Betty Jane Meggers is an American archaeologist best known for her work conducted in association with her husband, Cliff Evans, in South America. Meggers was born on December 5, 1921 in Washington D.C. to William and Edith Meggers. Meggers's father was a physicist as well as an archaeology enthusiast. He would often take the family to visit Native American sites, like Serpent Mound in Ohio. Meggers's dream was to someday become an archaeologist, and although she knew it was impractical she decided to pursue opportunities to guide her in that direction. Her first experience within the anthropology field was when she was 16. Meggers volunteered for the Smithsonian Institution and helped to mend pots excavated from Pueblo Bonito, an Anasazi village in New Mexico.

Meggers eventually went on to study archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania with the ultimate goal of a career in museum work. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor's degree in 1943 and a year later went on to get a Master's degree from the University of Michigan. It was at the University of Michigan that Meggers was introduced to ceramics from the Marajo of Brazil. In order to understand the publications on these ceramics from the 1870s Meggers taught herself Portuguese and published her first scientific article on the Marajo in 1945. After obtaining her Master's Degree from the University of Michigan, Meggers attended Columbia University to finish her Ph.D. While at Columbia University, Meggers met her future husband Clifford Evans. Evans was a fellow archaeology graduate student and archaeological curator. On September 13, 1946 the two were married and not long after they went to Brazil together to gather information for their dissertations. Meggers's dissertation was entitled The Archaeological Sequence on Marajo Island, Brazil with Special Reference to the Marajoara Culture. Even after her graduation from Columbia University in 1952, Meggers continued to concentrate on South American archaeology.

Meggers research began with the Island of Marajo in the Amazon Basin and most of her other research has been concentrated on South America. Within South American Meggers has done research in Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Guyana, in the area of the Amazon, and along the Andes. Other research conducted by Meggers has been done ini the Lesser Antilles and Micronesia.

Meggers has made many important contributions to the field of archaeology. Probably her best-known contribution was her controversial assertion of a pre-historic relationship between the people of Ecuador and the people of Japan. Meggers suggested that there was a trans-Pacific cultural connection between East Asia and South America long ago based on similarities of pottery fragments found in Japan and Ecuador. She contended that Japanese Middle Jomon pottery was similar to ceramics from the Valdivia site in Ecuador—both dating between 2000 and 3000 B.C.. Another important contribution to archaeology by Meggers was the system by which pottery fragments could be analyzed that was co-developed by Meggers and her husband Clifford Evans. In addition, Meggers was among the first to show women's competence in the field of archaeology and one of the first to look at the environmental effects on societies.

Meggers has been part of many important professional organizations and institutions. Below is a list of her involvement:

• 1950-1951: Instructor for the American University in Washington, D.C.
• Since 1954: Research Associate for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
• 1959-1961: Executive Secretary of the American Anthropological Association
• 1961-1963: Administrator for the Visiting Lecturer Program with the American Anthropological Association & the National Science Foundation
• 1981: Became an expert for the Smithsonian Institution
• Consultant for Batelle Memorial Fountain
• Has been Treasurer, Vice-President, and President of the Anthropological Association of Washington
• Advisor for the Rockefeller Foundation
• Currently:
• Principal Investigator of the Programa Nacional de Pesquisas Arqueologicas na Bacia Amazonica (PRONAPABA)
• Involved with the Society for American Archeology & the American Anthropological Association
• A member of the Instituto de Arqueologia Brasileria in Rio de Janeiro
• A member of the advisory board for Bolet del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino
• Involved in the Handbook of Latin American Studies
• Involved with the Walter Roth Museum of Archeology & Anthropology
• Involved in the Hispanic Division for the Library of Congress
• Director of the Latin American Archaeology Program at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution

Meggers has been acknowledged by many institutions for her contributions to the field of archaeology and South American studies. Some of her awards include:

• 1956: Washington Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Achievement
• 1966: Decoration of Merit from the Government of Ecuador
• 1966: 37th International Congress of Americanists Gold Medal
• 1985: Society for American Archaeology, 50th Anniversary Award
• 1997: Medalla de "La Periquera" from the Museo Provincial de Holgun, Cuba
• 1997: Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Argentina
• 1998: Meggers & Evans awarded for "their contribution to our National Identity" by the Embassy of Ecuador, Washington, D.C.

Meggers has written nearly two hundred articles, book reviews, translations, and books. She has written articles for many scientific journals including American Anthropologist, Archaeology, American Antiquity, Americas, and National Geographic. Many of her works focus on pre-Columbian transpacific contact and cultural ecology. Some of her most notable works include:

• 1960: Archaeological Investigations in British Guiana
• 1965: Early formative period of Coastal Ecuador: The Valdivia and Machalilla Phases
• 1966: Ecuador
• 1967: Archaeological Investigations at the Mouth of the Amazon
• 1971: Amazonia: Man in a Counterfeit Paradise
• 1979: Prehistoric America: An Ecological Perspective

• Voelker, Marcy. "Betty Meggers". Minnesota State University, Mankato. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
• Hirst, Kris. "Betty Jane Meggers:American Archaeologist and South Americanist". Retrieved 2009-02-13. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• Popson, Colleen. "First Lady of Amazonia". Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved 2009-02-13.