Oric Bates

Oric Bates was born on December 5, 1883, and died on October 10, 1918. Reliable biographical references identify him as a curator of African archaeology and ethnology at Harvard’s Peabody Museum, and as an editor connected with Harvard African Studies.

His work focused on Africa, especially the archaeology and ethnology of the northern part of the continent. Although he is not widely known today, he appears in major library and reference records as a serious scholar whose research contributed to early English-language study of African history and material culture.

Because easily accessible source material is limited, some details of his personal life and career are not consistently available online. What can be confirmed is that he built a reputation in archaeology and ethnology at a relatively young age, and that his career ended unusually early with his death in 1918.