Martha B. Anders was born in Wisconsin in 1949, and grew up in Canada. She earned her bachelor's degree in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Toronto, and went on to work at the Royal Ontario Museum. While at the Museum, Anders developed an interest in the Andes and soon switched her research focus. In 1974 she began her doctoral studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. While a doctoral student, Anders wrote on the state storage facilities at Pampa Grande, Peru, a Moche V site (ca. 600-700 A.D.) in the Lambayeque Valley on the North Coast of Peru. She sought to clarify Moche social, political, and economic organization in an effort to understand their context within urban development of this area. The investigation of storage facilities was part of the effort and results of her research. Anders returned to Peru to work on her dissertation about the Wari site of Azangaro, which was completed in 1986.
Anders began to work at Maymi, a Middle Horizon site in the Pisco Valley in Peru. She also worked as a consultant for the Ministerio de la Presidencia of Peru to help build a new National Museum in Peru. She worked in Canada and Israel as well as in the Andean area.
Martha Anders died in 1990, in a car accident in Peru.
References
Anders, Martha B.
1981 Investigation of State Storage Facilities in Pampa.
Journal of Field Archaeology 8(4):391-404.
Barnes, Monica
1992 Obituaries. Anthropology Newsletter 33(6):4.
Sandweiss, Daniel
1992 Martha B. Anders: 1949-1990. Andean Past 3:1-4.
Written By: Erin Degerstedt
Edited By: Emily Hildebrant, 2008