Robert King Merton [b. 1910]
Robert King Merton was a sociologist who in 1949 developed "middle range" theory
David Meltzer [b. 1955]
Archaeologist and historian David Meltzer is still pretty young to have made the list of people given a glossary listing at About.com; but he has already made substantial contributions to the field primarily in his several articles on the history of archaeology.
James Mellaart [born 1925]
British archaeologist James Mellaart is best known for his work at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük
Betty Meggers [b. 1921]
American archaeologist Betty Meggers is probably best known for her extensive work conducted in association with her husband Clifford Evans in the South American continent
Ernst Mayr [b. 1904]
German ornithologist and paleontologist Ernst Mayr is probably best known for his seminal begun in the 1940s
Joyce Marcus
American archaeologist and epigrapher Joyce Marcus is perhaps best known for her work with the Zapotec civilization of central Mexico.
Max Mallowan [1904-1978]
English archaeologist Max Mallowan was a student of Leonard Woolley's, who excavated at Ur, Nimrud, and Nineveh
Richard Stockton MacNeish [1918-2001]
Richard S. MacNeish was a highly influential Mesoamericanist archaeologist, directing one of the earliest interdisciplinary excavations at several cave sites, known collectively as the Tehuacán Project, Mexico
William A. Longacre II [ born 1937]
American ethno-archaeologist William Longacre has had a long career in archaeology; he is probably best known for his early contributions to the study of ethnoarchaeology.
Willard Frank Libby [1908-1980]
Willard F. Libby was an American chemist who was part of the Manhattan Project during the 1940s
Claude Lévi-Strauss [born 1908]
French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss is still quite influential on archaeology today
Andre Leroi-Gourhan [1911-1986]
French archaeologist Andre Leroi-Gourhan is best known for his work on paleolithic rock art
Mary Nicol Leakey [1913-1996]
The English archaeologist and paleontologist Mary Douglas Nicol really began her career after meeting Louis Leakey in 1933.
Louis S. B. Leakey [1903-1972]
Born in Africa the son of English missionaries, Louis Leakey was, probably more than anyone else, the father of the paleontological research of human evolution.
G. H. Ralph von Koenigswald [1902-1982]
German paleontologist and geologist G.H. Ralph von Koenigswald is best known for his work on early primate ancestors of humans.
Patrick V. Kirch
American archaeologist P.V. Kirch has conducted extensive studies throughout Polynesia and Oceania
Kathleen Kenyon [1906-1978]
British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon is perhaps best known for excavating at Jericho.
Morton Fried: a brief definition
Highly influential American anthropologist Morton Fried argued that civilization must be gained through a series of steps
Kent V. Flannery [born 1934]
One of the "young turks" of the New Archaeology, Kent Flannery has concentrated on Mesoamerica, on the origins of agriculture in the Valley of Oaxaca.
Raymond William Firth [born 1901]
Anthropologist Raymond Firth, a New Zealander, concentrated his research, perhaps not terribly surprisingly, on the Maori peoples of New Zealand.
Franklin Fenenga [1917-1994]
American archaeologist Franklin Fenenga conducted archaeological research in California and the Great Plains and Missouri River basin.
Donald Johanson [b. 1943]
Paleontologist Donald Johanson is probably best known for his discovery of the Australopithecus afarensis hominid known as Lucy
Jesse Jennings [1909-1997]
Jesse Jennings was an American archaeologist, who spent most of his career in the American southwest and Great Basin,
Jean-François Jarrige
Present-day director of the Guimet Museum, Jean-François Jarrige has had a long productive career in archaeology
Glynn Ll. Isaac [1937-1985]
Archaeologist and paleontologist Glynn Isaac was a highly influential archaeologist and paleontologist.
Geoffrey Irwin
Geoffrey Irwin has been an influential leader in the archaeology of the Pacific islands.
John Gilbert Hurst [1927-2003]
British archaeologist John G. Hurst is considered one of the founders of Medieval archaeology
Ian Hodder [born 1949]
British archaeologist, and undoubtedly one of the most influential researchers of modern archaeology
Thor Heyerdahl [1914-2002]
Norwegian explorer and self-trained archaeologist, Thor Heyerdahl was a long time supporter of cross-oceanic diffusion theories
Jacquetta Hawkes [1910-1996]
British archaeologist, who firmly believed that archaeology was headed down the wrong path by over-emphasizing the pure science aspect.
Christopher Hawkes [died 1992]
British archaeologist and proponent of the explicit science of archaeology.
Emil Haury [1904-1992]
American archaeologist who pioneered archaeological investigations with geoscientists, and championed dendrochronology.
Stephen Jay Gould [1941-2002]
American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould was a phenomenal force for the popularization of hard science.
James Deetz [1930-2000]
American archaeologist James Deetz was quite influential in the anthropological study of historic archaeological sites.
David L. Clarke [1937-1976]
British archaeologist David Clarke was extremely influential for the length of time he had on earth, experimeting with computer modeling, statistical techniques.
J. Desmond Clark [1916-2002]
British archaeologist Desmond Clark spent the majority of his career investigating the prehistory of Africa.
Kwang-chih Chang [1931-2001]
Chinese-American K.C. Chang brought the archaeology of East Asia to the attention of the western world and is considered the father of Taiwanese archaeology.
Karl Butzer
American geoarchaeologist Karl Butzer has spent his career investigating the interface between the environment and ecology in archaeology.
C. K. Brain [born 1931]
Zimbabwean paleontologist C.K. Brain is a specialist on early hominids and how ancient cave deposits were formed.
Robert Braidwood [1907-2003]
American man of letters Robert J. Braidwood and his wife Linda Braidwood, spent their careers investigating the origins of agriculture in the near east.
Lewis Binford [b. 1930]
The quintessential "young turk" of the generation of archaeologists working after WWII, Lewis Binford revolutionized the field of archaeology in the 1960s.
Ignacio Bernal [1910-1992]
Mexican archaeologist Ignacio Bernal is perhaps best known for his work at the Zapotec site of Monte Alban.
George F. Bass
American archaeologist George Bass is considered the father of nautical archaeology.
Robert McCormick Adams, Jr. [b. 1926]
American archaeologist Robert McCormick Adams, Jr. is perhaps best known for his work in the near east, especially at Uruk.
Richard E. W. Adams [b. 1931]
American archaeologist in the Maya area; perhaps most influential work focused on the existence of craft specialists in the Maya culture.
