Byron Cummings

Dean of Southwest Archaeology

Todd W. Bostwick

• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780816524778
• eBook ISBN: 9780816549849
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies

Byron Cummings, known to students and colleagues as "The Dean," had a profound influence on the archaeology of Arizona and Utah during its early development. An explorer, archaeologist, anthropologist, teacher, museum director, university administrator, and state parks commissioner, Cummings was involved in many important discoveries in the American Southwest over the first half of the twentieth century and was a pioneer in the education of generations of archaeologists and anthropologists.

This book presents the first comprehensive examination of Cummings' life, offering readers a greater understanding of his trailblazing work. Todd Bostwick elucidates Cummings' many intellectual and cultural contributions, investigates the controversies in which he was embroiled, and describes his battles to wrest control of Arizona archaeology from eastern institutions that had long dominated Southwest archaeology.

Cummings saw the Southwest as an American wilderness where the story of cultural development revealed by the archaeologist and anthropologist was as important as it was in Europe. Bostwick's meticulous account of his life reflects his great reverence for the region and pays tribute to a man whose dedication, mentoring, and friendship have forever sealed his place as The Dean.

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• 1. "One of the Leading Figures in Southwestern Archaeology": The Life of Byron Cummings
• 2. "If We Live, at All, Let Us Be Alive": Early Life in New York and New Jersey
• 3. "The Climate Is Delightful, the Scenery Unsurpassed": Cummings at the University of Utah
• 4. "Archaeology of Our Own Region": The Utah Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, 1906–1909
• 5. "A Picture of the Past and Present Mingled": Adventures in Europe
• 6. "The Path Man Has Traveled in His Progress": Return to the Red Rock Country, 1911–1914
• 7. "Not in Harmony with the Forces": A Controversy at the University of Utah
• 8. "The Confidence and Esteem of His Pupils": Teaching Archaeology, 1912–1925
• 9. "The Organizing and Building Up of Our University Museum": Development of the Arizona State Museum, 1915–1926
• 10. "The Great Onward Movement of the Human Race": Expeditions to Northern Arizona, 1915–1926
• 11. "A Mexican Pompeii": Uncovering the Cuicuilco Pyramid, 1922–1925
• 12. "A Good Detective Story": The Silverbell Road Artifact Controversy, 1924–1930
• 13. "Life to Them Had Ceased to Be a Struggle for Existence": Cummings and the Archaeology of the Sonoran Desert, 1925–1938
• 14. "Why Shouldn’t Man Have Been Created on American Soil?": Cummings’ 1926 Excavations into the Arizona Ice Age
• 15. "To Guide the Ship through the Night": President of the University of Arizona, 1927–1928
• 16. "There Is a Plan and System and Progress in Every Phase": The Arizona State Museum, 1927–1937
• 17. "Shall Arizona Save and Preserve Her Heritage?": The Arizona Antiquities Act of 1927
• 18. "A Man of Vision": Expanding the Archaeology Department
• 19. "Shortest Possible Statement for a Research Goal": Excavations in Northern Arizona, 1927–1930
• 20. "Weird, Thrilling, Spectacular": Archaeology and Tourism in the Prescott and Verde River Regions, 1931–1934
• 21. "A Profitable Chapter in the Life History of Man": Cummings’ Vision of an Outdoor Museum at Kinishba, 1931–1937
• 22. "A Very Unpopular Move": Cummings’ Involuntary Retirement and the Hohokam Museums Association
• 23. "There Is MuchWork Yet to Be Done": Final Years at Kinishba, 1938–1947
• 24. "Something Besides a Few Scraps of Paper That May Blow Away": Cummings theWriter and His Twilight Years
• Epilogue
• Notes
• References
• Index