Niède Guidon

Niède Guidon
Born(1933-03-12)12 March 1933
Jaú, São Paulo, Brazil
Died4 June 2025(2025-06-04) (aged 92)
São Raimundo Nonato, Piauí, Brazil
NationalityBrazilian
CitizenshipBrazilian, French
Alma materUniversity of São Paulo
University of Paris (Sorbonne)
Known forConserving the natural and cultural heritage of the World Heritage Site Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil
AwardsPrince Claus Award
Scientific career
FieldsArchaeology
InstitutionsAmerican Man Museum Foundation; Serra da Capivara National Park
in Piauí, Brazil

Niède Guidon (Portuguese pronunciation: [niˈɛdʒi ɡiˈdõ]) (12 March 1933 – 4 June 2025) was a Brazilian archaeologist known for her work in pre-historic archeology of South American civilizations and her efforts to secure the conservation of the World Heritage Site Serra da Capivara National Park.

Educated in Brazil and France, she worked in Paris for most of her career. Since the early 1970s, Guidon had conducted archeological research in Southeast Piauí, where thousands of archeological sites have been discovered. Her dates from those sites indicate that human settlement preceded North America's Clovis people by tens of thousands of years. In the late 1980s, these findings challenged the mainstream theory of Clovis First and have generated debate in the academic archeology community. She was the founding president of the Fundação Museu do Homem Americano (American Man Museum Foundation), a non-profit organization created to support the Serra da Capivara National Park, a World Heritage Site. Guidon won several national and international awards, including the Prince Claus Award, and the Ford conservation and Environment award.