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Courtesy of the University of
Pennsylvania Museum
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George Ernest Hasemann
1944-1998
Boyd Dixon
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George Hasemann, head of the Archaeology Section of the
Instituto Hondureño de Antro-pología e Historia
(IHAH), died in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on October 8, 1998, after
a five-year struggle with cancer. Born in New York City on January
16, 1944, Hasemann studied English literature at Brown University
in Providence, Rhode Island, earning his B.A. in 1968.
He taught English and French literature at the
Asheville School in North Carolina. While guiding students through
Mexico in 1972, his interest in the prehistory of Latin America
was kindled. He was offered a scholarship to pursue graduate studies
in anthropology at Florida State University (FSU), moving with
his first wife and daughter to Tallahassee in 1973. Hasemann attended
the archaeological field school at the Contact Period indigenous
site of Ulmore Cove in northwest Florida, and then assisted in
analyzing its ceramics. He later became a part-time conservation
assistant at the Southeast Archaeological Center of the National
Park Service.
Hasemann's first exposure to Honduras was in
1974, when he was involved in an IHAH-authorized archaeological
survey of Utila in the Bay Islands. Enamored with the people and
culture of the islands, he returned in 1975 to conduct further
surveys. By 1976, Hasemann decided to move to Utila. He attempted
to stay employed on the island, working as a diver, captain of
a shrimp boat, and on IHAH archaeological projects. In 1977, Hasemann
was awarded his M.A. in anthropology, with a minor in Latin American
history, from FSU.
Hasemann moved to mainland Honduras with his
second wife and their daughter to conduct excavations for IHAH
at Colonial Period sites. During this period, he broadened his
prehistoric field experience, directing excavations at Travesia,
Curruste, and El Níspero. In 1978, Hasemann began his involvement
in the El Cajón archaeological project (1989, The El
Cajón Archaeological Investigation and Salvage Project,
Vol. 1, Prehistoric Cultural Ecology, coeditor with K. Hirth
and G. Lara Pinto). He supervised the regional survey of this
hydroelectric dam and 94 km2 reservoir, which eventually
culminated in several publications (e.g., 1987, "Late Classic
Settlement on the Sulaco River, Central Honduras" in Chiefdoms
in the Americas, edited by R. Drennan and C. Uribe) and his
Ph.D. dissertation.
Hasemann settled in Tegucigalpa in 1982 with
his third wife and colleague Gloria Lara Pinto, to become a permanent
IHAH staff archaeologist and help raise their two children. For
16 years, he served indefatigably as interim head of the Department
of Anthropological Investigations and then as the head of the
Archaeology Section, personally directing and/or coordinating
numerous multidisciplinary field projects in the central highlands,
in the jungles of the Mosquita, on the search. Developing the
site for interpretation to the public, the Jamestown archaeological
project continued Jean C. Harrington's pioneering work of the
1930s and 1940s and was a phenomenal success as a showpiece of
Jamestown's 35th anniversary celebration in 1957. Cotter's report,
"Archaeological Excavations at Jamestown, Virginia,"
(1958, Archaeological Research Series No. 4, National Park
Service, Washington), was a landmark in the reporting of archaeological
investigations at historic sites. Long out of print but still
in demand, it was reprinted in 1994 by the Archaeological Society
of Virginia.
Cotter's work at Jamestown immersed him deeply
into the methods and nuances of the emergent historical archaeology
in the 1950s. He became so captivated by it that thereafter he
turned his scholarly energies almost entirely to the development
of the subdiscipline.
Leaving Jamestown in 1957, Jack was stationed
in Philadelphia as regional archaeologist for the NPS Northeast
Region until 1970, when he was transferred to the NPS Eastern
Service Center in Washington. Although he retired in 1972, he
continued to work for the NPS as a rehired annuitant until final
retirement in 1977.
Cotter was adjunct professor in the Department
of American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (19601979)
and curator for American Historical Archaeology at the University
of Pennsylvania Museum (19721980). As curator emeritus he
maintained an office at the museum and worked there regularly
until 10 days before his death. Cotter authored or coauthored
several books and more than 200 journal articles and reviews.
His best-known publications are "Archaeological Excavations
at Jamestown, Virginia," and The Buried Past: An Archaeological
History of Philadelphia (1992, with coauthors D. G. Roberts
and M. Parrington, University of Pennsylvania Press). His final
book, Clovis Revisited, written with A. T. Boldurian, was
in press at the time of his death. It looks back at his early
work on Paleoindians and puts it into context with current Paleoindian
research.
Cotter received numerous awards, including the
J. C. Harrington Medal in Historical Archaeology (Society for
Historical Archaeology), and the David E. Finley Award for Outstanding
Achievement in Historic Preservation (National Trust for Historic
Preservation).
At the University of Pennsylvania, Cotter taught
the first university course in historical (nonclassical) archaeology
and inspired a generation of students. He was one of the cofounders
of the Society for Historical Archaeology, served as its first
president, and edited the first volume of its journal, Historical
Archaeology. Staunch activist for historic preservation, respected
mentor, versatile scholar, and capable Park Service administrator,
Jack Cotter will be long remembered for his many contributions
to both historic and prehistoric archaeology. ·
Edward B. Jelks is retired
and lives in Normal, Illinois.
