Albert Clanton Spaulding was an American anthropologist and processual archaeologist who encouraged the application of quantitative statistics in archaeological research and the legitimacy of anthropology as a science.
15 Facts About Albert Spaulding
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Albert Spaulding was instrumental in increasing funding for archaeology through the National Science Foundation.
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Albert Spaulding was born on August 14,1914, in Choteau, Montana.
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Albert Spaulding grew up in Missoula, Montana and attended the University of Montana, where his father was the dean of the School of Forestry.
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Albert Spaulding mapped the coastal ranges of southern California before traveling to Pennsylvania.
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Albert Spaulding accepted the position of Assistant Curator of the university's Museum of Anthropology, where he spent most of his time administering the archaeological and ethnographic collections and exhibits.
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Albert Spaulding left KU in 1947 to accept a much-desired assistant teaching position and assistant curatorship at the University of Michigan and its Museum of Anthropology.
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Albert Spaulding ultimately accepted a teaching position at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he served as the dean of the College of Letters and Science from 1967 to 1971.
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Albert Spaulding retired in 1983, returning to the university to teach as an honored emeritus professor until he developed an illness in 1988.
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Albert Spaulding participated in a number of field projects during the course of his lifetime but documented comparatively little field material as his interests resided mostly in the refinement of theory and method.
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In 1953, Albert Spaulding published a counter-argument of sorts titled "Statistical techniques for the discovery of artifact types" that detailed a statistical classification method for recognizing real inherent types in prehistoric material.
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Albert Spaulding remains one of the early forerunners of the New Archaeology.
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Albert Spaulding was known for urging his fellow scholars to make use of quantitative statistics in archaeological research and maintaining his belief that anthropology was a rightful scientific discipline.
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Albert Spaulding was a staunch advocate of the former due to his passionate tenets concerning the place of quantification in archaeology.
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Albert Spaulding carried this perspective with him to his director's chair at the National Science Foundation, transforming the way the agency viewed the discipline of anthropology and instituting an invaluable resource.