1940s in anthropology

The Timeline of anthropology, 1940–1949, follow. This decade, during which World War II was fought, was critical for the publication of a number of important works in anthropology. A number of notable anthropologists were born during the Baby Boom Generation that started in 1945.

1940

• The oldest known North American mummy, Spirit Cave Man, is excavated
• Prehistoric paintings in the Lascaux caves are discovered

1949

• The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) is founded at Yale University

1940

• Race, Language and Culture, by Franz Boas
• African Political Systems, ed. by Meyer Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard

1944

• The People of Alor by Cora Du Bois
• Configurations of Culture Growth by Alfred Kroeber
• The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi

1949

• The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell
• Les structures élémentaires de la parenté (The Elementary Structures of Kinship), by Claude Lévi-Strauss

1940

• Michael Taussig
• Bruce Kapferer

1941

• H. James Birx
• Richard Dawkins

1942

• Yoram Bilu
• Ulf Hannerz
• Meave Leakey

1943

• Eduardo Archetti

1944

• Richard Leakey
• Nancy Scheper-Hughes

1948

• Kirsten Hastrup
• Ian Hodder
• Tim Ingold
• David Kertzer

1949

• Steven Feld
• Ian Hodder

1940

• James Frazer
• Alexander Goldenweiser
• Alfred Cort Haddon
• Charles Seligman

1941

• Carl Vilhelm Hartman
• Elsie Clews Parsons
• Benjamin Whorf

1942

• Franz Boas
• Bronislaw Malinowski

1943

• Mark Cohen
• Katsuyoshi Fukui
• Aleš Hrdlička
• Donald Johanson

1948

• Ruth Benedict