John Edward Terrell
Curator
Integrative Research Center
The Department of Anthropology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago collects, safeguards, and investigates the arts, crafts, and other sources of information testifying in unmistakable and often remarkable ways to how creative human beings are, and always have been, everywhere on earth.
Our collections are material witness to both the reality and rich textures of our ancient and modern human diversity.
They also serve today as an enduring and inspiring heritage resource for many people in many lands throughout the world.
The Pacific anthropology collections at the Field Museum are among the finest and most informative in any museum or comparable institution.
Numbering over 65,000cataloged items, these collections richly document life, history, and human originality throughout the far-flung Pacific Islands, and Australia.
Additional Information
Education
A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Harvard
Recent publications:
John Edward Terrell (2006). Human biogeography: Evidence of our place in nature. Journal of Biogeography 33: 2088-2098.
John Edward Terrelland Esther M. Schechter (2007). Deciphering the Lapita code: The Aitape ceramic sequence and the late survival of the "Lapita face." CambridgeArchaeological Journal 17: 59-84.
John Edward Terrell (2007). The rudiments of agriculture and domestication. CambridgeArchaeological Journal 17: 100-102.
John Edward Terrell (2007). (Review of) Archaeology in Oceania: Australia and the Pacific Islands edited by Ian Lilley. Journal of Anthropological Research 63:291-293.
John Edward Terrell (2007). (Review of) The People of the Sea: Environment, Identity, and History in Oceania, by Paul D’Arcy. The Contemporary Pacific 19:638-640.
John Edward Terrell, Désirée C. J. Wisse, and Christopher J. Philipp (2008). Ruatepupuke II – the past and possible future. In: Decolonising Conservation: Caring for Maori Meeting Houses outside New Zealand, edited by Dean Sully, pp. 89-109. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek.
Kevin O. Pope and John Edward Terrell (2008). Environmental setting of human migrations in the circum-Pacific region. Journal of Biogeography 35: 1-21.
John Edward Terrell (2008). Islands and the average Joe. Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology 3: 77-82.
John Edward Terrell (2008). (Review of) The Archaeology of Islands, by Paul Rainbird. Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology 3: 154-158.
John Edward Terrelland John Hart (2008). Domesticated landscapes. In: Handbook of Landscape Archaeology, edited by Bruno David and Julian Thomas, pp. 328-332. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek.
John Edward Terrell (2008). Island biogeography: Implications and applications for archaeology. In: Handbook of Landscape Archaeology, edited by Bruno David and Julian Thomas, pp. 141-148. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek.
John Edward Terrell (2008). Domesticated landscapes of the prehistoric Northeast. In: Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany II, edited by John P. Hart, pp. 199-204. Bulletin 512. Albany, NY: New York State Museum.
John Edward Terrell and Esther M. Schechter (2009). The meaning and importance of the Lapita face motif. Archaeology in Oceania 44: 45-55.
John Edward Terrell (2009). Return to the entangled bank: Deciphering the Lapita cultural series. In:Lapita: Ancestors and Descendants, edited by P. J. Sheppard, T. Thomas, and G. R. Summerhayes, pp. 255-269. Monograph 28. New Zealand Archaeological Association, Auckland.
John Edward Terrell (2009). (Review of) Biology Unmoored: Melanesian Reflections on Life and Biotechnology, by Sandra Bamford. Journal of Anthropological Research 65: 151-152.
John Edward Terrell (2009). (Review of) Oceanic Explorations: Lapita and Western Pacific Settlement, edited by Stuart Bedford, Christophe Sand, and Sean P. Connaughton. Archaeology in Oceania 44: 42.
John Edward Terrell (2009). (Review of) From Southeast Asia to the Pacific: Archaeological Perspectives on the Austronesian Expansion and the Lapita Cultural Complex, edited by Scarlett Chiu and Christophe Sand; Oceanic Explorations: Lapita and Western Pacific Settlement, edited by Stuart Bedford, Christophe Sand, and Sean P. Connaughton. Journal of Field Archaeology 34: 364-366.
John Edward Terrell (2010). Social network analysis of the genetic structure of Pacific Islanders. Annals of Human Genetics 74: 211-232.
John Edward Terrell (2010). Primeras migraciones: La expansión Lapita. In: Moana: Culturas de las Islas del Pacífico, edited by Carlos Mondragon, pp. 27-30. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
Christopher James Philipp (2010). Las colecciones del Pacifíco del Museo Field. In: Moana: Culturas de las Islas del Pacífico, edited by Carlos Mondragón, pp. 109-120. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
John Edward Terrell (2010). Language and material culture on the Sepik coast of Papua New Guinea: Using social network analysis to simulate, graph, identify, and analyze social and cultural boundaries between communities. Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology 5:3-32.
John Edward Terrell (2010). (Review of) The Evolutionary Archaeology of Ceramic Diversity in Ancient Fiji, by Ethan E. Cochrane. Archaeology in Oceania 45: 46.
Mark Golitko, James Meierhoff, and John Edward Terrell (2010). Chemical characterization of sources of obsidian from the Sepik coast (PNG). Archaeology in Oceania 45: 120-129.
John Edward Terrell (2011). Recalibrating Polynesian Prehistory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 18 January 2011, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1019904108.