Matthew Stirling and his daughter Marion Stirling Pugh led Smithsonian Olmec expeditions before and after WWII as a father-daughter research team. At San Lorenzo, El Rey is the largest colossal head. An iconic photo required a makeshift tripod of stairs, ropes, and vines to elevate the camera above the buried head. Stirling wore tall leather boots in swampy lowlands to avoid venomous snakes 🐍
Matthew and Marian Stirling led Smithsonian Olmec expeditions before and after WWII
MexicoGeneral
Key facts
- Matthew Stirling was the preeminent Mesoamerican explorer, conducting research with the Smithsonian and Mexican government.
- Matthew and Marian Stirling worked as a research partnership, with Marian often completing critical work like Stela C dating.
- Their expeditions took place before and after World War II as an American archaeological project.
- El Rey is the largest colossal head found at San Lorenzo.
- An iconic expedition photograph of El Rey was taken using a makeshift tripod of stairs, ropes, and vines to elevate the camera above the buried head.
- Stirling wore tall leather boots in the swampy Mexican lowlands to avoid venomous snakes.
Site mentioned
Sources
Matthew Stirlingen.wikipedia.org
He is best known for his discoveries relating to the Olmec civilization. a still from the Smithsonian Institution's Exploring Hidden Mexico (1943). Stirling ...
Matthew Williams Stirling with Cast of Olmec Headsi.edu
Matthew Williams Stirling, former director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, with plaster cast of Olmec head received from the National Museum in Mexico ...
Matthew Williams Stirling and Marion Stirling Pugh paperssova.si.edu
Matthew Stirling, Smithsonian archaeologist and Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology (1928-1957), studying Olmec culture
Discovering the Olmecs: An Unconventional Historyjstor.org
When Matthew Stirling began his research at Tres Zapotes in 1939, almost nothing was known about the archaeological culture we today call the Olmecs. Stirling's ...
Dr. Matthew W. Stirling Dies; Archeologist for Smithsoniannytimes.com
Matthew W. Stirling, an anthropologist associated with the Smithsonian Institution for more than 40 years, died yesterday. He was 78 years old.
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