William J. Parry

Dr. William J. Parry is a professor in the Department of Anthropology. He has taught anthropology at Hunter since 1988, and currently teaches classes in prehistoric, Mesoamerican and North American archaeology.

Being an archaeologist, Dr. Parry investigates past human lifeways, particularly those of indigenous peoples of the United States and Mexico. His analytical specialty is the study of lithic artifacts (chipped stone tools). He studied stone tools in various cultural contexts, ranging from the technologies of highly mobile foragers to the products of craft specialists in ancient urban centers.

He is also interested in the colonial archaeology and history of the New York City area, and serves as an Emeritus Member of the board of directors of the Old Stone House of Brooklyn. He is currently researching the pioneering excavations of Reginald Pelham Bolton and William L. Calver in Manhattan (1904-1918).

Dr. Parry’s article from 1987, “Expedient Core Technology,” had a great impact on his specialized field of analysis, being cited more than 500 times. He has also participated in archaeological field research in Pennsylvania (Delaware and Susquehanna Valleys), Michigan, New Mexico (Garnsey site, Roswell), Arizona (Black Mesa), Philippines (Negros Island), Oaxaca (San Jose Mogote), Peru (Norte Chico) and the Teotihuacan Valley of Mexico (including many years of work at the Aztec site of Otumba and the Classic city of Teotihuacan).

As a teacher and researcher, Dr. Parry is motivated by uncovering things that have been hidden and forgotten for thousands of years, and more importantly, trying to answer questions about the past and why things are the way they are today.

Dr. Parry received his PhD in anthropology in 1983 from the University of Michigan.

• University of Michigan (PhD)
• University of Michigan (MA)
• Franklin and Marshall College (BA)

• 2019 (Alejandro Pastrana, Patricia Fournier G., William J. Parry, and Cynthia L. Otis Charlton) “Obsidian Production and Use in Central Mexico After the Spanish Invasion.” In Technology and Tradition in Mesoamerica After the Spanish Invasion, Rani Alexander (ed.), pp. 15-33. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
• 2014 “Reflections on Reflections. In Obsidian Reflections: Symbolic Dimensions of Obsidian in Mesoamerica,” Marc N. Levine and David M. Carballo (eds.), pp. 279-318. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
• 2002 “Aztec Blade Production Strategies in the Eastern Basin of Mexico.” In Pathways to Prismatic Blades, Kenneth Hirth and Bradford Andrews (eds.), pp. 36-45. Monograph 45, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
• 2001 “Production and Exchange of Obsidian Tools in Late Aztec City-States.” Ancient Mesoamerica 12: 101-111. http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0956536101121085
• 2000 (Are Tsirk and William J. Parry) “Fractographic Evidence for Liquid on Obsidian Tools.” Journal of Archaeological Science 27 (11): 987-991.
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440399905083
• 2000 Life at the Old Stone House, 1636-1852: A History of a Farm and its Occupants. Old Stone House Historic Interpretive Center, Brooklyn. [Second edition in press]
• 1994 “The ‘Heirs of Anneke Jans Bogardus’ Versus Trinity Church: A Chronicle of New York’s Most Prolonged Legal Dispute. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 125: 67-73, 160-167. [reviewed in New York Times, July 10, 1994, p. CY 11]
• 1990 (John E. Clark and William J. Parry) “Craft Specialization and Cultural Complexity.” Research in Economic Anthropology 12: 289-346.
• 1987 (William J. Parry and Robert L. Kelly) “Expedient Core Technology and Sedentism.” In The Organization of Core Technology, Jay K. Johnson and Carol A. Morrow (eds.), pp. 285-304. Westview Press, Boulder.
• 1987 (William J. Parry and Andrew L. Christenson) “Prehistoric Stone Technology on Northern Black Mesa, Arizona.” Occasional Paper No. 12. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. xix+312pp, ISBN 0-88104-052-5
• 1987 “Chipped Stone Tools in Formative Oaxaca, Mexico: Their Procurement, Production and Use.” Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca Vol. 8. Memoirs No. 20. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. xv+178pp, ISBN 0-915703-10-6