Dr. Richard Leventhal

Biography

Richard M. Leventhal is the Executive Director of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the Penn Museum and a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as the Curator of the American Section and formerly as the Williams Director of the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Before joining Penn, he was the President of the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. Dr. Leventhal received his PhD from Harvard University in 1979. His research has focused on cultural heritage preservation, particularly the direct connection between local communities and heritage preservation, as exemplified by the Tihosuco Heritage Preservation and Community Development Project in the Yucatan, which relates to the 19th century Caste War rebellion. He has authored numerous works on ancient Maya cultural heritage preservation, as well as studies concerning archaeology, museums, and the intellectual history of American archaeology.

Research Interests

Courses