David Freidel's interest for archeology began when he was sixteen years of age while excavating Paleo-Indian sites in Wyoming. Following his interest,Freidel went on to college studying anthropology. Freidel graduated in 1968 from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Anthropology. He finally received his Ph.D. in 1976, from Harvard University. Besides doing field work Freidel has done an array of teaching. He has done all of his teaching at Southern Methodist University, gradually working his way from Adjunct Assistant Professor to presently working as a Professor in Anthropology.
Field work is a major part of Freidel's experience as an archeologist. Most of his work was done on the Maya, he has worked in this area 1971. Also from 1986-1997 Freidel worked on his second long term excavation project called the Selz Foundaton Yaxuna Project. This project was concentrated at Yaxuna in Yucatan. The purpose of excavating at Yaxuna, was to the nature of Maya warfare, particularly the wars between Chichen Itza and its enemies in Coba and in the Puuc Hill sites of Uxmal, Kabah and Labna. At the archeological site, along with his team they discovered artifacts and skeletons in the tombs at Yaxuna.
In order to contribute the knowledge about his finding Freidel has co-authored three books: Cozumel: Late Maya Settlement Systems published in 1984, A Forest of Kings; The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya published in 1990, and finally Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path released in 1993. Freidel is currently working on his fourth book discussing Maya warfareand the classic period collapse.
Besides anthropology, David has many other talents and interests. He is multilingual speaking Spanish, French and English. His interests include complex societies, Mesoamerica, Lowland Maya and material symbol systems. He also has been a member of many different organizations and also has held an office within those different organizations. In conclusion, David Freidel has contributed a great deal to the archeological society. For his contribution he has received a great amount of awards and grants, all of which were well deserved.
All Former Links as of October 2006.
SMU ANTHROPOLOGIST UNCOVERS EVIDENCE OF EARLY MAYA KINGS IN NORTHERN YUCATAN. http://www.smu.edu/~anthrop/anthnewsreleases.html
Freidel, David. David A. Freidel, Professor. http://www.smu.edu/~anthrop/dfreidel.html Classroom Connect. David Freidel.
http://quest.classroom.com/archive/mayaquest/1998/footer/about/pg00557.htm
Written by: Jennifer Dahlen 2000