Allen, Norton, 1909-1997

<p>Norton Allen (1909–1997) was an American artist and avocational archaeologist who worked in the American Southwest, primarily in California and Arizona.</p>
<p>For almost half a century before his death, Allen was the anonymous but widely revered draftsman for the outstanding maps that appeared in nearly every issue of Desert Magazine. As an archaeologist, he was an expert on Hohokam culture and the archaeology of the Gila Bend area in Arizona.</p>
<p>For more than 40 winter seasons, Norton Allen, along with his wife Ethel and his father Ernest, salvaged archaeological materials that were in danger of being destroyed by expanding agricultural projects fed by water from the Gila River. He also conducted small excavations in the San Pedro Valley, southern Utah, and southwestern Colorado. It was Allen's work and discoveries, particularly at the Gatlin Site, one of the few documented Hohokam platform mounds, that was the motivating force behind the excavations in the Painted Rocks Reservoir conducted by Arizona State Museum archaeologists William Wasley and Alfred Johnson from 1959 to 1964.</p>

<p>For more than 40 winter seasons, Norton, his father Ernest and wife Ethel salvaged archaeological materials that were in danger of being destroyed by expanding agricultural projects. Norton met Emil Haury at the University of Arizona Department of Anthropology in 1939, beginning a lifelong friendship. It was Norton's work and discoveries, particularly at the Gatlin Site, that was the impetus for the excavations in the Painted Rocks Reservoir conducted by ASM archaeologists William Wasley and Alfred Johnson from 1959 to 1964....</p>
<p>The Allens' archaeological and ethnographic collections from southwestern Arizona, donated to the Arizona State Museum, with provisions for use by the Tohono O'odham Nation, will continue to be a rich source for research, learning, exhibits, and cultural pride on into the future. Likewise, Norton and Ethel's establishment of University of Arizona scholarship and internship funds will perennially assist Native American students interested in anthropology and museum studies.</p>