Biographical Memoirs Volume 90 (2009) / Chapter Skim
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BENJAMIN IRVING ROUSE
BENJAMIN IRVING ROUSE
Pages 306-331
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J.D. Levine/Yale University
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Like Christopher Columbus he "discovered" the native peoples of the Caribbean, and through his work our understanding of these peoples has been enhanced greatly. Moreover, the results of his research usually were published in a timely manner, and the notes and detailed drawings form an important corpus of data that is as useful today as it was 50 years ago.
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Faced with the need to fend for himself he took whatever job was available. At first this was mowing lawns and raking leaves on the Yale campus, but in time Cornelius Osgood developed a liking for Ben and put him to work cataloging anthropology collections in the Yale Peabody Museum.
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. After completing his Ph.D., Ben was hired by the Peabody Museum of Natural History as an assistant curator; he was promoted to associate curator in 1947 and research associate in 1954.
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in their book A History of American Archaeology recognized his contributions by placing him at the base of the tree from which modern American archaeology developed. Through the years Ben revised his time-space diagram for Caribbean cultures with the belief that every refinement moved us that much closer to understanding the past.
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When he learned that I had been a reviewer, he told me that the only reason I had a job doing Caribbean archaeology
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ROUSE IN THE CARIBBEAN Professor Cornelius Osgood arrived at Yale in 1930. Following the lead of Franz Boas, Osgood was interested in developing a comprehensive and systematic program of regional study, and with private backing he initiated the Caribbean Anthropological Program (CAP)
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One of CAP's first projects was an archaeological investigation of Haiti. As mentioned, Osgood took an immediate liking to the young and industrious Ben Rouse and put him to work cataloging anthropological collections in the Peabody Museum, and encouraged him to pursue graduate studies in anthropology.
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Rainey had conducted surveys and excavations in Puerto Rico in 1934 under the direction of the Peabody Museum. Ben followed up on Rainey's (1940)
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Excavations at the sites of Cedros and Ortoire would become the type-sites for the Cedrosan Saladoid and Ortoiroid series of Caribbean peoples and cultures. These established an eastern South American origin for the Ceramic and Archaic ages, respectively.
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26) recounts, Ben "immediately captivated Mill Reef with his modesty, consideration, and patience." Disappointed that the Mill Reef site was small and the artifacts relatively unspectacular, Olsen continued his explorations of archaeological sites on the island.
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. Despite his reluctance to participate in this project, the results from Indian Creek and Jolly Beach served to define the culture history of the northern Lesser Antilles.
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Ripley Bullen picked up the slack and with Neville Connell, director of the Barbados Museum, the second congress was held in Barbados in 1967. Bullen was named the permanent chair, and he organized biennial meetings and published congress proceedings until his death in 1977.
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By this time Ben had already moved on, and was more focused on his interests in world archaeology. However, in 1984 he collaborated with Lucianne Lavin to rehabilitate the Peabody Museum's aging exhibits on Native Americans with a special focus on the archaeology of Connecticut.
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Other archaeologists in the region viewed every new pottery series as reflecting a separate migration of peoples from South America. Rouse has remained adamant that there was a single Ceramic Age migration called Saladoid that was followed by the local development (in Puerto Rico)
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FINAL THOUGHTS I first met Ben at the Second Bahamas Conference on Archaeology in 1978, but recall an interesting exchange during the Third Bahamas Conference held on San Salvador, Bahamas, in 1982. John Winter presented a paper on a study using neutron activation to characterize pottery from Cuba and the Bahamas.
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He has left a lasting imprint on the Caribbean region in particular and American archaeology in general. CHRONOLOGY 1913 Born August 29 in Rochester, New York 1930-1934 Attended Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University as an undergraduate 1934-38 Attended graduate school, Yale University 1934-1938 Secretary-treasurer, Archaeological Society of Connecticut 1935 Fieldwork in Haiti 1936-1938 Fieldwork in Puerto Rico 1938-1950 Editor, Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut 1939 June 24, married Mary Mikami 1939 Carnegie Foundation grant to study in European museums
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V I N G R O U S E BENJAMIN IR 323 1941 Fieldwork in Cuba 1944 Fieldwork in Florida 1944-1947 Coeditor, Yale University Publications in Anthropology 1946-1950 President, Eastern States Archaeological Federation 1946-1950 Editor, American Antiquity 1946-1957 Fieldwork in Venezuela 1946, 1953 Fieldwork in Trinidad 1948-1960 Member, Executive Board, Florida Anthropological Society 1950-1953 Member, Executive Board, American Anthropological Association 1952-1953 President, Society for American Archaeology 1950-1963 Editor, Yale University Publications in Anthropology 1957-1958 Vice president, American Ethnological Society 1958-1961 Delegate of the American Anthropological Association, National Research Council 1960-1962 Associate editor, American Anthropologist 1963-1964 Guggenheim fellow, Institute of Archaeology,University of London 1967-1968 President, American Anthropological Association 1968-1969 Acting editor, Yale University Publications in Anthropology 1973 Fieldwork in Antigua 1973-1985 Assistant editor for Caribbean archaeology, Handbook of Latin American Studies, U.S. Library of Congress 1977 Oppenheimer visiting associate, University of CapeTown 1977-1979 President, Association for Field Archaeology 1984 Retired from Yale University 2006 Died February 4 in New Haven, Connecticut
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MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Yale University 1975 Named research affiliate, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University 1977 Named curator of anthropology, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University
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2000. Jolly Beach and the Preceramic Occupation of Antigua, West Indies.
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In Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. New York Academy of Sciences, vol.
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1948 The West Indies: An introduction to the Ciboney. In Handbook of South American Indians.
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Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. New York Academy of Sciences 18(4)
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1964 Prehistory of the West Indies. Science 144:499-513.
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1990 Excavations at Maria de la Cruz Cave and Ha cienda Grande Village Site, Loiza, Puerto Rico. Yale University Publica tions in Anthropology No.
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Excavations at the Indian Creek Site, Antigua, West Indies. Yale University Publications in Anthropology No.
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