Vaillant, George Clapp [key], 1901–45, American archaeologist, b. Boston; grad. Harvard (B.A., 1922; Ph.D., 1927). At the American Museum of Natural History he became associate curator (1930) and honorary curator (1941) of Mexican archaeology, and later he served (1941–45) as director of the Univ. of Pennsylvania museum. He carried out archaeological expeditions in the Southwest (1921–22, 1922–25), in Egypt (1923–24), and in Central America (1926, 1928–36). During World War II he organized archaeological programs throughout Latin America. Vaillant was known for his reconstruction of the early stages of Mexican culture and for his synthesis of Aztec history, presented in popular form in The Aztecs in Mexico (1944). His other writings include numerous monographs on Middle American excavations and Indian Arts in North America (1939).
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