 | Richard L. Burger |
Richard L. Burger, the newly named C.J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology, is an authority on ancient Andean civilization and former director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Burger has carried out archaeological research in Peru for over two decades, directing excavations at Chavin de Huantar and Huaricoto in the northern highlands and at Cardal, Mina Perdida and Manchay Bajo on Peru's central coast. This work has resulted in the books "Chavín and the Origins of Andean Civilization" and "Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas," as well as several others he co-edited: "Social and Economic Organization in the Prehistoric Andes," "Formative Ecuador" and "Variations in the Expression of Inka Power." His most recent work, "The Life and Writings of Julio C. Tello," is forthcoming. Burger has also authored or co-authored a number of monographs, as well as numerous articles and reviews.
A 1972 graduate of Yale College, Burger earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. He joined the Yale faculty in 1981 and was named a full professor in 1989. Since 1983 he has been curator of the Division of Anthropology at the Peabody Museum and served as the museum's director 1995 to 2002. Under his leadership, the Peabody expanded its programs with the New Haven community by introducing a science literacy initiative for New Haven elementary and middle school teachers, establishing an events department at the museum, and beginning its annual Fiesta Latina, a celebration of Latin American cultures in New Haven, among other endeavors.
Since 2005, Burger has been chair and director of graduate studies for the Council on Archaeological Studies.
Burger and his wife, archaeologist Lucy C. Salazar, are co-curators of "Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas," the largest exhibition on the Incas ever assembled in the United States. The exhibition opened at the Peabody Museum in 2003 and then traveled to other venues before its recent return to the museum, where it is on view through July 3. The exhibition was funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Burger has also been the recipient of numerous other grants and fellowships. In addition to Yale, he has taught at Pontificia Universidad Católica in Lima, Peru, and at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
The Yale archaeologist served as chair of the advisory board of the Senior Fellows of Pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., and has been a member of several editorial boards for archaeological journals. He has been a consultant to numerous institutions, including the American Museum of Natural History and the National Geographic Society.
T H I S
Anthropologist Burger is appointed
as MacCurdy Professor
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ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS
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