Renowned Archaeologist Uncovers New Book at SMU

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By Rita Zech

rzech@smu.edu

“Desert Days: My Life as a Field Archaeologist,” by Fred Wendorf is an interesting memoir of his life as a world-wide archaeological adventurer.

In his book, Wendorf writes about the contributions of his excavations to the discoveries of American, European, Middle Eastern, and African archaeological history.

Joanne Pratt said “He’s a brilliant man, fascinating human body, and it’s a pleasure to hear of his work.”

Pratt, a long time friend of Wendorf, has also had the pleasure of participating in informal talks around the dinner table and couldn’t pass up a chance to hear him speak again.

The book signing and lecture took place in the DeGolyer Library on the SMU campus in the Stanley Marcus Reading Room, where an unexpected standing room only crowd poured out the door because seating fell short.

Dr. James E. Brooks gave the audience an impressive history of Fred Wendorf in his introduction and said Wendorf’s accomplishments are diverse and impressive.

The archaeologist is known for pioneering pipe-line archaeology while working with the Santa Fe Pipeline, and also for identifying archaeological sites for highways and made an important contribution to the American Southwest and SMU for his “salvage” archaeology.

Wendorf conducted archaeological surveys and excavations in areas threatened by development in order to preserve history.

Without the completion of surveys in a quick and timely manner, many areas of development may have covered up answers to questions about the world’s historical past.

Wendorf is also known for introducing legislation for preserving shipwrecks.

Bander Alashab, an international student from Saudi Arabia, was interested in attending Wendorf’s lecture because he wanted to listen and learn about some popular people in America.

“I wanted to learn about Fred Wendorf, his history and his background,” said Alashab.

Alashab attended the lecture with other members of his class and left with great satisfaction about what he learned.

Wendorf joined SMU’s faculty in 1964 and contributed to the production and development of the campus in SMU-in-Taos, where a variety of courses are offered ranging from humanities to the arts. Archaeological and anthropological research is also conducted there.

The National Academy of Sciences named Wendorf as a member in 1987. He was the first SMU faculty member to acquire such an honor.

Wendorf said, “There are volumes of knowledge the world would never have had without archaeology.”