Thursday, January 25, 2001 Older Editions

Richard S. MacNeish

Richard Stockton "Scotty" MacNeish, of Andover, an archaeologist and longtime resident, died Wednesday, Jan. 17 in Belize from injuries suffered in a car accident. He was 82.

Mr. MacNeish, who was director of archaeology at Phillips Academy in Andover from 1962 to 1983, was known for his excavations throughout the Americas. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1974.

Last April, he received the Fryxell Award from the Society for American Archaeology in recognition of his work in interdisciplinary research.

Born and raised in Eastchester, N.Y., he was educated at Colgate and the University of Chicago, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1940, a master's degree in 1944 and a doctor of philosophy degree in 1949.

A field archaeologist, Mr. MacNeish began working in excavation in central New York, Monument Valley, Ariz., and northeast Mexico, as well as at sites in Illinois, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

In 1949, he became senior archaeologist at the National Museum of Canada and over the next dozen years directed fieldwork from the Maritimes to the Yukon. He also served as chairman of the department of archaeology at the University of Calgary from 1964 to 1968.

Much of Mr. MacNeish's work was conducted through the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology at Phillips Academy, where he was a member of the faculty. In 1960 Mr. MacNeish joined with Peabody Andover director Doug Byers and curator Fred Johnson to explore the origins of agriculture and complex societies in the Americas.

Initial work focused on the Tehuacan Valley in Mexico. Five seasons of fieldwork documented 12,000 years of cultural development and the process by which corn was domesticated. The Tehuacan Project is still considered one of the most significant interdisciplinary programs in 20th century American archaeology. During the 1970s, Mr. MacNeish focused similar research efforts in the Ayacucho Valley of Peru and in Belize.

After retiring from the museum in 1982, Mr. MacNeish taught briefly at Boston University and continued his research through the Andover Foundation for Archaeological Research. In 1993, Mr. MacNeish, along with colleagues from Beijing University and the Jiangxi Institute of Archaeology, investigated the origins of rice agriculture along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

He was a Golden Gloves boxing champion as an undergraduate.

Members of his family include his wife, Diana MacNeish; and sons Roderick and Alexander MacNeish.

Funeral services will be private. A memorial service is planned for this spring in Andover.