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Home / Exhibits / Curators / Dirk Van Tuerenhout
Dirk Van Tuerenhout, Ph.D.
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Dirk Van Tuerenhout, Ph.D.
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Title: Curator of Anthropology, Houston Museum of Natural Science
Joined the Museum staff full-time in 1999.
Learn more about Dirk Van Tuerenhout's:
Generally describe the collections you are responsible for.
I am responsible for the museum’s collections and exhibits dealing with human culture. Our anthropology holdings span many continents and range from prehistoric stone hand axes to modern American Indian pottery from the Southwest United States. In all, there are about 50,000 objects in our anthropology collections.
I am particularly proud of our Amazonian holdings; they are among the best in the world. Items from this collection come from the Amazon and Orinoco river basins in South America. Of particular interest are pristinely preserved and exquisitely colorful feather body ornaments as well as pottery and carved wooden objects. These objects and others from our New World collections form the backbone of the displays in the John P. McGovern hall of the Americas. Located on the third floor of the museum, this hall covers the Americas and presents materials from cultures in North, Central and South America.
Philosophies
Teaching and sharing knowledge with others have always been of great interest to me. I imagine that a lot of people could point to a teacher who made a difference in their lives. I know I can. Educators have the exciting task of not only imparting knowledge but also getting people excited in what they are sharing. To the extent that this is possible at the museum, I aim to do the same. While I enjoy sharing with others, I also enjoy learning from others. With speakers coming through on a regular basis and with new exhibits being planned, there is ample opportunity to learn.
Using our permanent as well as temporary exhibits as a platform, I can reach out to various audiences, both adults and children, to share with them insights in cultures that we have on display. I share with other anthropologists the idea that people and not objects in themselves are the story. I often tell my audience that the real stars behind all the objects are the people who made and used these things. Our exhibits attempt, very successfully I would say, to present the visitor with an impression of what life was like at a certain time in a certain place. Imagine being a part of Aztec culture and living in the Basin of Mexico some 500 years ago. What would your life have been like? What would you have eaten? What might your house have looked like? How would you have dressed? What might your name have been? Our exhibits and our associated programs intend to help you to conjure up that vision.
HMNS responsibilities - What do you do at the Museum?
Together with my fellow curators, I am responsible for exhibits at the museum. In my case, I work on our permanent anthropology halls, dedicated to Egyptian funerary customs and American Indian cultures. I am also involved in any anthropology-related exhibits that come to the museum. In addition to these exhibits, I am also responsible for the maintenance and growth of the anthropology collections.
Our education and volunteer departments are vibrant components of the museum and I often work with them. Occasionally there are lectures and presentations to be given in the context of a traveling exhibit. I either help identify a speaker or might be asked to give a presentation myself.
Our docents are the backbone of operations as far as I am concerned. Every year the curators take the docents on tours through the galleries to update them on new additions to the collections and displays and to share with them new discoveries that have made. This is an event I always look forward to.
On a lighter note, whenever we have a temporary exhibit, we actively promote the show by bringing in the media. This has meant coming to the museum in the early hours to be interviewed by journalists as part of life early morning TV shows. Getting up is not always easy, but seeing how they stitch this together is fun.
Why did you decide to work in a Museum?
I never thought that I would end up in a museum but consider myself lucky that I did. Ever since I attended primary school, I was interested in history and archaeology. The teacher in sixth grade was the main culprit in getting me hooked on “old things.” Because of this early interest, I pursued studies in Greek and Latin during secondary school. Later, at the University of Leuven, I studied ancient history as well as archaeology. By then I had become interested in the archaeology of the Americas. I applied to various graduate programs in the United States and was accepted into the anthropology department at Tulane University in New Orleans. I was able to undertake fieldwork at Maya sites in Belize and Guatemala. After graduation, I taught for a year at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania before joining the museum.
What is your favorite artifact, and why? Is it on exhibit?
Our Hall of the Americas holds a feather poncho from Peru. It is around 1500 years old, yet the feathers are incredibly well preserved, and the colors are incredibly vibrant. Aside from the aesthetic aspects of this poncho, I also like the story it tells: it was found in the coastal areas of Peru, yet the feathers belong to birds living in the Amazon region. How did people that long ago cross the Andes to get the feathers?
What are your favorite museums?
I have enjoyed visiting the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. At the latter museum, the “African Voices” exhibit dedicated to the cultures from Africa is impressive. I am interested in human evolution and like the exhibit on that topic at the Museum of Man in San Diego. Their exhibit is outstanding.
Education - Academic background
Tulane University
1996 -- Ph.D. in anthropology. Dissertation topic: “Rural fortifications at Quim Chi Hilan, El Petén, Guatemala: Late Classic Maya social change seen from a small site perspective.”
1984 -- M.A. in Anthropology
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
1983 – M.A. in Art History and Archaeology. Thesis title: Statuetten uit Teotihuacan, Mexico. Een iconografische studie. (Figurines from Teotihuacan, Mexico. An iconographic study.)
1981 – M.A. in Ancient History. Thesis title: De Ptolemaeisch-Syrische relaties vanaf het einde van de vierde eeuw tot en met Ptolemaios IV Philopator (205/4 v.C). [Ptolemaic – Syrian relations from the end of the fourth century until Ptolemaios IV Philopator (205/4 B.C.)]
Credentials / honors
Member, Society for American Archaeology
Member, American Anthropological Association
Research Associate, Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University
Current research projects / interests:
I am currently working on an exhibit on Ethiopia. This project will cover more than 5 million years. Topics will include early hominid remains as well as the historic cultures such as Aksum, Lalibela, and Gondar.
The Hall of the Americas remains a central focus as well. As we receive new collections from that part of the world, we are constantly changing our displays.
Publications
2003 (With Ted Leyenaar) The Maya ballgame as a mitigating factor in precolumbian warfare. In Collecciones latinoamericanas/ Latin American Collections. Essays in honour of Ted J.J. Leyenaar. Dorus Kop Jansen and Edward de Bock, edds., pp. 247-259. Leiden, Ed. Tetl.
2003 The Houston Museum of Natural Science. South American Ethnographic Collections. In Collecciones latinoamericanas/ Latin American Collections. Essays in honour of Ted J.J. Leyenaar. Dorus Kop Jansen and Edward de Bock, edds., pp. 159-162. Leiden, Ed. Tetl.
2000 New technology, library budget cuts and how to deal with them all. In Tricks for Teaching Anthropology, Patricia Rice, editor.
1998 (With A. Demarest, M. O’Mansky, C. Wolley, T. Inomata, J. Palka, and H. Escobedo) Classic Maya Defensive Systems and Warfare in the Petexbatún Region: Archaeological Evidence and Interpretations. Ancient Mesoamerica 8(2)
1994a Recorrido en la región de Petexbatún: temporada de 1993. VII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, pp. 215-222. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología. Guatemala.
1994b Investigaciones arqueológicas en Quim Chi Hilan: Temporadas de 1992 y 1993. VII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, pp. 471-494. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología. Guatemala.
1993a La céramique. In Métropoles Maya, pp. 76-85. Europalia 1993: Mexico. Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels.
1993b Scherven die spreken: Maya aardewerk. In Maya-Metropolen, pp. 76-85. Europalia 1993: Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis, Brussels.
1991 Killion, Thomas, Dirk Van Tuerenhout and Inez Verhagen. En los Alrededores de las Ciudades: Asientamientos Intersitio en la Región de Petexbatún, Petén. In V Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología. 15-18 de Julio de 1991. Edited by J.P. Laporte, H.L. Escobedo A and S. Villagrán de Brady, pp. 195-205. Ministerio de Cultura e Deportes. Instituto de Antropología e Historia. Associación Tikal, Guatemala.
1989 The sociocultural context of the ballcourt at Nohmul, Belize. In The Mesoamerican Ballgame. Papers presented at the International Colloquium “The Mesoamerican Ballgame 2000 B.C. – A.D. 2000,” edited by Gerard W. van Bussel, Paul L.F. Van Dongen, and T.J.J. Leyenaar, pp. 59-69. Mededelingen van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, No. 26). Leiden.
1987a Acculturation in the Valley of Teotihuacan in Post-Conquest Times. Human Mosaic 21 (1-2): 71-86.
1987b Hammond, Norman, Sarah Donaghey, Colleen Gleason, Justine C. Staneko, Dirk Van Tuerenhout, and Laura Kosakowsky. Excavations at Nohmul, Belize, 1985. Journal of Field Archaeology 14: 257-281.
For more information/research in careers in anthropology:
American Anthropological Association: http://www.aaanet.org/
(This site includes a very complete section on careers and jobs)
American Association of Museums: http://www.aam-us.org
(Go to Aviso, the newsletter, and then pursue jobs, careers)
The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/
(Has a really good listing of jobs available in a lot of fields, including anthropology)
Society for American Archaeology: http://www.saa.org/index.html
(Also lists jobs available)
Websites on anthropology and archaeology
Africa: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/africana/map/
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Home_Page/Country.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/
http://allafrica.com/
http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/
http://www.africamuseum.be/
Americas – Precolumbian cultures
Mesoamerica: http://www.albany.edu/~mesmith/
http://www.ipfw.edu/soca/Nahua.htm
http://jamaica.u.arizona.edu/ic/anth453/
http://archaeology.la.asu.edu/teo/
http://www.mesoweb.com/
http://mayadiscovery.com/ing/archaeology/default.htm
http://www.ancientmexico.com/
http://www.tulane.edu/~mari/
Peru: http://www.ancientperu.com
http://mnaah.perucultural.org.pe/index2.htm
http://museolarco.perucultural.org.pe/
Human origins:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/darwin/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/cavemen/chronology/contentpage1.shtml
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/humans/humankind/index.html
http://www.leakeyfoundation.org/resources/r3.jsp
Looting problem: http://www.museum-security.org/artifacts-saz.htm
Texas archaeology: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/
Timelines: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/intro/atr/nav.htm
Updates: http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/newslinks.html
Suggest Reading Recommendations
Serious stuff:
Ancient North America (Fagan)
Chronicle of the Maya kings and queens (Martin and Grube)
The Seven Daughters of Eve (Sykes)
The Ancient Maya (Sharer)
Last Hunters First Farmers (Price and Gebauer)
Wisdom of the Bones (Walker)
Fun reads:
American Empire: The Victorious Opposition (Turtledove)
Castles of Steel (Massie)
Guns of the South (Turtledove)
The Zimmerman Telegram (Tuchman)
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