Hannah Marie Wormington (September 5, 1914 – May 31, 1994) was an American archaeologist known for her writings and fieldwork on southwestern and Paleo-Indians archaeology over a long career that lasted almost sixty years.
As a young child Wormington spent much of her time with her mother and her maternal grandmother who had come to the United States from France.
Her initial areas of interest were medicine and zoology, but changed to archaeology after taking a few classes taught by E. B. Renaud, whose focus was on the French Paleolithic.
[3] Garrod became a mentor to Wormington, and she put her in touch with some notable archaeologists working in Paris at the time, including Harper Pat Kelley and Henri Martin.
While working alongside Kelley, Wormington was allowed to borrow artifacts found in Europe for data collection at the Denver Museum.
While working at the museum and before obtaining her MA and Ph.D. Wormington wrote Ancient Man in North America as well as Prehistoric Indians of the South West.
During those years he supported Wormington’s career by building screens and repairing shovels to be used during excavations as well as taking on dish duty at camp.
[1] Throughout her career at the Colorado Museum of Natural History Wormington assisted as well as acted as a consultant for many famous sites for Paleo Indian culture in the New World.
Following a three-year break, Wormington taught in 1973 at the University of Minnesota while acting as an adjunct professor at Colorado College, a position she held until 1986.
[4] In the same year she left the Denver museum (1968), Wormington was the first female archaeologist to be elected president of the Society for American Archaeology.
[8] In 1988 she was once again awarded honorary doctor of letters degree from Colorado College, the same year she was appointed the curator emeritus of the Denver Museum of Natural History.
[4] Steve Cassels has written, "Just as Margaret Mead did in cultural anthropology, Marie has paved the way for women in archaeology, having persevered despite various degrees of discrimination throughout her career.
"[9] Wormington died in her home in Denver on May 31, 1994 due to smoke inhalation[10] after a fire that had started in the living room where she was sleeping.
The material components of Hannah Marie Wormington's life are documented and stored by the Smithsonian Institution Archives.