Charles A. Hoffman Papers

Charles Andrew Hoffman was born in Wildwood, New Jersey, on August 17, 1929. He attended the University of Florida where he earned his B.S.J. in Journalism, as well as his MA in Anthropology concurrently with a minor in Geology. He went on to achieve a Ph.D. in Anthropology with a minor in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Arizona in 1967. He served in the U.S. Navy in Korea.

His disciplines included people and cultures of the Caribbean area, past and current anthropology of historic sites, Paleo-Indians of the New World, Columbus' first landfall, eastern Arizona archaeology and anthropological theory. A major portion of his work and interest were the excavations of the Silver Springs Paleo-Indian Run and Guest Mammoth Kill Site in Florida. He often traveled to the Caribbean to study the cultures of the native people and investigate Columbus' first landfall. He was considered an expert on Columbus' first landfall and was very active in conferences and discussions relating to the topic.

He studied under and worked closely with University of Florida anthropologist, John M. Goggin. Hoffman also worked closely with the Florida State Museum, now the Florida Museum of Natural History. Indeed, while analyzing some of the materials at UF which he had brought back with him from the Caribbean he realized there were no fish skeletons on hand with which to compare his samples. He wrote to a friend at the museum in 1962, "If you have ever felt a strong urge to mail someone a cold fish, now's your chance. By all means, exercise this desire to the utmost and you will have made a tremendous contribution to science." He finished his career as Professor of Anthropology at Northern Arizona University, retiring in 1995. He died July 1, 2005 in Flagstaff, Arizona at the age of 75.