John Paul Cook ’59

John Paul Cook ’59 died on December 22, 2017. He entered Dartmouth from Oxon Hill (Maryland) High School, majored in anthropology and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He participated in Air Force ROTC as an undergraduate and was commissioned as a lieutenant and stationed in Alaska following graduation. He then continued his study of anthropology, earning a master’s from Brown and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. For his dissertation he investigated a remote location in the Alaskan interior that had been used by prehistoric people. He concluded that people had inhabited the area thousands of years earlier than previously thought, which contributed to a revision of the prehistory of Alaska. Beginning in 1968, John taught at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and oversaw archeological surveys and excavations along the route of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. In 1978 he was a pioneer in the use of X-ray analysis of obsidian to determine prehistoric trade routes. John joined the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in 1980 and investigated and helped to manage cultural resources in several areas of Alaska. He was a cofounder of the Alaska Anthropological Association and served several other organizations, including the Alaska State Historical Commission, the Canadian Archeological Association and the Society for American Archeology. John leaves his wife of 45 years, Elizabeth; former wife Nancy; sons Timothy, Benjamin and Frederick; two grandchildren; and siblings Ellen and Joel.