Western Mexico and a re-
examination and data from Southern Mexico and that allowed AMNH affiliate
Eduard Seler, who conducted his own research in West Mexico and Oaxaca, and
Clark Wissler (chair 1906-1941) to suggest that 1) there was a region of Mexico
and Central America that had a shared cultural unity; 2) the origins of those
cultures could be found in Mexico deep in antiquity; and 3) Middle American
cultures were distinct from those of North America or South America. These ideas
were later formalized into the concept of "Meso-america" by Paul Kirchhoff.

We can summarize some important points regarding AMNH research and

exploration in Mexico at the end of the 19th century. Under Putnam's leadership
and the work of researchers like Saville, scientific methods in excavating and
recording data were taking hold (i.e. using regular units, recording contextual
information, documenting artifacts and contexts with photography and drawings,
collecting all artifacts not just whole or exceptional objects). In contrast with
earlier scholars (e.g. Bandelier) who relied primarily on documentary sources to
describe pre-Hispanic cultures, these researchers believed in the necessity of
first-hand research. They believed that the excavation and examination of material
remains and the anthropological study of native culture would allow them to
better understand pre-Hispanic society.

The Turn of the Century and the Advent of Middle American Archaeology
We have seen that by the early 1900s researchers were acquiring the kinds of data
that allowed them to compare archaeological and ethnohistorical data in a more
critical manner.

Saville resigned from the AMNH in 1907 and was replaced by Herbert Spinden, in
1910. Nineteen ten marks the year that Franz Boas, Seler, and a Mexican student
of Boas' named Manual Gamio (who studied with Boas at Columbia University)
founded a school for the study Anthropology in Mexico. In 1939, this school
became the Escuela Nacional de Antropologa.

Boas and Gamio then began a project to investigate the Basin of Mexico cultures
using, for the first time, controlled stratigraphic excavations. Their work in Central
Mexico established three major time periods which could be directly linked with
specific cultural groups: Archaic-Teotihuacn-Aztec.

Until this time, many archaeologists conducted stylistic analyses, but often lacked
enough contextual information to compare objects other than as isolated pieces.
As scientific archaeology became more common, archaeologists could analyze
objects in terms of their stratigraphic context, make cross-comparisons between
sites, and use the information to create local and regional chronologies. Clearly
this meant that archaeologists devoted much more time and text to discussing
quotidian objects that are common in excavations and that are comparable
between sites-potsherds, figurines, stone and obsidian implements and the like.

As more research focused on how cultures like the Maya, Zapotec and
Teotihuacn were related to one another, different opinions emerged about the
antiquity of Middle American cultures. For example, researchers who worked in the
Maya area usually viewed that culture as the "mother" culture and most highly
developed while researchers who had worked at Teotihuacn (like Gamio and
Spinden) usually saw the opposite. While an AMNH Curator, Spinden worked in
Central Mexico and headed expeditions to the Yucatan and American Southwest.

The 1921 guide to the Mexico Hall (published the last year the
Herbert Spinden was curator) demonstrates the presentation of
ideas that had been generated from scientific research and ideas
based on perception or bias.
[General Plan of the Museum Buildings in 1921 | Plan of the Second
Floor in 1921]
"The archaeology of Mxico covers many centuries, and relics are
found deposited in three distinct layers, one above the other. These
three stages in ancient history are represented on the north side of
Cover of the 1921
the hallthe lowestis the Archaic periodnext came the Maya-
General Guide
Toltec horizon of culturelastly came the Aztec periodThe Aztec
were not nearly so highly civilized as the Mayas had been before them. They were
much given to human sacrifice...The Mayas were perhaps the most highly civilized
people in the New World, they built many cities of stone and erected many fine
pillar-like stelae to which attention was called on entering the hall." (p.45)

The notion of using science to examine the pre-Hispanic past was gaining hold
with the public; however, the AMNH general guide book still focused to a great
extent on describing plaster casts of Maya (and Aztec) stone sculpture. These, in
turn, were used as a basis for pronouncements that reinforced the prevailing
public perception about Middle American culture.

In the 1920s archaeology in Mexico and Central America gained critical mass and
large scale excavations took place in many areas. Partnerships between AMNH
and Mexican researchers like Herbert Spinden and Manuel Gamio were continued
the 1920s and 1930s by archaeologists like George Vaillant and Alfonso Caso.
George Vaillant was educated at Harvard University and worked in the American
Southwest under Alfred Kroeber. After becoming Assistant Curator in 1928, he
spent much of the next eight years living and working in Mexico. During this time,
he consulted closely with Caso, Gamio, and Eduardo Noguera. Vaillant's research
goal was to implement a systematic program of excavation at Archaic through
Aztec Period sites. In the process, he discovered several new cultural types-such
as a ceramic type dating to the time-period in between the Teotihuacn and Aztec
cultures-and he established a chronology of artifacts still largely employed today.

The research conducted between 1910 and 1940, the end of Vaillant's tenure as
curator, is more explicitly reflected in the tone of the Mexico Hall of the 1930s and
1940s and in temporary exhibits. Note the tone of the revised 1931 AMNH general
guide in its summary of the Mexico Hall.
"The visitor, in passing through this hall will notice that the civilizations presented
here are more or less similar to one another and have perhaps a New World
common origin. they are quite different, however, from the civilizations of Egypt,
Greece or China." (p. 71)
The passage goes on the point out the "little figurines in clay" made by the
Archaic people and objects of the "highly civilized" Toltec culture. By the 1930s,
many cases in the hall were dedicated to presenting objects relating to daily life.
The end of the passage clearly shows a change in attitude towards pre-Hispanic
culture:
"While one is accustomed to think of the Aztecs, and by association, all ancient
Middle Americans as warlike savages, the collections here exhibited show their
main concerns of life to have been pacific, and devoted to the advancement of
their industries, arts, and sciences." (p.75)
In 1937, Vaillant advised in setting up an exhibit detailing various stages of ancient pottery
including shattered fragments and complete pieces from the site of Atzcapotzalco, Mexico.
The hall inaugurated in 1944 is the first to employed stratigraphy in exhibits demonstrating
how Middle American culture evolved over time.

The Hall in 1941 The Mexico and Central America Hall after its 1945 renovation
To conclude, by 1945 the Mexico and Central America hall had fully incorporated
current scientific research by AMNH associates in its approach to documenting
the Pre-Hispanic cultures of Middle America. Stratigraphy was employed to show
how culture changed over time. Objects showcased were chosen not only on the
grounds of their artistic merit, but also because they exemplified aspects of pre-
Hispanic lifeways, such as music, warfare, ritual, and food preparation. The tone of
presentation re-iterated the independent evolution of Middle American culture and
native achievement in government, science, and the arts.

AMNH Researchers and their Dates of Affiliation with the Institution

Chairs/Chief Curators of the Anthropology
Division (to 1941)
Albert Smith
1873-1890
Bickmore
Frederick Starr 1890-1891
James Terry 1891-1893
Frederic W.
1895-1903
Putnam
 1904-1905 (officially
Franz Boas
resigned in 1906)
Clark Wissler 1906-1941

Curators of Mexico and Central American

Archaeology (to 1940)
Marshall H.
1894-1907
Saville
Herbert J.
1910-1921
Spinden
J. Alden Mason 1925
George C.
1928-1940
Vaillant

Associates of the AMNH mentioned in the

text
Adolph
1894-1906
Bandelier
William Niven 1894-1897
Carl Lumholtz 1896-1898
Eduard Seler 1897

Sources of Information
Archives, Anthropology Division, American Museum of Natural History.
Bandelier, Adolph.
1940 Pioneers in American Anthropology; the Bandelier-Morgan Letters, 1873-
1883, edited by Leslie A. White. University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque.
Bernal, Ignacio.
1980 A History of Mexican Archaeology: the Vanished Civilizations of Middle
America. Thames and Hudson, New York.
Kirchhoff, Paul.
1952 Meso-America in Heritage of Conquest, edited by Sol Tax, pp. 17-30.
Glencoe, Illinois.
Lang Charles H. and Carroll Riley.
1996 The Life and Adventures of Adolph Bandelier. University of Utah Press, Salt
Lake City.
Lucas, Frederic A.
1921 General Guide to the Exhibition Halls of the American Museum of Natural
History. American Museum of Natural History, New York.
Lucas, Frederic A.
1931 General Guide to the Exhibition Halls of the American Museum of Natural
History. American Museum of Natural History, New York.
Osborn, Henry Fairfield.
1911 The American Museum of Natural History. Its Origin, Its History the Growth
of its Departments to December 31, 1909. Irving Press, New York.