William Ewart Taylor Jr | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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William Ewart Taylor Jr

William Ewart Taylor, Jr., archaeologist (born 21 November 1927 in Toronto, ON; died 13 November 1994 in Ottawa, ON).

Former director of the National Museum of Man (now Canadian Museum of History) and past president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Taylor was the first Canadian to specialize in the archaeology of the Canadian Arctic. He was educated at the University of Toronto, the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan. In 1950, he made his first trip to the Arctic with archaeologist Henry B. Collins of the Smithsonian Institution, inspiring a fascination with the Far North and its people which would last all of his life. Important contributions include The Arnapik and Tyara Sites (1968), which demonstrated cultural continuity between two important early Arctic cultures - Dorset and Pre-Dorset - and his work on early Inuit (Thule) culture sites throughout the Central and Western Arctic. A veteran of nearly 20 field seasons and the recipient of many honours in his lifetime, Taylor exulted most in his Inuit name Tunikshiuti ("he who searches after the old ones").