Dr. Alex Krieger, Anthropologist

When Alex Krieger completed his doctoral examinations - in Spanish - at the University of Mexico in 1954, one of his professors presented him with a rare treasure.  It was the only printed copy in existence of the journal of a survivor of a harrowing expedition to the New World in the years 1528 to 1536.  Since he retired from the University of Washington in 1979, Dr. Krieger had worked at translating the journal, which was the basis of his doctoral dissertation, and reworking it into a book.  But the work was still unfinished when Dr. Krieger, 79, died unexpectedly April 1, 1991.  Dr. Krieger's wife, Margery, hopes to arrange to have the project finished.  His library will be donated to the Texas Archeological Survey, as he desired.

Before he joined the UW, Dr. Krieger had attained prominence for his work studying traces of early human occupations in the American Southwest.  According to Dr. Jesse Jennings, a retired University of Utah anthropologist, Dr. Krieger made massive and timely contributions in establishing order where there had been chaos in classifying projectile points and ceramics in Texas.  He was noted for his outstanding field work exploring caves in the Great Basin and North Texas.  In 1948, the Swedish government awarded Dr. Krieger the Viking Medal for archaeology.

Dr. Krieger was born in Duluth, Minnesota.  His undergraduate work was at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Oregon.  He joined the University of Washington anthropology faculty in 1960.  He was an affiliate curator at the Burke Museum on the campus.  Survivors are his wife; a son, Alex D. Krieger Jr., of Bangkok, Thailand; a daughter, Diane LaRue of Halifax, Nova Scotia; and six grandchildren.

The Seattle Times, April 5, 1991