A N E X C AVAT I O N S E T S H I S T O RY S T R A I G H T • A R C H A E O L O G Y W I N S AT C A E S A R S
american archaeology
SPRING 2001
a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy
Vol. 5 No. 1
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american archaeology a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy
Vol. 5 No. 1
spring 2001
COVER FEATURE
PHOTOGRAPHING ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
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Four exceptional photographers show their work and give insights on how to take remarkable pictures.
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LEGENDS OF ARCHAEOLOGY: SAVING THE SERPENT BY BRADLEY LEPPER
Amazed and puzzled by Serpent Mound, Frederick W. Putnam was determined to excavate and preserve it.
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HITTING AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL JACKPOT BY MARIA BRADEN
Caesars’s plan to build a grand casino in Indiana resulted in a huge archaeological project.
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R I G H T I N G H I S T O RY BY CHERYL PELLERIN
Thomas Jefferson conducted American archaeology’s first excavation. Working at a Monacan Indian village that may be the same site as Jefferson’s, Jeffrey Hantman’s archaeology is informing history.
34 2 Lay of the Land
BY ROB CRISELL
3 Letters
Ancient Americans knew how to party.
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5 Events 7 In the News Amateur Archaeologist Finds Rare Wisconsin Rock Art Rethinking the Mesa Verde Migrations Ancient South Carolina Petroglyphs Discovered
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COVER: One of Mesa Verde National Park’s most spectacular ruins, Cliff Palace, at sunset. photograph by Jerry Jacka
new acquisition: GUARANTEEING THE FUTURE OF THE LAKE KORONIS MOUNDS The Conservancy acquires a 2,000-year-old group of mounds in Minnesota.
46 Expeditions 48 Reviews
new acquisition: G AT E WAY T O T H E M I D - AT L A N T I C The Maddox Island site on Maryland’s Eastern Shore is the Conservancy’s 200th acquisition.
44 Field Notes
american archaeology
PLEASURE GARDENS, ALCOHOL ENEMAS, A N D C H O C O L ATE-COVERED TAMALES
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new acquisition: PRESERV I N G A R A R E C A D D O A N MOUND IN TEXAS The Conservancy’s latest POINT acquisition is one of only two documented Caddo ash mounds.
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Lay of the Land
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efore there was history, there was art. From the dawn of human existence the urge for artistic expression has always existed. We now have a 50,000-year-old flute, and we all know the wonderful Lascaux cave paintings of 30,000 years ago. In our News section, we report on a startling find in Wisconsin of extensive cave paintings. Among my favorite works are the wonderful 1840s drawings of Maya ruins by Frederick Catherwood. In this issue we focus on the art of the archaeological photographer. From the jungles of Mesoamerica to the deserts of southern California, our
featured photographers find beauty in the ruins of past cultures. Too often when we think of archaeology, we think only of science and history. Let’s also take the time to enjoy the aesthetic. Not everyone can draw the ruins like an artist, but anybody can take a photograph. But it’s a skill that takes thought and practice, and we hope all our readers will use our experts’ advice to improve your pictures. When you have digested the instructions, you’ll be ready to take some pictures and enter our photo contest. We are really looking forward to some great entries.
DARREN POORE
Seeing the Ar t in Archaeology
MARK MICHEL, President
MORE THAN JUST A TOUR ...
THE CROW CANYON EXPERIENCE.
LET CROW CANYON BE YOUR GUIDE FOR A UNIQUE AND INTIMATE ADVENTURE THROUGH TIME. EXPERIENCE THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND CULTURES OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST AND THE WORLD WITH RENOWNED AND ENGAGING SCHOLARS IN A WAY THE CASUAL TOURIST CAN NOT. NATIVE ALASKA: UNEARTHING THE PAST, PRESERVING THE FUTURE AUGUST 5-12, 2001
FOUR CORNERS COUNTRY: ARCHAEOLOGY AND NATIVE PEOPLES OF THE COLORADO PLATEAU SEPTEMBER 8-16, 2001
RETURN TO CARRIZO MOUNTAIN: THE KAYENTA CONNECTION SEPTEMBER 16-22, 2001
CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER
23390 ROAD K . CORTEZ, COLORADO 81321
(800) 422-8975 WWW.CROWCANYON.ORG
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CCAC’s programs and admission practices are open to applicants of any race, color, nationality, or ethnic origin.
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Letters A Researcher Gets His Due I just finished reading “Fishing in the Desert” in the Winter issue and I have to say, Bravo! I had the pleasure of meeting Jay von Werlhof on several occasions and he’s guided me through the southern California desert to view geoglyphs and fish traps. He is such a wonderful and dedicated man. One need only chat with him a few minutes to realize his love for the desert and dedication to his research. While I have heard about the fish traps, it was a treat to get to read about them. Thank you for including this article on Jay and his research. Sandy Kennedy Anaheim, California
In 1950, an expedition sponsored by the Texas Historical Society found the fort’s location by following clues in Henri Joutel’s journal. Evans, then associate director of the Society’s Memorial Museum, pinpointed the site’s location, and with a small crew, worked there for four months, firmly establishing the site’s identification as Fort St. Louis. During the following decades, the site became a magnet for trophy hunters, leading to the discovery of one of the cannons buried there by the Spanish in 1689. News of this discovery prompted the Texas Historical Commission to begin their current and admirable operation. John Graves Glen Rose, Texas
The Real Discoverers of the Fort St. Louis Site? I enjoyed “La Salle, La Belle, and the Lone Star State” in the Fall issue, but the Texas Historical Commission’s apparent intention to take credit for the discovery of Fort St. Louis without mention of the pioneer work done at the site by Glen Evans and his crew does not sit well with me.
Article Doesn’t Prove Cannibalism It is necessary to prove statements and facts, and not simply state opinions. It’s too bad this was not done in the Winter issue News article “Prehistoric Colorado Site Shows Evidence of Cannibalism.” Are you not aware of the widespread criticism of Malar and Billman’s work for its lack of scientific method, such as the use of their own invented but untested method for detecting myoglobin, or did you choose to ignore the criticism? Whatever the answer, the impression the article gives is that cannibalism is proven, a conclusion many of us involved with archaeological research in the Southwest would dispute. Peter Bullock, Project Director and Staff Archaeologist, Museum of New Mexico’s Office of Archaeological Studies, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Sending Letters to American Archaeology American Archaeology welcomes your letters. Write to us at 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517, or send us e-mail at archcons@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
Do you love to take photographs of artifacts, ruins, and rock art? If you do, here’s your chance to win a prize and get your pictures published in American Archaeology. In our Fall issue, we will announce the winners of our contest and publish the winning photographs. The first prize winner will receive a check for $150, the second prize winner $75, and the third prize winner $25. All winners receive a gift membership. Good luck.
Contest Rules: All photographs must have archaeological subjects, such as ruins, mounds, artifacts, or rock art. The deadline for entries is July 2, 2001. Contestants must be amateur photographers. Submissions must be limited to five photographs or fewer. Submissions will not be returned unless they include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Photographs can be slides or prints, color or black and white. Digital submissions will not be accepted. All photographs must be labeled with the photographer’s name. Please include information that identifies the picture and tells where and when it was taken, and the name of the photographer. No photographs may have been previously published. American Archaeology has the right to publish the winning photographs in its Fall issue without compensating the photographers over and above the aforementioned prize money. Send submissions to: American Archaeology Attn: Photography Contest 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402 Albuquerque, NM 87108
Michael Bawaya, Editor
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WELCOME TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVANC Y!
he Archaeological Conservancy is the only national non-profit organization that identifies, acquires, and preserves the most significant archaeological sites in the United States. Since its beginning in 1980, the Conservancy has preserved more than 200 sites across the nation, ranging in age from the earliest habitation sites in North America to a 19thcentury frontier army post. We are building a national system of archaeological preserves to ensure the survival of our irreplaceable cultural heritage. Why Save Archaeological Sites? The ancient people of North America left virtually no written records of their cultures. Clues that might someday solve the mysteries of prehistoric America are still missing, and when a ruin is destroyed by looters, or leveled for a shopping center, precious information is lost. By permanently preserving endangered ruins, we make sure they will be here for future generations to study and enjoy. How We Raise Funds: Funds for the Conservancy come from membership dues, individual contributions, corporations, and foundations. Gifts and bequests of money, land, and securities are fully tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Planned giving provides donors with substantial tax deductions and a variety of beneficiary possibilities. For more information, call Mark Michel at (505) 266-1540. The Role of the Magazine: American Archaeology is the only popular magazine devoted to presenting the rich diversity of archaeology in the Americas. The purpose of the magazine is to help readers appreciate and understand the archaeological wonders available to them, and to raise their awareness of the destruction of our cultural heritage. By sharing new discoveries, research, and activities in an enjoyable and informative way, we hope we can make learning about ancient America as exciting as it is essential. How to Say Hello: By mail: The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517; by phone: (505) 266-1540; by e-mail: archcons@nm.net; or visit our Web site: www.americanarchaeology.org
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5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402 Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517 • (505) 266-1540 www.americanarchaeology.org Board of Directors Earl Gadbery, Pennsylvania, CHAIRMAN Olds Anderson, Michigan • Cecil F. Antone, Arizona • Janet Creighton, Washington Christopher B. Donnan, California • Janet EtsHokin, Illinois • Jerry EtsHokin, Illinois W. James Judge, Colorado • Jay T. Last, California James B. Richardson, Pennsylvania • Peter O. A. Solbert, New York Rosamond Stanton, New Mexico • Vincus Steponaitis, North Carolina Dee Ann Story, Texas • Stewart L. Udall, New Mexico Conser vancy Staff Mark Michel, President • Tione Joseph, Office Manager Erika Olsson, Membership Director • Shelley Smith, Membership Assistant Martha Mulvany, Special Projects Director • Yvonne Woolfolk, Administrative Assistant Heather Wooddell, Administrative Assistant Regional Offices and Directors Jim Walker, Southwest Region (505) 266-1540 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402 • Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108-1517 Lynn Dunbar, Western Region (916) 448-1892 1217 23rd Street • Sacramento, California 95816-4917 Paul Gardner, Midwest Region (614) 267-1100 295 Acton Road • Columbus, Ohio 43214-3305 Alan Gruber, Southeast Region (770) 975-4344 5997 Cedar Crest Road • Acworth, Georgia 30101 Rob Crisell, Eastern Region (703) 979-4410 1307 S. Glebe Road • Arlington, Virginia 22204
american archaeology
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PUBLISHER: Mark Michel EDITOR: Michael Bawaya (505) 266-9668, archcons@nm.net SENIOR EDITOR: Rob Crisell ASSISTANT EDITOR: Tamara Stewart CREATIVE & PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: Kathleen Sparkes, White Hart Design Editorial Advisor y Board James Bruseth, Texas Historical Commission • Allen Dart, Old Pueblo Archaeology Center Hester Davis, Arkansas Archeological Survey • David Dye, University of Memphis John Foster, California State Parks • Lynne Goldstein, Michigan State University Megg Heath, Bureau of Land Management • Susan Hector, San Diego County Parks Gwynn Henderson, Kentucky Archaeological Registry • John Henderson, Cornell University John Kelly, Washington University • Robert Kuhn, New York Historic Preservation William Lipe, Washington State University • Mark Lynott, National Park Service Bonnie McEwan, San Luis Historic Site • Giovanna Peebles, Vermont State Archaeologist Peter Pilles, U.S. Forest Service • John Roney, Bureau of Land Management Kenneth Sassaman, University of Florida • Dennis Stanford, Smithsonian Institution Kathryn Toepel, Heritage Research Associates • Richard Woodbury, University of Massachusetts National Advertising Office Richard Bublitz, Advertising Representative; 22247 Burbank Boulevard, Woodland Hills, California 91367; (818) 992-0366; fax (818) 716-1030 dick-rcb@juno.om American Archaeology (ISSN 1093-8400) is published quarterly by The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517. Title registered U.S. Pat. and TM Office, © 2001 by TAC. Printed in the United States. Periodicals postage paid Albuquerque, NM, and additional mailing offices. Single copies are $3.95. A oneyear membership to the Conservancy is $25 and includes receipt of American Archaeology. Of the member’s dues, $6 is designated for a one-year magazine subscription. READERS: For new memberships, renewals, or change of address, write to The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517, or call (505) 2661540. For changes of address, include old and new addresses. Articles are published for educational purposes and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conservancy, its editorial board, or American Archaeology. Article proposals and artwork should be addressed to the editor. No responsibility assumed for unsolicited material. All articles receive expert review. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to American Archaeology, The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517; (505) 266-1540. All rights reserved.
American Archaeology does not accept advertising from dealers in archaeological artifacts or antiquities.
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Museum exhibits Meetings
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■ NEW EXHIBITS
High Desert Museum
San Diego Museum of Man
Bend, Ore.—“Gum San: Land of the Golden Mountain” explores the story of Chinese immigrants in the American West, celebrating their often overlooked role in building railroads, mines, and towns in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibit includes a collection of rare artifacts, historic photographs, and contemporary photographs of surviving Chinese sites. (541) 382-4754 (May 12–October 28)
San Diego, Calif.—Skeletal remains reveal fascinating stories from the past in the new exhibit “The Bones Don’t Lie: Stories from the Grave,” which displays hundreds of human bones, artifacts, and related research tools, as well as giving visitors a variety of hands-on learning experiences. (619) 239-2001 (New long-term exhibit) Anasazi Heritage Center
Dolores, Colo.—“Mountain–Family–Spirit: Ute Indian Arts and Culture” highlights the history and artistic achievements of the Nuuche (Ute people), whose homeland stretches across Colorado and Utah. The exhibit includes a selection of historic artifacts. (970) 882-4811 (April 16–August 31) Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Santa Fe, N.M.—A photographic exhibit, “Pana O’ahu: Sacred Stones—Sacred Places,” tells the story of the temples and shrines built by native peoples in Hawaii during the period of Hawaiian sovereignty. (505) 476-5105 (Through May 27) Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology
ARIZONA STATE MUSEUM
Events
Festivals
■ CONFERENCES & FESTIVALS Arizona Archaeology Awareness Month and Expo 2001
Throughout the month of March, the Arizona State Parks Historic Preservation Office in Phoenix is coordinating statewide events that focus on efforts to preserve Arizona’s past. The highlight is Archaeology Expo in downtown Globe March 17–18, which will include more than 50 educational displays as well as demonstrations, Native American storytelling, traditional food and music, and living history reenactments. Contact Arizona State Parks at (602) 542-4174 for a listing of events.
Open House at Arizona State Museum March 24, Tucson, Ariz. Experience the myth and mystery of Arizona’s prehistory when the museum opens its storerooms to share its remarkable collections of pottery, kachinas, textiles, baskets, and more. Admission is free. (520) 626-8381
Andover, Mass.—Drawing on recent archaeological research, “Peru: From Village to Empire” traces the evolution of ancient cultures and the rise of complex society in Peru, from Paleo-Indian peoples to the Inca Empire. More than 35 objects from the Chavín, Moche, Huari, Chimú, and Inca cultures are included in the exhibit. (978) 749-4490 (Through June 30) american archaeology
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Events
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum Chicago, Ill.—Recently donated artifacts of preCuauhtémoc (pre-European contact) Mexico ranging from 1100 B.C. to A.D. 1519 will be featured in the museum’s new “Mexicanidad: Our Past Is Present” exhibition, which traces the development of Mexican art, culture, religion, history, and politics from ancient through modern times. (312) 738-1503 (New permanent exhibit opens April 28)
Wickliffe Mounds Pottery Workshop and Herbal Woodswalk
March 23–25, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pa. Join top Maya scholars and hundreds of Maya enthusiasts for a weekend of talks and hieroglyphic workshops examining the language and history of the ancient Maya culture. For more information contact the Special Events Office at (215) 898-4890.
March 24–25, pottery workshop; April 28, herbal woodswalk, Wickliffe Mounds Research Center, Wickliffe, Ky. Learn how to make a Mississippian-style coil pot, using examples of Wickliffe Mounds pottery in the pottery workshop. Join a Native American herbalist on an herbal woodswalk along the Mississippian mounds trails and learn about the medicinal use of wild plants and how prehistoric peoples would have identified, gathered, and prepared them.
Society for California Archaeology Annual Meeting
66th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology
March 23–25, Doubletree Hotel, Modesto, Calif. This year’s meeting will include symposia, forums, workshops, and general sessions of papers and poster presentations. For more information check the Society’s Web site at www.scanet.org.
April 18–22, New Orleans Marriott and Le Meridien, New Orleans, La. For information contact SAA headquarters at (202) 789-8200 or visit their Web site at www.saa.org.
MEXICAN FINE ARTS CENTER MUSEUM
19th Annual Maya Weekend: The Four Corners of the Maya World
Pueblo Grande Museum
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TODD BOSTWICK
Phoenix, Ariz.—The recently opened exhibit “Hidden History: Archaeology of Territorial Phoenix” features artifacts and information about Phoenix from the time of its founding to Arizona’s statehood (1870–1912). A variety of photographs and artifacts recovered from recent excavations conducted within the original Phoenix townsite will be on display. (602) 495-0901 (New long-term exhibit)
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Amateur Archaeologist Finds Rare Rock Art in Wisconsin
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Radiocarbon dating shows one drawing to be 1,100 years old.
MVAC
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ore than 100 cave drawings and carvings were found in a deep three-room cave near La Crosse, Wisconsin. One of the drawings has been radiocarbon dated to around A.D. 900. James Gallagher, executive director of the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center (MVAC), calls the drawings “the most comprehensive set of Native American paintings in the Upper Midwest.” He describes the rare cave paintings as a style of art not previously seen in this area, a style which has been linked to the Late Woodland Effigy Mound Culture, believed to be ancestors of today’s Ho Chunk Nation. The rock art was discovered in 1993 by Dan Arnold, a local amateur archaeologist and spelunker, who contacted MVAC. The find was kept secret until the cave could be mapped and photographed, and a preservation program could be worked out with the landowner. Elders and members of the Ho Chunk Nation were among the first to view the drawings. “This cave contains as many pictographs as are known from the entire state of Wisconsin, and their preservation is excellent,” says Gallagher. “The style of rock art is one that has not been seen before in the state. ” In addition to images of birds, humans, deer, and geometric shapes, the seven panels in Tainter Cave contain depictions of recognizable american archaeology
A bow hunter takes aim at a pregnant doe in this image.
scenes, such as an infant bound to a cradle board and a group of nine bow hunters in late winter surrounding and taking down six or seven deer, including several pregnant does. This panel lies directly beneath images of a group of birds, bird feet, and feathers, representing what Gallagher describes as a classic example of Native American separation of earth and sky. One image may represent a now extinct long-horned buffalo and, if so, probably dates to the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. Rolled birch bark torches and part of the sole of a leather moccasin were found on the cave floor, the moccasin fragment dating to 500 years ago. This is the first time these
types of artifacts have been found in the Upper Midwest. A team of experts from University of Wisconsin at La Crosse and other institutions in West Virginia, Georgia, and Texas has been working with MVAC to document the site in detail. With one drawing dated, researchers may be able to determine the age of other prehistoric Wisconsin drawings through comparative analysis. In order to protect this discovery and preserve it for future study, a massive steel gate was erected across the cave’s entrance with the help of the American Cave Conservation Association. —Tamara Stewart 7
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An Unlikely Preservation
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NEWS UPDATE
ne of the Southwest’s newest archaeological preserves was recently established by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). This project, the first of its kind in Arizona, will protect a portion of the Julian Wash site, an ancient Hohokam village located just south of Tucson. The preserve resulted from a project to reconstruct the interchange between highways I-10 and I-19. Before construction began, ADOT, in accordance with national laws, conducted an archaeological survey that identified a site on the property. “But in this case, when we looked at the area that would be impacted by the construction, we realized that if we did a full excavation the cost would have been exorbitant,” says Bettina Rosenberg, ADOT’s historic preservation coordinator. ADOT had contracted with Desert Archaeology, Inc. to conduct any necessary archaeological work,
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An aerial view of the Julian Wash excavation. Seventy-two prehistoric structures and possible structures were excavated in the ADOT right of way.
and the firm’s president, William Doelle, pushed for the preserve. Doelle says that he just “kept haranguing” ADOT to protect the site. Desert Archaeology determined the road construction wouldn’t affect most of the site. It would have cost the state between $3 and $4 million to excavate the entire site, but it would cost only about $1 million to excavate the affected sections. “There was an opportunity to preserve, and preservation in place is the preferred alternative,” Doelle observes. While the preserve is a costeffective way for ADOT to manage this property, Rosenberg says that the Julian Wash preserve will be the exception and not the rule. She adds that ADOT is not in a position to manage the preserve over the long term, and it hopes to sell the land to an organization that is. —Martha Mulvany
Remains of Two Settlers Uncovered at the Fort St. Louis Site
Archaeologists excavating at Fort St. Louis, the site of Texas’s first European settlement, recently discovered the 300-yearold remains of two people believed to be settlers. The fort was established by the French explorer La Salle near Victoria in 1685 (see “La Salle, La Belle, and the Lone Star State,” American Archaeology, Fall 2000). Facing a tight deadline and an even tighter budget, the Texas Historical Commission’s (THC) team of archaeologists has been working at the privately owned site since October 1999, hoping to uncover the remains of some of the fort’s French colonists. Based on Spanish documents and the jumbled nature of the remains, Jim Bruseth, director of THC’s archaeology division, believes the two individuals may have been killed by the Karankawa Indians during a Christmas Eve attack and later found and hastily buried by the Spanish when they arrived at the fort in the late 1600s. The excavators have also confirmed the presence of an elaborate 16-pointed, star-shaped presidio that was built by the Spanish on top of the site. “This site is certainly one of the most important in the state,” says Bruseth, “and now that we’ve found the actual remains of two of the settlers, a whole new area of research has opened up to us.” Analysis of the remains combined with information gleaned from historic records will help researchers determine the sex and age of the individuals, their general health, the quality of their diet, the causes of their deaths, and possibly even their identities. Once the analysis is completed, the remains will be reburied on public land in downtown Victoria. Artifacts recovered from the site and from La Salle’s ship are on display at the state’s public archaeology lab in Victoria. —Tamara Stewart
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ADRIEL HEISEY
The Arizona Department of Transportation preserves a Hohokam village.
Massive 13th-Century Migrations from Mesa Verde Reexamined
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Recent research at southern New Mexico sites may indicate settlement by prehistoric migrants.
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER/MUSEUM
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hen the Anasazi left the Four Corners region of the American Southwest in the late 1200s, did they migrate as far as southern New Mexico? Archaeologist Stephen Lekson and his colleagues have been conducting research at several settlements in southern New Mexico, which they point to as possible destinations for large groups of the former Mesa Verdeans. Lekson, curator for the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, and archaeologist Karl Laumbach, of Human Systems Research, directed a mapping project and preliminary excavations at Pinnacle Ruin near Truth or Consequences last summer. Two other southern New Mexico settlements, Gallinas Springs and Roadmap Ruin, have also been the focus of their research. Their work is part of the ongoing Cañada Alamosa research project, a collaboration between two New Mexico nonprofit organizations, Cañada Alamosa Institute and Human Systems Research, that conduct anthropological and historical research. Researchers have long thought that the estimated tens of thousands of Anasazi who populated the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah until A.D. 1300 were prompted by drought, political conflicts, and possibly religious reasons to gradually migrate south, where they joined the pueblos that now exist in Arizona and along the Rio Grande in northern and central New Mexico.
american archaeology
Steve Lekson excavates a room at Pinnacle Ruin.
“But Pueblo traditions suggest that migrations were longer, more complicated, and more convoluted,” Lekson says. “Population in the Santa Fe region increased in the 14th century, but the increase is far less than the numbers which left Mesa Verde and the Four Corners in the late 13th century.” Despite researchers’ beliefs, it is difficult to discern the presence of the Anasazi among the puebloan peoples archaeologically, because they had similar traditions. But in southern New Mexico, where 12thand 13th-century traditions were very different from those of the Anasazi, Lekson believes there are clear signs of migration. “With their black-on-white
pottery, multi-storied roomblocks enclosing plazas, T-shaped doorways, kivas, and other features, these far-south post–Mesa Verde sites stick out like proverbial sore thumbs,” Lekson says, referring to the resemblances to Mesa Verde. “Together, these three sites total more than 800 rooms—far fewer than would accommodate all of the people who left the Four Corners region, but still the largest definable post–Mesa Verde community outside of the old Mesa Verde region.” Lekson, Laumbach and Dennis O’Toole, of Cañada Alamosa Institute, plan to continue working in southern New Mexico. —Tamara Stewart
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Earliest Direct Evidence for Root Crop Cultivation Found at Panama Site Find supports pre-6,000-to-7,000-year-old transition from foraging to food production in the lowland tropics. A microscopic view of a manioc starch grain that was recovered from a grinding stone.
important crop in the Americas,” he adds. Ranere and Patricia Hansell, also of Temple University, along with Dolores Piperno and Irene Holst of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, recently published the results of their 1973 and 1997 excavations at the site in the journal Nature. In addition to manioc, the researchers identified the remains of yams, arrowroot, and maize starch on surfaces of ancient grinding stones, indicating that early horticultural systems in this area included mixtures of root and seed crops. Researchers are fairly certain that manioc was
I. HOLST/TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
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esearchers working at Aguadulce Shelter on the Pacific coastal plain of Central Panama recently found starch grains in sediments dating between 6,000 to 7,000 years old. The discovery is significant because archaeologists have long been aware of the importance of manioc and other root crops to the diet of ancient Americans, and some have suspected the tropical forests of Central and South America as a likely place of their original domestication. But evidence for the timing and source of these early domesticates is very hard to come by. This find confirms what some researchers have long asserted and others denied—that the domestication and dispersal of crops in the tropics of Central and South America happened quite early, says Anthony Ranere of Temple University. “The recovery of manioc starch is particularly significant, since it represents the earliest record of this
originally domesticated in Brazil, where its closest living wild relative is found, and maize in Mexico. The two crops were likely domesticated considerably earlier than 7,000 years ago, as it would have taken an unknown period of time for domestication practices to travel from these countries to Panama. —Tamara Stewart
Recently Discovered South Carolina Petroglyphs May Be Thousands of Years Old On a remote mountain crest in the Jocassee Gorges preserve in northern South Carolina, local naturalist Dennis Chastain and archaeologist Tom Charles recently discovered hundreds of rock carvings. The deeply carved images, which consist primarily of simple circles of varying dimensions as well as a few triangles and squares, are very different from the several hundred other images that have been found at lower elevations across the region. This suggests that the recently discovered carvings may have been made by earlier people than those responsible for the other rock art. The extent of the carvings’ erosion and their location high up on isolated Pinnacle Mountain bolster this speculation. “The later Woodland and Mississippian cultures that were prolific in the region were predominantly situated on the lower landforms, but it is not uncommon to find Archaic period (8000 B.C.–2000 B.C.) artifacts and sites high up in the mountains,” says Charles, who works with the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology in Columbia. The Pinnacle Mountain carvings are located in the 33,000-acre tract recently purchased by the state; consequently, the site will be protected and may even be included as a stop along the planned 400-mile Palmetto Trail that will run north from Oconee State Park. —Tamara Stewart
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L E G E N D S
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A R C H A E O L O G Y
Saving the Serpent The remarkable Frederick W. Putnam dedicated himself to excavating and preserving Serpent Mound. BY BRADLEY T. LEPPER
In September of 1883, Frederick Ward
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Putnam, curator of Harvard’s Peabody Museum, had his first opportunity to visit the storied mounds of Ohio. Accompanied by four fellow archaeologists, the team traveled by train to Hillsboro, where they hired a large mule wagon and set out over the rolling hills of southern Ohio. They arrived at the foot of a peninsula of jagged bedrock thrown up by some still unknown convulsion of the earth. They climbed down from the wagon and scrambled up the steep, rocky slope to find what is arguably the most remarkable of the thousands of Ohio’s ancient mounds: the great Serpent. As Putnam recalled the event years later: “The most singular sensation of awe and admiration overwhelmed me at this sudden realization of my long cherished ambition, for here before me was the mysterious work of an unknown people, whose seemingly most sacred place we had invaded.” As the sun set on the gigantic coils of this monumental serpent, its mystery and grandeur possessed Putnam. He then and there dedicated american archaeology
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PEABODY MUSEUM HARVARD UNIVERSITY
himself to solving the puzzle of its origin and purpose: “The unknown must become known!” Putnam was an exceptional man. Many scholars considered him to be the father of American archaeology. Such designations, which have gone out of fashion, often engender unresolvable debate about who really deserves the honorific. However, the historian Terry Barnhart recently observed that Putnam’s achievements “defined the emergence of American anthropology as an organized scientific discipline” and that his presence “is found in virtually all aspects of academic and museum anthropology in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.” Putnam was a prodigy. He became a curator of ornithology at the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts, at the age of 17. After working at various museums between 1856 and 1873, he became the curator of the Peabody Museum in 1875. He served in this capacity until 1909 when, at the age of 70, he accepted the position of honorary curator. He was appointed Peabody Professor of American Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard in 1887. Putnam also served as the director of the anthropological section of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The collections Putnam assembled for this exhibit became the nucleus of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History. He was also, at various times, the curator of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History and professor of anthropology and director of the anthropological museum at the University of California. Although Putnam never wrote a major book and is 12
A well-dressed Putnam at Foster's Earthwork, a structure made of clay and rocks in southern Ohio.
sometimes criticized for making no substantive advances in archaeological theory, he did publish more than 400 articles in scientific journals and popular magazines. Though he was accused of being theoretically naive, he advocated careful and complete recovery of artifacts as well as what we now call “ecofacts,” such as “seeds, nuts, corn-cobs, and bones of animals, and one and all shall show their association and tell their story as a whole.” Moreover, while his contemporaries excavated mounds for the rich troves of exotic grave goods, Putnam also searched the ground around the mounds for the humbler evidence of habitation, believing that no view of ancient cultures could be complete without reference to all these data. This approach enabled Putnam to discern, more clearly than anyone else, that “the ancient Americans were not the homogenous people generally supposed.” Putnam returned to the Serpent Mound in 1885 and was horrified to see that “its destruction was inevitable unless immediate measures were taken for its preservation.” Alice Fletcher, a close friend and colleague, discussed the threat to this ancient monument with “a few Boston ladies.” These women, aided by the noted historian Francis Parkman, raised funds sufficient to purchase the site, conduct excavations, restore the mound to its former glory, and provide the basic amenities for a public park, making spring
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SQUIER AND DAVIS
Serpent Mound the first privately funded archaeological preserve in the nation. In recognition of this action, and to encourage similar efforts, Ohio’s legislature passed an act exempting from taxation all lands containing prehistoric earthworks that were purchased for preservation. The act also made it a crime to vandalize such archaeological parks. This was the first legislative act in the country for the preservation of archaeological sites and Putnam was overjoyed. He regarded the preservation of Serpent Mound as the most important achievement of his career. In a letter to his wife dated May 30, 1887, he wrote: “It is a splendid thing darling—this preservation of this wonderful old monument and I feel it to be the grandest act of my life that I have been instrumental in bringing it about. I am so elated over it.” Putnam meticulously excavated portions of Serpent Mound and other sites in the region. Observing him working at a mound across the valley from the Serpent, an anonymous participant in these excavations described Putnam as “a marvel of thoroughness.” She noted that “every trace of human occupation, or remains, which they found was carefully examined, labeled, and packed by the unwearied professor, who stood, note book in hand and umbrella over his head, like patience on a monument carefully watching the work going on around him and . . . making a note of it all.” Putnam’s careful investigations in the vicinity of Serpent Mound revealed a complicated record of successive occupations from burial mounds built by the Adena culture (circa 800 B.C.–A.D. 100) to an extensive village of the much later Fort Ancient culture (circa A.D. 1000–1550). This village consisted of “ash beds, the many implements in various stages of manufacture, the many thousand chips of flint . . . and the many potsherds and other objects scattered throughout the dark soil.” The Serpent itself contained no artifacts or burials. It was simply a grand earthen sculpture built from stones and clay. With no artifacts for comparison, neither Putnam nor subsequent archaeologists had any way to determine which culture—the Adena, the Fort Ancient, or some other group not represented in the remains uncovered by Putnam’s crews—crafted this serpentine geoglyph. Traditionally, most archaeologists have regarded the Serpent as contemporary with the Adena burial mounds. However, in 1991, a team of archaeologists returned to the Serpent to reopen one of Putnam’s trenches and recover samples. The team found bits of charcoal from intact portions of the mound and radiocarbon dating of american archaeology
A diagram of Serpent Mound by Squier and Davis.
these fragments of burned wood indicated that the Fort Ancient villagers were the likely builders. After completing his systematic examination of the site, Putnam lovingly restored the Serpent to his best approximation of its original condition. During the restoration of the mound, the anonymous author of an unpublished manuscript titled “Our Camp Life at the Serpent Mound, July and August 1889,” noted that “Prof. Putnam would not trust the work of repair to any one but himself and he worked from early morning till dusk for many long days, trowel in hand, tracing the outline of the embankment. ” Thanks to Putnam, Serpent Mound remains an impressive testimonial to a rich and vibrant culture. In Putnam’s words, “the old shrine . . . is again held sacred; not for ancient and awful rites, but for the study of future generations.” Serpent Mound is now owned and operated by the Ohio Historical Society. At Putnam’s behest, the Peabody Museum transferred the property to the care of this organization in 1900. BRADLEY T. LEPPER is a curator of archaeology with the Ohio Historical Society.
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Archaeologists excavate deeply buried Early Archaic occupations in a 8,500-square-foot CREDIT
block at the James Farnsley site. The block is covered by a large portable tent that allowed work to proceed year-round.
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Hitting an Archaeological CREDIT
Jackpot Caesars’s plan to build an elaborate casino in Indiana has resulted in an elaborate archaeological project. Having invested years of work, archaeologists have already received a huge payoff, and there’s more to come. BY MARIA BRADEN PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN FITZGERALD
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long the Ohio River in southern Indiana, amid the simple farmhouses and cabins, is a suggestion of ancient Rome. More than 2,000 years after Caesar, in a show of military force, crossed the Rubicon, Caesars, the gambling establishment, has crossed the Ohio, extending its empire to this unlikely place. And, as it turns out, what’s good for gambling is great for archaeology. As a 200,000square-foot white marble pavilion crowned with Roman urns and a statue of Julius Caesar is being constructed above ground, a wealth of artifacts from older cultures has been discovered below. The archaeologists who surveyed the area where the pavilion is being built figured the initial assessment might take three weeks. But when artifacts started popping out of the ground during preliminary trenching, they realized they were onto something big. american archaeology
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(Above) The Caesars pavilion now covers stratified prehistoric occupations, some of which were buried nearly 10 feet below the surface. (Left) Construction of a 500-room hotel proceeds as archaeologists continue work at the James Farnsley site.
“We knew then there was lots of work ahead,” says Russ Stafford, an Indiana State University anthropology professor who coordinated the excavation, which comprised four different sites. Indeed, three years were spent on preliminary evaluation and site testing, then another three years were devoted to an intensive, year-round excavation. This effort, known as the Caesars Archaeological Project, has been called one of the most significant archaeological endeavors in the Midwest. The excavation phase was completed last fall and now archaeologists hope to spend four to five more years in the lab, analyzing artifacts and data. “You look at Indiana and obviously you don’t see pyramids or Mesoamerican city-states and step pyramids,” says state archaeologist Rick Jones, “but look under the ground and you’ll see … a lot of these things are unique in the world.” 16
At one site, archaeologists unearthed a 10,000-plusyear-old workshop where tools were made that may have been one of Indiana’s first factories. They also found an Early Archaic dump loaded with stone debris and bits of charcoal. A huge number of artifacts were also found, along with ancient hearths and fire pits. These findings have led archaeologists to conclude that Native Americans came back to this place along the river year after year, generation after generation, for more than 9,000 years. “There’s really nothing like this,” says Stafford. “It was intensely occupied.” Archaeologists had a rare opportunity to excavate undisturbed areas and to recover layer upon layer of artifacts in their original context, which presented clear evidence of successive occupations. Their oldest discoveries, which include a hearth and several tools, date back more than 11,000 years. “There are not many places you can go in the eastern United States where you can get a sequence like that,” Stafford says.
A Challenging Excavation These discoveries came to light because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers required a preliminary archaeological assessment as part of the permitting process for riverboat docking facilities on the Ohio. The dock was the first phase of what was to become Caesars Indiana, a 234-acre gambling and entertainment complex near Louisville, Kentucky. When archaeologists arrived in 1995, the fertile spring
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Project director Russ Stafford looks on as a track hoe removes overburden from the lower Early Archaic occupations, some of which were buried more than 16 feet below the surface.
floodplain looked much the way it probably did hundreds of years ago, bordered by the broad river on one side and rocky bluffs covered with hickory and oak trees on the other. Most of the land was undeveloped and in pasture. In recent years the land was used to graze horses; before that it was farmed. It’s not unusual for farmers on the floodplain to plow up occasional artifacts, but when the archaeologists dug more than 100 trenches at the site of the proposed docking facility and elsewhere on the property, they were stunned by the sheer quantity of what turned up. Needing a crew large enough to handle the work, Stafford posted job openings on the Internet and hired more than 80 archaeologists from all over the country. After test excavations of two-by-twometer blocks were conducted, the four sites, totaling about 44 acres, were declared eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Major excavation began in 1998. The casino’s developers were champing at the bit to move ahead with their project, creating a sense of urgency. Staying just ahead of the bulldozers, the archaeologists worked year-round, missing only one or two weeks in three years. Huge white vinyl tents, almost large enough to cover a football field, were used to shelter workers and protect the site. They were leased at a monthly cost of about $15,000 each. But archaeologists still had to contend with Mother Nature. There were tense moments during severe thunderstorms when strong winds buffeted the tents and lightning crackled overhead. Mosquitoes and flies swarmed the steamy banks of the Ohio during Indiana’s hot, humid summers. Winters were brutal; archaeologists and field technicians bundled up and huddled around propane heaters, and they layered the ground with insulation to keep it from freezing solid. “We took some lessons from firefighters,” says Stafford, “and developed a system to drain pumps and hoses each day to prevent freeze-ups.” Things weren’t much easier in early spring, when the ground turned muddy and the river swelled due to rains american archaeology
and melted snow. In 1999, the Ohio rose over its banks and flooded one of the excavations. Equipment floated away. Union problems, OSHA inspections, and government regulations caused administrative headaches and shut down the project more than once. “Just about anything that could have happened did,” says Stafford. As quickly as the archaeologists completed excavations on each of the sites, the construction workers moved in, backfilled, paved, and began building portions of the casino complex. At times, only a few yards and a hastily erected fence separated the archaeologists from the construction workers. 17
KATHLEEN SPARKES
(Above) The Caesars Archaeological Project consists of four sites. Each site has several different occupations at different depths, as shown above. (Left) An archaeologist lays out solid soil cores extracted with a hydraulic probe. The soil will be examined in the laboratory to help determine the geological context of the buried Early Archaic occupations.
An Archaeological Layer Cake Usually, the older the culture, the less information is available because evidence of one culture or time period gets mixed up with remains from subsequent cultures. Over the course of thousands of years there is plenty of “additional activity to mess it up,” says Richard Jefferies, a specialist in the Archaic period of the Ohio River Valley and chairman of the Anthropology Department at the University of Kentucky. But this place is more like a layer cake than a stew, so archaeologists are able to distinguish among different occupations and their time periods. Jefferies explains that hunter-gatherers camped on the Ohio River bottomland, which was periodically flooded. The river deposited soil and sediment over the remains of their camps, a cyclical occurrence that continued for generations. These alluvial deposits—like icing on a layer cake—buffered different occupations, such as the Thebes and Kirk and Early and Middle Woodland people, from each other, preserving the integrity of all. Archaeologists excavated vast areas during the Caesars project—one area covered more than 43,000 square feet, another 8,700—and they recovered substantial amounts of material in context along with charcoal to date it. 18
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Various stone points and a drill recovered from the Kirk occupation at the James Farnsley site.
“Since we opened up large areas, we can look at community patterns—how [a particular] occupation was organized compared to earlier and later [occupations],” Stafford says. “Some excavations cover as much land, but they rarely go so deep. We had the opportunity to do lots of excavation in deeply buried areas. That’s the reason we’ve learned so much.” At one of the sites, known as James Farnsley, more than 15,000 artifacts, including 1,000 points from the Early Archaic period, were recovered. A hearth and a couple of points were found more than 18 feet below the surface. “That’s just unheard of,” says Stafford. “This was a busy place.” By comparison, a typical Kirk-site excavation might yield only a dozen points, and 50 to 100 points would be plentiful. “We’ve found incredible stuff here,” says JoAnne Young, an archaeologist who worked on the project for three years. “It’s fun. You find something new every day.” Besides tools, points, and flakes, the archaeologists found fire-cracked rocks, red stains in the soil, and bits of charcoal that indicated fires had been built there thousands of years ago. The buried charcoal helped them radiocarbon date the Kirk occupation to approximately 7500 B.C. Little is known about the prehistoric peoples who roamed the Southeast and Midwest hunting and gathering food during the early Archaic period, roughly 9,000 to 10,000 years ago. There weren’t many people, and they are believed to have lived in small groups. It is difficult to find their sites, many of which are buried in river floodplains. One of the excavation’s most puzzling and exciting discoveries was a prehistoric dump. The dump and the quantity of Kirk tools and points found there raise important quesamerican archaeology
tions about the peoples of the Archaic period, who are generally thought to have been nomadic. How does one account for all the material left at the site if people were moving around? Why didn’t they take their tools with them? Stafford speculates it may have been a place where several bands congregated regularly for trade and ceremonies before moving on, but he adds the evidence has to be thoroughly studied before these questions can be answered. Why did these people come back time and again for thousands of years? For one thing, they knew it was rich in natural resources. “Cultural groups in general are very aware of their environment,” says Jones. “If people are making a living and trying to survive, they know the environment pretty well.” Raw materials such as chert, a flint-like stone used for making tools, were in plentiful supply in the surrounding hills. Because they were near the river, a major transportation route, prehistoric people would have found it easy to obtain the prized Wyandotte chert, which was easier to fashion into tools, from river bluffs downstream. The river also provided abundant food and water for hunter-gatherers. Small game and deer lived in the heavily treed hills, and nuts and berries would have been easy to collect. Later, as Native Americans began to practice agriculture, they may have come to the area and stayed because the fertile floodplain was a good place to raise crops.
Indiana’s First Factory? One of the excavation’s more remarkable discoveries has been dubbed the Thebes workshop. Dating back to the Early Archaic period, it may have been one of Indiana’s first factories, a place where people roughed out tools from different kinds of chert. Field workers found flakes 19
Field technicians Greg Marsh and JoAnne Young excavate in the lower Early Archaic zone at the James Farnsley site.
with multiple scars, blocks of chert, and roughed-out tools, but no scrapers, adzes, or other finished tools—suggesting that hunters took the rough tools and refined them later at different places as they needed them. “It’s sort of a Swiss Army knife idea,” says Steve Mocas, supervisor of the Thebes workshop excavation and a member of the Indiana State University team. “[The rough tool] can be made into anything you want it to be.” Thebes people, like the Kirk people of roughly the same era, are thought to have been wide ranging nomads, and their stone tools have been plowed up by farmers in the Midwest before. But this is the first Thebes “workshop” to have been excavated and only the fourth Thebes site of any kind to have been excavated in the Midwest. “It’s incomparable,” Mocas says.
Out of the Trenches, Into the Lab As the gambling resort nears completion, there’s little evidence of the extensive archaeological work. The sevendeck riverboat casino is in operation, and the large pavilion looms on the site where Woodland period dwellings were discovered. Despite having to tolerate lengthy delays, reconfigure the project layout, pay more than $15 million for the archaeological excavation and subsequent lab work, and abide by environmental restrictions, the developers, for the most part, maintained a cordial relationship with the archaeologists. “They might be costing me a lot of money,” says 20
Caesars Indiana project director Dennis Beaudrie, “but they’re doing their job.” Developers have talked of setting up a small museum in the pavilion that would depict the excavation, or of putting up a commemorative plaque in the hotel. Another five sites on Caesars’s property totaling about 30 acres were identified during archaeologists’ preliminary trenching. These sites will be preserved and protected. They were never excavated because Caesars did not plan to build on them. The excavation done, stacks of Rubbermaid cartons containing individually bagged and precisely labeled artifacts have been moved to Indiana State University, along with more than 50 thick loose-leaf notebooks of field notes. Artifacts in hand, the archaeologists will begin digging for the story, hoping the laboratory analysis will answer the many questions raised by their discoveries. Awaiting study are more than 1,000 points in colors ranging from red to white and gray to glossy black, as well as tools once used for cutting, piercing, scraping, and drilling. “The payoff will be the analysis and published reports,” Stafford says. “With this,” he adds, holding out his hands to indicate the abundance of artifacts and field notes, “we should be able to put together a pretty good story.” MARIA BRADEN is a journalism professor at the University of Kentucky. Her article “Trafficking in Treasures” appeared in the Winter 19992000 issue of American Archaeology.
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Many archaeological sites and artifacts are very photogenic. But even so, taking memorable photographs isn’t easy. We’re featuring the work and insights of four photographers who have years of experience taking memorable pictures. Photography is an art, and on these pages our photographers share their artistry with you.
JERRY JACKA
Enter American Archaeology’s Photo Contest. See the Editor’s Corner on page 3 for details.
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(Above left) The west wall of the great ballcourt at Chichén Itzá, Mexico. (Above right) A stela depicting 18 Rabbit, 13th ruler of Copán, Honduras. (Facing page) Temple of the Cross at Palenque, Mexico.
ELDON LEITER
JEFF JOINER
When I go out to shoot I usually carry several cameras, in case something goes wrong with one of them. Most of my photos have been taken with Nikon equipment, mainly the Nikon F3. My newest camera is a Nikon N90-S, and my favorite lens is an AF Nikon 24-120 mm zoom. I prefer as slow a film as possible because I like to enlarge my photos. When shooting with slow film, I generally use a tripod. I usually shoot slides or transparencies. My favorite daylight film is Fuji 100. When shooting in museums, I mainly use Kodak APY 64T film and tungsten light. Light is very important for good photography. The raked light of the morning and late afternoon can form shadows that give a picture depth. The late afternoon sun also provides a golden light. The harsh sunlight of midday, on the other hand, can give photos a washed out look. When necessary, I use warming filters, which help create the effect of the late afternoon sun. Eldon Leiter’s work reflects his strong interest in archaeology in general and the Maya in particular. During the last 23 years, he has photographed Maya sites in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. His work has appeared in numerous publications and exhibits.
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(Above) Anasazi granaries at Nankoweap Canyon, on the Colorado River, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. (Bottom left) White House site at Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona.
When photographing structures such as cliff dwellings and pueblos, I prefer early or late light, which is warmer and provides more contrast. For that reason, I also prefer shooting in late fall and winter, when the sun is lower in the southern horizon. I usually use a four-by-five format camera for studio shots, landscapes, and photos of ruins. I use a Hasselblad (2¼ x 2¼) and Nikon (35 mm) equipment for shooting archaeological excavations. A 35 mm camera is adequate for most situations. Using manual rather than automatic focus gives the photographer more control. A zoom lens ranging from wide angle to telephoto, such as a 24–120 mm, is very useful. Though a zoom lens offers great variety, its focus tends to be less sharp than that of a fixed lens. All of my photography is done on slide or transparency film. Because of its sharpness and high saturation, I use Fugi-Velvia for landscapes, site photos, and situations requiring high contrast and intense color. When shooting artifacts, I use Ektachrome E100S, an excellent film that renders true, rather than super-saturated, colors.
JERRY JACKA
JERRY JACKA
Jerry Jacka has 47 years of experience as a photographer, including shooting many archaeological sites and artifacts. Over 2,000 of his photographs have appeared in Arizona Highways. His photographs have also appeared in numerous other magazines and books. An exhibition of his work is on display at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, through March 11. It will also be on display at the Museum of Northern Arizona June 16–October 5.
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DAVID S. WHITLEY My advice to rock art photographers is to have lots of lens options available. One or more good zoom lenses will give you the versatility you need. Focal lengths ranging from 28 mm to about 150 mm are essential for rock art photography; the lenses I commonly use run from 22 to 200 mm. The biggest difficulty in rock art photography is lighting. Plan your shots around the changing light conditions, and plan ahead. Early morning or late afternoon light is often best for petroglyphs. A good flash attachment and hot-shoe flash extension cord are also essential, especially in caves and rock shelters. Your best flash shots will result if you position your flash about eight to ten feet left of the camera, aimed at the center of your image. This brings out the texture of the rock surface and gives depth to an image. Take lots of pictures and try a variety of settings and compositions. There is no single film that suits all rock art sites and conditions. Base your choice of film on the predominant colors of the rock art as well as your own color preferences. I prefer Fuji, which has soft colors, for slides. I use Kodak for most of my color prints, especially of pictographs, because it highlights reds, the predominant pictograph color. (Above) Petroglyphs, Red Canyon,
CARMEN WHITLEY
Owens Valley, California
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Dave Whitley is an archaeologist who specializes in rock art research. His photos have appeared in numerous publications, such as Discover Magazine, Scientific American, and American Archaeology (Vol. 1, No. 3, Fall 1997). His most recent books are The Art of the Shaman: Rock Art of California (University of Utah Press, 2000), and the Handbook of Rock Art Research (AltaMira Press, 2000).
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(Above left) Bighorn sheep petroglyph, Little Petroglyph Canyon, Coso Range, California. (Above right) Head of Sinbad pictographs, Utah. (Below) Grapevine Canyon petroglyph site, Laughlin, Nevada.
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(Top) A delegation of Iroquois chiefs and their helpers rebury the bones of early Native
When shooting archaeological subjects, it’s important to make a connection with the past, which enables you to interpret these subjects in your photography. Develop your own style. Style and content are more important than technique. Pay attention to the little details: the movement of people, the handling of the bones or artifacts, the shadows and highlights on ruins. Composition is important. A photograph must have a central focus that draws the eye. If a photo has more than one subject, each must be properly composed. It’s essential to compose the foreground properly. If you don’t, your background, however good it may be, won’t matter. Use a camera you like. The type makes little difference. Ninety percent of my work is done with a 28 mm lens, which allows me to get close to my subject. I don’t use filters. I generally use two films: Kodacrome 64 for color photography and Kodak TriX 400 for black and white. TriX has a grainy quality that can be used to good effect. When shooting at dusk, for example, it can give a mystical quality to your photos.
CAROLYN DEMERITT
STEVEN WALL
Americans unearthed by looters in the 1980s on the Slack Farm in western Kentucky. (Above) An effigy head pipe estimated to be 500 years old.
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Steven Wall has worked as a professional photographer for more than 30 years. His photographs have appeared in National Geographic, Smithsonian, Time, American Archaeology, and numerous other magazines and newspapers. His work has been displayed in a number of museums, and he has also photographed and authored, or coauthored, six books.
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STEVEN WALL
RIGHTING HISTORY
Following in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson, Jeffrey Hantman’s excavation of a Monacan Indian village is setting the historical record straight. BY CHERYL PELLERIN
C
aptain John Smith and 104 of his fellow British colonists established the first permanent North American settlement at Jamestown in Virginia’s Tidewater region. History books invariably describe the Jamestown colonists as having initiated the first representative government in North America, imported the first slaves, and built the first Anglican church. There’s less information about how, in the late 16th century, at least two other groups— one English, one Spanish—tried, and failed, to establish colonies in the Tidewater area. Given the rocky history of European intrusion in that region, many archaeologists and historians find the Jamestown colonists’ tolerant reception by Powhatan, chief of the Powhatan Indians of Tidewater, somewhat strange. Now, nearly 400 years later, the archaeological record has american archaeology
become a rich source of information on Virginia’s earliest years and much of America’s European past. The original Jamestown settlement, once thought lost to the James River, was identified in 1994. Last year, archaeologist Jeffrey Hantman and his 20student crew spent most of the summer excavating units at an Indian village site on the Rivanna River just north of Charlottesville, Virginia. Hantman is an associate professor of anthropology and director of the archaeology program at the University of Virginia. His research interests include identifying the responses of indigenous people—particularly the Monacan and Powhatan cultures of Virginia—to colonialism. The village site is a pasture in the floodplain of the Rivanna River. 29
University of Virginia graduate student Jennifer Aultman sits on the edge of a trench. A small hole has been dug in the lower right corner of the trench
field. The site contains rare artifacts that date firmly to the 15th to 17th centuries, and possibly later.” Hantman says he wants to shift from digging occasional units to opening up a broad area to examine the structure of the village. This will be a long-term effort; it will take years of painstaking work to examine one of the largest villages in Monacan territory, and one of the few contemporary with the Jamestown settlement. This 17th-century village is well preserved because European settlers moved in after the Monacans and cleared fields at the river. This increased flooding, and the flood waters deposited silt—in some places a foot or more of it—over the village. “Very distinctive dark soil marks where the village was,” he says. “It’s called a buried A-horizon—meaning there’s a lot of organic material where people lived, collected trash, and used fires to cook or for heat.” Radiocarbon dating puts the site between A.D. 1670 and 1700, which is “contemporary with early European colonization.” Hantman says he used to describe the site as “the village across from the mound. But that’s a Western worldview in which rivers separate things—they’re boundaries, they divide counties, separate property.” For several years he’s worked closely with the Monacan Indian Tribal Association, and his Indian collaborators and friends say the way to think about the river is as the middle of the village. Thirty or 40 yards downstream a natural ford, which would have connected the mound and village, lets people cross to the other side. “I used to think we were looking at a different site than the one Jefferson studied, but I think now it’s the same site,” he says. “The river doesn’t separate anything; it’s all one.” “There’s nothing to see,” Hantman says. “It’s perfectly flat.” The main portion of the village hugged the river’s edge, and a community burial mound was once in the field just across the river, which is also flat. Intensive farming that began in the 1700s destroyed any visible trace of a mound. Based on findings from the excavation and related documentary evidence, Hantman believes the site is the Monacan village of Monasukapanough, which was included on a map of the Jamestown area drawn by John Smith in 1612. “We confirmed several things about the village [last] summer,” Hantman says. “We now know that the midden—or village refuse heap—is here and extends into the 30
North America’s First Scientific Excavation For religious reasons, the Monacan dead were buried in mounds, some of which reached a height of 15 or 20 feet and an even greater length. Twelve of their burial mounds, which date back 1,000 years, have been discovered. The Monacans were often buried where they died, their bones later dug up during ceremonies and placed in mass graves in the mounds, which were marked with ceremonial stones. The settlers of North America’s East Coast encountered such ancient hillock-like mounds, whose numbers increased as the settlers moved west. Some of the mounds were opened by the settlers, who found old bones, and assumed the mounds were burial sites. spring
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STEVEN WALL
to examine a post mold.
★ John Smith’s 1608 map of the Jamestown area. The location of Monasukapanough is indicated by the star.
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION/ART RESOURCE, NY
JOHN SMITH, CIRCA 1608
A portrait of Thomas Jefferson, painted by Gilbert Stuart, in 1805.
Over time, curiosity led to more systematic explorations of the mounds, including one near Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in the Rivanna River valley. In 1784, Jefferson conducted a systematic excavation of the mound that today is known to virtually every student of American archaeology. In Notes on the State of Virginia, he wrote: “I proceeded then to make a perpendicular cut through the body of the barrow, that I might examine its internal structure. This passed three feet from its center, was opened to the former surface of the earth, and was wide enough for a man to walk through and examine its sides.” Jefferson’s work at the large mound at Monasukapanough was the first scientific excavation in the history of North America, making him the father of American archaeology. He used two excavation strategies: trenching, which let him see the mound’s internal structure, and stratigraphy. Hantman says this technique put Jefferson about 100 years ahead of his time. According to Hantman, Jefferson, unlike many 20thcentury archaeologists, saw the Monasukapanough mound in a regional archaeological perspective, described the mounds as community burial places, and knew that bodies were added to the mounds over a long time. Jefferson also accurately described other mounds of different sizes and structures in central Virginia. Jefferson’s writings on his excavation strategy, hypothesis, observations, and conclusions were “extraordinary for his time,” according to Hantman. Jefferson’s work serves as a comparative base for contemporary excavations and interpretations of that period. In his book, Jefferson mentioned that the mound was american archaeology
To Protect and Preserve
The Monasukapanough village site is on land owned by developer Charles Hurt, who offered 20 acres of the property on a long-term, no-payment lease to the Soccer Organization of Charlottesville and Albemarle (SOCA) for a new soccer complex. The Archaeological Conservancy is working closely with SOCA, Hurt, Hantman, and the Monacan Indian Tribe to protect part of the field as a permanent archaeological preserve. The rest of the property will be used for athletic facilities and soccer fields, whose construction Hurt will help fund. “The county knew this was the likely location of a significant archaeological site,” Hantman says, “so we had discussions and they flagged the county planners, but there are no zoning ordinances for private land—none of the federal laws kick in.” As it turned out, Albemarle County realized that a soccer facility, however well-intentioned, could destroy an important archaeological site. Hantman and the Monacan Tribal Council knew there was no money to pay for a big research operation, so Hantman and his students conducted a field school on the site and contributed their time, working with SOCA officials in a spirit of cooperation. Hantman and his students identified the village boundaries and SOCA established the area along the Rivanna River as an archaeological preserve. “What has been remarkable is SOCA’s spirit and attitude,” says Hantman. “The county required them to take archaeology into account, but from day one SOCA wanted to do the right thing.”
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(Left) Jeffrey Hantman shows artifacts to elementary school students who visited the site through a summer enrichment program sponsored by the
JENNIFER AULTMAN
University of Virginia.
(Above) These tiny Late Woodland projectile points (shown actual size)
across the river from an Indian town—probably Monasukapanough. Based on that account, on excavations conducted by the Smithsonian in 1911 and 1930, and on findings and radiocarbon dating at the site, Hantman believes he’s working in the portion of the village located directly across the Rivanna from where the mound once stood.
Correcting the Historical Record According to the historical record, the Monacans were barbaric and too hostile to trade with Captain John Smith and the other settlers at Jamestown. The tribe eventually fled with other tribes and seemingly disappeared from the region. Jefferson thought they merged with the Tuscarora Indians and had become part of the Iroquois Confederacy to the north. But Hantman’s study of the Monacan culture tells a different story. “We’ve found evidence of a well-structured, sophisticated society that lived along the Rivanna River at the time Smith was settling the Tidewater region,” Hantman says. “What we now know is not at all consistent with the description Smith gave of the Monacans. 32
“My working hypothesis for many years has been that to prove your existence by colonial law you had to enter into a treaty with or trade with the colonists, and the Monacans didn’t need to. But I never had a site [from that period] I could use to evaluate it.” In 1607, the Monacans and the Powhatans were enemies, Hantman explains. For the Powhatans, copper was of great value and may have been a source of power and authority. Their only means of obtaining copper was to have it transported through Monancan territory. Chief Powhatan faced the dilemma of becoming dependent on an enemy who may have been growing increasingly hostile, Hantman says. Then the colonists arrived, and among the things John Smith brought was copper. Powhatan eagerly accepted copper in trade for corn, quickly established an alliance with the colonists, and was no longer dependent on the Monacans. Hantman thinks copper is the reason the Smith party quickly developed good relations with the Powhatans. The colonists’ survival depended on the good will of the natives; Jamestown was established because the Powhatans allowed it. “My sense is that the Powhatans initially chose to trade with the colonists and the Monacans in the Jamestown region didn’t,” he says. “It’s an argument from negative evidence; the site is contemporary with Jamestown and most people assume that when the European traders arrived, Indians wanted to trade. For the Monacans, at least so far, we haven’t seen it.”
Obtaining Evidence for Federal Recognition In 1989, the State of Virginia officially recognized the Monacans. The tribe has since applied for federal recognition of their Native American status. One requirement for federal recognition is that the tribe document a continuous history in a particular region. “What was missing was the critical Jamestown era,” Hantman says. “We didn’t have anything between 1500 and the 1700s except John Smith’s map. There was no archaeology, no scientific evidence, no radiocarbon dating. spring
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JEANNE SILER
helped researchers establish the date of the site.
MONACAN INDIAN NATION, INC.
Monacan tribal members attend their Homecoming festival in Amherst, Virginia last October. The 27-year-old annual festival is open to the public.
The common explanation was that the Monacans disappeared, but we knew better.” The first date confirmation at the village site was from charcoal found near the river and radiocarbon dated—the date that came back was 1670. Having also discovered a deeper, earlier level of occupation that dates from 1300 to 1400, Hantman has documented continuous use of the site from that time through the contact period. “To find [the village] site undisturbed, in context, ra-
diocarbon dated, with artifacts from the 17th century, is absolutely extraordinary,” he says. “It shows us that these are the same people John Smith talked about, and who live in Amherst County today.” Virginia will celebrate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown in 2007. Hantman thinks “it’s important to look beyond Jamestown itself, to see how other people reacted to the European colonists, and help fill” holes in the historical record—the very thing he is doing. CHERYL PELLERIN is a freelance science writer who lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
MONACAN INDIAN NATION, INC.
Faces from the Hayes Creek Mound In 1901, antiquarian E. P. Valentine moved the skeletal remains of hundreds of people from a mound on Hayes Creek in Amherst County to Richmond, and displayed them in a museum founded by his family. Nearly 100 years later, based on historical and archaeological evidence linking the Monacans to the remains, they were returned by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources under the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. In discussions about the remains between the Monacan Tribal Council and archaeologist Jeffrey Hantman, a council member raised the possibility of having facial reconstructions made. No Monacan had seen an image of an ancestor earlier than photographs dating to 1914. Could they see one or more of their ancestors’ faces? Karenne Wood, director of historic research for the Monacan Indian Nation, and historic research coordinator Diane Shields applied to the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities for a grant to fund the facial reconstructions. In June 2000, forensic artist Sharon Long of Sparks, Nevada finished clay sculpture faces of a Monacan man and woman who lived in west-central Virginia between A.D. 1000 and 1400. Today the reconstructions are displayed in the Monacan Ancestral Museum in Amherst, Virginia, as a tribute to Monacan heritage and cultural continuity.
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Whether it was boxing, gambling, or foot-long cigars, ancient Americans knew how to have a good time. by Rob Crisell Last September, the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington, D.C., invited six scholars from across the United States to speak on the much-neglected subject of pleasurable activities in ancient America. Few if any such discussions had ever been held on this subject, which made the symposium almost revolutionary. During the day-long event, the scholars addressed a number of enjoyable distractions that Aztec, Maya, Inca, and North American natives enjoyed, including boxing, ballgames, gardening, enemas, tobacco, cuisine, gambling, and music. We interviewed the participants as well as other scholars to try to reach a better understanding of how people in ancient America enjoyed themselves.
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hether it is a prehistoric Passamaquoddy village in eastern Maine or a Maya temple in Quintana Roo, archaeological sites often present a paradox for modern-day visitors. In one sense, the dramatic architecture and romantic landscape of a site may overwhelm us with its power. However, even well-informed, reasonably imaginative visitors often have difficulty shaking off the lonely, silent weight of such places. Everyday activities that must have occupied the past inhabitants— dancing, playing, eating, singing, laughing—seem altogether incongruous at these solemn ruins. It is no wonder that visitors and archaeologists alike often hypothesize solemn people to populate them. As archaeologist Dorie Reents-Budet quipped, referring to the ancient Maya: “For years we had a picture of priests hanging out in the jungle, worshiping time.”
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As a result, the anthropological view of recreation was ritualized and sacramentalized to such an extent that it seemed some researchers begrudged the right of any ancient people to so much as play a game unless it could be linked to a shamanistic rite of passage. The picture has changed dramatically over the past 20 years as archaeologists, especially those studying the seminal Mesoamerican cultures such as the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec, have achieved incredible breakthroughs in the interpretation of hieroglyphics and art while simultaneously rediscovering the ethnohistoric records. Researchers began to question the rigid scientism of the New Archaeology, attempting once again to approach these cultures on more humanistic terms. As Jeffrey Quilter of Dumbarton Oaks explains, our efforts to compartmentalize human activity in our own spring
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SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM, WASHINGTON DC/ART RESOURCE, NY
Pleasure Gardens, Alcohol Enemas, and ChocolateCovered Tamales
In this George Caitlin painting from the mid-1800s, Ball Play of the Choctaw—Ball Up, Choctaw men in what is now Oklahoma play a rough-and-tumble, intertribal game of stickball. Numerous kinds of ballgames were popular with American Indians.
society are difficult enough. Why would it be any easier for us to do so for a past culture? “It’s indisputable that in some of these ancient societies, there are things that they did that were fun,” says Quilter. “Whether or not those activities were wrapped in a mantle of religiosity is important to consider, but fun activities ran the same kind of normal distribution that they do today. Consider the way people look at the Super Bowl today. For some it’s entertainment, for others it’s a life and death matter because they’ve got $10,000 riding on a point spread somewhere.” Justin Kerr, of Kerr Associates, echoes this idea with an example of his own. “On the Day of the Dead in Mexico, when the family goes out to the graveyard and breaks out the tortillas and so forth, it’s a ritual activity,” he says. “But it also becomes a family picnic. These things go hand in hand.” The hope of the conference’s participants is that this american archaeology
symposium will jumpstart further discussions regarding the significance of recreation in ancient America. The following is a sampling of ways in which Native Americans passed the time in the era before television, Nintendo, and the Internet.
Gardening
The Aztecs were passionate gardeners. The earliest written accounts mention the attempts of nobles to outdo one another in their pleasure parks, where they hybridized dahlias and marigolds, and created sophisticated botanical gardens. The parks were the setting of other delights such as waterfalls, bird sanctuaries, hunting preserves, and hot tubs. The Aztec ruler Montezuma’s favorite royal retreat is today Chapultepec Park, in Mexico City. “Aztec garden displays were subject to all sorts of sumptuary laws,” explains Pennsylvania State University’s Susan Toby Evans. “Rulers could not only confer gardens upon 35
U.S. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, ANNUAL REPORT, 1879-80
A late 19th-century engraving depicts Sioux men and women gambling using plum stones as dice (right).
you if you were a good scout, they could also take them away if you had been disloyal. The Aztec king Nezahualcoyotl and his friends used to visit one another’s palaces and gardens as they were under construction. If someone admired someone else’s palace, they would actually re-create it.”
Gambling
Gambling may be the most important and least analyzed pastime of ancient peoples. Gambling on dice games and athletic events was practiced throughout ancient America for thousands of years. Gambling appears as a common motif in the creation myths of numerous tribes. “Evidence suggests that gambling is important to the economy—the wealth and status of a particular group may depend on their gambling fortunes,” says Queens College’s Warren DeBoer, who studied archaeological and ethnographical reports during his recent examination of the dice game in prehistoric North America. “The Mesoamericans have the ballgame, but the literature is rather silent on gaming. It apparently was important to Native Americans, and it should be important to us and how we interpret them.” There are strong indications that furious betting took place during ballgames and dicing. Patolli game boards can be found scratched on the floors of Maya and Aztec 36
structures; versions of this game are found in the American Southwest. A few researchers think that gambling was a vital means of exchanging goods between separate but related groups of people. In DeBoer’s words, there seems to have been a “recondite economy” that existed alongside the more visible system of exchange. Some scholars still argue that the sacred aspects of gambling for Native Americans frustrate any efforts to see it as recreation. In DeBoer’s opinion, though, recreation and religion were no more mutually exclusive for the ancients than they are for us today. “Like so many things in native America, when it comes to gambling there are religious versions of the games and secular versions,” explains DeBoer.
Cuisine
European explorers described at length the feasts thrown by the various chiefs and rulers of the Aztecs, Incas, and tribes of present-day North America. Meals often would include corn tortillas, chocolate-covered tamales (which were sometimes filled with dog meat), guacamole, breads, bison steaks, and oyster stew. “There’s a lot of evidence that the Maya enjoyed feasting and putting on theatrics and comedies, which Bishop Landa, an early Spanish chronicler, describes as ‘humorous and obscene,’” explains Michael Coe of Yale. And, of course, there was chocolate. spring
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This Maya vase shows a ruler accepting a tribute of chocolate-covered tamales (in foreground) and a
JUSTIN KERR
frothy pot of hot chocolate (to his left).
“There is pretty good circumstantial evidence that it was the Olmec who first learned how to produce chocolate,” continues Coe. “For the Maya, it was certainly pleasurable for them to drink, and they doctored it up in various ways.” Like many pastimes in ancient society, drinking chocolate may have been limited to Mesoamerican aristocracy due to to the high cost of cacao beans. A painting from one Classic Maya vase shows a ruler supervising the pouring of chocolate from one vase to another to raise the foam. It’s also likely that ancient Americans imbued chocolate with sacred and medicinal qualities.
Boxing
Maya boxers, wearing elaborate masks and conch shell weapons on their hands, exchange punches. One boxer is already down for the count, his mask on the ground beside him.
JUSTIN KERR
While evidence for the Mesoamerican ballgame is abundant and well studied, Karl Taube of the University of California, Riverside, and a handful of other researchers believe that many so-called ballplaying images actually depict something else entirely—boxing. Taube believes that both sports are related to ancient water rituals for the Maya, Aztec, and Olmec and that boxing might have taken place at the same time as the ballgame.
“There are many scenes showing that boxing overlapped the ballgame,” says Taube. “People in ballgame costume will be holding these small stone or wooden balls wrapped in a cloth. We usually call these people ballplayers, but they’re not—they’re boxers. The real balls are much larger, about the size of a human skull. Very often the boxers are shown wearing severed heads, bones hanging off of them. They were pretty creepy guys.” So did the Mesoamericans ever box for the fun of it? It’s hard to say for sure. The materials that provide researchers with most of their information (pictorial ceramic vessels, wall paintings, friezes) depict the activities of the elite class, whereas the lower classes were more likely to have engaged in the activity. However, the current popularity of boxing, professional wrestling, and other violent sports leads us to imagine that those ancient boxing matches were enjoyable, festive occasions for the royals and hoi poloi alike.
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In one of a handful of such images from Maya art, a ruler addresses one of his lords while a man behind him smokes a cigar.
Tobacco
play with during Easter festivities. They set one end on fire and inhaled and drank in the smoke on the other.” Justin Kerr has identified several drawings of men smoking on Maya vases. Maya expert David Stuart has even read the Maya word for “snuff ” on a small flask from a Maya tomb. Unlike their southern relatives, tribes in what is today North America were almost exclusively pipe smokers. Clay, stone, and bone pipes are ubiquitous in excavations throughout the United States.
Alcohol
Native Americans had never tasted distilled alcohol before the arrival of Columbus. However, ancient Mesoamericans imbibed fermented drinks, the best known of which is pulque, which was made from the sap of maguey, a plant used to make tequila. Several pre-Columbian cultures used pulque in religious ceremonies, but the stern admonitions against its abuse by Aztec rulers (duly recorded by the abstemious Spanish priests) indicate that recreational drinking did take place. According to Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, one of the first clergymen in Mexico, drinking pulque
An engraved Maya vase reveals a supine man receiving an enema, possibly in connection with a vision quest. The person administering the enema carries large jars, possibly containing pulque, on his or her back.
JUSTIN KERR
Chocolate lovers may disagree, but the tobacco leaf is probably the most popular export from the Old World. For years archaeologists have known that the ancient Maya, for example, were ardent tobacco smokers, smoking obscenely long cigars and more modestly-sized cigarettes made of aromatic tobacco leaves. Other Mesoamericans apparently smoked, too. According to an early Jesuit historian, after meals, the Aztec lords “composed themselves to sleep with the smoke of tobacco,” breathing in the smoke through thin tubes of cane. Although native tobacco was known to have been much stronger than today’s version, it probably wasn’t hallucinogenic. Spanish chronicler Father Bartólome de las Casas related the bemused observations of two of Columbus’s crew during their first trip ashore in Mexico: “The two Christians met many men and women who were carrying glowing coals in their hands, as well as good smelling herbs. They were dried plants, rolled in a large dry leaf. They looked like small muskets made of paper that children
JUSTIN KERR
“I’m sure people enjoyed the blood sport,” says Taube. “At the same time, the boxing match was a fertility ritual. We think of all this blood as really gory and ugly, but to them it’s really a representation of life. In fact, today there are modern ceremonies in the state of Guerrero where guys wearing helmets and jaguar pelts beat the hell out of each other as part of rain rituals.”
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JUSTIN KERR
A drunken party among Maya nobles causes one participant to stagger (far left).
JUSTIN KERR
outside of ritual contexts was punishable by death until one had reached the age of 52. During ceremonies, though, everyone from children to slaves was likely to drink to excess. Kerr has identified many Maya vases that illustrate drinking. One vase shows a man who is so inebriated that he is reeling. Above him is the Maya word glyph “Ah Kih,” meaning drunkard. Kerr believes that the use of enemas by the Maya (and perhaps by the Olmec) has been largely overlooked. Another Classic Maya vessel shows assistants administering an enema to a supine royal, possibly a shaman. While pulque or some other fermented drink is the most likely candidate for the contents of the enema bags, Kerr speculates that it might have been fortified with any number of hallucinogens. It’s thought that enemas were also used in vision-quest rites. “The reason for imbibing in that manner seems to be due to the fact that ancient American people couldn’t produce anything stronger than 12 percent alcohol,” explains Kerr. “Using an enema bypasses the liver so that the body gets the full blast of that 12 percent.”
Music
For many visitors, archaeological sites such as Hovenweep, Tikal, and Teotihuacan possess an ethereal silence. But images of musicians and dancers on Maya vases “completely changed the auditory landscape” for Dorie Reents-Budet, who has studied the phenomenon of music in ancient Mesoamerica. “What the ceramics show us are moments in the lives of particular groups of people as well as palace rituals and other events that took place in the royal Maya court,” she says. “One of the things we see are the representations of performances, which run the gamut from highly ritual re-creations of religious ideology to epic tales of heroes and ancient history, farces, and other humorous entertainment.” Reents-Budet and others have identified several kinds of percussion and wind instruments, and at least one stringed instrument played by the ancient Maya. Since such instruments tended to be made of gourds and other perishable materials, the archaeological record is silent except for their appearance in Maya art. Reents-Budet feels strongly that some of the images that researchers once interpreted as religious are actually depictions of elaborate dramas that would have been enacted for the rulers and their guests. “What we are in fact looking at is entertainment with social and political overtones,” she says. “What we see on these pots are elite-sponsored feasts and huge pageants which also were part of the elite economy of the classic Maya. I’m convinced that a lot of these pots were produced to be circulated as gifts during these feasting events. They’re souvenirs.” ROB CRISELL is the senior editor of American Archaeology and the Eastern regional director of The Archaeological Conservancy.
Maya musicians play wind instruments for a ruler in a palace scene.
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Gateway to the Mid-Atlantic Is the Conservancy’s The Maddox Island site on Maryland’s Eastern Shore may reveal much about the tribes that greeted the first English settlers in the New World.
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200th Site
efore the 1600s, American Indians probably thought that the region around Chesapeake Bay was the best place to live on Earth. The weather was moderate; resources such as beaver, fish, and game were plentiful; farming was productive; and transportation via the navigable waterways was easy. Maryland’s Eastern Shore had the added advantage of being relatively inaccessible to the myriad enemies and competitors across the bay. Natives living here had just enough contact with tribes to the west to establish a modest system of trade. The arrival of the English explorer John Smith to the area in 1608 meant the end of the splendid isolation of the Nanticoke and other tribes on the Eastern Shore. Today American schoolchildren learn about the adventures of Smith and the first settlers at Jamestown. Less well known is the fact that Smith—along with other English explorers, traders, and soldiers—made early and extensive travels to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. On Smith’s famous “Map of Virginia,” he records his visits to eight large Indian towns, observing that they looked like “Countrey [sic] Villages in England.” The Conservancy’s most recent preserve contains one
village site that may have been occupied long before and during Smith’s travels to this region. The Maddox Island site is the Conservancy’s second preserve in Maryland and its first on the Eastern Shore. Located in Somerset County, about 100 miles southeast of Annapolis, the Maddox site may answer questions about the Late Woodland and early historic periods in the region. Overlooking the placid Chesapeake Bay, Maddox Island may be one of the most scenic landscapes in North America. The 23-acre site represents roughly half of a historic homestead known since 1750 as the Maddox Island Farm. The centerpiece of the site is a vast shell midden covering approximately half the property. During a 1996 survey for the Maryland Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, archaeologist Darrin Lowery recovered numerous pottery sherds, stone tools and points, and shells on the fertile fields at the mouth of the Manokin River. Maddox Island is among the most extensive and well-stratified sites along the 115-mile-long Eastern Shore. In addition to the prehistoric midden and living area, cultural resources represented at the site include a brick limekiln ruin filled with burnt oyster shell. The kiln is likely related to a group of pilings along the shoreline, perhaps the remains of a maritime business venture that went bust in the 19th century.
The view of Maddox Island’s peninsula BOB WALL
from the prehistoric site. Oyster shell blankets the beach where a historic limekiln once operated.
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Conservancy Plan of Action
ROB CRISELL
SITE: Maddox Island Site CULTURE & TIME PERIOD: Archaic to Historic (6000 B.C.–A.D. 1900) STATUS: The owners have given the Conservancy 18 months to pay off the mortgage without interest. ACQUISITION: The Conservancy must raise $190,000 to purchase the property and pay for its management. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Send your contributions to The Archaeological Conservancy, Attn: 200th Site, 5301 Central Ave. NE, Suite 402, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517.
Landowner Dick Warbasse (left) and Conservancy president Mark Michel met at Maddox Island last year. Researchers feel that the wooded section of the site may be the least impacted by farming.
Last fall, in a meeting with the landowner, Richard Warbasse, the Conservancy’s Mark Michel and Rob Crisell discussed the idea of protecting the property as an archaeological preserve. Unfortunately, one could only guess at the condition of subsurface features, since no formal excavations had taken place. Warbasse generously agreed to allow the Conservancy two months to test the site. Maryland State Archaeologist Richard Hughes recommended Towson University archaeologist Bob Wall for the dig. Wall had worked most recently on the Barton property in Cumberland, Maryland, assisting the Conservancy in its efforts to permanently preserve this important prehistoric site (see “Prehistory at Maryland’s Crossroads,” Fall 2000). In December, Wall and his team dug a series of test pits in the field, encountering prehistoric shell nearly everywhere they looked. One unit revealed intact shells at the bottom of the midden and very distinct fea-
tures below that, including two trash pits with shells and animal bones. Wall notes that Lowery and others have identified artifacts that indicate very early occupation at the site, perhaps as long ago as 6000 B.C. “I’ve run into enough of these sites to know that you usually don’t get very good preservation in them,” says Wall, who hopes to return to the property in the future. He speculates that the site may have been a small village, similar to those that Smith mentioned in his travels. “I think there is tremendous potential to find community patterns on the site,” Wall says. “From the condition of the pit features, there is a good possibility that you could find some structural evidence along with all the other kinds of evidence you might get, such as hearths and storage pits.” Armed with the results of the brief excavation, the Conservancy and Warbasse agreed to proceed with the purchase. Warbasse and his partners also donated a conservation easement to the Conservancy, which protects the adjacent 25-acre field and more than 250 acres of surrounding wetlands. The Conservancy’s 200th site promises to be not only one of the most interesting preserves, but also one of the most beautiful. From the earliest American Indian settlers to the English in the 1600s, people have been coming to Maddox Island for hundreds of years. With the permanent protection of the site, the Conservancy will make sure that the site remains intact and accessible to people for centuries to come. —Rob Crisell
Chesapeake Bay Cultures: Historic St. Mary’s City (301-862-0960; www.stmaryscity.org) sits across the bay from the Maddox Island site. It is an extensive archaeological site featuring a reconstructed Late Woodland Indian village and 17th-century homestead. Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum (410-586-8500; www.jeffpat.org), a new archaeological curation facility and museum, is just 45 minutes north near the town of St. Leonard.
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Guaranteeing the Future of the Lake Koronis Mounds The Conservancy acquires a Middle Woodland mound group in Minnesota.
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Tom Burr, a local preservationist, stands on the large mound of the Lake Koronis Mound Group.
PAUL GARDNER
ary Hahn, a life-long resident of Paynesville, Minnesota, stood atop Behr Hill overlooking Lake Koronis and lamented, “People don’t realize yet what the future holds for this area.” Hahn’s observation referred to the land between quiescent Paynesville and the booming megalopolis of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The area is coveted for the development of lakeview homes, and Lake Koronis, less than two hours west of the Twin Cities, is in the path of development. Having envisioned the future, Hahn, the owner of Behr Hill, acted to preserve the past. Because of her foresight, The Archaeological Conservancy has acquired its second Minnesota preserve, the Lake Koronis Mound Group. The Lake Koronis Mound Group consists of four well-preserved burial mounds of the Middle Woodland period. The principal mound is about 15 feet tall and 80 feet in diameter. Three smaller mounds are about two feet high and 30 feet in diameter.
In 1911, N. H. Winchell noted the mounds in his landmark archaeological survey The Aborigines of Minnesota. He also described a conical mound on the neighboring property that, today, after generations of plowing, is merely a slight rise in the pasture. There are no traces of five mounds Winchell reported being downslope from the main group. The Archaeological Conservancy is purchasing a 43-acre tract at the summit of Behr Hill for $30,000. This acquisition will preserve the remaining burial mounds and their immediate environs. The Middle Woodland period in this area of central Minnesota is not well studied, and the Lake Koronis area has seen no archaeological excavations, so the potential for future research is great. The burial mounds will remain sacrosanct as prehistoric cemeteries, and they may be incorporated as a focal point along a planned walking trail encircling Lake Koronis. The wooded summit will be maintained as a natural area. As future development from the
Twin Cities sweeps over the Lake Koronis locale, the preserve will be a fine testament to the vision of Mary Hahn and her fellow preservationists and an important resource for the study of Midwestern prehistory. —Paul Gardner
Conservancy Plan of Action SITE: Lake Koronis Mounds CULTURE AND TIME PERIOD: Middle Woodland (ca. 200 B.C.–A.D. 500) STATUS: The Conservancy has a purchase contract allowing us to acquire a 43-acre parcel containing the mound group. ACQUISITION: The Conservancy needs to raise $33,000 to purchase and fence the property. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Please send your contributions to The Archaeological Conservancy, Attn: Lake Koronis Mounds Project, 5301 Central Ave. NE, Suite 402, Albuquerque, NM 87108. spring
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The Conservancy Purchases Rare Caddoan Mound in Texas
new POINT acquisition
TEXAS ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCH LABORATORY, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 41AN19-7
The site has one of only two documented Caddoan ash mounds.
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he Conservancy has purchased the A. C. Saunders site, a rare Caddo mound site in Anderson County, Texas, 20 miles southwest of Tyler. The site was first tested in the 1930s by A. T. Jackson, who identified a large mound over one hundred feet in diameter and seven feet tall, an associated midden area, and a scatter of artifacts. His excavations in the midden area revealed a number of postholes, indicating the presence of a large circular building. When Jackson trenched the mound he discovered that it consisted primarily of ash, with very few associated artifacts. The ash heap was piled on a two-foot knoll and was capped with a layer of earth about one and a half-feet thick. There were no structures built on top of the capped mound and no burials were found associated with the mound. A few bones and sherds were found on the surface, and based on ceramic styles of the sherds, Jackson assigned the site to the late prehistoric Frankston phase (A.D. 1400–1600). Turning to Spanish and French historical observations, Jackson cites an account by Father Manzanet describing a 1690 visit to a Caddo village that was probably located near the A. C. Saunders site. Father Manzanet described a circular thatch structure, which he called a “temple,” that was much larger than the other structures in the village. The temple contained a fire “which is never extinguished by night or by day.” In another account of a similar structure, a Father Morfi noted “they exercise great care in taking out of
american archaeology
Two workers excavate post holes by sticking their arms in them. This excavation, led by A. T. Jackson, took place in 1935.
the temple the ashes of the sacred fire, which they keep to make large mounds. When they celebrate the removal of the bones of their enemies, killed in battle, they bury them in these ashes.” Based on these accounts, Jackson concluded that the site was probably a perpetual fire temple with an associated ash mound. Another researcher, Ulrich Kleinschmidt, revisited the site
in the early 1980s. He tentatively supported Jackson’s hypothesis, but noted that evidence is lacking to tie the date of the ash accumulation to the use of the large structure. The A. C. Saunders site is the Conservancy’s 11th Texas preserve. Working with the Texas Historical Commission, the Conservancy will nominate the site as a state archaeological landmark. —Jim Walker
POINT Acquisitions
The POINT Program is the Conservancy’s new emergency acquisition initiative to save sites throughout the country.
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Field Notes
New Discoveries in Jefferson New Hampshire One of the stoneware tiles made by Conservancy staff member Tione Joseph’s company, Sleeping Dog Designs, that was used at Heshodan Imk’oskwi’a.
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NORTHEAST—In July of 2000, the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources was alerted to a potential site near the Israel River Complex,
(Below) This chert flake may contain traces of protein from an ancient caribou.
a cluster of three Paleo-Indian sites in Jefferson, one of which was purchased by the Conservancy (see “Clovis Comes to New Hampshire,” Fall 1998). New Hampshire’s Deputy State Archaeologist, Dick Boisvert, sent a crew from the State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program that did a test excavation that yielded a flake and the base of a Barnesstyle fluted point. A few weeks later, another crew excavated six more shovel test pits, recovering additional lithic debris. Further testing followed in October. In all, they excavated 17 test units that yielded 46 flakes, two unifacial lithics, the fluted point fragment, and a complete Bull Brook- or Gainey-style fluted point. The complete point and an exotic Munsungun chert flake from northern Maine were analyzed for protein residue. The point tested negative, but the flake had protein from a member of the deer family. Boisvert thinks it’s most likely caribou, though deer, moose, or elk are possibilities. This finding is unprecedented in New England Paleo-Indian studies and represents one of only a
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DICK BOISVERT
SOUTHWEST—Last September, the Pueblo of Zuni took title to Heshodan Imk’oskwi’a (Emerging Village), a 160-acre preserve formerly known as Box S Pueblo that was acquired by the Conservancy in January 2000. The large 1,100 room ancestral Zuni pueblo, which is directly adjacent to the Zuni reservation in west-central New Mexico, is believed to have been occupied in the late 13th century. Prior to the property transfer, Conservancy personnel, members of Zuni Cultural Resource Enterprise (ZCRE), and volunteers used a
detailed map of the site created last summer by ZCRE as a blueprint to stabilize looted areas of the site. In the Conservancy’s biggest stabilization project to date, workers moved more than 2,500 cubic yards of dirt into the 110 rooms that had been looted in the early 1980s. Prior to filling the rooms, workers defined the areas that were backfilled by laying down stoneware tiles created for this purpose. Following the room stabilization, workers seeded the area with native vegetation and fenced the site’s features. The project, which took eight days to complete, fulfilled preservation goals that were outlined in a long-term management plan jointly designed by the Conservancy and the Zuni. The purchase of the site and some of the management tasks were made possible by a grant from the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
JIM WALKER
The Conservancy Transfers New Mexico Preserve to the Pueblo of Zuni
handful of Paleo sites with any physical evidence of fauna. The site, called Jefferson IV, has been added to the Israel River Complex.
Wal-Mart Gives the Conservancy Deed at Grand Opening SOUTHWEST—During the opening ceremony held at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Coolidge, Arizona, the company gave the Conservancy title to 13.7 acres of land adjacent to the store. The land contains portions of the prehistoric Hohokam community associated with nearby Casa Grande Ruins and the Grewe site. Wal-Mart announced its intention to donate the land for preservation back in March of 2000, when archaeological testing showed a high density of pithouses and other prehistoric features below the surface. Prior to its construction, the store was relocated on the property to avoid harming any of the buried features. “Wal-Mart’s development of this store was highly responsive to the importance of the underlying archaeological site,” said Keith Kintigh, president of the Society for American Archaeology and an anthropology professor at Arizona State University. “The company’s donation of archaeologically significant areas represents an outstanding and enduring contribution to Southwestern prehistory and to the people of the United States.” The donation connects Casa Grande Ruins National Monument and the Grewe site, 32 acres of which the Conservancy recently established as a permanent preserve with the help of the Faul and Cole families and an Arizona Heritage Fund Grant. The Conservancy worked with representatives of Wal-Mart Stores to design a long-term management plan for the property.
american archaeology
Fieldwork Opportunities Marana Mound Site Excavations Fridays and Saturdays until May 2, resuming in late October, near Marana, Arizona. Participate in excavations at this Hohokam village site, which features a large platform mound. Space is limited and participants must pre-register. Contact Jada St. John at Arizona State Museum: (520) 626-5587 or jstjohn@email.arizona.edu. Kansas Archaeology Training Program June 2–17, Atchison, Kansas. The program offers an opportunity to learn archaeological concepts and methods through classroom instruction and hands-on experience in site survey, test excavations, and lab work. Prehistoric and possibly historic sites will be the focus of the program. Registration deadline is May 4. Contact Virginia Wulfkuhle at the Kansas State Historical Society: (785) 2728681, ext. 226, or vwulfkuhle@kshs.org. Kids Archaeology Day Camp June 9 and 16, Wickliffe Mounds Research Center, Wickliffe, Kentucky. Children ages 3rd through 7th grade will learn archaeological
methods and aspects of Native American tool technology at this prehistoric Mississippian village site. $10 registration fee. Call Carla Hildebrand at (270) 335-3681, or carla.hildebrand@murraystate.edu. Mission San Antonio de Padua June 17–July 27, near King City, California. The California Polytechnic State University’s six-week course includes field and laboratory methods and lectures on this Spanish Colonial site, which dates between 1771 and 1834. Call Robert Hoover at (805) 5440176 or rhoover@calpoly.edu. Heritage Expeditions June–September, Lolo National Forest (Montana), the Rogue River/Siskiyou and Willamette National Forests (Oregon), and the Modoc National Forest (California). The USDA Forest Service offer archaeological excavations, guided tours, and training in historic preservation, horsemanship, packing, and wilderness camping. Call (530) 233-8730, or visit the Web site www.fs.fed.us/recreation/heritage.
NEW ENGLAND ANTIQUITIES RESEARCH ASSOCIAT I O N 35 years in the forefront recording, researching and preserving enigmatic stonework throughout the Northeast
ACROSS BEFORE COLUMBUS?
Thirty scholars present evidence for transoceanic contact with the Americas prior to 1492. 320 pages, richly illustrated $26 including shipping Order through NEARA Publications
Special rates for groups. Call for FREE CATALOG!
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Phone (207) 882-9425 Fax (207) 882-8162 Or on the web at www.NEARA.org For membership information (508) 753-5187 email krosspt@lincoln.midcoast.com
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C O N S E R V A N C Y
Spectacular scenery and a variety of wildlife await rafters around every bend
Honaker Trail, a famous trail once used by prospectors. David Grant Noble, photographer and author of such books as Ancient Ruins of the Southwest and New Light on Chaco, will accompany the tour and share his insights about the people who once lived in this isolated region.
Rafting Through Time SAN JUAN RIVER TOUR When: June 2–9, 2001 Where: Southeastern Utah How much: $1,495 ($45 single supplement)
If you love floating downriver, camping under the stars, or exploring remote archaeological sites, our San Juan River trip is sure to be an adventure you’ll enjoy. In Bluff, Utah, you’ll begin a six-day journey down the scenic San Juan River, including its famous “goosenecks” stretch. Among the highlights of the trip are visits to several archaeological sites, such as River House, the largest cliff dwelling on the San Juan. You’ll also visit Chinle Wash, the famous setting for author Tony Hillerman’s novel A Thief of Time. At Lower Butler Wash you’ll view what is considered one of the Southwest’s most beautiful rock art sites. For those who wish to explore beyond the river, there are opportunities throughout the trip to hike river trails, including
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Upcoming Tours – Fall 2001 OAXACA, MEXICO In addition to being in Oaxaca during the Day of the Dead festivities, our tour explores the Mixtecan and Zapotecan archaeological sites in the region, including Mitla, Monte Albán, San José Mogote, and Dainzú. You’ll also travel to several crafts villages where you’ll find weaving, pottery, carved animals, and other local art.
MASTER POTTERS OF THE SOUTHERN DESERTS This new tour explores the ceramic traditions and cultures of the Hohokam, Mimbres, and Casas Grandes people. The trip includes Hohokam ruins and pottery from the Phoenix and Tucson areas, Spanish missions and presidios, and a behind the scenes look at over 10,000 pots on display at the Arizona State Museum. You’ll also see New Mexico’s Gila Cliff Dwellings, extensive collections of Mimbres pottery, Northern Mexico’s Casas Grandes, the potters of Mata Ortiz, and the mysterious Cave of the Ollas.
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ERIKA OLSSON
of the San Juan River.
Guide to Rock Art of the Utah Region: Sites with Public Access By Dennis Slifer
(Ancient City Press, 2000; 245 pgs., illus.; $16 paper; 800-249-7737) For those who wish to leave their armchairs to experience the wonders of rock art first hand, this book, also by Dennis Slifer, is an excellently organized guide to more than 50 sites in and around the Colorado Plateau that are now open to the public. The book includes a comprehensive overview of rock art styles and the cultural traditions that produced them, maps and directions for locating the sites, and extensive descriptions of the imagery. Slifer also includes much-appreciated chapters on rock art conservation and site etiquette, as well as photography tips.
Whitley suggests that a clue may be found in neuropsychology. Scientists who study brain chemistry during altered states of consciousness have discovered that short-term memory is severely impaired during a trance. This observation eerily echoes ethnographic accounts of the great difficulty shamans had in remembering their hallucinogenic experiences. Perhaps recording these important sacred events in paint or carving was a way of ensuring that they would not be forgotten. Whitley’s ingenious thesis also offers an explanation for the puzzling geometric motifs that proliferate in rock art, which have often been dismissed as mere decorative graffiti. These images are strikingly similar to the optical illusions reported by subjects to accompany a trance state or as precursors to migraine headaches. By drawing on findings from divergent fields, Whitley has produced a highly original synthesis of current research into the meaning of these ubiquitous and haunting images. Another book dealing with the interpretation of rock art is Polly Schaafsma’s Warrior, Shield, and Star, which investigates the depiction of warfare in Southwest rock art as a means of understanding violence and conflict among the prehistoric Pueblo peoples. The rock art and kiva murals in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico incorporate some of the most dramatic, graphic images in Pueblo art. Representations of shields and other weapons, warriors, animal war patrons, and other warfare iconography suggest a very different culture from the traditional “peaceful farmer” model of the Anasazi. Schaafsma’s investigation combines interpretation of american archaeology
these symbols with ethnographic data from diverse sources to shed light on the ideological motivations for institutionalized conflict during the Pueblo IV period (ca. A.D. 1325–1600). The art indicates that organized warrior societies and kachina cults evolved during this time, and that warfare was important to the rainmaking and sun cults that sought to ensure agricultural success. The concluding chapter relates ancient war symbols to modern Pueblo war societies, where some of the more traditional rituals are still performed. Fertility has long been recognized as a theme of primary importance in the art of prehistoric cultures. The abundance and universality of fertility images suggest that a primary concern of ancient peoples was the appeasement of supernatural forces to assure the continuation of life, not just of humans, but of other animals and plants upon which human life depended. The Serpent and the Sacred Fire, by Dennis Slifer, features hundreds of diagrams and numerous photographs focusing on the iconography of fertility, creation, and abundance, and the connection between sexuality and the sacred, in the rock art of the American Southwest. Slifer further compares these images to those found in the art of tribal peoples from other parts of the world to demonstrate the archetypal nature of such depictions. Undoubtedly, as research progresses on this compelling subject, new discoveries and insights will continue to add to our understanding. Nonetheless, these three scholars have given us a great deal to think about and admire in the ancient people who preceded us in this place. —Betsy Greenlee 47
Past Portrait Pueblo pottery from the Spanish Colonial village of San José de las Huertas, 1764–1823, a Conservancy preserve in New Mexico.
HELGA TEIWES
(See the related article in Field Notes, page 43.)
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BOOKS Coyote Press P.O. Box 3377 Salinas, CA 93912 Specializing in Archaeology, History, Prehistory, Ethnography, Linguistics, Rock Art, and Native American Studies of Western North America. We stock thousands of books and reprints, including used and rare books. If it is in print we generally can get it. Custom rare book searches. Visit our massive on-line catalogue: http://www.coyotepress.com. Free 50 page catalogue available.
(831) 422-4912 E-mail: coyote@coyotepress.com Visa
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CANCUÉN
Heritage Expeditions
& The Splendid Maya Palace
of the USDA Forest Service
A “Windows on the Past” Adventure!
13 Days of Natural History & Classic Maya Sites. $2,860.
Enjoy a hands-on educational vacation learning historic preservation skills, taking part in archaeological excavations, or touring and hiking off the beaten path to historic and prehistoric sites.
PALENQUE, COPAN, TIKAL “The Quetzal Tour”. 3 Countries, 9 Days. $1,495
Lolo National Forest, Montana offers courses in historic preservation, horsemanship, packing, and outdoor camping skills. Willamette National Forest, Oregon offers treks through time. Rogue River & Siskiyou NF’s, Oregon offer archaeology and history of Chinese miners. Modoc National Forest, California offers archaeological research excavations and archaeology & history tours. Check our website for more expeditions throughout the year. Fees from Heritage Expeditions fund protection of sites for public use and enjoyment as well as conservation education programs about archaeology and history. Your participation will help preserve the past for future generations.
Reservations are required. For more information visit our website at www.fs.fed.us/recreation/heritage or
phone (530) 233-8730; FAX (530) 233-8709.
Heritage— It’s About Time!
MAYAN RHAPSODY Yucatan Peninsula Circuit. 12 Maya cities, 8 Days All Meals, 4★ Hotels. $1,870. THE MAYA ODYSSEY Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, 15 Maya Sites, 3 Countries. 9 Days All-Inclusive. $1,895. YUCATAN OVERTURE 6 Days All-Inclusive. $1,353.
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Make your mark in time. Some Conservancy members think the only way to help save archaeological sites is through membership dues. While dues are a constant lifeline, there are many ways you can support the Conservancy’s work, both today and well into the future. And by supporting the Conservancy, you not only safeguard our past for your children and grandchildren, you also may save some money.
Parkin Archeological State Park parkin, arkansas
Began as a Conservancy Preserve in 1985
Place stock in the Conservancy. Evaluate your investments. Some members choose to make a difference by donating stock. Such gifts offer a charitable deduction for the full value instead of paying capital gains tax.
Give a charitable gift annuity. Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to make a gift of cash and securities today that lets you receive extensive tax benefits as well as an income for as long as you live.
leave a lasting legacy.
SPENCER TIERNY
Many people consider protecting our cultural heritage by remembering the Conservancy in their will. While providing us with a dependable source of income, bequests may qualify you for an estate tax deduction.
Yes, I’m interested in making a planned-giving donation to The Archaeological Conservancy and saving money on my taxes. Please send more information on: ❏ Gifts of stock
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Name: Street Address: City: Phone: (
State: )
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Whatever kind of gift you give, you can be sure we’ll use it to preserve places like Parkin Archeological State Park and our other 200 sites across the United States. Mail information requests to: The Archaeological Conservancy Attn: Planned Giving 5301 Central Avenue NE Suite 402 Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517 Or call: (505) 266-1540
