Humanity

"Be true to yourself, be persistent and flexible, laugh, learn from others, share information with others. Never give in to fear." — Anna Curtenius Roosevelt

Archaeologist and professor

Born: 1946-01-01

Hometown: Evanston, IL

Education: PhD in Anthropology

Achievements

Discoveries: Early projectile points in the Cavern of the Painted Rock, Brazil

Expeditions: Venezuela, Brazil, Central African Republic, Peru

Biography

Dr. Anna C. Roosevelt is an anthropologist interested in human ecology and evolution.  She earned her B.A. degree in History from Stanford University in 1968, and her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia in 1977. She has authored numerous books, monographs, and scientific articles on archaeological topics, and serves on various editorial boards including Latin American Antiquity. Dr. Roosevelt's research focuses on the changing relationship of humans and their environments. Since 1983, she has conducted a research project in the Brazilian Amazon, where she is perhaps best known for her discoveries at Pedra Pintada, a site first occupied 11,000 years ago by some of the earliest Americans. Professor Roosevelt specializes in two main geographic areas, the Middle Amazon and the Congo Basin. In the Amazon, she works at multiple sites, including those in Paraguay and Brazil. Her Congo Basin research is in Bayanga in the southwestern Central African Republic, and in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo. For 25 years, she has studied long-term human-environmental interaction in the tropics with funding from National Science Foundation, National Endowment for Humanities, Fulbright Commission, Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the University of Illinois. Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Royal Geographical Society, she was awarded a 5-year MacArthur Fellowship for her interdisciplinary research. She holds the Explorers Medal, Society of Women Geographers' Gold Medal, Order of Rio Branco and Bettendorf medals (Brazil), and honorary doctorates from Mt. Holyoke and Northeastern University, Boston.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: My 1971 Pentax camera

Heroes: My great aunt, Ethel R. Derby

"Ignore what others say about what you can't do and follow your heart. The true success of a person is measured by how close she gets to fulfilling her aspirations." — Ana Cristina Pinto-Llona

Research Scientist in Archaeology

Born: 1959-01-01

Hometown: Oviedo, Asturias, Spain

Education: PhD in Archaeology

Achievements

Discoveries: The Sopena, a cave where first Neanderthals and later early modern humans lived for thousands of years. Also, I proved that supposedly vegetarian cave bears were in fact active cannibalistic scavengers!

Expeditions: Spain, South Africa and Tanzania

Biography

Ana Cristina Pinto-Llona is an archaeologist who spent much of her life organizing archaeological and palaeontological excavations in northern Spain. Her research on the palaeoecology of cave bears has changed the views on how these extinct animals lived and interacted with prehistoric humans, and her work in caves with fossils of mammoths, elephants, rhinoceros, lions and leopards in the same area has offered new perspectives on the extinction of these animals in southern Europe. She explored and probed several caves in Spain looking for testimonies on the origins of modern humans and in 2002 she made an astonishing discovery in a remote cave in northern Spain. Her test excavations revealed an occupation sequence ranging from the Early Upper Paleolithic to the Mousterian -- the first arrival of modern humans into Europe back to Neanderthals and probably further back to the time of Homo erectus. Given the richness of finds and the depth of the stratigraphic sequence, she will be excavating and researching The Sopena Archaeological Project for decades to come. She is currently Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: My dog and good waterproof boots

Heroes: Captain Ahab in Moby Dick

"Take action everyday and don't let negative thoughts hold you back." — Irina Nikolaeva

Lecturer in language documentation and description

Born: 1962-01-01

Hometown: Moscow, Russia

Education: Ph.D. in Linguistics

Achievements

Discoveries: Proof of the relationship between the Uralic and Yukaghir languages.

Expeditions: Various places in Siberia-from the Urals in the West to the Kolyma in the East and from the Polar Circle in the North to the Ussuri taiga in the South

Biography

Irina Nikolaeva has spent years documenting endangered languages, most notably the Kolyma Yukaghir dialect, spoken by about forty people in North-East Siberia. Her interests include syntax, morphology, typology and information structure, as well as Uralic, Altaic, and Paleosiberian linguistics.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: A tape recorder and mosquito repellant

Heroes: Vladimir Jochelson, a 19th century Russian linguist and anthropologist; and others who documented endangered languages without tape recorders.

"Never stop asking questions." — Iris Cornelia Love

Field Archaeologist, photographer, art critic

Born: 1933-01-01

Hometown: Lincoln, Vermont

Education: Studied at Smith College and the Institute for Fine Arts at New York University

Achievements

Discoveries: The Temple of Aphrodite in Cnidus, Greece

Expeditions: Samothrace and Cnidus, Greece; and Etruscan sites in Italy

Biography

The Humanity award was presented to archaeologist Iris Cornelia Love, both for the decades of work she has devoted to the ruins of Cnidus, an important ancient city in southwestern Asia Minor, and for her discovery oft he long-lost fourth-century b.c. Temple of Aphrodite at Knidos, on the southwest coast of Turkey, which was devastated by an earthquake in AD 459. Love's discoveries have been published in numerous archaeological journals and profiles about her have appeared in The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, and other magazines. She has published on a variety of academic and cultural subjects. She also has served as editor-at-large forArchitectural Digest and Parade Magazine.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: A Swiss army knife

Heroes: Captain Cook

""Dreaming is great--but act on your dreams. They will be tomorrow's reality."" — Sveva Gallmann

Anthropologist, oral historian, educator, project coordinator

Born: 1980-01-01

Hometown: Near Nairobi, Kenya

Education: MA Medical Anthropology, New College, Oxford, England

Achievements

Discoveries: The Samburu spiritual healer Mzee Lemarkat and a Pokot herbalist Mama Langeta. Through them, I have uncovered many secrets of life.

Expeditions: Researching how native plants are used for healing by working with indigenous peoples in the Rift Valley region; expeditions with camels through East Africa exploring the secrets of life through spiritual and herbal healing.

Biography

Sveva Gallmann, a Kenyan ethnobotanist, has been honored for her field research on how native plants are used for healing. A native speaker of several Kenyan tribal languages, Ms. Gallmann currently coordinates the 4th Generation Project, an African heritage initiative that reinforces relationships among younger and elder tribe members and helps keep alive traditional wisdom through oral history. Ms. Gallmann lives in the Laikipia district of northern Kenya among the Pokot, a pastoral tribe of practitioners in the ancient use of herbs. Ms. Gallmann's interest in preserving knowledge of healing traditions has inspired her to develop a project to safeguard the knowledge of medicinal plants through oral history. The Four Generations Project is aimed at staunching the gradual loss of traditional tribal knowledge and encouraging a reconnection with, and respect for, the natural environment. The project inspires youth to share the wisdom of their elders. Sveva Gallmann graduated in Human Sciences at New College, Oxford, in 2002, winning the Wilmer Crowther award for best overall achievement in the Honour School. She has now returned to Ol ari Nyiro to help her mother in their shared pledge to protect and preserve the conservancy for the future. She divides her time between Kenya and the UK and has recently been busy initiating the Great Rift Valley Music Festival. Ms. Gallmann has had wide ranging experience all over the world, from a year spent volunteerig in a leprosarium in India, to dolphin rehabilitation in the Red Sea.  She has addressed the State of the World Forum in Belfast, and the Conference of Spiritual and Religious Leaders in Geneva. Her most recent undertaking, the Four Generations Project, researches and preserves rituals, songs and traditions of the local tribes, encouraging children to re-discover and revere their heritage.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Head lamp, dictaphone, cameras, sparklers, colored pens.

Heroes: Elie Cross

"Don’t ever lose your curiosity and sense of wonder." I also love what Don Juan, a Yaqui Indian said: “For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel—looking, looking, breathlessly." — Aparajita Datta

Wildlife biologist (Senior Scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, India)

Born: 1970-01-01

Hometown: Kolkata, India, (Lusaka, Zambia as a child)

Education: Ph.D in Wildlife Ecology

Achievements

Discoveries: Every day in the forest is full of small discoveries! Understanding the intricate connections between plants and animals in a forest, finding two species of little-known muntjacs (deer) in Arunachal’s forests and a new species of monkey (the Arunachal macaque Macaca munzala) with NCF colleagues in 2004.

Expeditions: Mammal exploration surveys in western & eastern Arunachal in 2002, 2003, yearly treks into eastern Arunachal’s forests (2004 - present)

Biography

Wildlife biologist Aparajita Datta has spent the last 13 years working to conserve the rainforests of Arunachal Pradesh in north-eastern India, arguably India's richest biodiversity region. She pioneered long-term wildlife research in the area with a study on hornbill biology. The hornbill's role as a seed disperser led to her doctoral dissertation. She has been responsible for the discovery of several large mammals previously unknown in India. This included the discovery of two muntjac species. In 2003, she was involved in exploring the high altitudes of Arunachal Pradesh that led to the discovery of a monkey species altogether new to science. This work also led to the declaration of a biosphere reserve in the area. While working as a biologist, Aparajita became fascinated with the history, culture and way of life of the people of Arunachal and got involved in trying to work with indigenous tribal communities to foster wildlife conservation. She has been leading community-based conservation initiatives with the Lisu community, a marginalized tribe living in one of the most remote areas of eastern Arunachal Pradesh, the access to their settlements being over four days of hiking through forested mountains and valleys. This work involves medical support, training community members in primary health care, and helping to run village schools. The program also seeks to provide alternate livelihood options with a primary aim of bringing about a reduction in hunting, which is among the most serious threats to the area's wildlife. Aparajita is also interested in nature education and has co-authored several educational books and aids, especially for tribal children. As a member of the State Advisory Board, she advises the state and central governments on conservation issues. She also supervises several Ph.D. level students, and her own work has resulted in 23 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and books, and several media articles.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Camera, binoculars, field notebook, water, leech-proof socks!

Heroes: My grandfather for his courage, Gerald Durrell, David Attenborough for introducing me to the world of animals as a child, Dr. AJT Johnsingh (my teacher) for inspiring a generation of Indian wildlife biologists.

Publications

Aparajita and Education:

Children's Book: "Walk the Rainforest With Niwupah" http://www.katha.org/earlly-lvl3-picturebooks-8-10.html

"Live in a state of gratitude for this sweet world, and you will drink from a well of happiness." — Janine Benyus

Natural sciences author, biologist, founder of the Biomimicry Guild.

Born: 1958-01-01

Hometown: New York, NY

Education: BA English Literature and BS Natural Resource Management

Achievements

Expeditions: I'm on expedition every time I step outdoors.

Biography

Janine Benyus is a natural sciences writer, and author of six books, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. She has cultivated a deep knowledge of the natural world, beginning with direct observation in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, continuing in habitats from Maine to West Virginia where she worked as a backcountry guide, and now, at home in Montana.  Janine graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers University, New Jersey, with two degrees in Natural Resource Management and English Literature/Writing. Her writing career began in the early eighties, when she translated “science-speak” for several research labs including the world’s largest forest research organization. An abiding interest in community ecology led to her first popular book Northwoods Wildlife: a Watcher’s Guide to Habitats (1989), an ecosystem-organized guide to northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. She followed with a national series: The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats, Eastern and Western Editions(1989), which have become standards in their genre. In an effort to reach a larger audience of wildlife enthusiasts, Janine wrote an interpretive guide to animal behavior called Beastly Behaviors: A Guide to How Animals Act and Why (1992). In her next book, Janine coined the term Biomimicry (1997) to describe the emerging field of bio-inspired innovation. David Perlman of San Francisco Chronicle called Biomimicry “one viable answer to the wake-up call that Rachel Carson sounded a generation ago in Silent Spring.''

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: A pocket episcope that transforms from microscope to telescope.

Heroes: Rachel Carson, founder of the modern environmental movement.

"Believe that you can do anything you set your mind to. Your passion should be your path and your path should be your passion." — Rosita Arvigo

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Ethnobotanist, Traditional Healer, Teacher, Author

Born: 1941-01-01

Hometown: Chicago, IL

Education: Doctor of Naprapathy

Achievements

Discoveries: Several previously unknown plants once used by the ancient Mayan people.

Expeditions: More than 200 expeditions in the jungles of Central America.

Biography

Dr. Rosita Arvigo was born in the early 1940's on the north side of Chicago.  She earned her degree in Naprapathy from The Chicago College of Naprapathy in 1981, graduating with high honors.  In addition to her work as a naprapathic physician, Dr. Arvigo is a master herbalist with over 20 years of field and laboratory research experience.  In 1981, Dr. Arvigo moved to Belize to practice natural medicine and learn more about the countries healing plants.  There, she studied and learned from  dozens of traditional healers and midwives, the most notable of whom was Don Elijio Panti, the renowned Maya shaman of Belize.  As Don Elijio's students, she also mastered the spiritual healing practices that are an integral part of traditional Mayan medicine. Today, Dr. Arvigo is a recognized authority on Maya healing techniques and medicinal plants, and has been teaching these techniques in the United States and Europe for over ten years.  She has been on more that 200 expeditions into the jungles of Central America to discover plants once used by ancient Mayan people and bring them to the world.  She is the founder and director of Ix Chel Tropical Research Foundation in San Ignacio, Belize, an organization dedicated to the preservation and study of medicinal rainforest plants and founder and President of The Traditional Healers' Foundation in Belize, which works to support traditional healers.  Additionally, Dr. Arvigo worked for nine years with Dr. Michael Balick of The New York Botanical Garden to collect medicinal plants for research at The National Cancer Institute. Dr. Arvigo maintains her private healing practice in Belize and spends most of her time teaching The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Massage in Belize, the United States and around the world.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Compass, magnifying glass, good shoes, hat, and vest...good machettee.

Heroes: Elijio Panti, Maya shaman

Publications

SPIRITUAL BATHING: Healing Rituals & Traditions from Around the World; with Nadine Epstein (Ten Speed Press, 2003)
SASTUN: My Apprenticeship With a Maya Healer (Harper Collins, 1994)
RAINFOREST REMEDIES: 100 Healing Plants of Belize; with Michael Balick (Lotus Press, 1994)
RAINFOREST HOME REMEDIES: The Maya Way to Heal Your Body and Replenish Your Soul; with Nadine Epstein (Harper Collins, 2001)