Jerry Sabloff

{{Short description|American anthropologist}}

File:Sabloff 2011.jpgJeremy "Jerry" Arac Sabloff (born 1944) is an American anthropologist and past president of the Santa Fe Institute.{{cite web |url=http://www.santafe.edu/about/people/profile/Jeremy%20(Jerry)%20A.%20Sabloff |title=Jeremy Sabloff's profile/bio |publisher=Santa Fe Institute |accessdate=2013-04-14}} Sabloff is an expert on ancient Maya civilization and pre-industrial urbanism.{{cite book |first=Jeremy |last=Sabloff |title=The New Archaeology and the Ancient Maya |publisher=Scientific American Library, W. H. Freeman |year=1994 |url=http://isbndb.com/d/book/the_new_archaeology_and_the_ancient_maya_a01.html |accessdate=2013-04-14 |isbn=978-0716760078}}{{cite book |first=Jeremy |last=Sabloff |title=The Cities of Ancient Mexico |edition=Revised |publisher=Thames and Hudson |year=1997 |url=http://isbndb.com/d/book/the_cities_of_ancient_mexico.html |accessdate=2013-04-14 |isbn=978-0500279298}}{{cite book |editor1-first=Joyce |editor1-last=Marcus |editor2-first=Jeremy A. |editor2-last=Sabloff |title=The Ancient City: New Perspectives on Urbanism in the Old and New Worlds |publisher=School for Advanced Research Press |year=2008 |url=http://isbndb.com/d/book/the_ancient_city_a07.html |accessdate=2013-04-14 |isbn=978-1934691021}} His academic interests have included settlement pattern studies, archaeological theory and method, the history of archaeology,{{cite web|title=America's National Monuments: The Politics of Preservation: Bibliographic Essay |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/rothman/bibliography.htm |accessdate=2013-04-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023162101/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/rothman/bibliography.htm |archivedate=2012-10-23 }} the relevance of archaeology in the modern world,{{cite web |url=http://www.saa.org/Portals/0/SAA/Meetings/2011%20program/1-10.pdf |title=Program of the 76th Annual Meeting |publisher=Society for American Archaeology |accessdate=2013-04-14}} complexity theory, and trans-disciplinary science.{{cite web |url=https://www.sas.upenn.edu/series/frontiers/archaeology-matters |first=Priya |last=Ratneshwar |title=Archaeology Matters |publisher=University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences |work=SASFrontiers |accessdate=2013-04-14}}

Sabloff received his bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in 1969 from Harvard,{{cite web|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/sabloff_jeremy.html |title=Biography of Jeremy Sabloff |publisher=Minnesota State University, Mankato |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603175854/https://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/sabloff_jeremy.html |archivedate=June 3, 2010 }} where his doctoral supervisor was archaeologist Gordon Willey.{{cite book |editor1-first=William |editor1-last=Fash |editor2-first=Jeremy |editor2-last=Sabloff |title=Gordon R. Willey and American Archaeology |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2007 |url=http://isbndb.com/d/book/gordon_r_willey_and_american_archeology.html |accessdate=2013-04-14}}{{cite journal|first=Jeremy |last=Sabloff |title=Obituary of Gordon Randolph Willey |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=148 |issue=3 |date=September 2004 |url=http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/480314.pdf |pages=406–410 |accessdate=2013-04-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319173508/http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/480314.pdf |archivedate=2012-03-19 }}

He was the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as the Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum (1994–2004) and interim director of the museum (2006–2007). He also has taught at Harvard University, the University of Utah, the University of New Mexico (where he was chair of the Department of Anthropology), and the University of Pittsburgh (where he was chair of the Department of Anthropology). He retired as Santa Fe Institute president on July 31, 2015.

Sabloff is an outspoken proponent of science communication.National Academy of Sciences Online, [http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=interviews_Jeremy_Sabloff audio interview with Jeremy Sabloff], 2009 In 2010 he delivered the distinguished lecture at the American Anthropological Association's annual meeting, encouraging anthropologists to make their work accessible to their relevant publics and cultivate a new generation of scientist-communicators.[http://www.vimeo.com/17850878 Jeremy A. Sabloff, 2010, distinguished lecture at the American Anthropological Association's annual meeting]

Sabloff is past president of the Society for American Archaeology, a past anthropology section chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and past editor of American Antiquity.

He has served as chair of the Smithsonian Science Commission (2001–2003).{{Cite web |url=http://www.si.edu/sciencecommission/contact_us.htm |title=Smithsonian Science Commission Contacts |access-date=2011-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108084002/http://www.si.edu/sciencecommission/contact_us.htm |archive-date=2011-01-08 |url-status=dead }} He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences{{Cite web|title=Jeremy A. Sabloff|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/66190.html|access-date=2021-12-10|website=www.nasonline.org}} and the American Philosophical Society,{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Jeremy+A.+Sabloff&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-12-10|website=search.amphilsoc.org}} and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.{{Cite web|title=Jeremy Arac Sabloff|url=https://www.amacad.org/person/jeremy-arac-sabloff|access-date=2021-12-10|website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|language=en}} He also is a fellow of both the Society of Antiquaries, London, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

He is the author of Excavations at Seibal: Ceramics (1975), The Cities of Ancient Mexico (1989,1997), The New Archaeology and the Ancient Maya (1990), and Archaeology Matters (2008). He is co-author of A History of American Archaeology (1974, 1980, 1993), A Reconnaissance of Cancuen, Peten, Guatemala (1978), Ancient Civilizations: The Near East and Mesoamerica (1979, 1995), Cozumel: Late Maya Settlement Patterns (1984), and The Ancient Maya City of Sayil (1991). He has edited or co-edited 12 books, the most recent of which is (with Paula L.W. Sabloff) New Perspectives on the Development of Complex Societies (2018).

Sabloff resides in Pleasanton, CA. He is married to anthropologist Paula L.W. Sabloff.