John Alden Mason

John Alden Mason (* 1885 in Orland, Indiana, † November 7, 1967 ) was an American archaeologist, anthropologist and linguist.

The focus of his research were different indigenous cultures of North, Central and South America.

Mason grew up in Philadelphia's German Town. His undergraduate degree was awarded in 1907, he of the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in 1911 from the University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation was an ethnographic study of the Salinan (), an Indian tribe in California. He was also the author of a number of linguistic studies, including a study of Pima languages. His later ethnographic work also included studies of Tepehuan ( Mexico).

Mason was from 1926 until his retirement in 1958 Curator of the University Museum at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1952 he traveled to Peru. About the ancient Peru, he wrote his major work: The Ancient Civilizations of Peru (English under the title: The Old Peru: An Indian high culture. )

His papers are held by the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.

Works

• The ethnology of the Salinan Indians. Berkeley, The University Press, 1912 ( University of California Publ in American Archaeology & Ethnology 10/4, pp. 97-240; plts 21-37. . ).
• The Ancient Civilizations of Peru. Harmondsworth, inter alia,: Penguin Books, 1957 German under the title: The Old Peru: An Indian high culture. From Anton Ferdinand durchges. Transmit from d Engl by Hannes WA Schoeller, Magnus cultural history. Food: Magnus -Verlag, 1975 ( first in Kindler's cultural history)