{{short description|American archaeologist (1917–2019)}} {{Use American English|date=May 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Ralph Solecki | image = Ralph Solecki.jpg | alt = | caption = Ralph Solecki statue at Shanidar Cave archaeological Park | other_names = | birth_date = {{birth date|1917|10|15}} | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2019|03|20|1917|10|15}} | death_place = Livingston, New Jersey, U.S. | occupation = Archaeologist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = Rose Solecki | relatives = John Solecki, William Solecki (sons) }}
'''Ralph Stefan Solecki''' (October 15, 1917 – March 20, 2019) was an American archaeologist.<ref name=CCA/> Solecki was born in Brooklyn, New York, in October 1917,<ref name=Mead/> the son of Polish immigrants: Mary ({{nee|Tarnowska}}), a homemaker; and Casimir, an insurance salesman.<ref name=NYT190411/>
Solecki graduated from the City College of New York in 1942. He then served in the U.S. Army in Europe and was wounded when he stepped on a land mine. After the war he did his graduate work at Columbia University.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/paleoanthropology/chapter/ralphsolecki/|publisher=Virginia Tech|title=Ralph Solecki (1917-2019)|last=Goodrum|first=Matthew|date=2022|access-date=April 7, 2025}}</ref>
From 1959 to 1988, he was a member of the faculty at Columbia University. His best-known excavations were at the Neanderthal site at Shanidar Cave, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. His publications include early works on aerial photography and photo-interpretation as well as two volumes on Shanidar (1971, 1972).
He was married to fellow archaeologist Rose Solecki, and they were the parents of American geographer William Solecki and UNHCR official John Solecki. In 2013, he was interviewed about his work by ''The Wall Street Journal''.<ref name=WSJ130711/> He died on March 20, 2019, at the age of 101.<ref name=NYT190411/><ref name=ST190329/>
== See also == * List of fossil sites ''(with link directory)'' * List of hominina (hominid) fossils ''(with images)''
==References== {{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Mead>{{cite book |last=Mead |first=Margaret |title=Anthropologists and what they do |year=1965 |publisher=F. Watts |page=178 }}</ref>
<ref name=CCA>{{cite news |url= https://archaeology.columbia.edu/2019/05/11/30953/ |title= In Memory of Ralph Solecki (1917-2019) |work= Columbia Center for Archeology |date= May 11, 2019}}</ref>
<ref name=WSJ130711>{{cite news |url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323936404578581582780360790 |title= Archeologist Ralph Solecki Recalls His Neanderthal Cave Discovery |work= The Wall Street Journal |date= July 11, 2013 }}</ref>
<ref name=ST190329>{{cite news |url= https://suffolktimes.timesreview.com/2019/03/87032/archeologist-ralph-solecki-remembered-as-pioneer-of-north-fork-history/ |title= Archeologist Ralph Solecki remembered as 'pioneer' of North Fork history |first= Steve |last= Wick |work= Suffolk Times |date= March 29, 2019 |archive-date= March 30, 2019 |access-date= March 30, 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190330163106/https://suffolktimes.timesreview.com/2019/03/87032/archeologist-ralph-solecki-remembered-as-pioneer-of-north-fork-history/ |url-status= dead }}</ref>
<ref name=NYT190411>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/obituaries/ralph-solecki-dead.html |title= Ralph Solecki, Who Found Humanity in Neanderthals, Dies at 101 |first= Sam |last= Roberts |work= The New York Times |date= April 11, 2019 }}</ref>
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==External links== *Matthew R. Goodrum: "Ralph Solecki." In: ''Biographical Dictionary of the History of Paleoanthropology''. Edited by Matthew R. Goodrum. (2020) Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uR944nQWfZrH_2vL0yjwoqUs5MI6sifU/view *[http://archaeology.about.com/od/archaeologistss/g/soleckirs.htm Ralph Stefan Solecki (b. 1917)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051020173732/http://archaeology.about.com/od/archaeologistss/g/soleckirs.htm |date=2005-10-20 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Solecki, Ralph}} Category:1917 births Category:2019 deaths Category:20th-century American archaeologists Category:American expatriates in Iraq Category:American people of Polish descent Category:Columbia University faculty Category:American men centenarians
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