After graduating from Trenton High School, Satterthwaite joined the military and served as a cadet and flying officer for the Royal Navy Air Force during World War I.
In 1933, J. Alden Mason left his position as field director at Piedras Negras, and the title was then given to Satterthwaite until 1939.
The focus of the expeditions at Piedras Negras was to answer archaeological questions such as establishing building sequences, stratigraphy, and uncovering architectural remains.
Acting as director, Satterthwaite was able to excavate eleven temples, seventeen palaces, two ballcourts and multiple sweatbaths.
Because of Satterthwaite’s legal background, he was also able to effectively create detailed isometrics that conveyed the substance of excavations and define terms and labels.
[4] Among the archaeologists who worked with Satterthwaite at Piedras Negras was Mary Butler Lewis, a leading expert on Mesoamerican ceramics, and the first woman to receive a PhD in Anthropology from Penn.
In this book, Satterthwaite and Beetz describe the stelea and altars, from their exact context in the ground to interpretations of the hieroglyphs recorded on these monuments.
[5] Linton Satterthwaite is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Central American snake, Tantillita lintoni.