Anna Curtenius Roosevelt

Anna Curtenius Roosevelt (born 1946) is an American archaeologist and Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research focuses on human evolution and long-term interactions between humans and environments. Roosevelt is recognized as one of the primary American archaeologists investigating Paleoindian presence in the Amazon basin. Her fieldwork has yielded significant archaeological findings at Marajo Island and Caverna da Pedra Pintada in Brazil. Additionally, she has conducted field research in the Congo Basin.

Roosevelt is a great-granddaughter of United States President Theodore Roosevelt. She is the daughter of Quentin Roosevelt II and Frances Blanche Webb. Her grandparent was General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., and her sisters are Susan Roosevelt Weld and Alexandra Roosevelt Dworkin.

Her interest in archaeology was influenced by her mother, with inspiration stemming from reading and a trip to Mesa Verde, leading her to pursue the field from the age of nine. Roosevelt graduated from Foxcroft School, an all-girls boarding school in Virginia, in 1964. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, Classics, and Anthropology from Stanford University in 1968. She earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University in 1977.

Between 1975 and 1985, Roosevelt worked as a curator at the Museum of the American Indian. She served as a guest curator at the American Museum of Natural History from 1985 to 1989 and was later a curator of archaeology at the Field Museum of Natural History. Her early fieldwork included projects in the Andes mountains of Peru, as well as in Mexico and Venezuela.

In 1991, Roosevelt published "Moundbuilders of the Amazon: Geophysical Archaeology on Marajo Island, Brazil," which detailed her research on the pre-Columbian Marajoara culture conducted throughout the 1980s. Her team utilized remote sensing geophysical surveys combined with excavations on Marajo Island, located near the mouth of the Amazon River. Roosevelt challenged the prevailing notion that the pre-Columbian Amazon was unable to support complex societies, arguing that it was an indigenous cultural achievement characterized by substantial population, intensive agriculture, and public works. Her findings sparked ongoing debates and prompted further research in South American archaeology.

From 1990 to 1992, Roosevelt led excavations at the Painted Rock Cave (Caverna da Pedra Pintada) near Monte Alegre in Pará, Brazil. The cave hosts ancient rock paintings, including handprints, human and animal figures, and geometric patterns. Dating suggests these artworks are among the earliest in the Western Hemisphere. Her research uncovered evidence of human habitation dating back approximately 10,000 to 11,000 years, indicating early occupation much older than previously documented. She identified projectile points and transported plant seeds from distant areas, illustrating diverse subsistence strategies, contrasting with the big-game hunting cultures of the earliest Americans. Additionally, she found 7,500-year-old pottery, making it one of the oldest ceramic finds in the Americas and implying a reevaluation of theories regarding migration and cultural development in the region.

Currently, Roosevelt continues fieldwork at various sites in Brazil, including underwater locations in the middle Xingu River, studying Paleoindian activities in Amazonian interfluves. Her research scope has also expanded to include archaeological work in the Congo Basin, focusing on preceramic sites such as those in Bayanga, Central African Republic.

Roosevelt has received numerous honors and awards throughout her career. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded the Explorers Medal and the Gold Medal from the Society of Woman Geographers. Brazil has conferred upon her the Order of Rio Branco and the Bettendorf Medal. In 1988, she was awarded a five-year fellowship from the MacArthur Fellows Program. She holds honorary doctorates from Mount Holyoke College and Northeastern University and has received the University Scholar and Distinguished Professor awards from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright Commission, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the university itself.

Selected published works include "Ancient Civilizations of the Amazon" (2021, co-authored with Alexandre Guida Navarro), articles on Amazon paleoenvironment and early human migration patterns, as well as contributions to studies on prehistoric societies and rock art in South America.