author
Herbert Joseph Spinden
1879–1967
An early American anthropologist and art historian, he helped open up the study of Maya civilization for a wider audience. His writing combined fieldwork, museum research, and a gift for explaining ancient cultures clearly.
1 Audiobook
Ancient Civilizations of Mexico and Central America Third and Revised Edition
by Herbert Joseph Spinden
About the author
Born in Huron, South Dakota, in 1879, Herbert Joseph Spinden became an American anthropologist, archaeologist, and art historian known for his work on Native American cultures in the United States and Mesoamerica. He studied at Harvard, where he worked with leading scholars including Frederick Putnam and Alfred Tozzer, and earned his PhD in anthropology in 1909 with research on Maya art.
After Harvard, he joined the American Museum of Natural History as an assistant curator and continued important research on Maya culture. Later he worked at the Peabody Museum and served as director of the Brooklyn Museum. His career linked academic research with museum work, helping bring the art, history, and archaeology of ancient American civilizations to both scholars and the public.
Spinden is especially remembered for his studies of Maya art and chronology, as well as for books such as A Study of Maya Art and The Ancient Civilizations of Mexico and Central America. He died in 1967, leaving behind work that remained influential in the study of pre-Columbian America.