John L. Cotter

John L. Cotter
Born	6 December 1911 Denver, Colorado
Died	5 February 1999
Known for	Contributions to American archaeology

John Lambert Cotter (6 December 1911 – 5 February 1999) was an American archaeologist whose career spanned more than sixty years and included archaeological work with the Works Progress Administration, numerous posts with the National Park Service, and contributions to the development of historical archaeology in the United States.

Cotter was born in Denver, Colorado to John Aloysius Cotter and Bertha Becker Cotter. He spent his childhood in Colorado, Washington, Montana and California, due to the nature of his father's job. He graduated from one of the Denver's high school and attended the University of Denver where he worked for the National Youth Administration, and tutored students in geology, expecting that he would study English and pursue a career in journalism. Cotter quickly found that he had accrued more credits in anthropology than any other subject. As Cotter told an archeologist Daniel G. Roberts in an interview,

I went to the Dean of Men, and said, "I find that I have actually come to a major in anthropology and I don't know whether I can make a living at it. What would you say I'd better do?" And he told me something I've never forgotten. "If you're interested in something enough you'll make a living in it." So I took him at his word and went ahead.

After earning a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Denver, Cotter continued and earned an M.A., conducting research at a series of prehistoric sites in the western United States and writing a thesis under E.B. Renaud. Cotter then began working toward a Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1935, where he failed his prelims. He would ultimately receive his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959 while working as Regional Archaeologist for the Northeast Region of the National Park Service.

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