Junius Bird

{{Short description|American archaeologist}}

File:Junius B. Bird.jpg

Junius Bouton Bird (1907–1982), born in Rye, New York, was an American archaeologist who was appointed curator of South American Archaeology at the American Museum of Natural History in 1934.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/briefexpeditioni00amer|title = A brief expedition into science at the American Museum of Natural History|year = 1969}} His contributions to the study of ecology, climate, and pre-Columbian archaeology earned him several awards including: The Viking Fund Medal for Archaeology (1956) and The Order of "El sol de Peru" (1974).{{Cite book|last=Bird|first=Junius|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/255083620|title=Travels and archaeology in South Chile|date=2005|publisher=Univ. of Iowa Press|isbn=1-58729-343-9|location=Iowa City, IA|pages=XV|oclc=255083620}} With his excavations e.g. at Fell Cave in the late 1930s Bird was one of the pioneers of Patagonian archaeology and contributed to the investigation of the earliest settlement of the Americas. His wife, Margaret McKelvy Bird, accompanied him on a number of expeditions and was a close co-worker throughout their life together.{{Cite web |date=2014 |title=Margaret McKelvy Bird |url=https://trowelblazers.com/2014/05/09/margaret-mckelvy-bird/ |access-date=2023-03-12 |website=Trowelblazers |language=en-GB}}

In 1961 he was elected as the president of the Society for American Archaeology.{{Cite news|last=Chira|first=Susan|date=1982-04-04|title=Junius Bird, 74, Archeologist; an Expert on South America|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/04/obituaries/junius-bird-74-archeologist-an-expert-on-south-america.html|access-date=2020-05-31|issn=0362-4331}} He studied at Columbia College and was in the class of 1930.{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/ldpd_12981092_024|title=Columbia College Today|date=Fall 1982|publisher=Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development|others=Columbia University Libraries|location=New York|pages=52}}

Bird has been cited as a possible real-life inspiration for the fictional movie character Indiana Jones.[http://www.archaeology.org/0805/trenches/indy.html] Indy Spirit Awards, Archaeology Magazine, May/June 2008