Ruth DeEtte Simpson facts for kids

Ruth DeEtte Simpson (May 6, 1918 – January 19, 2000) was an American archaeologist and founder of the Archaeological Survey Association of Southern California.

Born in Pasadena, California, Simpson received her master's degree from the University of Southern California in 1944 and went on to be the curator of the Heard Museum in Arizona for two years. She worked as a curator at the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1964 and then as a county archaeologist at the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands. She mostly conducted fieldwork in the Mojave Desert, including with Louis Leakey on the Calico Early Man Site, though this led to disagreements between Louis and his wife Mary Leakey.

Simpson was a member of the American Anthropologist Association and the Society of American Archaeology.