James Bennet Griffin
1905 - 1997
James Bennett Griffin was born on January 12, 1905 in
Atchinson, Kansas to Charles and Maude Griffin. His father was a railroad
equipment supplier, and his job relocated the family to Denver, Colorado and
then to Chicago, Illinois. There James Griffin attended and graduated from Oak
Park Schools. In 1923, he enrolled in the University of Chicago to study Business
Administration, but after two years transferred into the program of General
Science and earned his Bachelors Degree in 1927. After a brief stint working
for Amoco, he enrolled again in the University of Chicago, where in 1930 he
graduated with a Master of Arts Degree in Sociology and Anthropology.
In 1933, he accepted a Research Fellowship at the
University of Michigan and moved to Ann
Arbor. In 1936, he married Ruby Fletcher and they had three sons: John, David
and James. In 1945, he was appointed Associate Professor of Archaeology at
Michigan, and in 1949 became a full Professor.
Professor Griffin made numerous contributions to the study of
archaeology, his most noteworthy being the statistical technique and
methodological studies involving quantitative technique. An example is
radiocarbon dating, which
he used to determine the chronological limits of cultural periods.
Additionally, he used the spectrographic analysis of prehistoric copper and
chert. He had a fascination for Mesoamerican
archeology (eastern) and did a great deal of work on the cultural
interrelationship between prehistoric cultures.
As a Professor at the University of Michigan, Dr. Griffin was considered
the foremost expert on ceramics. He wrote more than 260 articles and 8 books
about his interest in ceramics and applying other sciences to Archaeology. Some
of his work is the earliest data on radiocarbon dating to redefine the
chronology of eastern United States archaeology. He also wrote about neutron
activation analysis to source Hopewell obsidian and geological studies to
explain early Holocene archaeology. Although considered the Dean of North
American archaeology, his studies would take him to all corners of the world.
He traveled to Mexico, Europe and the former Soviet Union to find out the
origin of the North American Indians.
James Griffin (left) and Paul Weer (right) "survey" the Burkman
Stone Mounds, Dearborn County, Indiana. In June of 1933, Jimmy was the most
honored archaeologist of his generation. He received numerous awards for his
studies from both the Society for American Archaeology, a foundation that he
helped to get started in 1935, and the University of Michigan. From the SAA he
received the Viking Fund Award and medal (1957), the Fryxell Award (1980), and
the Distinguished Service Award (1984). The University of Michigan awarded him
with the Henry Russell Lectureship for outstanding research (1972), and the
Faculty Achievement Award (1971). He also was elected to the National Academy
of Sciences in 1968, and received an honorary doctorate from Indiana University
in 1971.
Along with these awards, Jimmy was a Visiting Professor to a number of
other schools. He taught at the University of California, Berkley (1960), the
University of Colorado (1962), the Louisiana State University (1971) and
Florida State University (1970). He retired in 1975 from the University of
Michigan and is also the retired Director of the Museum of Anthropology. After
his retirement, Jimmy took the job as Regent Scholar at the Smithsonian
Institute until his death in May of 1997.
References:
Cleland, Charles. Cultural Change and Continuity. New York:
Academic Press, 1976. pp. xv-lxxvii
Written by: Students in an Introduction to Anthropology Class, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota
2003