William Maples

William Maples is born in Dallas, Texas and spends much of his young adult life in Austin. He is born in 1937 and dies sixty years later, only a few years after Dead Men Do Tell Tales is published. For most of his life, Maples serves as a highly respected forensic anthropologist at the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. His work in human identification is renowned, particularly with respect to skeletons and also trauma analysis. Maples earns both an MA and PhD from the University of Texas in 1962 and 1967 respectively.

A year after receiving his PhD, Maples is appointed an assistant professor of anthropology at Florida and rises to become a full professor there, along with the curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History. He serves numerous forensic sciences units in the United States, along with working with the U.S. Army to identify the remains...