Elizabeth Warder Crozer Campbell

Elizabeth Warder Campbell ( Crozer; August 11, 1893 – December 21, 1971) was an American archeologist, notable for proposing a much earlier date for the presence of humans in the desert Southwest than was generally accepted. She worked with her husband William (Bill) Campbell and first proposed that artifacts found along the shores of Lake Mojave and other Pleistocene lakes and rivers of the desert West were contemporaneous with the presence of water. They showed that there were virtually no sites that were not associated with archaic water sources. They hypothesized that the geologic features associated with the artifacts could be used to date the period of human habitation. This is the first use of what has become known as environmental archaeology.

Life Elizabeth Warder Crozer was the youngest of four daughters born to upper class parents: John Price Crozer II and Elizabeth Steger Warder Crozer of Upland, Pennsylvania. She was born on August 11, 1893, at the Crozer summer cottage in Beach Haven, New Jersey. When the elder John Crozer died the younger John Crozer inherited the mills and formed a partnership with his father under the name: S. A. Crozer and Son. When S. A Crozer died in 1910 John inherited coal companies, an iron and steel company, shares of a railroad and farms.

Campbell was schooled at home by a French tutor until age fourteen. In the fall of 1909 she began attending Miss Irwin's School (later the Agnes Irwin School) and graduated in 1911. Until World War II the education of most daughters of Philadelphia high society who attended Miss Irwin's ended at the secondary level. This was Campbell's last formal education.

Campbell married William (Bill) Campbell in May 1920. Bill had served in World War I and had been gassed two days before the armistice of November 11, 1918.

The Campbells maintained their residence in Twentynine Palms, and lived in a summer home on the shores of Lake Tahoe, near Glenbrook, Nevada, where Bill died in June 1944. After his death, Campbell sold the house in Twentynine Palms and moved to Carson City, Nevada, where she met and married Joe Cecil Turman. The marriage lasted a short time before it was annulled. During this time she also wrote a memoir about homesteading in Twentynine Palms, The Desert was Home. Campbell made a trip to Twentynine Palms for an event marking the publication of her book and made the decision to move back there. She remained in Twentynine Palms for the rest of her life.

Career in archaeology Campbell developed an interest in archaeology after she and Bill moved to Twentynine Palms. She began collecting arrowheads from nearby sand dunes while gathering firewood. When Bill McHaney, an old prospector who often visited their camp, told stories about Indian culture and caches of pottery, she listened and took notes. In 1932, the Campbells were appointed fellows in archaeology of the Southwest Museum and hosted a conference in Twentynine Palms on April 22–23 of that year.

In 1933, the Campbells began their investigation of Pinto Basin. The area is associated with an extinct river channel and a dry lake bed. Campbell began consulting with geologists and paleontologists at the California Institute of Technology. Geologist David Scharf authored the geological chapter of the Pinto Basin report in one of the first collaborations of geologists and archaeologists. The artifacts from Pinto Basin were associated with the dry stream channel known as Pinto Wash and the lake bed known as Palen Dry Lake. This suggested that these sites were occupied during the period of time when the desert was considerably wetter. Campbell believed that most ancient sites would be located in the Great Basin.

In 1936, Campbell published her seminal paper "Archaeological Problems in the Southern California Deserts" in which she outlined her hypothesis that associated prehistoric peoples with certain landforms. She believed a thorough study of the spatial relationships of artifact assemblages to the landscape would illuminate their chronology. where she wrote:

Noted archaeologists of the day disagreed with Campbell's interpretation and this rejection of her hypothesis continued into the 1950s. Malcolm Rogers' report contained a number of factual errors that were not recognized until the 1950s and 60s.

Legacy Archaeologists continue to study the Campbell collections house at Joshua Tree National Park and the Autry Museum, and they continue to revisit the sites they visited, collected and studied.

Elizabeth Crozer Campbell's contributions include: