Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D. Biography

Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg is an archaeologist and the Director of the Easter Island Statue Project, an archaeological inventory and database project that has produced a stylistic analysis of nearly 900 monolithic statues (moai).  Her research interest addresses the integration of symbolism and structure and the complex ways in which humans employ cultural resources, social practices, and ancient aesthetics to relate to and alter, shape, and impact the natural landscape. Social processes and the interactive roles of art, history, and ecology are explored in on-going field and museum studies.  Her most recent field project is the digital mapping of the interior of Rano Raraku Statue Quarry, Easter Island.

Van Tilburg is an appointed member of the National Landmarks Committee, US National Park Service Advisory Board; a Research Associate of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, where she directs the UCLA Rock Art Archive; recipient of the 2001 California Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.  Captured Visions, her major project at the Archive, is a spatial and correspondence analysis of rock art symbols collected at Little Lake Ranch in the Owens Valley, California.  A biographical sketch of her career was presented by Charles Osgood on CBS Sunday Morning in 1994.

Who’s Who of American Women 2000-2001.  New Jersey:  Marquis

Who’s Who in Rock Art Studies. 2000.  Valcamonica:  Center for the Study of Prehistoric Art.

Posted on May 6th, 2009 by EISP Staff | Categories: Jo Anne Van Tilburg |

Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae

jvantil@ucla.edu

www.eisp.org

Easter Island Statue Project Field Office
Galería Mana
Petero Atamu s/n
Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui
Chile

Easter Island Statue Project Managing Office
225 Arizona Avenue Studio 500
Santa Monica, CA 90401 USA

Current Involvements

Director, Easter Island Statue Project (EISP)
Fellow, The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA
A 210 Fowler
Los Angeles, CA 90024-1510

Director, UCLA Rock Art Archive (1997-present)
A 450 Fowler
Los Angeles, CA 90024-1510
1 310 825 1720

Member, the US National Landmarks Commission National Park System Advisory Board (second appointment beginning 2008)

Education

1986  Ph.D.  University of California, Los Angeles  (Archaeology)
1976  M.Ed.  University of California, Los Angeles  (Educational Psychology)
1965 B.S. University of Minnesota (Humanities and Social Sciences)

Doctoral Dissertation Power and symbol: The stylistic analysis of Easter Island monolithic sculpture

Research Focus Style and iconographic analysis; typological analysis; ideological dimension of material objects (symbolism); integration of symbolic and structural principles.

Study Areas Oceania, Polynesia, Micronesia, California

Current Field Projects

Easter Island Statue Project (EISP)

Little Lake Ranch, Inyo County, CA
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Posted on May 6th, 2009 by EISP Staff | Categories: Jo Anne Van Tilburg |

Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D. Bibliography

Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D.
Research Associate
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA

Director
Easter Island Statue Project
UCLA Rock Art Archive

Recent and In Press Publications

“Petrographic analysis of thin-sections of samples from two monolithic statues (moai), Rapa Nui (Easter Island)” with Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Marshall Weisler, Claudio Cristino and Angela Spitzer. Journal of the Polynesian Society 2008.

“GPS Mapping, Archaeological Database Management and the Conservation of Easter Island Statues.” In R. Eppich, ed. Illustrated Examples: Recording Documentation and Information Management for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage Places. With C. Arévalo P. and A. Hom. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2008.

“Archaeology and Ancient Aesthetics: Mapping the Sculptural Imagination of Rapa Nui” with C. Arévalo P. VII International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific. Los Osos: Gotland University and the Easter Island Foundation, in press 2009.

“Lost and Found: Tracking the Orongo Doorpost.” VII International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific. Los Osos: Gotland University and the Easter Island Foundation, in press 2009.

Manuscripts in Preparation

Atlas of Easter Island Statues with C. Arévalo P. 2009.

“Captured Visions: Rock Art of the Little Lake Ranch, Rose Valley, CA” with G. Hull, J.C. Bretney and the Little Lake Research Group, 2009.

“Les Pétroglyphes de L’Ile de Paques” Henri Lavachery (1939), trans. and ed. with A. Chabi, 2010.

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Posted on May 6th, 2009 by EISP Staff | Categories: Jo Anne Van Tilburg |