| Birth Date: | 29 November 1931 |
| Birth Place: | Florida, US |
| Occupation: | Archaeologist |
| Known For: | Archaeology of Korea and northeast China |
| Professor Emeritus | |
| Alma Mater: | Wellesley College (BA) University of Michigan (MA and PhD) |
| Discipline: | Archaeologist, Anthropologist |
| Sub Discipline: | Archaeology and history of East Asia, Gender archaeology |
| Workplaces: | University of Denver |
| Notable Works: | The Archaeology of Korea (1993) Gender in Archaeology: Analyzing Power and Prestige (1997) Handbook of Gender in Archaeology, ed. (2006) |
Sarah Milledge Nelson (November 29, 1931 – April 27, 2020) was an American archaeologist and Distinguished Professor Emerita from the Department of Anthropology, University of Denver,[1] United States.
Nelson was raised in Florida and obtained her PhD from the University of Michigan in 1973.[2] Nelson was known for her research on the archaeology of East Asia, in particular Korea and northeast China. She also conducted extensive research in the archaeology of gender[3] [4] and Hongshan culture. She was also well known for her work on gender and archaeology and for her fiction writing about ancient East Asia. Nelson died at the age of 88 in 2020 after a long illness.[5]
Nelson spent over two decades researching the queens of the Silla kingdom of early Korea, learning the culture while living there. She is able to read and speak at an intermediate level and learned basic writing skills in the Korean language.
Additionally, Nelson spent ten years in northeastern China studying the "goddess temple". While living here, she learned intermediate level reading and speaking as well as basic level writing. Her research endeavors in Europe, Korea and China contributed to her interest in gender issues. While in Europe, Nelson became fluent in speaking German, as well as intermediate level reading and writing. Additionally, she became fluent in reading in both Spanish and French with basic speaking and writing skills in both languages.
Culture change from the appearance of pottery to the formation of state interested Nelson, bringing her to conduct research on several different continents, as well as the distribution of knowledge of the Bronze Technology and the problems of origins of agriculture. While studying in Korea and China, millets were more common than rice in the area of agriculture.
In North America, Nelson has conducted research in south-eastern Utah as well as the Colorado high plains. She was drawn to these areas to examine problems such as the sedentism/mobility of archaeological sites and the distribution of site types. Shortly after, Nelson created and adapted several computer spatial programs intended for the use of both regional and site research.
In addition to gender issues, Nelson also enjoyed researching archaeoastronomy in Northeast Asia.[6]
Nelson is one of the first archaeologists to focus on the archaeology of gender and to create the framework of a feminist archaeology. She coedited the first major collection of articles on this topic with Alice Beck Kehoe, (Powers of Observation), wrote the first textbook on the topic (Gender in Archaeology), edited the first reference volume (Handbook of Gender in Archaeology), as well as editing several other collections of articles on this topic. Her book series for AltaMira Press resulted in over a dozen books addressing gender issues in the ancient world across cultures. Her autobiographical work Shamans, Queens, and Figurines traces her personal biography from a young woman with small children starting a career in archaeology while living in Korea through her career development and the parallel development of feminist archaeology
Nelson used her archaeological knowledge to create fiction about the ancient world of East Asia. Published first by her own press, RKLOG Press, and now available from Routledge, her novels Spirit Bird Journey, Jade Dragon, and Tiger Queen, addressed ancient Korea, Neolithic China, and Shang China, toggling back and forth from a narrative about the past to the life of a contemporary archaeology graduate student studying these periods.
Sarah Milledge Nelson was Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Denver. Her past positions held include:
Nelson was president of the Society of East Asian Archaeology (1998–2004)