Harry Lionel Shapiro; Physical Anthropologist

Harry Lionel Shapiro, 87, a leading anthropologist and former curator of physical anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, whose research during the 1940s laid the foundation for forensic anthropology, which has since become a highly refined science practiced by medical examiners throughout the United States. As a consultant to the American Graves Registration Command, Shapiro went to Europe in 1946 to set up a method for identifying unknown dead. His method served as the basis for subsequent identification work in all theaters of war. During the 1970s, Shapiro was involved in tracking down the fossil remains of the extinct Peking Man, which provided unusually comprehensive evidence of an early stage of human evolution. His association with the American Museum of Natural History began in 1926, when he was appointed assistant curator in the Department of Anthropology. He became associate curator in 1931, and from 1942 until his retirement in 1970 was chairman of the department and curator of physical anthropology. Shapiro’s field work included a pioneer genetic study of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers. He reached remote Pitcairn Island in 1934 and remained through 1935, completing his study of the genetic mixture that resulted from marriages between Bounty sailors and Tahitian women. He found that the Pitcairn islanders showed no ill effects from several generations of intermarriage. In New York City on Sunday.