Malcolm Jennings Rogers

Who was Malcolm Jennings Rogers?

Malcolm Jennings Rogers was a pioneering archaeologist in southern California, Baja California, and Arizona.

Born in Fulton, New York, Rogers studied mining geology at Syracuse University and initially worked as a mining geologist. After service in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I, he moved to Escondido, California in 1919 and took up citrus farming. However, he was soon involved with local archaeology and associated with the San Diego Museum of Man. He moved to San Diego and became a full-time Curator at the museum in 1930, continuing at that post until his resignation in 1945. Health and other personal problems resulted in a hiatus in his archaeological work, which he resumed in 1958 as a Research Associate at the museum. He was working on his previous notes and collections in 1960 when a traffic accident caused his death.

Rogers' fieldwork included extensive survey and excavation work in the coastal zone of San Diego County and northwestern Baja California, as well as throughout the California deserts to the east. He identified and named the San Dieguito, La Jolla, Amargosa, and Yuman archaeological complexes.