Karen Stothert

Biography

      Armed with a degree in English literature and two years of experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia, I entered the graduate program in Anthropology at Yale in 1968, and did my dissertation field work in coastal Ecuador in 1970-71, at which time Ben Rouse became my new (patient and generous) advisor. I began teaching at Fordham University in 1972, finished my degree, and began my serious, life-long commitment to research in Ecuador. Working principally for the Anthropology Museum of the Central Bank of Ecuador I researched the preceramic Las Vegas culture, generated a body of ethnographic studies of the disappearing traditions of the Santa Elena Peninsula, excavated published ceramic sites and addressed issues concerning the Valdivia, Engoroy, Guangala cultures.

      After acquiring a husband and children, I taught at several institutions in Texas, where I maintaining a research position at the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio. Most recently I have been working on the archaeology of the late prehistoric Manteño period, with emphasis on the excavation of endangered sites and the interpretation of ceramics. Recently I have carried out field work in the Galapagos Islands, collaborated in studies of early plant domestication in the Neotropics, worked on the development of museum resources in Ecuador, and written and edited books in Ecuador, where I am known as the founder of the Regional Museum of the Amantes de Sumpa. My publications treat archaeological themes and also deal with ethnographic topics and the interpretation of ancient art.

Abstract

Remembering Ben Rouse, An Academic Ancestor

      The current scholarly interest in ancestors among archaeologists in the New World facillitates my informal reminiscence about the life and substantial contributions of Ben Rouse. I was a student of Mr. Rouse in the period 1968-1974.