Beyond work by its own staff, the MAI also sponsored fieldwork by others, such as Gregory Mason, a journalist turned anthropologist. In this photo, a workman poses with a vessel from the Rio Frio Caves in Belize in 1928.


BELOW: Greater Nicoya female figure, AD 800–1350, near Rivas, Rivas Department, Nicaragua. Pottery, clay slip, paint. Collected about 1920 by Raul R. Barrios, acquired by MAI in 1928 (15/9362).


Jose. When his workmen found gold objects, Keith began collecting from area sites. Later, as vice-president of the United Fruit Company, Keith profoundly influenced Central Ameri- can economies. In 1883, he married Cristina Castro, daughter of Costa Rica’s former presi- dent. They maintained homes in Costa Rica and New York, where Keith was a trustee of the Museum of the American Indian. Minor Keith and Cristina Castro Keith divided their collection of 16,000 objects among the MAI, the Brooklyn Museum and the American Mu- seum of Natural History.


EXPEDITIONS AND EXCAVATIONS After 1915, George Heye supported research and expeditions in Central America, empha- sizing systematic collecting and excavations. Capitalizing on connections with Minor Keith and the United Fruit Company, the MAI sponsored excavations by museum staff


22 AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER 2013


member Alanson B. Skinner at Costa Rican sites in 1916 and 1917. During the MAI’s hey- day, Heye employed some of the best-known archaeologists of the time. In 1923, Samuel K. Lothrop, then a brand new Ph.D., joined the Museum’s staff. The Museum sponsored his work in El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1920s. His landmark 1926 publication on the pottery of Costa Rica and Nicaragua provided a comprehensive archaeological reference that is still consulted today. Beyond work by its own staff, the MAI also sponsored fieldwork by others, such as Gregory Mason, a journalist turned anthropologist. The lure of archaeological discovery com-


bined with the spirit of adventure has also lead to innumerable destructive events. Ama- teur archaeology has often destroyed archaeo- logical sites before they could be scientifically excavated or interpreted. While many Central American sites have suffered looting, Panama may have suffered most. During the 1960s


PHOTO BY ERNEST AMOROSO


PHOTO BY GREGORY MASON


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