Born in New York City on June 4, 1927, Robert Leonard Carneiro earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology in 1949 from the University of Michigan and his Master’s degree in 1952. He earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1957 from the University of Michigan.
At the University of Wisconsin, Carneiro served as a Professor from 1956 to 1957. From 1957 to 1969 he was the Assistant to the Associate Curator for South American Ethnology. He also served as Assistant Curator (1957-1963), Associate Curator (1963-1969) and Full Curator (1969-present) for the American Museum of Natural History. During this time, Carneiro held concurrent positions as Visiting Professor at Hunter College from 1963 to 1964, at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1968, at the University of Victoria, and at Pennsylvania State University in 1973. Carneiro is currently an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University.
Carneiro is currently a member of the American Anthropological Association, the American Ethnological Society, and the Society for American Archaeology. He has also been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. His research consisted of cultural evolution, including the reconstruction of sequences and the history of evolutionism. Carneiro often conducted research on the origin and development of the state.
He suggested that states might emerge because of population growth in an area that is physically or socially limited. Carneiro illustrates his theory by describing how states may have emerged on the northern coast of Peru. He also researched the cultural ecology of Amazonia, especially the effects of subsistence. He also helped edit several volumes of Leslie A. White's, Ethnological Essays.
Correspondence with Robert Carneiro
American Men and Women of Science. (1976). (13th ed.). In Jaques Cattel Press (Ed.). New York, NY: R.R. Bowker Co.
Ember, Carol R. & Melvin. (1996). Anthropology. (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Publishing.
Written By: Students in an Introduction to Anthropology Class, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota 1999