Julio C. Tello

Julio César Tello (April 11, 1880 – June 3, 1947) was a Peruvian archaeologist. Tello is considered the "father of Peruvian archeology" and was America's first indigenous archaeologist. He made the major discoveries of the prehistoric Paracas culture and founded a national museum of archeology.

Biography

Tello was born a "mountain Indian" in an Andean village in Huarochirí Province, Peru; his family spoke Quechua, the most widely spoken indigenous language in the nation. He was able to gain a first-class education by persuading the Peruvian government to fund it. Tello completed his Bachelor's degree in medicine at the National University of San Marcos in Peru in 1909. While still a student, Tello studied the practice of trepanation among natives of Huarochirí and amassed a very large collection of skulls. He was also studying early pathologies in the population. His collection became the basis for a collection at his university. His abilities were recognized early and senior men acted as mentors.

He was awarded a scholarship by Harvard University, where he learned English and earned his Master's degree in anthropology in 1911. Next he went to Europe, where he studied archeology....
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