Nels C. Nelson

Nels Christian Nelson (April 9, 1875 – March 5, 1964) was a Danish-American archaeologist.

Nelson was born near Fredericia, in the Fredericia municipality in the eastern part of Jutland, Denmark. He was the eldest child in a poor family. He was sent to work on an uncle's farm in Minnesota in 1892. There he started first grade at age 17, graduating from high school in 1901. He rode a cattle car to California, saved money from odd jobs, and entered Stanford University about 1903. He transferred to the University of California, Berkeley in 1905. Nelson earned his Bachelor of Letters in 1907, and an M.L. in 1908.

Nelson became interested in anthropology, and went to work for John C. Merriam surveying middens around San Francisco Bay and on the California coast. Nelson later estimated he walked 3,000 miles for the survey. In 1911, Nelson accepted a job with the American Museum of Natural History to do an archaeological survey of the upper Rio Grande valley of New Mexico. His new wife, Ethelyn Hobbs Nelson, would be his paid field assistant. Nelson excavated a number of Pueblo ruins in the Galisteo Basin, many of which were abandoned following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. He also did some excavation at Chaco Canyon with Earl Morris.

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