Julio Tello
| Julio César Tello | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 11, 1880 Huarochirí Province |
| Died | June 3, 1947 (aged 67) Lima |
| Nationality | Peruvian |
| Education |
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos Harvard University |
| Known for | discovering early Peruvian cultures, such as Paracas and Chavín |
| Spouse(s) | Olive Chessman |
Julio César Tello (April 11, 1880 – June 3, 1947) was a Peruvian archaeologist. Tello is considered the "father of Peruvian archeology" and was America's first indigenous archaeologist. He made the major discoveries of the prehistoric Paracas culture and founded a national museum of archeology.
Tello was born a "mountain Indian" in an Andean village in Huarochirí Province, Peru; his family spoke Quechua, the most widely spoken indigenous language in the nation. He was able to gain a first-class education by persuading the Peruvian government to fund it. Tello completed his Bachelor's degree in medicine at the National University of San Marcos in Peru in 1909. While still a student, Tello studied the practice of trepanation among natives of Huarochirí and amassed a very large collection of skulls. He was also studying early pathologies in the population. His collection became the basis for a collection at his university. His abilities were recognized early and senior men acted as mentors.
He was awarded a scholarship by Harvard University, where he learned English and earned his Master's degree in anthropology in 1911. Next he went to Europe, where he studied archeology. In 1912 he attended the Congress of Americanists in England, a group in which he became prominent in later years. It was the beginning of his active international life.
Tello traveled widely during his career, and regularly invited other scholars to Peru, developing an international network. Although Tello published a number of papers in his lifetime, they appeared in little-known journals and newspapers, so they were not well known then even to Spanish speakers. For some time his findings and theories were not widely known outside of Peru because he did not publish in recognized academic journals.
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