American anthropologist and ethnographer who developed the theoretical perspective known as ‘cultural ecology’ which was based on the idea that cultures do not simply interact with one another but also with their environment. He argued that regularities in these relationships could be used to explain cultural change. Between 1946 and 1950 he edited and published the very detailed Handbook of South American Indians (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution). Other books include the 1955 publication Theory of Culture Change (Urbana: University of Illinois Press).

[Obit.: American Anthropologist, 75 (1973), 886–903]