Doris Heyden (née Heydenreich; June 2, 1905 – September 25, 2005)[1] was a prominent scholar of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, particularly those of central Mexico.
The exponents of this post-Revolutionary circle drew upon Mexican history and traditions while contributing to a variety of international movements including realism, Symbolism, surrealism and communism.
Born Doris Heydenreich Selz in 1905, Heyden claimed noble German and Austrian descent from a family with titles going back to 1312.
Heyden began formal graduate studies at the Escuela de Antropología, part of UNAM, Mexico's national university in 1956.
Employed by INAH, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, as curator of the Teotihuacan hall at the National Museum of Anthropology, she produced well over a hundred articles, books, and translations, both scholarly and popular, on a variety of topics, but most importantly on ancient architecture, Aztec symbolism, pre-Columbian views of what we would call nature, the importance of caves to Mesoamerican cosmology, and Indian cultural survivals.
Until her death Doris Heyden maintained a welcoming house in Mexico City, which hosted numerous gatherings of anthropologists and other internationally renowned luminaries in her fields of study.