William A Longacre, III
TUCSON, Ariz. – Willam Atlas Longacre, III was born on December 17, 1937, and passed away on November 18, 2015.
Dr. William Longacre, Houghton native, eminent archaeologist and former Head of Anthropology 1990 to 1998 at the University of Arizona, has died after a brief illness.
Longacre spent most of his professional career at UA beginning in 1964, culminating in his appointment as the Fred A. Riecker Distinguished Professor 1998-2004. He received his baccalaureate degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1959, and his doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1963.
Longacre helped propel the so-called New Archaeology of the 1960s into departments of Anthropology and major journals and books.
Among Bill Longacre’s contributions to this transformation of American archaeology, was his 1970 monograph, Anthropology as Archaeology: A Case Study. In this novel analysis of archaeological remains, he reconstructed aspects of social organization at the Carter Ranch Pueblo, a 13th century community in Arizona. Longacre went on to direct the UA Archaeological Field School at Grasshopper Pueblo, Arizona, 1968 to 1979, supervised more than 20 doctorates in archaeology at UA, and in 1973 initiated a long term ethno-archaeological research program among the Kalinga of northern Luzon, Philippines.
During his career, Longacre published nine volumes and authored another 60 papers. He held a long term, 1978 to 2008, visiting appointment at the University of the Philippines where he taught regularly, fostered the emerging archaeology program and mentored a large number of Filipino students.
Throughout his life, Bill Longacre was known for his sense of humor, graciousness and generosity. Longacre’s career demonstrated the integration of archaeology and anthropology and the productive interaction between teaching and research.
A graveside service is tentatively planned for May 21, 2016, at Forest Hill Cemetery.
To view William’s obituary or to send condolences to his family, please visit memorialchapel.net
The Memorial Chapel & Plowe Funeral Homes are assisting the family with the arrangements.
