About Geoffrey Bushnell
Lived 1903 – 1978 (aged 75). Geoffrey Bushnell was a British anthropologist and archaeologist.
Geoffrey Hext Sutherland Bushnell, FBA (31 May 1903 – 26 December 1978) was a British archaeologist. Career He was head of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge 1948–1970 and fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, since 1963. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman and was educated at Wellington College and Downing College, Cambridge, where he took his BA in Natural Science in 1925, specialising in geology. His interest lay in ancient America and he pursued it by becoming an oil geologist in Ecuador with Anglo-Ecuadorian Oilfields, for whom he worked from 1926 to 1938. His spare-time fieldwork formed the basis of his PhD thesis, awarded in 1948. After serving during the War with the Lincolnshire Regiment and the Royal Engineers, he became in 1948, Curator of Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, which he remained until he retired in 1970. He was elected a Fellow of Corpus Christi College in 1963, became Reader in New World Archaeology in 1966, and was elected FBA in 1970. He married Patricia Louise Egerton Bushnell, née Ruck (5 February 1912 – 5 April 2009) in 1936, and they are buried together in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.
Publications 1951: Archaeology of the Santa Elena Peninsula, South-West Ecuador 1956: Peru (Ancient Peoples and Places) 1965: Ancient Arts of the Americas 1968: The First Americans
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Important facts
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Geoffrey Bushnell?
British archaeologist
When was Geoffrey Bushnell born?
Geoffrey Bushnell was born on 31 May 1903.
When did Geoffrey Bushnell die?
Geoffrey Bushnell died on 26 December 1978 in Cambridge.
What was Geoffrey Bushnell's occupation?
Geoffrey Bushnell was an anthropologist and archaeologist.
What nationality was Geoffrey Bushnell?
Geoffrey Bushnell was British.
Sources & further reading
· Wikipedia: Geoffrey Bushnell
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APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Geoffrey Bushnell. https://biography.guide/geoffrey-bushnell/
MLA: "Geoffrey Bushnell." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/geoffrey-bushnell/.
Chicago: "Geoffrey Bushnell." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/geoffrey-bushnell/.
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