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Crediting PIDBA Although not mentioned in the article “Rethinking the Clovis,” the map on page 28 illustrating the distribution of fluted points across North America was derived from the Paleoindian Database on the Americas (PIDBA) [http://pidba. tennessee.edu/]. The maps and primary data on PIDBA are compiled, submitted, and posted through the voluntary efforts of dozens of avocational and professional archaeologists, an effort that has been underway for almost 20 years. The PIDBA team is always looking for new primary data, and especially for people willing to compile and submit information on Paleo-Indian sites and artifacts in their state, province, or country. David G. Anderson Associate Professor Department of Anthropology University of Tennessee
Sending Letters to American Archaeology American Archaeology welcomes your letters. Write to us at 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517, or send us e-mail at tacmag@nm.net. We reserve the right to edit and publish letters in the magazine’s Letters department as space permits. Please include your name, address, and telephone number with all correspondence, including e-mail messages.
american archaeology
Editor’s Corner
Vol. 12 No. 4
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The situation in Nine Mile Canyon is, unfortunately, indicative of the situation in Utah generally. The Bush Administration’s imperative to drill anywhere and drill now, coupled with a Utah Congressional delegation with no sense of environmental responsibility and county governments that do not enforce environmental regulations, is seriously damaging many archaeological sites and the general environment. Easy access to remote sites by poorly regulated off road vehicles is, I suspect, leading to the looting and trashing of sites unknown to archaeologists. Fortunately, as noted in the article “Drill, Baby, Drill?,” there are a number of organizations working to protect both the environment and archaeological sites. Among them is the Southern Utah Alliance whose web site, www.suwa.org, provides a wealth of information on these issues. I urge your readers to join them to protect these incredibly beautiful and fragile lands and the archaeological sites they contain. Edward S. Riggs Albion, Maine
a quarterly public
Jamestown, one of the most iconic archaeological sites in the United States, had been hit by Hurricane Isabel. Power was out, buildings were damaged, and one of the country’s premiere historical artifact collections was endangered by flooding. When this unfortunate event occurred in September of 2003, a small team of National Park Service archaeologists and other specialists hurried to Jamestown, intent on doing what they could to mitigate the damage. These men and women were neither certain of what they would encounter, nor were they trained to deal with natural disasters. The situation they found was indeed disastrous. The basement of Jamestown’s visitor center, where myriad artifacts were stored, was flooded with five feet of water. Jamestown’s staff, equally unprepared for such emergencies, was overwhelmed. The park service team realized quick, decisive, even extreme action was required if the archaeological treasures were to be salvaged. Our feature “Responding to Disasters,” (see page 19) describes this and other recent natural disasters the National Park Service has had to contend with. The Jamestown emergency convinced the park service that it had to be better prepared for such devastating events as hurricanes, and consequently it established the Museum Emergency Response Team, a group of on-call experts consisting of archaeologists, curators, conservators, and collection managers who were trained to deal with these events. When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the team quickly swung into action, salvaging archaeological resources at several sites. There will be more natural disasters to come, but the park service is no longer unprepared.
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