The anthropologist John R. Cole died on March 12, 2020, at the age of 75, according to the Greenfield Recorder (March 25, 2020). Creationism and what he called "cult archaeology" were foremost among his scholarly interests, and he published widely on both topics. In addition to serving on NCSE's board of directors from 1987 to 2010 and as president of the board from 1989 to 1991, he was a steady contributor to NCSE's publications, editing Creation/Evolution from 1991 to 1995 and NCSE Reports from 1990 to 1995.
March 30, 2020
John R. Cole, anthropologist who headed NCSE's board of directors, dies at 75
Among Cole's important discussions of creationism were "Scopes and Beyond: Antievolutionism and American Culture" (1982), "A Century After Darwin: 'Scientific Creationism' and Academe" (coauthored with Laurie R. Godfrey, 1987), and "Wielding the Wedge: Keeping Anti-Evolutionism Alive" (2007). Cole will also be remembered as one of the self-styled Raiders of the Lost Tracks, a group of scientists who debunked creationist claims of human footprints in the Cretaceous limestone of the Paluxy River near Glen Rose, Texas. Cole wrote and produced a documentary based on their research, The Case of the Texas Footprints, which was named as a top educational video by Choice, and coedited a special issue (PDF) of Creation/Evolution devoted to the tracks. And Cole's indictment of the creationist tendency to misrepresent scientists, published in Creation/Evolution in 1981, is still sadly relevant: "Creationists have developed a skill unique to their trade: that of misquotation and quotation out of context from the works of leading evolutionists. This tactic not only frustrates scientists but it misleads school board members, legislators, and the public. Whether such actions by creationists of selectively seeking out quotations or references in order to prove a preconceived case are willful distortion or the product of wishful thinking is irrelevant. Such acts misuse science and scientists in bogus appeals to authority."
Cole was born in McCook, Nebraska, on February 18, 1945. He received his B.A. in history and anthropology from Columbia University in 1968, his M.A. in anthropology from the University of Illinois in 1970, and his Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University in 1977. He taught at a variety of institutions during his career, including the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and also served as Director of Communications for the American Humanist Association from 1986 to 1987.
