Ray Matheny

Ray T. Matheny is a professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University (BYU).

Matheny was in the United States Air Force during World War II and spent some of this time as a prisoner of war of the Germans. After the war he was a mechanic for Western Air Lines and then joined the military again to serve in the Korean War. By the time he began his studies at BYU he was a 32-year-old freshman with a wife and four children.

He earned his bachelor's degree at BYU in 1960 and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Oregon in 1968. He has been involved in many archaeological expeditions to Mayan cities. He has been closely connected with the New World Archaeology Foundation.

Matheny has been accused of being an opponent of the historicity of the Book of Mormon. These derive from a Sunstone Symposium in the early 1980s when he was pressured^{[citation needed]} into giving a talk where he was to present the reaction of a non-LDS archaeologist to the Book of Mormon. Despite the fact that his remarks which were meant to be reflective of what he perceived as how others view the issue and not of his own thoughts or impressions, many opponents of the historicity of the Book of Mormon have sought to circulate this story in a way to undermine its accuracy.

Matheny has also been involved in archaeological studies of the Southwestern United States, Utah, and Bronze Age Israel. He has also edited a volume on the rock art of the inter-mountain region of the United States.

In 2002 the government of Campeche recognized Matheny for his contributions to Mayan archeology.

Matheny was also closely connected with the establishment of the BYU Field School in Southern Utah.

References

• BYU Magazine, Fall 2001
• BYU bio page
• another BYU Magazine, Fall 2001 article on Matheny