Delbert Leroy True

D. L. True (August 31, 1923 – June 20, 2001) was an archaeologist who worked in California, particularly San Diego County, and in northern Chile.

Born in San Pedro, California, True worked in a shipyard and served as an aerial-gunnery instructor during World War II. After the war he established a small avocado ranch in Pauma Valley, an inland area in northern San Diego County, where he became interested in and thoroughly familiar with the archaeological remains of the region's prehistoric cultures. Under the mentorship of Clement W. Meighan, he enrolled in anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles where he was cited by Time Magazine as one of the dozen top graduates in 1961. He went on to receive his doctorate from UCLA in 1966, with a dissertation on the "Archaeological Differentiation of Shoshonean and Yuman Speaking Groups in Southern California". He served on the anthropology faculty of the University of California, Davis from 1965 until his retirement.

True was instrumental in defining the Pauma, San Luis Rey, and Cuyamaca complexes and in elucidating their roles in regional prehistory. Together with Claude N. Warren, he also helped to elucidate the early San Dieguito and La Jolla complexes.

References

• Time Magazine. June 16, 1961. Top of the Heap.
• Waugh, Georgie, and Mark E. Basgall (editors). 2008. Avocados to Millingstones: Papers in Honor of D. L. True. Monographs in California and Great Basin Anthropology No. 5. California State University, Sacramento.