In 1893, a New York born and Rutgers educated classics scholar turned his back on his eastern roots and accepted a position at the University of Utah teaching Latin and Greek. On his way to Salt Lake City, young Byron Cummings stopped off at the Chicago exposition, where he was fascinated by the exhibit of artifacts and photographs from Mesa Verde. He also visited craft and cooking demonstrations by Navajos, Hopis, and Zunis. Within a few years he became a self-taught archaeologist and began a career that lasted into the 1950s. Known as “the Dean” of Southwestern archaeology, he excavated many ruins in Utah and Arizona, including Kiet Siel, Tuzigoot, and Kinishba.
Cummings was an explorer, archaeologist, anthropologist, teacher, museum director, university president, supporter of student athletics, state parks commissioner, and a member of numerous charitable boards. He was a leader of the party that discovered Rainbow Bridge and Betatakin Ruin in 1909. In a region known for its colorful scholars, Cummings stands above the crowd. His long and adventurous career is brought to life in this engaging biography by Todd Bostwick, the archaeologist of the City of Phoenix.
In 1915, Cummings was among 14 professors to resign in protest over political interference at the University of Utah. Within weeks he had a new position – professor of archaeology and director of the Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Until his death at age 93, he was an active archaeologist who loved to dig and to train students, though he tended to neglect his reports. Nonetheless, his contributions to Southwestern archaeology were enormous. It is a story well worth telling, and Bostwick’s account is both thorough and readable.
