National Anthropological Archives

Guide to the Phillip Walker papers, 1969-2008, undated

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.2014-08
Creators:
Walker, Phillip L., 1947-2009
Dates:
1969-2008, undated
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
34.75 Linear feet
71 boxes, 1 map-folder
Repository:
The Phillip Walker papers document his research and professional activities from 1969-2008 and primarily deal with his bioarchaeological research in California and his studies of primate feeding behavior and dentition. His involvement in issues surrounding the repatriation of Native American human remains, forensic work for public agencies dealing with human remains, and writings are also represented. The collection consists of research and project files, raw data and analysis, graphs and illustrations, photographs, and dental impressions.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The Phillip Walker papers document his research and professional activities from 1969-2008 and undated and primarily deal with with his bioarchaeological research in California and his studies of primate feeding behavior and dentition. The collection consists of research and project files, raw data and analysis, graphs and illustrations, photographs, x-rays, and dental impressions.
Material documenting his involvement in issues surrounding the repatriation of human skeletal remains, forensic work for public agencies, and writings are also represented. There is limited material regarding the courses he taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara and his other research on pinniped butchering methods, an archaeological project in Mosfell, Iceland, and a project in the Aral Sea region.

Arrangement

Arrangement
This collection is arranged in 7 series: Series 1. California projects and research, 1969-2003, undated; Series 2. Primate research, 1970-1988, 1997, undated; Series 3. Forensic work, 1980-2003, undated; Series 4. Repatriation work, 1987-1999; Series 5. Writings and academic material, 1974-2008, undated; Series 6. Other research, 1976-circa 2008, undated; Series 7. Slides, 1969-1998, undated.

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Phillip L. Walker was a leading physical anthropologist and bioarchaeologist and a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Born in 1947 in Elkhart, Indiana, Walker graduated from the University of Chicago in 1973 with a Ph.D. in Anthropology. His doctoral work focused on the feeding behavior of great apes and included field work at the Yerkes Regional Primate Center in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1975, he completed field work in Guatemala studying the behavior of free-ranging New World monkeys.
Walker began teaching at UCSB in 1974 and became fascinated with the "enormous archaeological heritage of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands region, and the native peoples who occupied it." He started a research program on the bioarchaeology of the region and collaborated with other scholars as well as the Chumash community in the region. He "struck up a positive dialog with the Chumash tribe, developed friendships, and pioneered the notion that the living descendant community is a crucial player in research and learning about the past."
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Walker was active in the development and implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). He was a founding member of the U.S. Department of the Interior's NAGPRA review committee and the Smithsonian Institution's Native American Repatriation Review Committee.
In the late 1990s Walker was instrumental in launching the Global History of Health Project which focused on the investigation of regional and continental patterns of health and lifestyle through the study of human remains. In addition, he was the co-director of an archaeological project excavating a Viking settlement in Mosfell, Iceland and volunteered his forensic services to public agencies in California and Nevada.
Over the course of his career Walker authored more than 200 scholarly articles and reports. He died in 2009 at his home in Goleta, CA.
Source consulted: Larsen, Clark Spencer and Patricia M. Lambert. 2009. "Obituary: Phillip Lee Walker, 22 July 1947- 6 February 2009."
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
. 141:1-2
Chronology
1947
Born on July 22 in Elkhart, Indiana
Summer 1966
Archaeological fieldwork, Atlas, Illinois (Director, field laboratories in Human Osteology)
September 1969
Archaeological fieldwork, Northwestern Hudson Bay Tule Expedition, Northwest Territories, Canada
1970
B.A. Indiana University (Anthropology, minor in Zoology)
Summer 1970
Dental anthropological fieldwork, International Biological Program (Eskimo villages in Northern Alaska)
March 1971
Dental anthropological fieldwork, Gila River Indian Reservation (Pima), Arizona
1971
M.A. University of Chicago (Anthropology)
Summer 1971, Spring 1973
Primate Behavioral Research, Yerkes Regional Primate Center, Atlanta, Georgia
1973
Ph.D. University of Chicago (Anthropology)
1974
Lecturer, University of California, Davis
1974-2009
Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara
Summer 1975
Field study of the behavior of free-ranging New World monkeys in Guatemala
Summer 1982
Archaeological fieldwork, San Miguel Island
1991-1992
Chairman, Society for American Archaeology Task Force on Repatriation
1992-1997
Member, Department of the Interior Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Review Committee
Summer 1995
Archaeological fieldwork, Mosfell, Iceland
Fall 1996
Archaeological fieldwork, San Miguel Island
1998-2002
Advisor then Co-Chair, Society for American Archaeology Task Force on Repatriation
Summer 1999
Archaeological fieldwork, Mosfell, Iceland
2000-2002
Vice President, American Association of Physical Anthropologists
August 2000
Cemetery excavation, Vandenberg Air Force Base
August 2001
Cemetery excavation, Chatsworth, CA
Summer 2001-2007
Cemetery excavation, Mosfell, Iceland
2003-2005
President, American Association of Physical Anthropologists
2003-2009
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Summer 2006
Archaeological excavations, San Miguel Island
2009
Died on February 6 in Goleta, CA

Administration

Author
Katie Duvall
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation.
Processing Information
The collection arrived at the National Anthropological Archives in 2014 after being stored in Walker's offices at home and at the University of California, Santa Barbara since his death in 2009. Where present, original folder titles have been retained. All others were derived by the archivist.
Processed and encoded by Katie Duvall, 2015
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Phillip Walker's wife, Cynthia Brock, in 2014.
Separated Materials
Seven rolls of 16mm film (100' each), 3 rolls of Super 8mm film (50' each), and one small roll of Super 8mm film of primate behavior were transferred to the Human Studies Film Archive (accession number 2014-013).

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Conditions Governing Access
The Phillip Walker papers are open for research.
Requests to view forensic files are subject to review by the NAA. Forensic files can only be viewed in the National Anthropological Archives reading room. No copies are permitted unless permission is granted by the agency the report was written for.
Access to the Phillip Walker papers requires an appointment.
Preferred Citation
Phillip Walker papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

More Information

Selected bibliography

Selected bibliography
1973.
Great ape feeding behavior and incisor morphology
. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago.
1976. "Wear striations on the incisors of ceropithecid monkeys as an index of diet and habitat preference".
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
. 45 (2): 299-307.
1978. "A quantitative analysis of dental attrition rates in the Santa Barbara Channel area".
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
. 48 (1): 101-106.
with Craig, Steven, Daniel Guthrie, and Roderick Moore. 1978.
An ethnozoological analysis of faunal remains from four Santa Barbara Channel Island archaeological sites
. Santa Barbara, California: Phillip L. Walker.
with Snethkamp, Pandora E., and Jeffery Serena. 1984.
Final report, archaeological investigations on San Miguel Island--1982
. Santa Barbara, Calif: Office of Public Archaeology, Social Process Research Institute, University of California.
1986. "Porotic hyperostosis in a marine-dependent California Indian population".
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
. 69 (3): 345-354.
1989. "Cranial injuries as evidence of violence in prehistoric southern California".
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
. 80 (3): 313-323.
with Hudson, Travis. 1993.
Chumash healing: changing health and medical practices in an American Indian society
. Banning, CA (11-795 Fields Road, Morongo Indian Reservation, Banning 92220): Malki Museum Press.
1996. "Facing creationist challenges".
The Lancet
. 348 (9039): 1397-1398.
1996.
Malibu human skeletal remains: a bioarchaeological analysis.
with Collins Cook, Della, and Patricia M Lambert. 1997. "Skeletal Evidence for Child Abuse: A Physical Anthropological Perspective".
Journal of Forensic Sciences
.42 (2): 196.
with Hagen, Edward H. 1998.
Human evolution a multimedia guide to the fossil record
. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton.
2001. "A Bioarchaeological Perspective on the History of Violence".
Annual Review of Anthropology
. 30 (1): 573-596.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chumash Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Field notes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Archaeology Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Anthropologists -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Forensic anthropology Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manuscripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Physical anthropology Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Primates Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Santa Barbara (Calif.) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Channel Islands (Calif.) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pinnipedia Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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