George Amos Dorsey (February 6, 1868 – March 29, 1931) was an American ethnographer of indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a special focus on the Caddoan and Siouan tribes of the Great Plains.

He is credited with helping develop the anthropology of the Plains Indian tribes while serving as curator at the Field Museum in Chicago from 1898 until 1915.

[1] In 1897 Dorsey was one of the first anthropologists to appear as an expert forensic witness when examined what he proved were human remains and testified in the murder trial of Adolph Luetgert in Chicago.

Based on his work in Peru in 1892, Dorsey became head of the archaeological branch of the department of anthropology at Harvard, serving until 1896.

The local missionary, John Henry Keen took them to task after learning that they had raided graves and failed to restore them to their former state.

The trip led to his sending Albert Buell Lewis on major expedition to the South Pacific.

He had been a delegate to international congresses of anthropology, and was a member of the Jury of Awards in this field for the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.

Dorsey had achieved some early media notoriety in 1897 and 1898 when he was called to aid the investigation of the murder of Louisa Luetgert in Chicago.

He died suddenly in 1931 of an embolism at his home in New York City, shortly before he was to give a radio talk and his book On Civilization was published.