Hannah Marie Wormington

Hannah Marie Wormington (September 5, 1914 – May 31, 1994) was an American archaeologist known for her writings and fieldwork on southwestern and Paleo-Indians archaeology over a long career that lasted almost sixty years.

Marie Wormington was born in Denver, Colorado, to Charles Watkin Wormington and Adrienne Roucolle. As a young child Wormington was able to spend most of her time with her mother and her maternal grandmother who had come to the United States from France. Being fluent in both English and French proved to be a useful asset the summer she went to France to start her archaeology career. Wormington was the first woman to focus on anthropology at Radcliffe. This was during the era in American archaeology when that there was a bias against women being included in some departments and in some parts of the country. While taking classes at Harvard for her Ph.D. she had a professor who requested that she sit outside the classroom to take notes. Before obtaining her Ph.D., Wormington already had an accomplished career in anthropology, which began in 1935 after she graduated with her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Denver. Her initial areas of interest were medicine and zoology, but changed to archaeology after taking a few classes taught by E. B. Renaud, whose focus was on the French Paleolithic. He supported the idea of Paleolithic stone tool technologies in the New World that were identical to other parts of the world. Renaud suggested traveling to France to do some research.

Wormington earned a B.A. of Anthropology at University of Denver in 1935, a M.A. of Anthropology at Radcliffe College in 1950, and a Ph.D. of Anthropology at Radcliffe (Harvard University) in 1954.

Wormington jump started her own career through the connections she made by contacting Dorothy Garrod as soon as she was in London. Garrod became a mentor to Wormington, and she put her in touch with some notable archaeologists working in Paris at the time, including Harper Pat Kelley and Henri Martin. While working alongside Kelley, Wormington was allowed to borrow artifacts found in Europe for data collection at the Denver Museum. Martin insisted that Wormington be a part of the Paleolithic excavations taking place at Dordogne, and Wormington spent her 21st birthday doing just that. After returning home to her native Denver, she was hired on at the Colorado Museum of Natural History (known today as the Denver Museum of Nature & Science) in the anthropology department until it closed in 1968, thus her appointment as a curator spanned 33 years. Because of her background as one of the foremost authorities on the subject of Paleo Indian studies, the museum was able to establish a formidable reputation. While working at the museum and before obtaining her MA and Ph.D. Wormington wrote Ancient Man in North America as well as Prehistoric Indians of the South West' '.

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