fuckyeaharchaeology:

Zelia Nuttall (1857-1933) was an American archaeologist who specialized in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican, and Pre-Aztec cultures in Mexico. As a child of wealthy socialites, she had the privilege of an extensive education within several countries in Europe. She developed an interest in Mexico and Mexican history at an early age, and moved to the country permanently in 1902.

Nuttall became a very accomplished Mesoamerican archaeologist and historian. For 47 years she served as Special Assistant of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard, and was named an Honorary Professor of Archaeology at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico. She was also a long time a member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Anthropology at the University of California. She published over 40 articles in the most prestigious anthropological journals 

Nuttall’s best known accomplishments was her work with Mixtec Manuscripts. She discovered the Codex Zouche-Nuttall a document which records the genealogies and military conquests of 11th and 12th century rulers in Oaxaca. The codex is one of sixteen Mexican manuscripts that are entirely pre-Columbian in origin, as well as the most complete. She also re-discovered the Aztec Codex Magliabechiano and the lost manuscripts from Sir Francis Drake’s exploration of the Bay of New Albion.  Additionally, it should be noted that Nuttall was among the first who recognized a pre-Aztec culture in Mexico, after having discovered several then-unfamiliar types of figurines under a stratum of lava near her own home. 

Zelia Nuttall was one of the most prominent pioneers of Mesoamerican archaeology and her publications

had considerable influence in attracting several students to the Mesoamerican field. Additionally, She was a passionate advocate of the idea that the current inhabitants of Mexico were descendants of the Aztecs, and oriented her archaeological work to contest prevailing evolutionist prejudices that defined the pre-Hispanic cultures as savages and barbarians. She was set about educating local peoples to preserve their own heritage. One of her indigenous proteges, Manuel Gamio, would go on to become Mexico’s most famous anthropologist.