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Julio C. Tello (1880–1947) was a Peruvian archaeologist, the "father of Peruvian archaeology," and the first indigenous archaeologist in South America. He directed museums and developed archaeology programs at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) from the 1920s to 1940s. Tello co-founded the Institute for Andean Research (IAR) in 1936 with Alfred Kroeber, Samuel Lothrop, and Wendell C. Bennett and served as the first director of the Museo de Antropología (now Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú) starting in 1939.
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Julio C. Tello's excavations in the 1920s established the primary museum collections of Paracas skulls and artifacts, framing them within a narrative of a distinct, elite culture with unique burial practices, a framework which remains foundational to their study.
Source: institutional-historian finding in research summary
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Affiliations
Studied archaeology and anthropology at the Peabody Museum and completed a master's degree in anthropology.