Ross T. Christensen
{{short description|American archaeologist}}
Ross Taylor Christensen (August 28, 1918 – January 12, 1990){{cite news | title=Death: Ross Taylor Christensen | date=January 14, 1990 | work=Deseret News | location=Salt Lake City, Utah | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/81399/DEATH--ROSS-TAYLOR-CHRISTENSEN.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018140746/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/81399/DEATH--ROSS-TAYLOR-CHRISTENSEN.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 18, 2012 | accessdate=2009-09-10}} was an American archeologist.
Biography
Christensen was born in Preston, Idaho to Henry Oswald Christensen and Nettie Lavina Taylor Christensen. His father was a teacher at what is today Brigham Young University-Idaho. From 1939-1942 Christensen served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Brazil. He later served in the United States military in the European Theatre of World War II. In 1947 he married Ruth Richardson Morris in the Mesa LDS Temple. They had two sons and seven daughters.
Christensen received his bachelor's degree in archeology from Brigham Young University (BYU). He also received a master's degree from BYU and studied for two years towards a Ph.D. at Yale University, but then transferred to the University of Arizona where he completed his Ph.D.
From 1952-1979 Christensen was a professor of archeology at BYU. He was a popular teacher and BYU Education Week speaker. He was also closely connected with the Society for Early Historic Archaeology, which he headed after his retirement from BYU. Among Christensen's assistants while in this position was Michael T. Griffith.
In 1985 Christensen wrote a long paper with John A. Tvedtnes entitled "Ur of the Chaldeans: Increasing Evidence on the Birthplace of Abraham and the Original Homeland of the Hebrews".
Among his callings in the LDS Church, Christensen was a counselor to a Bishop in Orem, Utah.
Notes
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References
- [http://biblioteca.universia.net/html_bura/ficha/params/id/44536263.html report connected with BYU collection of Christensen papers]
- [http://www.shields-research.org/General/SEHA/SEHA_Intro.htm History of the Society of Early Historical Archaeology]
External links
- [http://lib.byu.edu/EAD/XML/MSS1716.xml Register of the Ross T. Christensen Collection, 1891-1992]
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Category:People from Preston, Idaho
Category:American Mormon missionaries in Brazil
Category:20th-century Mormon missionaries
Category:20th-century American educators
Category:American military personnel of World War II
Category:Brigham Young University alumni
Category:Brigham Young University faculty
Category:People from Orem, Utah
Category:University of Arizona alumni
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:Latter Day Saints from Idaho