Background
Van Tilburg was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1965, receiving her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1986.
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Jo Tilburg
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University of Minnesota.
Career
Her primary specialty is rock art She is currently Research Associate of The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at University of California, Los Angeles and Director of the University of California, Los Angeles Rock Art Archive. Van Tilburg directs "Captured Visions", an award-winning rock art recording project in the Great Basin.
Other projets in which Van Tilburg is involved include the administration of a small grants program, training in field methods, and the creation of prototype digital storage projects for special collections.
Van Tilburg is also director of the Easter Island Statue Project. She has conducted seasonal fieldwork in the Pacific since 1982, including in the Republic of Palau and on Easter Island.
She is considered one of the world"s leading experts on Easter Island statues, and has worked closely with the Easter Island community to inventory, describe and catalog nearly 900 statues. She has produced a typological analysis and classification of the statue corpus that is a significant aid to chronological studies.
Van Tilburg wrote a biography of Routledge entitled Among Stone Giants: The Life of Katherine Routledge and Her Remarkable Expedition to Easter Island.
In 1998 she completed an experimental archaeology project to make and move a replica statue on Easter Island. A documentary film and web site were produced for Nova by WGBH Boston. In 1989, Van Tilburg founded the Rapa Nui Outrigger Club (RNOC) as a sports club and integral part of Kahu Kahu O Hera, an association of artisans, elders and others on Easter Island.
The stated purposes of the RNOC are to:
Encourage the understanding and appreciation of Rapa Nui"s role in Polynesian seafaring history.
Explore the natural environment of the Pacific Ocean and the ecology of Rapa Nui as part of that environment. Develop cultural exchanges with other Pacific islanders and continental peoples through the celebration of Rapa Nui maritime skills.
