E. G. (Ephraim George) Squier

Born in Bethlehem, New York, in 1821, Ephraim George Squier had little formal schooling but built a wide-ranging career through self-education. Early in life he worked on farms, taught school, practiced civil engineering, and edited small newspapers before turning toward research and writing.

He became best known for studying the ancient earthworks of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. With Edwin H. Davis, he coauthored Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley in 1848, a landmark Smithsonian publication that helped establish archaeology in the United States. He later traveled widely in Central America and Peru, publishing influential accounts of Indigenous sites, landscapes, and history.

Squier also served as a diplomat, including a post in Central America, and remained active as a writer and investigator for much of his life. He died in 1888, remembered as an energetic and sometimes controversial figure whose work helped spark lasting interest in the ancient Americas.