William J. Folan, Engineer of Walter W. Taylor’s Vision of a Conjunctive Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the decades after the 1940s, Walter W. Taylor became famous worldwide for his vision of an archeology structured around many subdisciplines working together to form an enlightened vision of humans as builders of vast and complex social structures. William J. Folan, a student of Taylor's at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, followed his teacher's conjunctive vision over the following decades. He began highly technical excavations at Yuquot, BC, and Dzibilchaltún, Mexico in the 1960s and went on to complete a long list of joint studies that extended into the 21st century. Folan's approach involved architects, geologists, epigraphers, pedologists, geochemists, physical anthropologist, ceramists, lithicists, remote sensing, and much else. This work focuses on how Folan tested the theories implied by Taylor's vision throughout his career and fully materialized it in the Calakmul, Champoton and Oxpemul area of southern Campeche, Mexico. During the 1980s field seasons at Calakmul Folan began excavating the palace complex at Calakmul. Similar excavations at Oxpemul, unfortunately interrupted by Folan’s passing, could further reveal the key role Oxpemul played in the Early/Late Classic transition.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52705