Anna Curtenius Roosevelt, PhD
Professor, UIC Distinguished Professor
Anthropology
Contact
Building & Room:
BSB3110B
Address:
1007 W. Harrison Street
Office Phone:
Email:
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About
I am a four-field anthropologist interested in social and biological evolution, human-environment interaction, and human rights. My current research in lowland South America and Central Africa focuses on the evolution of Pleistocene preceramic cultures in the tropical forests. I'm also studying the history of complex societies in the Congo basin and role of covert NATO interventions in the transition to independence in the countries of the former Belgian Congo. In the Orinoco for my dissertation I discovered early Formative cultures who adopted maize, which became a staple in later chiefdom societies there. My archaeological research in the Brazilian Amazon funded by NSF, NEH, and NEA showed that the basin had been occupied since 13,000 years ago. My excavations with students from UIC and other universities, funded by Fulbright grants, also uncovered the earliest pottery of the Americas in sedentary fishing villages 9000 years ago. The excavations helped reveal the social organization of later moundbuilding societies on Marajo Island and in the Santarem area. During my curatorship at the Indian Museum I organized several major exhibitions, and later served as a curator at the Field Museum in Chicago. Since 1994 I've been a Professor of Anthropology at UIC, where I also serve as a Faculty Fellow of the Honors College. I've authored or co-authored ten books and more than 100 scientific articles.
Education
PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University, 1977
MA in Anthropology from Columbia University, 1974
BA in History with Distinction from Stanford University, 1968