Susan Evelyn Bulmer ( Hirsh; 17 February 1933 – 6 October 2016), known as Sue Bulmer, was a pioneering American archaeologist who worked in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. She was the first archaeologist to carry out excavations in the New Guinea Highlands in 1959–1960 and 1967–1973. Early life Bulmer was born in Ithaca, New York in 1933. Her parents met when they were both students at Cornell University. In 1937, the family moved to Pasadena, California, where her father was a researcher at Caltech. Education Bulmer graduated from Cornell University with a BA majoring in anthropology in 1954. She graduated with a Master’s degree in sociology at the University of Hawaii in 1956; her thesis researched the American Samoan diaspora. In 1956, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to continue her research in New Zealand. A four month long yacht trip from Hawaii through French Polynesia introduced her to the field of archaeology. Bulmer arrived in Auckland in January 1957. Later that year, she went on a field trip to Samoa. Two archaeologists from the University of Auckland, Jack Golson and Wal Ambrose, were running an excavation in Samoa and Bulmer joined in the dig. This experience kindled her lifelong passion for archaeology. When she returned to New Zealand, Bulmer joined excavations in the Coromandel and Canterbury. She enrolled to do a second Master’s degree in archaeology at the University of Auckland, starting in 1958. Fieldwork conducted in Papua New Guinea provided the basis of her thesis and she graduated with an MA (Archaeology) in 1966. In 1978 Bulmer graduated with a PhD from the University of Papua New Guinea. Her thesis topic was prehistoric culture change in the Port Moresby area. Career In 1959–1960 and 1967–1973 Bulmer carried out field research in Papua New Guinea, including excavations in the Port Moresby area and in the New Guinea Highlands, including Wanlek, Yuku and Kiowa. Bulmer’s Fruit Bat, a New Guinea megabat, discovered from fossils excavated by Bulmer, is named after her. From 1970-72 she was on the board of the Papua New Guinea National Museum, along with fellow board member Michael Somare, later Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Bulmer returned to New Zealand in 1973. While she was completing her PhD thesis she began doing site recording using students from the university, an initiative stimulated by the implementation of the Historic Places Amendment Act (1975). From the