[Aztlan] Carlos H. Aguilar P. (1917-2008)

[Hoopes, John W]

Dear Colleagues:

It is with great sadness that I pass along this news of the passing of one of the great archaeologists of our time:
 
http://nacion.com/ln_ee/2008/abril/01/aldea1480728.html <https://owa.ku.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://nacion.com/ln_ee/2008/abril/01/aldea1480728.html> 
 
Don Carlos, as he was fondly known, was awarded Costa Rica's prestigious Premio Magón in 2004:
 
http://www.mcjdcr.go.cr/magon/carlos_aguilar_piedra_2004.html <https://owa.ku.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.mcjdcr.go.cr/magon/carlos_aguilar_piedra_2004.html>  <https://owa.ku.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.aldia.cr/ad_ee/2005/enero/20/nacionales0.html> 
 
Carlos Aguilar P. had the distinction of receiving the first M.A. in anthropology ever awarded by UNAM (in Mexico) in the 1940s.  Around that time, he also was here at the University of Kansas, where he assisted Albert Spaulding with fieldwork at Pawnee sites in Nebraska.  Don Carlos, as he was affectionately known, later founded (together with María Eugenia Bozzoli de Wille--who had the distinction of receiving the first M.A. in anthropology at KU) the Department of Anthropology & Sociology at the University of Costa Rica.
 
Don Carlos is best known for having supervised the excavation, restoration, and declaration as a national monument of the archaeological site of Guayabo de Turrialba.  As you can note from his bibliography, he remained active and continued to publish into his 80s.  He had a lifelong fascination with shamanism, and was well known for discourses on ancient Costa Rica ahamans long before the topic became de rigeur in Mesoamerican studies.  It was a great privilege to know him.  I dedicated my recent publication on trophy heads to him in honor of his having first published on the subject over fifty years ago.

Don Carlos was a regular visitor to the Archaeology Lab at the UCR and was well known as a wise elder by three generations of Costa Rican archaeologists.  A contemporary of Gordon Willey, he was the principal national archaeologist of Costa Rica for most of his career.

Those who knew him count themselves fortunate.  He had a large and close family in his home city of Cartago. He had a rich and full life, which is something to celebrate.

Here is a brief (and incomplete) professional bibliography of this distinguished grandfather of Costa Rican archaeology:

1946 La orfebrería en el México precortesiano. Acta Antropología 2, No. 2, México.

1952 El complejo de las cabezas trofeo en la etnología costarricense. Universidad de Costa Rica, San José.

1953 Retes, un depósito arqueológico en las faldas de Irazú. Editorial Universitario 5, San José.

1958 Retes: un depósito arqueológico en las faldas de Irazú. Imprenta Trejos, San José.

1965 Religión y magia entre los indios de Costa Rica de origen sureño. Universidad de Costa Rica. Serie Historia y Geografía.

1969 El juego de pelota en la Gran Nicoya. Revista de la Universidad de Costa Rica 26:35- 38.

1970 Estado actual dela investigación en Guayabo de Turrialba. Paper presented at the 39th International Congress of Americanists, Lima.

1972a Colección de objetos indígenas de oro del Banco Central. Serie Historía y Geografía 13, Universidad de Costa Rica.

1972b Contribución al estudio de las secuencias culturales en el área central de Costa Rica. Universidad de Costa Rica, Depto. de Ciencias del Hombre, San Pedro de Montes de Oca.

1972c Guayabo de Turrialba; arqueología de un sitio indígena prehispánico. Editorial Costa Rica. San José.

1973 Contribution to the study of cultural sequences in the Central Area of Costa Rica. In Cultural Continuity in Mesoamerica, D. Browman (ed.), pp. 387-411. Mouton, The Hague.

1974a Asentamientos indígenas en el Area Central de Costa Rica. América Indígena 34(2):311- 317. México, D.F.

1974b Contribución al estudio de las secuencias culturales en el área central de Costa Rica. Trabajo presentado al IX Congreso Internacional de Ciencias Antropológicas y Etnológicas. Chicago.

1974c El Molino: un sitio de la fase Pavas en Cartago. Vínculos 1(1):18-56. San José.

1974d Un monolito zoomorfo en el parque arqueológico de Guayabo de Turrialba. Informe Semestral, July-December. Instituto Geográfico Nacional, San José.

1976 Relaciones de las culturas precolombinas en el Intermontano Central de Costa Rica. Vínculos 2(1):75-77.

1977 Introduction to the Archaeology of the Arenal Volcano Area: Tephrastratigraphy and Cultural Sequences. National Geographic Society Research Reports, 1977 Projects, pp. 95-107. Washington, D.C.

1980 Presencia temprano del cobre en el Intermontano Central de Costa Rica. En: La antropología americanista en la actualidad. 1:363-367. Editores Mexicanos Unidos.

1981 Parques arqueológicos en el Area Intermedia: estudio de dos casos; Guayabo de Turrialba en Costa Rica y El Caño en Coclé, Panamá. In Arqueología de rescate. The Preservation Press, Washington, D.C.

1984 Introducción a la arqueología de la región del Volcán Arenal: Tefraestratigrafía y secuencia cultural. Anales de la Academia de Geografía e Historia de Costa Rica 1979-1980-1981-1982, pp. 55-87. Imprenta Nacional. San José, Costa Rica. 

1996  Los usékares de oro.  Fundación Museos Banco Central, San José, Costa Rica. 

2003 El Jade y el chamán.   Editorial Tecnolo?gica de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica.

John Hoopes