Elin C. Danien
About
Elin Corey Danien (1929–2019) was an American anthropologist and scholar of ancient Maya ceramics. She was an expert on Chamá pottery: polychrome, cylindrical vases produced in the eighth century CE in the highlands of what is now Guatemala. After earning BA, MA, and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Danien worked at the Penn Museum, where she conducted and published research, developed exhibits, initiated public outreach events including "Member's Nights" and an annual "Maya Weekend", and later, after retirement, volunteered as a docent. She co-founded the Museum's Pre-Columbian Society, which gathered professional and amateur scholars interested in indigenous peoples of the Americas. As a philanthropist, she founded a scholarship program called Bread Upon the Waters which gave women over age thirty the opportunity to pursue and complete undergraduate degrees at the University of Pennsylvania through part-time study. A colleague remembered her as someone who was "more than a force of nature," and who often claimed that, "Archaeology is the most fun you can have with your pants on."
