Alfonso Caso Andrade 1896-1970

    Alfonso Caso was a very accomplished man in both anthropology and philosophy. By 1919 he had a degree in both law and philosophy. A year later he acquired a masters in the latter. Between 1918 and 1940 he taught logic and epistemology at the National University of Mexico while taking classes for archaeology. In 1930 he was appointed Professor of Ethnology at the school of Philosophy and Letters. For 40 years, Caso delved into mysteries of pre-hispanic writing and strived to decipher the forgotten inscriptions.

    Only a few days before he passed in 1970, Alfonso Caso finished his most famous work, Kings and Kingdoms of the Mixteca. His first work, El mapa de Teozacoalco, published in 1949, is basically the key to Mixtec history in one document. During the 1930's, he was Director to the National Museum and in 1939 he founded the Istituto Nacional de Antropologia y Historia and the School of Anthropolgy. From August of 1944 to March of 1945 he was President of the National University of Mexico and later was in the Cabinet of President Miguel Aleman. Even during these times, Caso went on digs at Monte Alban. From 1949 when he founded it, to his death, Caso was director of the Instituto Nacional Indigenist.

Other published works:
Urnas de Oaxaca (1952)
El pueblo del sol (1953)
Los calendarios prehispanicos (1967)
La ceramica de Monte Alban (1967)
El tesoro de Monte Alban (1969)

References:

This picture reprinted by permission of the American Anthropological Association from American Anthropologist 36:4 1971

Bernal, Ignacio. American Antiquity Instituto Nacional de Antropologia y Historia. Vol 36 [4,1971] page 449

Leon-Portilla, Miguel. American Anthropologist National University of Mexico. Vol 75 [3, 1973] page 877

Written by: Students in an Introduction to Anthropology Class, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota