{{Short description|American archaeologist}} '''Max Wells Jakeman''' (1910 – July 22, 1998) was the founder of the department of archaeology at Brigham Young University (BYU) and an early member of the advisory board of the New World Archaeology Foundation (NWAF). Jakeman has been described as "the father of Book of Mormon archaeology".<ref>"Memorial", ''Journal of Book of Mormon Studies'', Vol. 7, Issue 1</ref>
Jakeman received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley where he wrote his doctoral dissertation based on a combination of archaeological evidence and Spanish documents relating to the history of the Yucatan. Jakeman believed that archaeology must be grounded in a firm understanding of documents, and he did not see archaeology as a sub-discipline of anthropology.
In 1946 Jakeman joined the faculty of BYU where he worked to teach archaeology in the framework of "historical archaeology," that is, archaeology based on a close connection with historical documents. Jakeman was also closely connected with the Society for Early Historic Archaeology of which he served for a time as the director.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}
Jakeman was also the author of ''The Origin and History of the Mayans: Vol. 1''<ref>[http://www.borders.co.uk/book/the-origins-and-history-of-the-mayas-v1/496256/ Borders listing of book]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Jakeman was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a believer in the historicity of the Book of Mormon.
==See also== * John L. Sorenson * Thomas Stuart Ferguson
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *Max Wells Jakeman [https://ancientamericafoundation.org/stela-5-izapa-chiapas-mexico-a-major-archaeological-discovery-of-the-new-world/ IZAPA STELA 5: A Major Archaeological Discovery of the New World ] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20081225235356/http://ispart.byu.edu/publications/review/?reviewed_author Daniel C. Peterson and Matthew Roper. "Ein Heldenleben? On Thomas Stuart Ferguson as an Elias for Cultural Mormons" in FARMS Review Vol. 16, Issue 1.] * Stewart W. Brewer. [http://farms.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=8&num=1&id=180 "The History of an Idea: The Scene on Stela 5 from Izapa, Mexico, as a Representation of Lehi's Vision of the Tree of Life"], ''Journal of Book of Mormon Studies''. Vol. 8, issue 1 *[http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/7/1/S00015-50be2afcc207a14Memorial.pdf "Memorial: Max Wells Jakeman: 1910-1998"]. ''Journal of Book of Mormon Studies'' Vol. 7, Issue 1 *[http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/art_nuckolls_2008.html article on Mormonism and the Book of Mormon that mentions Jakeman's studies]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jakeman, M. Wells}} Category:1910 births Category:1998 deaths Category:Latter Day Saints from California Category:Book of Mormon studies Category:Brigham Young University faculty Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah Category:20th-century American archaeologists