Robert Wauchope (December 10, 1909 – January 20, 1979) was a well-respected American archaeologist and anthropologist, whose academic research specialized in the prehistory and archaeology of Latin America, Mesoamerica, and the Southwestern United States.
[3] Wauchope attended high school in South Carolina where he took an early interest in archaeology while on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout.
[3] Upon his graduation from Harvard, Wauchope became a professor at the University of Georgia teaching anthropology courses, as well as Southeastern prehistory.
In 1942, once he had left North Carolina, Wauchope started his career at Tulane University located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
[5] However, once World War II began, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) started to hire many Harvard graduates.
Wauchope happened to be one of these graduates and he served with the OSS in the Mediterranean area until the end of the war.
Wauchope was also credited with building a foundation and picking early staff for Tulane University.
[6] Wauchope's field work began shortly after graduating high school when he wrote Alfred V. Kidder and asked to join him on excavations at Pecos, New Mexico.
Kidder accepted Robert's request and invited him to be an assistant at the Forked Lightning Ruin site.
[4] In 1932, the Carnegie Institution for Science sent him to, once again, assist Alfred V. Kidder, but this time in Uaxactun, Guatemala.
One nine-month endeavor to conduct archaeological and ethnological surveys of more Mayan houses in Yucatán, Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Guatemala.
[7] While teaching at the University of Georgia, Wauchope was approached by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and was put in charge of a group of other WPA employees to conduct surveys of all known archaeological sites of Northern Georgia.
While he was surveying with his team, he discovered one of the most densely packed archeological sites that lie within the state of Georgia and of North America.
[4] This is called Nacoochee Valley and he spent nearly a year here before returning full time to his teaching position.
He played a large part in developing the ceramic sequence for north Georgia during the two years he was there.
[5] After his field work in 1947, he did not participate in anymore until his final years serving as the director of the M.A.R.I program in 1974 and 1975.
It was published by the University of Texas Press from 1964 to 1976 with Margaret Harrison and Howard F. Cline both doing additional edits to the Handbook.