American Archaeology Magazine | Summer 2002 | Vol. 6 No. 2 by American Archaeology Magazine

ARIZONA ARCHAEOLOGICAL TOUR • EXCAVATING GOLD RUSH SHIPS • EXAMINING THE FORT ANCIENT

american archaeology SUMMER 2002

a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy

Saving the Miami Circle

$3.95

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Vol. 6 No. 2

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ARCHAEOLOGIST Oversee all activities that impact historical and cultural resources on the atoll, update and maintain the USAKA Historic Preservation Plan and computerized mapping datatbase. The candidate will document all activities and liason with the Republic of the Marshall Islands EPA, be responsible for the protection and preservation of designated historic sites and other duties as assigned, and perform duties in accordance with applicable Army and local standards. Prefer a candidate with experience/familiarity with the archaeological resources of the Pacific Rim, as well as experience in field survey, site testing, site excavation, artifact identification and analysis, document research and report preparation. M.S. in Anthropology/Archaeology with 2 years’ experience required. Raytheon provides a comprehensive benefits package. US Federal tax exclusion possible. Interested candidates please send your resume to: Raytheon Company, Kwajalein Employment Office, 670 Discovery Drive, Huntsville, AL 35806. E-mail: Kwaj_employment@res.raytheon.com. Fax: (256) 971-2579. To view all available opportunities with Raytheon Company, visit www.rayjobs.com. Raytheon is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes a wide diversity of qualified applicants. US citizenship may be required. At Raytheon, we will accomplish our goals.

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Expedition to Atlantis Join the authors of Atlantis In America in their ongoing investigation of early navigational cultures in the Americas. Discover the vestiges of diverse peoples expressed in the stele, temples, pyramids and roadways of the ancient Maya and preMayan civilizations.

8-Day Trips start at $1699 Contact George Erikson at (760) 251-9342 Or at EriksonGD@aol.com. or visit www.AtlantisInAmerica.com

american archaeology a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy

Vol. 6 No. 2

summer 2002 COVER FEATURE

1 2 T H E A M A Z I N G TALE OF THE MIAMI CIRCLE BY MICHAEL BAWAYA

The long, hard struggle to preserve a famous archaeological site.

20 A N A R C H A E O L O G I C A L T O U R IN ARIZONA BY DAVID GRANT NOBLE

Our summer travel special explores the spectacular sites between Phoenix and Flagstaff.

27 EXAMINING THE FORT ANCIENT BY ROB DAUMEYER

Archaeologists are learning about this prehistoric culture by excavating and reconstructing its settlements.

33 EXCAVATING THE GOLD RUSH SHIPS BY LEORA BROYDO VESTEL

The vast fleet of ships that came to San Francisco 150 years ago became part of the city’s infrastructure. Several of them have been found in the strangest places.

40 POINT FUND-RAISING COMPLETED Due to the generosity of members and donors, funds have been raised to match the $1-million challenge grant that launched the program.

4 1 point acquisition: P R E H I S T O R I C C O M M U N I T Y PRESERV E D IN SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO Squaw Point Pueblo is one of the largest and best-preserved prehistoric village sites in the Mesa Verde region.

4 2 new acquisition: THE CONSERVA N C Y I S A C Q U I R I N G I T S FIRST SITE IN THE COOSA P R O V I N C E

2 Lay of the Land 3 Letters 5 Events 7 In the News Mesoamerican Source Determined for Mississippian Scraper • Ancient Settlement Found in Arizona • Archaeologist Discovers Oldest Intact Maya Mural

44 Field Notes 46 Expeditions 48 Reviews

The Swancy site is saved from development.

4 3 new acquisition: MISSOURI’S INDUSTRIAL BEGINNINGS La Saline salt works was one of the state’s first industrial enterprises.

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COVER: In 1998, the Miami Circle was found in the city’s financial district. The discovery made international headlines and engendered a series of political, cultural, financial, and archaeological battles. Photograph by Jerry Rabinowitz

Lay of the Land

t first glance, one might think that $26.7 million is a lot to spend for a two-acre archaeological site. But on closer examination, it is quite a good deal for the people of Miami-Dade County, Florida, and the American people as well. The Tequesta archaeological site, popularly known as the Miami Circle, is surrounded by some of the highest priced real estate in the nation—$13 million per acre.The value of the real estate is set by the free market. The value of the archaeology is priceless. The lesson here is that the people of Miami-Dade were determined to save this site, regardless of the cost.

We at the Conservancy know that people all over the country would do the same. Another lesson is that it costs a lot less to preserve archaeological sites before they become a crisis.The Miami Circle property could have been bought for a mere $8 million only a few years earlier. This is also true at other sites in Florida and around the nation. Preserving them now will save millions later on. That’s why the Conservancy works with local, state, and federal governments to preserve endangered sites before they become a crisis, and thus saves millions of dollars for America’s taxpayers.

DARREN POORE

Money Well Spent

MARK MICHEL, President

Explore the Ancient Tewa Landscape at Ojo Caliente • GUIDED HIKES of ancient pueblos and rock art sites with archaeologists • MICACEOUS CLAY WORKSHOPS with master potter Felipe Ortega • SUNDAYSATOJO: Cultural entertainments on the front porch of the historic hotel Call (800) 222-9162 for a schedule of events.

1.800.222.9162 • www.ojocalientespa.com 50 Los Baños Dr./ P.O.Box 68 / Ojo Caliente,NM 87549 Seven Mineral Pools • Private Mineral Baths • \Watsu Therapeutic Massage • Facial Treatments • Yoga Luxury Packages • Hotel & Cottage Lodging Family/Group Lodging • Conference Facilities The Artesian Restaurant • Gift Shop • Hiking Trails

summer • 2002

Indulging New Age Fantasies “The Little-Known Treasures of the Lower Pecos” (Spring 2002) unfortunately perpetuates the hoary stereotypes of shamanic art popularized in recent years by South African archaeologist David Lewis-Williams. Shamanic religion is a set of religious beliefs and practices historically held by indigenous nations of northern Asia, northernmost Scandinavia, and northern America. Trance is not the salient feature of these religious practices, and the practitioners have not been observed making rock art. The Californian, Numic (including Comanche), and Kiowa tribes had a variety of different religious practices that bore little or no similarity to northern shamans. Fortunately, archaeologist Joe Labadie takes a scientific approach to the rock art, in contrast to the article’s generally uncritical acceptance of romantic New Age fantasies of Indian spirituality. Alice Beck Kehoe, Ph.D. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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.

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Letters Editor’s Corner

North America Thoroughly Explored? Brian Fagan’s article “The First Americans,” which appeared in the Fall 2001 issue, is a good read, but I take issue with his statement that finding significant pre-Clovis settlements in North America is rather unlikely because “the region has now been thoroughly explored.” Really? New discoveries are made every year, and at 9,500,000 square miles, I rather doubt that this vast area has been “thoroughly explored”— espcially that part hidden beneath the surface. Norman Muller Lawrenceville, New Jersey Chagrined by Theft I read with great surprise and chagrin the account of the theft of artifacts from the Texas Anthropological Research Laboratory in Austin in the Winter 2001-02 issue. The tripod bottle was the most impressive object I have ever uncovered. I was on a dig as an undergraduate student in the summer of 1931 when it was found. I hope and trust it has been recovered. I cannot imagine a thief could sell this unique specimen. I enjoy your journal and appreciate the program that supports it. Walter Goldschmidt Professor Emeritus, UCLA Los Angeles, California

What is it about financial districts? Our cover story tells of how a 2,000-year-old site was uncovered in Miami’s financial center. Meanwhile, across the continent in San Francisco, several 19th-century ships, of all things, have been unearthed in that city’s financial district during the past few decades. Sometimes we go to archaeology, as is the case with our tour of sites in central Arizona, and sometimes archaeology comes to us—witness the finds in those financial districts. We should be thankful for the great amount of spectacular and important archaeology preserved in our national and state parks and monuments, not to mention places like SunWatch Indian Village, but one can only imagine how much remarkable archaeology remains to be found. Once found, these unexpected discoveries, as we see in this issue, are sometimes preserved, and sometimes not. The Miami Circle article tells us what a difficult, messy, expensive business preservation can be. The gold rush drew hundreds of ships to San Francisco, a number of which were converted into such things as warehouses and hotels to serve the growing city’s needs. It’s estimated that more than 40 of these ships are still resting beneath the city. And that’s just in one place in this archaeologically rich continent. So who knows what amazing things might be under our feet, even if we’re not standing in a financial district.

WELCOME TO THE ARCHAEOLOGIC AL 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 235 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

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 • David Bergholz, Ohio Janet Creighton, Washington • Christopher B. Donnan, California Janet EtsHokin, Illinois • Jerry EtsHokin, Illinois W. James Judge, Colorado • Jay T. Last, California Rosamond Stanton, New Mexico • Vincas 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 Valerie Long, Administrative Assistant Regional Offices and Directors Jim Walker, Southwest Region (505) 266-1540 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402 • Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108 Tamara Stewart, Projects Coordinator • Steve Koczan, Site Maintenance Paul Gardner, Midwest Region (614) 267-1100 295 Acton Road • Columbus, Ohio 43214 Alan Gruber, Southeast Region (770) 975-4344 5997 Cedar Crest Road • Acworth, Georgia 30101 Jessica Crawford, Projects Coordinator Gene Hurych, Western Region (916) 399-1193 1 Shoal Court #67 • Sacramento, California 95831 Donald Craib, Eastern Region (703) 780-4456 9104 Old Mt. Vernon Road • Alexandria, Virginia 22309

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PUBLISHER: Mark Michel EDITOR: Michael Bawaya (505) 266-9668, archcons@nm.net ASSISTANT EDITOR: Tamara Stewart ART DIRECTOR: Vicki Marie Singer Editorial Advisor y Board Ernie Boszhardt, Mississippi Valley Archaeological Center James Bruseth, Texas Historical Commission • Jonathan Damp, Zuni Cultural Resources Allen Dart, Old Pueblo Archaeology Center • Richard Daugherty, Washington State University David Dye, University of Memphis • John Foster, California State Parks Megg Heath, Bureau of Land Management • Susan Hector, San Diego Gwynn Henderson, Kentucky Archaeological Registry • John Henderson, Cornell University John Kelly, Washington University • Robert Kuhn, New York Historic Preservation Mark Lynott, National Park Service • Linda Mayro, Pima County, Arizona Jeff Mitchem, Arkansas Archaeological Survey • Giovanna Peebles, Vermont State Archaeologist Janet Rafferty, Mississippi State University • Kenneth Sassaman, University of Florida Donna Seifert, John Milner Associates • Kathryn Toepel, Heritage Research Associates Richard Woodbury, University of Massachusetts National Advertising Office Marcia Ulibarri, Advertising Representative; P.O. Box 1067, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103; (505) 344-6018; Fax (505) 345-3430 mulibarri@earthlink.net 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 one-year 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) 266-1540. 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.

summer • 2002

Museum exhibits Meetings

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Tours

Education

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Events

Festivals

Conferences

NEVADA STATE MUSEUM

■ NEW EXHIBITS The Anasazi Heritage Center

Ottowa Scouting Museum

Dolores, Colo.—“Of Stone and Stories: Pueblitos of Dinetáh” explores the unique time period between A.D. 1500 and 1800 when Navajo, Pueblo, and Spanish peoples confronted and transformed each others’ cultures. Dinétah is the Navajo place of emergence and homeland in the canyons southeast of Farmington, New Mexico, where both Pueblo-style stone towers and forts (pueblitos) and the earliest confirmed Navajo settlements are located. Working together, archaeologists and Navajo peoples are now studying this remarkable place and its role in the early history of the Southwest. (970) 882-4811 (Through September 2)

Ottowa, Ill.—The traveling exhibit “By a River Gently Flowing: The Grand Village of the Illinois” features the major archaeological site and location of the 1673 meeting of French explorers Marquette and Joliet with the Illini (Illinois) Indians.The Grand Village is considered the most important surviving settlement and burial site of the 17th-century Illiniwek (Illinois) Confederacy, which once consisted of at least 16 subtribes.(217) 524-7080 (Through June 30, then traveling to the Bethalto Historical Museum, Bethalto, Ill., where it will be on display through November 1)

Anchorage Museum of History and Art Anchorage, Alaska—The new exhibit “From Another Time”offers a rare glimpse of southwest Alaska’s native people in the early decades of the 20th century. Most of the items, which include delicate ivory carvings, painted wooden bowls, dolls, and other items of everyday life, are from the Bering Sea coast region, home to the Cup’ik Eskimo people of Nunivak Island. The exhibit represents materials collected by anthropologist Margaret Lantis during her extensive late 1930s research in the area. (907) 343-6172 (Through September 15)

Canadian Museum of Civilization Hull, Quebec, Canada—The landmark exhibition “Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga” recounts the adventures and portrays the way of life of this Nordic people who set out from their European homelands more than 1,000 years ago for unknown territories that included Canada.For the first time, this new exhibit brings together over 300 artifacts from Viking homelands and settlements, some dating as far back as A.D. 800. (800) 555-5621 (Through October 14)

Nevada State Museum Carson City, Nev.—”Under One Sky: Nevada’s Native American Heritage” presents Native American prehistory and history from multiple perspectives, particularly native viewpoints. Life-size dioramas of Great Basin environments provide contexts for seldom-seen baskets and other well-preserved prehistoric artifacts from the museum’s collection. (775) 687-4810 (Opens June 22)

Heard Museum

HEARD MUSEUM

Phoenix, Ariz.—The Heard became North America’s major repository for indigenous Inuit and associated art of the North with the recent donation of the E. Daniel Albrecht Collection of Northern Native Art. The collection derives from the geographic areas of the Canadian Arctic and Subarctic, Alaska, Siberia, Greenland, and the Northwest Coast of Canada and the U.S. The collection covers a period of nearly 2,500 years and includes more than 1,000 works of art and cultural material. (602) 252-8840 (Included in the long-term Recent Acquisitions exhibition)

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Events ■ CONFERENCES, LECTURES & FESTIVALS

Weekends beginning June 22, Robbins Museum of Archaeology, Middleboro, Mass. Events will be held throughout the summer and include historic, archaeological, and educational presentations. Demonstrations such as flint knapping and Native American flute making will be offered, and lectures on local and regional sites and on archaeoastronomy are planned. (508) 947-9005

The History of King Philip’s War

Bar Harbor Native American Festival July 6, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine. This event celebrates Maine Native American cultures with a variety of programs and demonstrations, traditional arts, food, storytelling, drumming, dancing, and singing. The four Maine tribes represented—the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac, and Maliseet—are collectively known as the Wabanaki or “People of the Dawn Land.” (207) 288-3519 or www.abbemuseum.org

June 29–July 2, Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, Mashantucket,Conn. Learn about King Philip’s War (1675–1676), a major occurrence in New England history. Events include a site tour of the newly reconstructed palisade at the 1675 Pequot Fort, demonstrations of period military technology, a “walking talk” on 17thcentury food resources, and an oldfashioned “kettle meal.” Senior research staff will also discuss the results of 10 years of research at the fort. Call (800) 411-9671 to register.

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site Dig July 6, August 3, August 17, September 7, October 5. Vancouver, Wash. The National Park Service is sponsoring a free program that introduces children to the methods of archaeology, including excavation, analysis, and record keeping. The program is open to children 8–12 years old. (360) 696-7655

Walking Tour: “The Archaeology of Ventura” July 6 and September 21, Albinger Archaeological Museum, Ventura, Calif. This two-hour tour of excavated Missionperiod sites begins at the Albinger mission plaza site (on the grounds of the museum), and continues to the Figuroa Plaza site, the Old Chinatown site, and the San Miguel Chapel site. Tour guides will explain how the excavations of these sites have changed our understanding of Ventura’s Mission period, and will discuss other sites in the area that have yet to be excavated. Advance registration of at least a week is requested. Groups of 12 or more can request a tour. Call Richard Senate at (805) 658-4728.

Idyllwild Arts Summer Program: Views of Art, Archaeology & History July 7–12, Metro Arts Bldg., Los Angeles, Calif. Participate in a week devoted to the appreciation of the profound connections between Native American art and culture today and in antiquity. The course features topics that are informed and inspired by both current research and traditional beliefs.Accomplished instructors, distinguished guests, and visiting artists will participate. (323) 936-1447 or summerprogram@idyllwildarts.org

75th Annual Pecos Conference 2002 August 8–11, Pecos National Historical Park, Pecos, N.M.This year’s theme is “The Road to Ruins—75 Years of Southwestern Archaeology.” Papers will be presented on the 9th and 10th, with tours of local sites held on the 11th. http://www.swanet.org/ zarchives/pecos/2002

summer • 2002

ABBE MUSEUM

Massachusetts Archaeological Society & Robbins Museum Summer Lecture and Storytelling Series

in the

NEWS

Mesoamerican Source Determined for Mississippian Scraper An artifact represents the first documented example of contact between Mesoamericans and Mississippians.

NORTHWEST RESEARCH OBSIDIAN STUDIES LABORATORY

-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis conducted on an obsidian end scraper recovered from the Spiro Mounds cultural complex in eastern Oklahoma has shown that the distinctive greenbanded material came from Pachuca, in central Mexico, making it the first documented example of Mesoamerican material found at a Mississippianperiod archaeological site. Spiro Mound has produced the most extensive assemblage of artifacts classified as part of the Southeast Ceremonial Complex (SECC). The SECC is a widespread religious and artistic complex associated with Mississippian cultures found throughout most of the southeastern United States between about A.D. 1100 and 1450. Based on the similarity in shell ornament styles, ceramic designs and forms, and some architectural styles, archaeologists working in the Southeast have long assumed that there was contact between Mesoamerica and Mississippian period sites, but until now they have lacked conclusive evidence. Due to its high quality, Pachuca obsidian was one of the main sources used by many major prehistoric Mesoamerican societies, and it was widely traded as far south as Guatemala, although it has not previously been reported north of Mexico. The obsidian scraper was initially found in 1935 by amateur archaeolo-

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Researchers have been speculating for more than 150 years about the possibility of contact between Mississippian and Mesoamerican cultures. This scraper is the first documented evidence that contact occurred.

gist J. G. Braecklein following excavations in the eastern tunnel of Craig Mound, the largest mound at the Spiro complex. Braecklein donated the scraper along with an important collection of other Spiro artifacts to the Smithsonian Institution in 1937. While recently examining the Smithsonian’s Spiro materials, Alex Barker,

curator of North American archaeology at the Milwaukee Public Museum, came across the scraper. “When I held the scraper up to the light and saw the distinctive green color, I thought briefly of the Mexican source, but figured there must be some north-of-the-border source that I’d never encountered that had a similar coloration,” recalled Barker.“It turns out there’s not.” Barker worked with researchers at the XRF Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory in Oregon, who identified the obsidian’s source by measuring trace-element concentrations and comparing them to those of obsidian collections from North America and Mexico.The diagnostic traceelement values in the artifact were closely correlated with the Pachuca obsidian source in central Mexico, and these results were then compared with the extensive database of obsidian sources held by Michael Glascock of the University of Missouri at Columbia, to rule out other possible sources. “I’m a lot more certain of the results than what they mean,” Barker said of the analysis.“If we start finding other lines of evidence supporting Mesoamerican connections, then this will prove a very interesting result. If not, it’s a curiosity.” —Tamara Stewart

in the

NEWS

Increased Punishment Proposed for Crimes against Cultural Heritage Sentencing commission unanimously votes to amend current sentencing guidelines.

his spring, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency within the judicial branch of the federal government, voted unanimously to toughen the current federal sentencing guidelines regarding crimes against the nation’s cultural heritage.The new guidelines would provide greater guidance to judges in evaluating the harm caused by cultural heritage resource crimes and result in increased punishment for these offenses.

“The events of September 11th have underscored the importance of the symbols of our nation’s heritage and culture,” said Judge Diana E. Murphy, the commission’s chair. “The promulgation of a separate guideline for cultural heritage resource crimes is the commission’s way of increasing this awareness and helping to preserve these treasures.” The commission proposed the amendment in response to concerns expressed by Native American

tribes, the Departments of Justice and the Interior, the Society for American Archaeology, and the American Association of Museums, among others, that current guidelines fail to adequately address the unique harms caused by cultural heritage resource crimes. The new guidelines were submitted to Congress on May 1 and will take effect on November 1 unless Congress refuses to approve them. —Tamara Stewart

Colorado Looters Indicted for Digging up Prehistoric Chacoan Settlement

ore than a year after the looting incident that took place at Reservoir Ruin, a prehistoric village site located near Dolores, Colorado, two people were indicted by a federal grand jury for looting the site. In the fall of 2000, 52-yearold Danny Keith Rose of Dolores and 41-yearold Tammy Woosley of Cortez were caught by a Bureau of Land Management lawenforcement officer who saw them uncovering prehistoric human remains Looters search for valuable artifacts, such as Mesa Verde pots.

and artifacts at the site. In March the two were indicted on felony charges for violating the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) of 1979 and destroying government property. “We would like to extend our appreciation to all the federal agencies that were involved in pursuing this case for following through on our recommendation to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators, and we hope that they are successful,” said Clay Hamilton of the Hopi tribe’s Cultural Preservation Office. The Hopi tribe considers

Reservoir Ruin an ancestral site. Reservoir Ruin is a Chaco settlement that was likely occupied during the mid–12th century A.D., a time when prehistoric peoples had begun to leave Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico and settle in areas to the north and south. The Forest Service owns half of the site,and the Conservancy purchased the other half in 2000.The portion of the site that was damaged is on National Forest land. Rose and Woosley pleaded not guilty on April 18 in Durango’s Federal Magistrate Court. A trial will likely be scheduled for June or July. If found guilty, the two face a maximum of two years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine for the ARPA violation, and up to 10 years’ imprisonment and $250,000 fine for damaging government property. —Tamara Stewart summer • 2002

ANASAZI HERITAGE CENTER

The pair faces stiff sentences.

in the

NEWS

Ancient Settlement Found in Arizona Discoveries made at the Clearwater site double Tucson’s age.

Archaeologists excavate a group of pithouses and storage pits at a 4,000-year-old settlement. The site is located in the Santa Cruz River floodplain, the birthplace of Tucson.

testing was done on charcoal found in two of the canals. The archaeologists’ work “shows a sequence of canals spanning the

JONATHAN MABRY

rchaeologists working at the Clearwater site near Tucson have discovered a 4,000-year-old settlement containing the oldest known built structures in Arizona. The settlement was buried in the Santa Cruz River floodplain.The settlement contained pithouses, storage pits, figurines and pottery, and maize remains.The maize was radiocarbon dated to about 2000 B.C., making it among the oldest maize found in North America. The figurines and pottery, which feature incised designs, are the oldest fired-clay artifacts in the Southwest. Seventeen historic and prehistoric canals have also been found at the site. Jonathan Mabry, an archaeologist with Desert Archaeology, Inc., the firm conducting the excavation, said that the oldest canals have been radiocarbon dated to approximately 2,500 years ago. The radiocarbon

This piece of pottery was found at the site. The decorative incisions were probably made with fingernails. Archaeologists have not previously seen these kinds of decorations.

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last two and one-half millennia” in the Santa Cruz floodplain, Mabry said. Though the Santa Cruz River is now dry, it was once a lush area that attracted various inhabitants over the centuries. The excavation is part of the Rio Nuevo Archaeological Project, which is a facet of an ambitious downtown redevelopment program undertaken by the City of Tucson (see “A City Searches for Its Roots,” American Archaeology, Summer 2001).The archaeological project began in 2000 and will continue for at least another year. “This strengthens Tucson’s claim of being the oldest continuously inhabited place in the U.S.,” Mabry said of the discovery.“We’ve just doubled the known life span of Tucson.” —Michael Bawaya

in the

NEWS

Archaeologist Discovers Oldest Intact Maya Mural Well-preserved and superbly executed panel may cover entire room at ceremonial site in northern Guatemala.

H. HURST

hile searching for two purported stone monuments at the Maya ceremonial site of San Bartolo in the Petén wilderness of northern Guatemala, archaeologist William Saturno recently discovered a massive, brilliantly painted mural dating to about A.D. 100 in a room exposed by looters. The vivid red, black, and yellow painting on a cream-colored background may depict a mythological scene known as the dressing or resurrection of the Corn God that is a core element of Maya religion, commonly recorded on murals, statues, pottery, and in literature beginning about A.D. 700 during the Maya Classic period.The mural shows a central male figure who appears to be the Maya Corn God, looking over his shoulder at two kneeling females that may be dressing him before he leaves the underworld. Saturno, a research associate at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, along with David Stuart, curator of Mayan Hieroglyphic Inscriptions at Harvard’s Peabody Museum, and Héctor Escobedo, of Guatemala’s Universidad del Valle, compared the painted fresco’s style and content to other known Maya reliefs to determine the date. The mural is located in a small room attached to an 80-foot unexcavated pyramid. An estimated 10 per-

An artist's rendering of the exposed panel of the oldest-known intact Maya mural. The mural was discovered at San Bartolo in northern Guatemala. Despite extensive looting at the site over the last decade, the ruins were unknown to the archaeological community.

cent of the mural is visible, leaving researchers to speculate about its dimensions, which could extend nearly 60 feet around the top of the room. The painting is more extensive and better preserved than the only other paintings known to be from this time period, which were found at Tikal. The 1,900-year-old mural was covered with a protective coating of mud before the Maya filled the room with rubble, ceremonially killing it. “This find looks like it will be one of the more important recent discoveries in Maya archaeology,” said Stuart.“If the whole room is painted (and it looks like it might be), then we will have found the richest piece of Preclassic Maya art. As a specialist

in Maya glyph decipherment, I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will have some textual material. If so, it would be among the earliest Maya writing known.” Saturno began a five-year project this spring to survey the site and painstakingly expose and conserve the mural. Saturno hopes that further study of the painting, whose early date appears to require revision of the time line for pre-Columbian art, will provide insights into the ancient and once flourishing Maya civilization. “Everything we talk about as being from the Maya Classic period may have been in place much earlier than we thought,” speculated Saturno. —Tamara Stewart summer • 2002

in the Facing the Curation Crisis

A federal warehouse could help Colorado store its artifacts.

NEWS

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

his spring, Colorado archaeologists, curators, and government officials toured a building near Denver that could become a repository for artifacts that are in desperate need of appropriate storage. (See “A Curation Crisis,” American Archaeology, Winter 2001–02.) Two buildings at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, Colorado, are being considered for a repository. If found suitable, the buildings would provide more than 75,000 square feet of storage space, solving the storage problem for the short term. A steering committee has been formed to better define the state’s curation problem and determine what funding is available to solve the problem. Depending on the amount of money it can raise, the group may lease one or both buildings, or it may choose to build a new repository. “At this point, we’re taking baby steps in what is a long-term endeavor,” said Kevin Black, the assistant state archaeologist. In a report called “Addressing

The University of Colorado’s Museum of Natural History is one of the major museums in the state that no longer accepts collections because of a lack of space.

the Curation Crisis in Colorado,” the Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists concluded that Colorado museums have run out of storage space for newly unearthed archaeological artifacts, and many institutions are not able to properly maintain the collections they currently hold.The council determined that the storage crisis is resulting in improper care and subsequent deterioration of the irreplaceable artifacts. Such substandard care is in violation of the laws under which the artifacts were collected and prevents

their use by Native Americans for traditional purposes, and their study by researchers and educators. Under current federal law, every artifact that is recovered must be preserved and made accessible to the public; however, only a few major Colorado museums are still accepting collections. Because federal law mandates that archaeological work must precede any federal project such as road construction, the curation crisis has the potential to impede all kinds of public works projects. —Tamara Stewart

European Contact Increased Trauma for Native Americans Study indicates injuries rose for several reasons.

recent study conducted by Philip Walker of University of California Santa Barbara and Richard Steckel of Ohio State University shows the rate of traumatic injuries in Native Americans increased by more than 50 percent following the arrival of Europeans to the Americas. Comparing the skeletons of 3,375 pre-Columbian with 1,165 post-Columbian Native Americans from archaeological sites throughout North America, Walker and Steckel

american archaeology

found most of the increase in violence to be in the form of head injuries in young males. “The sample sizes are probably the largest that have been brought to bear on this subject in a single study,” said Steckel. Although part of the increase in trauma doubtless stems from violence by Europeans, it probably reflects mostly increased violence among native peoples as a result of a more densely populated, settled life.

The increased disease and stresses introduced by the arrival of Europeans possibly contributed to this violence. The researchers presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists this spring in Buffalo, New York.The trauma study is a facet of a larger effort by the researchers and their collaborators to measure and understand the long-term evolution of health in the Western Hemisphere. —Tamara Stewart

JERRY RABINOWITZ

The Amazing Tale of the Miami Circle

american archaeology

The discovery of a 2,000-year-old site in downtown Miami caused quite a stir. By Michael Bawaya

known to inhabit this area, where the Miami River flows into Biscayne Bay, from approximately 500 B.C. to about A.D. 1700. Gary Beiter set a can of fish steaks in Louisiana hot sauce on the roof of his car and had at them. “Brunch,” he explained. Dressed in khaki pants, a short-sleeved shirt, and an Indiana Jones hat, Beiter looked every bit the archaeologist. He works for Miami-Dade County, and one of his duties is to serve as custodian of the site. The Miami Circle is a curiouslooking feature that possesses a hint of otherworldliness. It’s 38 feet in di-

ameter and its limestone bedrock is full of holes.The circle is usually covered with several strips of tarp for protection. Underneath the tarp, plywood boards cover the holes. Some of the holes hold rainwater, and when Beiter removed the plywood countless cockroaches scurried out. He quickly found shark vertebrae, shell tools, and pottery sherds. Though Beiter had been custodian of the circle for seven months, that was the first time he’d seen the entire site uncovered. He was soon on his stomach, scrutinizing artifacts. “It’s unique to the whole country,” he said of the circle.

AP PHOTO / ALAN DIAZ

n downtown Miami’s financial district, the buildings bear the names of the crème de la crème of commerce— Hyatt, Citibank, Bank of America. Next to the posh Sheraton Biscayne Bay Hotel is a waterfront lot that, it seems, should more likely be occupied by a Starbucks than a 2,000-year-old archaeological site. Sitting approximately in the middle of this lot is the Miami Circle, a Tequesta Indian site that, in a short time, has gained international renown. Waterfront property was also desirable in prehistoric times, and the now-extinct Tequestas were

Seminole William Osceola, and Cherokee Kyle Moore, Jr., dance as protesters who want the circle to be preserved hold a vigil in downtown Miami on Tuesday, February 2, 1999. Some of the protests to save the circle drew large and intense crowds.

american archaeology

JERRY RABINOWITZ

The discovery of the circle turned Bob Carr into something of a celebrity.

What might have been: This billboard advertising the twin-tower luxury

He was frequently interviewed by the media, and he had dozens of

apartment complex still looms over Brickell Pointe. The City of Miami

requests to give talks. “I don’t know if it changed my life,” he observed.

believed the development would make a significant contribution to its

“It certainly made two years of my life extremely busy.”

tax base.

The Tequesta’s long occupation made this one of the most archaeologically sensitive areas in the city. In the 1870s, the Brickell family established a trading post here, and in 1950 six apartment buildings were erected on the site.The lot had been on the market for a number of years and was purchased for $8 million in 1998 by Brickell Pointe, Ltd. Michael Baumann, Brickell Pointe’s developer, considered it a fine place to erect a twin-tower apartment complex. Miami had been struggling financially for several years and Brickell Pointe was expected to contribute over $1 million to the city’s tax revenues and 600 units of upscale housing that would enliven the downtown area. Joe Carollo, who was then mayor of Miami, thought Brickell Pointe would be a key contributor to the city’s fiscal rehabilitation. One day in May of that year, Bob Carr, then the head archaeologist for Miami-Dade County, happened to notice a demolition crew tearing down the old apartments to make way for the new towers.A local ordinance mandates that a cultural resources survey be conducted prior to construction. Once Carr contacted Baumann and informed him of the law, the latter agreed to allow an archaeologist to monitor the project. Pottery sherds, shell refuse, and animal bones—indications of village life—were identified.This led to a hastily arranged salvage excavation, headed by John Ricisak, another county archaeologist.The project, which started in late July, was expected to end in four to six weeks. There was a large septic tank buried inside the circle’s southern edge, but the site was otherwise in good shape.The archaeologists found hundreds of artifacts each day. When they began digging they discovered late-19thcentury glass beads and coins that were probably associ-

ated with the Brickell trading post. As they dug deeper, they encountered prehistoric pottery sherds, faunal bones, and shell tools, and other items. When they struck the limestone bedrock, they found the strange holes. The excavation continued under difficult circumstances. “We didn’t know when we were going to be kicked off the site,” said Ricisak. He described it as “kind of a ragtag, shoestring-budget operation.” Nonetheless, they would soon make a remarkable discovery. Because of delays in issuing the construction permits, excavation progressed into October and, as more of the bedrock was revealed, Carr, Ricisak, and surveyor Ted Riggs identified a circle.The archaeologists were at a loss to interpret this feature, as they had never seen anything like it before. Meanwhile, delays in issuing the construction permit gave them additional time to dig.

MAYA MAYHEM The excavation had somehow gone on for months with virtually no media coverage. Then Reuters, the British news agency, ran a story. When the Reuters reporter visited the site, he interviewed Riggs as well as Ricisak. Though not an archaeologist, Riggs had no doubt as to the nature of the circle. Having visited Maya sites in Central America, he had some knowledge of their culture, which led him to conclude that the circle was a calendar cut from stone, a work of Maya astronomical genius. According to Riggs, the Maya, likely for ritualistic or religious purposes, used it to track the sun’s position. For good measure, Riggs threw in Stonehenge parallels. Though the archaeologists working at the site dismissed Riggs’s theories, the Reuters’s reporter swallowed them whole. News of what became known as the Miami Circle, replete with Riggs’s Maya/Stonehenge ruminations, summer • 2002

JERRY RABINOWITZ HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA

quickly traveled the globe, appearing in countless newsserved no purpose other than to take some of the heat papers.“I knew I was in trouble,” Ricisak said with a laugh, off the developer and the City of Miami.” “when friends of mine in Italy called to tell me they’d seen Public opposition to the development was fierce, but my photo on the front page of their paper.” Not long after feckless. Some kind of legal action was rethe Reuters article appeared, the Miami Herald pubquired to save the circle. Being a county lished a front-page article on the site, and a media employee as well as an archaeolofrenzy ensued. gist, Carr was very familiar with The day the Miami Herald article the local preservation laws that ran, hundreds of people showed decreed that, on private propup at the site and the police had erty, only human burials were to disburse the crowd. Infuriprotected. But no human reated by the publicity, Baumann mains, other than a few teeth, came to the site the next day, dehad been found at the site. manding to know who had inCarr, without success, tried to formed the press. A security talk Baumann into changing the guard was hired to suppledesign of the towers so as to preserve the circle.The circle was perment the chain-link fence that protected the site. haps the most important, and certainly the most publicized, find of Carr’s 25-year The Miami Circle was career, and he would see it bulldozed. soon transformed from an obscure archaeological site into But as luck would have it, Carr didn’t know the preservation laws inside out. One a cause célèbre. The media coverage—the Today Show, This reconstructed dolphin day in mid-January of 1999, he was talking skull, which consists of with Sarah Eaton, the city’s historic preservaGood Morning America, CNN, tion director.To Carr’s surprise, Eaton said the the Associated Press, the approximately 100 pieces, was BBC—was relentless, focus- found at the circle. The dolphin site was in an archaeological conservation ing on the circle’s imminent skull is the only one to be area. He recalled that, in 1992, Miami amended destruction, which galva- found at an archaeological site its preservation ordinance because the county nized protestors.The stories outside of the Pacific threatened to sue the city for not protecting its in the press echoed in the Northwest. The dolphin may have historic structures. But Carr was unaware of the streets and the halls of local been ceremonially buried. fact that the ordinance amendments established and state government.A “cirarchaeological conservation cle-cam” was installed in a areas and that the city’s Hisnearby building, enabling toric and Environmental people to watch the excavaPreservation Board had the tion live on the Internet. authority to impose condiDozens of Web sites were tions—such as the excavaspawned by the controtion and preservation of an versy. Hundreds of schoolarchaeological site at the dechildren participated in a veloper’s expense—on anyletter-writing campaign, one wanting to disturb pleading with local officials them. The ordinance also reto preserve the circle. The quired that all such proposintense publicity was a als to disturb these areas be nightmare for Baumann. reviewed by the county arPresented with such a chaeologist, namely Carr, vexing problem, the develwho would then recomoper offered an unlikely somend what archaeology was lution: He proposed to cut to be done before a “certifithe circle into pieces that These shell tools, which were typically used for woodworking by the cate of appropriateness” for the work was issued. As would be extracted from Tequesta, include a whelk adze and axes. these procedures hadn’t the ground and moved to a been followed, it appeared to Carr that the City of city park for preservation. This, to Baumann, may have Miami, in its eagerness to foster development, had viobeen a win/win solution, but others were unimpressed. lated its own law. “It was a ridiculous idea,” said Ricisak. “It would have

american archaeology

MIAMI-DADE OFFICE OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION

The circle also yielded this articulated shark skeleton. The shark, like the dolphin, was interred on an east-west axis, apparently for ceremonial purposes. Radiocarbon testing indicates the skeleton dates to about A.D. 1600.

Thus began the legal machinations, and none too soon, as Baumann’s construction permits were about to be approved.The Dade Heritage Trust, a nonprofit preservation group, filed for an emergency injunction to stop the development. The city, meanwhile, had issued Baumann’s foundation permit, and he had told the archaeologists they were to be off the site by February 1. On Saturday, January 30, the archaeologists worked furiously to excavate the complete carapace of a sea turtle. Assisting the crew was Baumann himself. “In some ways,” Carr said of Baumann,“he was in the toughest position of all of us.” When the archaeologists returned to the site at dawn on Sunday for their final day of work, Baumann was there again. As they were working, Baumann received a call on his cellular phone from his lawyer. Baumann was informed that he and Carr were to immediately attend a hearing regarding the Dade Heritage Trust’s injunction at the home of Miami-Dade circuit court judge Thomas Wilson. Both Baumann and Carr were surprised by this turn of events. There, in Wilson’s living room, with the television on (it was Super Bowl Sunday) and the atmosphere more that of a get-together than a hearing, the fate of the circle would be determined.“It was bizarre,” Carr remembered. Judge Wilson ruled against the emergency injunction. Generous in victory, Baumann gave the archaeologists another 30 days on the site, then he would have a professional stonemason remove the circle. Carr recommended, and Baumann chose, Josh Billig for this challenging job. Billig was expert in working with the area’s fragile limestone and he was intrigued by the challenge the circle presented. He believed that he could remove the circle by cutting it into numerous pieces.The Miami Herald reported on February 13 that Billig would remove the circle, and that day people began calling him, hoping to talk him out of it. The callers failed to persuade him, though

they did give him pause. That evening, which was both Valentine’s Day and his birthday, Billig and his wife dined near the site.A backhoe was mysteriously delivered to the site, prompting a Herald reporter to call Billig for a comment. Billig was surprised, as he was to supply the equipment for the circle’s removal. He and his wife decided to walk to the site, where they encountered a crowd of protestors. Eventually, Billig spoke briefly with Bobby Billie, a member of the Independent Seminole tribe who had been active in the effort to preserve the circle. Billie told the stonemason to abandon the job.After sleeping on it, Billig took the advice. Billig’s decision failed to decrease the growing tension.The arrival of the backhoe was a throwing down of the gauntlet. Perhaps as many as 200 people were gathered at the circle’s fence early Monday morning. Inside the fence was the man who had been hired to operate the backhoe.A banner affixed to the security gate proclaimed “Baumann = Cultural Genocide.” The protestors shook the

JERRY RABINOWITZ

STOPPING THE BACKHOE

Miami-Dade County archaeologist Gary Beiter is custodian of the site until a long-term plan for preserving it is determined.

summer • 2002

RYAN J. WHEELER/PANAMERICAN CONSULTANTS, INC.

The Miami Circle’s limestone bedrock is covered with over 500 cut postholes and 24 basins. Apartments were built over the circle in 1950, and the rec-

HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA

tangular septic tank of the apartments can be seen. This septic tank created doubt about the site’s age and authenticity.

fence and screamed at the man as he started the backhoe’s engine. One of the archaeologists, Danny Gregory, was told that several of the protestors were armed and, if necessary, were prepared to use force to save the circle.“I was just glad I had a hole to hide in,” he stated.There were no police there, only a lone, thoroughly intimidated security guard hired by Baumann.As his engine idled, the backhoe operator absorbed the taunts and screams of the crowd for about 30 minutes.Then he capitulated, getting into a truck and making his escape. This complex, volatile situation became all the more so as Miami-Dade County quickly entered the fray. The next day the county’s mayor, Alex Penelas, along with Carr, attended a city commission meeting to argue for preserving the circle.The commissioners, however, refused to let him speak. Mayors Penelas and Carollo resorted to “trading barbs,” said Carr.“It was very intense there for a while.” Carollo feared the city could face a huge lawsuit from Baumann if it reversed its position on the circle. Thus Penelas decided that the county would go it alone. At a press conference the next day he announced that he would ask the county commissioners to obtain Brickell Pointe through eminent domain, since Baumann refused to sell the land.The county commissioners subsequently voted overwhelmingly in favor of an eminent domain action; however, a hostile takeover based on archaeology was far from routine.And even if their legal strategy

american archaeology

succeeded, it would have to be complemented by a financial plan that could raise the millions of dollars necessary to pay off Baumann. Thomas Goldstein is an assistant county attorney who worked on the case. He said that courts have determined that acquiring private property for football stadiums is a valid public purpose.“Was archaeological preservation a public purpose recognized by the courts?” he asked rhetorically. He knew of only one legal precedent to base his case on, that being the condemnation by the federal

These basaltic axes were found in the circle. They show little evidence of wear and appear to be ritual offerings. Geologists have traced their origin to northern Georgia.

ARCHAEOLOGY OR PLUMBING? Just as the preservationists appeared to be gaining the upper hand, the pro-developers were assisted by an unlikely source in an unexpected way. Jerald Milanich, a curator of archaeology at Gainesville's Florida Museum of Natural History and one of the state’s most prominent archaeologists, began to speak his mind. Milanich, from a distance, had been following the story of the circle and, to some extent, it had been following him. He was frequently contacted by reporters wanting a quote and promoters of the circle wanting support.Though he hadn’t visited the site, he was aware of all the speculation, archaeological and otherwise, about what it really was: a Maya calendar, a UFO launching pad, a product of the people of Atlantis, a drain field for a large septic tank that was built for the apartments that once occupied the site. However absurd these notions seemed to Carr, Ricisak, and the other archaeologists who worked the site, Milanich, for various reasons, thought their conclusion of a 2,000-year-old Tequesta site to be fanciful. He, in fact, found the septic tank explanation to be more plausible. He was concerned that in addition to a huge sum of money, the reputation of Florida archaeology was at stake in this debate. Deciding to see for himself, Milanich visited the circle in April 1999 along with Jim Miller, head of the state Bureau of Archaeological Research.They were welcomed by Carr and Ricisak, who set to work making their case. Milanich examined the site for perhaps 30 minutes, spending most of the time by the septic tank, then he declared himself ready for lunch. During the course of the meal, Carr and Ricisak, to their displeasure, found that their arguments hadn’t impressed Milanich. When Milanich continued to talk about the septic tank, Ricisak retorted that some people believe the circle to be of extraterrestial

orgin, a theory that was as valid as Milanich’s. Despite the lack of legal precedents, Goldstein, along with fellow county attorney Tom Logue, won the right in April to condemn the property specifically for archaeological and historical preservation.A subsequent jury trial was to determine the amount Baumann would receive for the land. In late September, shortly before that trial was to begin, Baumann and the county agreed to an out of court settlement of $26.7 million.“I think it was an excellent deal for (Baumann),” Goldstein said.“And in the end it was probably a good deal for the county.” Getting the money wasn’t easy. The state put up $15 million, the county $3 million, and the remaining $8.7 million was borrowed from the Trust for Public Lands, a nonprofit land conservation foundation. Even at that point, Milanich’s skepticism Fish vertebrae were used to make this still resonated.To make carved bone ornament (front and back) certain it wasn’t being that was found within the circle. hoodwinked into buying a fabulously expensive septic tank, the state dispatched its own team of archaeologists to the site for six weeks before handing over the money. When the team corroborated Carr’s and Ricisak’s conclusions, the deal was finally done. Despite this, Milanich continues to harbor doubts. “I’m still looking for someone to address what happened to the site in the twentieth century and how it affected the pre-Columbian remains,” he said. A number of archaeological questions remain about the circle, such as its purpose, and even its age—the 2,000-year-old date is derived from charcoal and shell

Here We Go Again On one side of the Sheraton Biscayne Bay Hotel is the Miami Circle. On the other side is Brickell Park, a 2.4-acre rectangle that extends to Biscayne Bay. The City of Miami was in the process of selling the park to a New York developer, Gotham Par tners, for $18 million. Prior to finalizing the deal, Gotham Par tners hired an archaeological consulting firm to perform an assessment of the proper ty. In August of 2001, the firm, headed by none other than Bob Carr, found a number of human remains that are thought to be related to the Miami Circle. Upon learning of the discover y, Gotham Par tners backed out of the deal. —Michael Bawaya

summer • 2002

HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA

government in 1892 of a railroad that was to run through the Gettysburg battlefield. Faced with the eminent domain action, Baumann, who bought Brickell Pointe for $8 million, claimed it was now worth approximately $50 million, which was far more money than the county had to spend. With the city and county at cross-purposes—the city was contemplating suing the county for its eminent domain action—the State of Florida sought to resolve the conflict. Carr found himself addressing cabinet meetings headed by Governor Jeb Bush, himself a former real estate developer, as to why the site should be preserved. Eventually the state agreed to provide financial assistance. Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who oversees issues of historic preservation and who later received her 15 minutes of fame for her role in determining the outcome of the last presidential election, was also instrumental in determining the circle’s fate.

Catherine Hummingbird Ramirez JERRY RABINOWITZ

sits in front of the shrine. She has seen sick people come to the circle and be healed. “The whole area is positive energy,” she said.

found within the circle, not from the feature itself.“I get ulcers when I hear people saying what it is, because we don’t know,” said Beiter. Carr, who is now director of the Archaeological and Historical Conservancy, Inc., will publish an archaeological report on the circle in September that could answer these questions.

WHAT TO DO WITH IT The chain-link fence surrounding the site is festooned with flowers, photographs, ribbons, newspaper clippings, and a “no trespassing” sign.The fence has evolved into a shrine of sorts and Catherine Hummingbird Ramirez serves as its priestess. Ramirez, who identified herself as a Caribe Tribal Indian queen, generally comes twice a week to maintain the shrine. She is warm and motherly, with limpid brown eyes. “It has a positive impact on people,” she said of the circle. “It’s very spiritual.” She remarked that luminaries ranging from the Dalai Lama to Miami Vice actor Philip Michael Thomas have been drawn to the site. Approximately four years after its discovery, much of the sound and fury surrounding the circle has subsided.“I think this is one of the success stories of archaeological preservation in America,” Carr said with pride. He hopes it will serve as a model for other cities. Having escaped the clutches of the developer, the circle is now in the gentler hands of a mini-bureaucracy, the 18-member Miami Circle Planning Group. Blood and treasure were spent to save it, so many people feel the circle must in some fashion repay the public. For the longest time the question has been how best to give the public access to the site without exploiting it. Some Native Americans are opposed to converting what they consider to be a sacred place into an exhibit. Others

american archaeology

are concerned that it be done with the proper sensitivity. Ramirez is untroubled by the prospect of an exhibit, as the site has already been disturbed.“There’s no way to bring it back to what it was,” she observed. The planning group, which includes two Native Americans, is forging ahead with an interim plan to build an open structure with a thatched roof that would protect the site and give the public easy access to it. It’s estimated that such a structure would cost about $386,000 and that it could be built by this fall. As for a possible long-range plan, the planning group has endorsed an 18-month study to be conducted by the National Park Service exploring the feasibility of the circle becoming part of nearby Biscayne National Park. Acknowledging that the planning group has been moving at a very deliberate pace, one of its members, Michael Spring, quipped:“The site is two thousand years old.The goal is to come up with a long-range plan before another two thousand years go by.” “The whole tale of the Miami Circle is really an amazing one for a lot of different reasons,” said Ricisak, who thought all along the site would be destroyed.“It was totally uncharacteristic of the way things work in Miami.” Many people have attributed various powers to the circle, some going so far as to claim that it can heal the sick. Carr makes no such claims; however, he believes that the circle is not merely an archaeological phenomenon, but also a social phenomenon that brought diverse groups together. And to his mind the circle has one minor miracle to its credit: Carr marveled at how a community that had been so uninterested in its past suddenly, dramatically, embraced it.

MICHAEL BAWAYA is the editor of American Archaeology. 19

Summer Travel Special AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL TOUR IN ARIZONA

By David Grant Noble

s driving trips go, the jaunt from Phoenix to Flagstaff, Arizona, is quick and easy. Hop on Interstate 17 in Phoenix by ten o’clock on a Saturday morning and you’ll be in Flagstaff in plenty of time for lunch. If you’re interested in archaeology, however, you’ll be hard pressed to fit the same trip into a full weekend. In the tradition of the mythological Egyptian bird, which was reborn from the ashes of its own destruction, the City of Phoenix arose from the ruins of more than 50 long-abandoned Hohokam Indian settlements.Today, the remains of all but a few of these sites, as well as a vast canal system, lie buried beneath skyscrapers, factories, shopping malls, residences, streets, and freeways. Hohokam culture emerged more than 2,000 years ago and reached its apex between A.D. 1150 and 1350. By A.D. 1400, serious social or economic problems had begun to develop, which eventually caused the collapse of this vibrant and productive society. Situated in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix is one of the hottest and most arid cities in the United States. Its more than one million residents see average annual rainfalls of less than eight inches and experience 90 days or more of temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. One wonders how

people, today or a thousand years ago, managed to make a viable life in such a climate.The answer lies in the presence of the Salt and Gila rivers, the fertile soils of the Phoenix Basin, and the fact that the region has periods of precipitation in both winter and summer. Your first stop in Phoenix should be the Pueblo Grande Museum, located at 4619 East Washington Street (corner of 44th Street), near Sky Harbor International Airport. Here you will be introduced to the main themes of Hohokam culture and prehistory and enjoy viewing a fine selection of archaeological artifacts as well as ethnographic exhibits relating to the Tohono O’odham, Akimel O’odham, and other Indians whose reservations are located nearby. Many researchers believe these Native Americans are descendants of the Hohokam. From the museum, an interpretive trail leads to the impressive platform mound of the Pueblo Grande site. Upon completion between A.D. 1200 and 1400, this huge walled stone-and-earth structure contained an estimated 32,000 cubic yards of fill and supported a complex of residential and ceremonial houses. From its top, a community leader could easily have surveyed the entire village— which covered approximately two square miles—and monitored activities around the all-important network of summer • 2002

WILLIAM STONE GEORGE H. H. HUEY

Wupatki at sunrise. This Sinagua culture pueblo had roughly 100 rooms and was home to about 125 people. Some 3,000 sites have been identified within the monument. Numerous artifacts have been found that indicate the Sinagua traded with a variety of other cultures.

This historic irrigation ditch flows from Montezuma Well.

The town of Cottonwood can be seen in the distance from Tuzigoot National

The waters of the well contain several forms of plant and

Monument. The Sinagua began building Tuzigoot Pueblo around A.D. 1000.

animal life not found in any other waters of the world.

The pueblo consisted of 110 rooms and included structures as high as three stories.

american archaeology

Utah

Montezuma Castle National Monument

Montezuma Well

Tuzigoot National Monument

V-Bar-V Ranch Petroglyph Site

Palatki & Red Cliffs

Walnut Canyon National Monument

Las Vegas Lake

Mead

14 Jerome 15 Museum of Northern Arizona

Lake Havasu City

i rn

Winslow

Mesa

SAN CARLOS IND. RES.

Superior

191

FORT APACHE IND. RES.

12 1

TONTO NATIONAL FOREST

Phoenix 

KOFA N.W.R.

191

NAVAJO INDIAN RESERVATION

5 SITGREAVES 4 COCONINO NATIONAL Show NATIONAL Low FOREST FOREST 260

10 16

9 KAIBAB NATL. FOR. Sedona 7 8

Prescott

16 Sunset Crater Volcano

National Monument

264

Flagstaff

HOPI INDIAN RESERVATION

180

KAIBAB 72 IND. RES.

Chinle

264

PRESCOTT NATIONAL FOREST 93

160

er 64

Bullhead City

12 The Heard Museum

Riv

Kingman

11 Wupatki National Monument

lor

HUALAPAI IND. RES.

10 Elden Pueblo

13 Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park

ado

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

RESERVATION

APACHE NATIONAL FOREST 191

Casa Grande

Yuma

ITE DS TA ME TE XIC S O

TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION IND. RES. ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATL. MON.

Tucson 10

CORONADO

19 NATIONAL

FOREST

Nogales

canals stemming from the nearby Salt River. Standing on the mound today, you can still see both ancient and modern canals. In the mid–1990s, conservation specialists reburied the mound and ruins to protect them from the potentially destructive effects of nearby airport traffic. Another attraction you can view at Pueblo Grande is a restored Hohokam ballcourt, which probably was built two centuries or more before the platform mound. One of

A reconstructed Hohokam pithouse cluster and ramada are located on the Pueblo Grande Museum ruin trail. Hohokam pithouses were built in shallow pits about one and one-half feet deep. The thick mud walls over a wooden superstructure offered protection against the wide range of desert temperatures.

Arizona

hundreds known to be in Arizona, this 85-by-41-foot court once witnessed the enactment of public rituals, which had both religious and competitive connotations.The genesis of this ritual sport lay far to the south in the high cultures of Mesoamerica. The crowning engineering achievement of the Hohokam Indians in the Phoenix Basin was their construction of a vast canal system, which transported water to their villages and fields. Canal building began after A.D. 700 and took centuries to fully develop. The Hohokam drew water from the Salt, Gila, and other rivers and dispersed it to their fields through a complex network of main canals and smaller ditches. Their crops included corn, cotton, beans, gourds, agaves, tobacco, and amaranth. The Salt River Valley alone had more than 500 miles of main canals and some 25,000 acres of irrigated farmlands. In recent years, the nearby City of Mesa has set aside a small park featuring the remnants of several examples of ancient canals as well as historical and modern ones. You will find the Park of the Canals (which includes a small botanical garden) at 1710 N. Horne Street, between McKellips Road and Brown Street. From a footbridge adjacent to the parking lot, you will find a good view of one large Hohokam canal. From there, follow signs to another Hohokam canal, which was restored and used by Mormon pioneers in the 1870s, and a modern canal, which remains in use. summer • 2002

HANS G. ANDERSSON

BOB RINK, CITY OF PHOENIX

Deer Valley Rock Art Center

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DEER VALLEY ROCK ART CENTER

The Kissing Deer petroglyph is found at the Hedgpeth Hills site on the grounds of the Deer Valley Rock Art Center. This Hohokam-style petroglyph was made using the direct pecking technique, whereby a small

GEORGE H. H. HUEY

rock is used to peck the design into the face of a boulder.

Your next stop in Phoenix is the Deer Valley Rock Art Center at 3711 Deer Valley Road.To reach it from I-17, take the Deer Valley Road exit and continue 3.5 miles west. Established in 1994, the center is an educational and research facility with a museum and interpretive trail.The museum has a permanent exhibit on rock art as well as two short educational videos and an interactive computer program. Along the 1.2-mile trail (guided or self-guided) you will be able to view many examples of Archaic, Hohokam, and Patayan petroglyphs. The center emphasizes activities for children and school groups, including a summer day camp.The adult programs include lectures, workshops, and field trips.The archives of the American Rock Art Research Association, which are available to qualified students and researchers, are also housed here. From the Deer Valley Rock Art Center, return to I-17 and continue north approximately 90 miles to the Camp Verde exit (289), and follow signs to nearby Montezuma Castle National Monument. Legend once assigned this dramatic cliff dwelling to the king of the Aztecs. In fact, it was the home of Sinagua Indians, who lived and farmed in the Verde Valley from around A.D. 600 to 1400. At an elevation of 3,500 feet, this fertile valley provided a more moderate climate than the Phoenix Basin and offered a superb environment for agriculture, foraging, and hunting.

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By the early 1100s, when the Sinagua began construction of the “castle,” the Verde Valley already was heavily populated. They situated the cliff dwelling in a protected alcove high above Beaver Creek, building, with meticulous care, its walls of small limestone blocks and its ceilings of sycamore timbers overlaid by poles, sticks, grass, and mud. Residents reached their home by means of two precipitous trails. Archaeological investigations within the cliff dwelling were limited due to the intensive looting that took place in the 1880s. Research, however, has been much more fruitful in a pueblo site (Castle A) along the public trail at the base of the cliff. Your visit begins at the visitor center, which includes a small museum. From there, allow at least half an hour to walk the scenic, handicapped-accessible trail to view the spectacular cliff dwelling and trail-side ruins. From Montezuma Castle, drive another six miles north to Montezuma Well. This “well” is actually a deep lime-

It’s not a castle, and it was abandoned almost a century before Montezuma was born. Be that as it may, this well-preserved cliff dwelling is known as Montezuma Castle.

When You Go PUEBLO GRANDE MUSEUM (602) 495-0901 • www.pueblogrande.com Hours: Mon.–Sat. 9 a.m.–4:45 p.m., Sun. 1–4:45 p.m. Fees: $2 adults, $1.50 seniors, $1 children PARK OF THE CANALS (480) 827-4700 Hours: Open dawn to dusk Fees: Free admission DEER VALLEY ROCK ART CENTER (623) 582-8007 • www.asu.edu/clas/anthropology/dvrac Hours: Tues.–Sat. 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun. 12–5 p.m. Fees: $4 adults, $2 seniors and students, $1 children MONTEZUMA CASTLE NATIONAL MONUMENT (928) 567-3322 • www.nps.gov.moca Hours: 8 a.m.–5 p.m. daily, 8 a.m.–7 p.m. Memorial Day through Labor Day Fees: $3 adults, children free

T U Z I G O O T N ATIONAL MONUMENT (928) 634-5564 • www.nps.gov/tuzi Hours: 8 a.m.–5 p.m. daily, 8 a.m.–7 p.m. Memorial Day through Labor Day Fees: $3 adults, children free V-BAR-V RANCH PETROGLYPH SITE (928) 282-4119 http://aztec.asu.edu/aznha/vbarv/main.html Hours: 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Friday–Monday (entrance gate closes at 3:30 p.m.) Fees: $5 per vehicle, can also be used at Palatki and Red Cliffs PALATKI AND RED CLIFFS (928) 282-4119 http://aztec.asu.edu/aznha/palatki/palatki.html Hours: 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. daily Fees: $5 per vehicle, can also be used at V-Bar-V Ranch Petroglyph Site WALNUT CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT (928) 526-3367 • www.nps.gov/waca Hours: 8 a.m.–5 p.m. daily, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. June through August Fees: $3 adults, children free ELDEN PUEBLO (928) 527-3600 http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/volcanic/ elden_special.html Hours: Open every day Fees: Free admission

V-Bar-V Ranch Petroglyph Site

P. PILLES

W U PATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT (928) 679-2365 • www.nps.gov/wupa Hours: 8 a.m.–6 p.m. June to September, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. September through May Fees: $3 adults, children free

Places of Related Interest THE HEARD MUSEUM 2301 North Central Avenue, Phoenix (602) 252-8840 • www.heard.org An excellent museum and research facility emphasizing Southwest Native American art and culture.

WILLIAM STONE

BOYCE THOMPSON ARBORETUM STATE PARK 37615 Highway 60, Superior (520) 689-2723 • http: //ag.arizona.edu/bta/btsa.html A scenic botanical park with a wide variety of plants, trees, and interpretive trails, along U.S. 60, 48 miles east of Phoenix. JEROME (928) 634-2900 • www.jeromechamber.com An historic hilltop mining town and tourist attraction, 10 miles south of Tuzigoot National Monument. MUSEUM OF NORTHERN ARIZONA 3101 N. Fort Valley Road (928) 774-5213 • www.musnaz.org A museum and research center featuring archaeology, ethnography, natural history, and art, located three miles north of Flagstaff along U.S. 180.

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

SUNSET CRATER VOLCANO NATIONAL MONUMENT (928) 526-0502 • http://www.nps.gov.sucr A geologic park with stunning volcanic landscape, located off U.S. 89 north of Flagstaff, on the way to Wupatki National Monument.

summer • 2002

GEORGE H. H. HUEY

Ottens Pueblo, and Hatalacva Pueblo. stone sink, whose spring produces a million and a half galFrom Tuzigoot, follow U.S. 89A northeast toward Selons of 76-degree water daily. The Sinagua who lived around dona. Palatki and Red Cliffs, an archaeological site recently the sink and in nearby pueblos directed the water to their opened to visitors, is the next stop.To reach the site from crops by means of a ditch. A short trail leads from the park89A, follow Forest Road 525 north for six miles and then go ing area to the rim of the sink and down to the shore,where two miles on Forest Road 795 to the site’s entrance.This exmasonry dwellings are located.The scenic beauty and lush cursion on improved back roads takes you through a porenvironment of this unusual place is impressive. tion of the Sedona region’s famous red rock landscape. From Montezuma Well, you can return to Camp In 1895, local settlers led the noted anthropologist Verde and pick up Arizona 260 north to Cottonwood and Jesse Walter Fewkes to these sites.Today, a short trail leads go on to Tuzigoot National Monument. If you have from the parking lot to the visitor center, and from there time, you might first make a six-mile detour north to visit another trail leads to Palatki. Palatki consists of two multithe V-Bar-V Ranch Petroglyph Site. Recently opened to storied sandstone pueblos built at the base of a sheer cliff the public by the Coconino National Forest, this site conin a box canyon.The dwellings were inhabited by Sinagua sists of 13 panels of Sinagua petroglyphs on the face of a Indians between around A.D. 1100 and 1300. Another cliff.There are more than 1,000 glyphs there, including anshort trail leads from the visitor center to a series of althropomorphic figures, animals, snakes, birds, and geometric forms.The site is managed by volunteer stewards, coves containing a rich array of rock art.This is the Red Cliffs site.As you take this walk, you will find examples of who also act as guides and interpreters for visitors. pictographs and petroglyphs made by the prehistoric ArLike Montezuma Castle,Tuzigoot National Monument is a must-see for archaeology enthusiasts. Located along U. S. chaic and Sinagua as well as by the Apache and Yavapai In89A between Cottonwood and Clarkdale, the remains of this dians that later inhabited the area. ancient Sinagua hill town overlook the Verde River and Valley. The monument’s highlight is the quarter-mile-long interpretive trail through Tuzigoot ruins, and there is also a fine archaeological museum. The Sinagua settled this 120-foot limestone ridge around A.D. 1000 and by the 1300s their pueblo housed some 200 people. They raised cotton, corn, and other crops and mined argillite, salt, and copper, which they traded for turquoise, parrot feathers from Mexico, and shells from the Pacific Coast. By the early 1400s,Tuzigoot, Montezuma Castle, and other Sinagua pueblos of the Verde Valley were ghost towns. Their inhabitants are thought to have migrated north and east to Anderson Mesa and Chavez Pass and to have been the ancestors of some of the present-day Hopi clans. During the Depression, Louis Caywood and Edward Spicer, two graduate students from the University of Arizona, directed a crew of up to 48 laborers that excavated Tuzigoot.Their fast moving pick-and-shovel approach to archaeology, so characteristic of their era, has long since been supplanted by less invasive, scientifically-oriented methods. In recent years, the Verde Valley has seen intensive growth and development with the result that many privately-owned archaeological sites became threatened. In response,The Archaeological Conservancy has acquired four highly significant sites in There are more than 80 cliff dwellings in Walnut Canyon, which was occupied by the Sinagua. the valley: Atkeson Pueblo,Thoeny Pueblo, These cliff dwellings are one-story structures.

american archaeology

summer • 2002

GEORGE H. H. HUEY

ruins for artifacts. In addition, travelers on the new railroad were offered day tours of the canyon, which included all the pot hunting they could squeeze into a brief visit there. After the turn of the century, when Flagstaff civic leaders realized that the canyon could become a key component of a promising tourist industry, they assigned a custodian to protect the sites. This was the first step in what later became a comprehensive conservation, research, and interpretive program of the National Park Service. Sinagua culture reached its peak between A.D. 1150 and 1250, after a series of eruptions of the Sunset Tucked into the red rock canyons near Sedona are the archaeological remains of native cultures that have inhabited Crater Volcano. This period, the Verde Valley for at least the past 6,000 years. Palatki features two of these dwellings, which are sheltered by known as the Elden Phase, is a sandstone overhang. Visitors can enter these dwellings. named for a large Sinagua pueblo on the northern outAt the visitor center, ask for directions to Honanki, or skirts of Flagstaff. Elden Pueblo, which is open to the pub“Bear House,” another Sinagua cliff dwelling first recorded lic, is located on the west side of U. S. 89, 1.8 miles north of by Fewkes when he was exploring the Verde Valley. Althis highway’s interchange with I-40.With the participation though Honanki is the type site for the Honanki phase of school and Arizona Archaeological Society groups and A . D . 1150 to 1300) in the Southern Sinagua cultural se( other volunteers, the 65-room pueblo has been turned into quence, the pueblo’s architecture has fallen victim to the an educational archaeological site by the Coconino Navicissitudes of erosion and vandalism. tional Forest. Elden Pueblo thrived for more than a century From Palatki, return to 89A and take the beautiful in the ponderosa forest at the base of Mount Elden. Called drive north through Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff and InPasiwvi (pah SEE oh vee) by the Hopis, who consider the terstate 40.You will leave the Verde Valley and climb 4,000 pueblo to have been part of their history, it is thought to feet to the cool pine forests of the Colorado Plateau.When have been a regional center in the 12th and 13th centuries. you reach I-40,go east, then take the second exit (no. 204) Pick up a trail guide at the entrance to the park and allow to Walnut Canyon National Monument. yourself half an hour to an hour to tour the ruins. Walnut Canyon offers stunning scenery along with anReturn to U.S. 89 and head north and then east on cient Indian ruins. Its scale and depth lend it a feeling of Forest Road 545 for Wupatki National Monument. Wuintimacy, which is reflected in the small dimensions of the patki Pueblo was inhabited by the Sinagua between dozens of cliff dwellings perched along ledges and tucked roughly A.D. 1106 and 1225. Artifacts found within the monument indicate the Sinagua did a substantial amount into shallow caves. Walnut Canyon was the home of a of trading with other cultures such as the Anasazi and the community of the Northern Sinagua, who first appeared Hohokam. In fact, a Hohokam-style ballcourt located near along the slopes of the San Francisco Mountains between A.D. 500 and 700 and inhabited the region until around the pueblo is one of the northernmost examples of this 1400. The Sinagua did not occupy Walnut Canyon, howtype of structure. ever, until sometime after A.D. 800. In contrast to the WuIf you’re not ready to head home after seeing Wupatki area, where many Sinagua also lived, the canyon ofpatki, keep in mind that the Hopi Indian Reservation, the fered a sheltered environment with a rich variety of plant Petrified Forest National Monument, and the Grand and animal life and access to water. Canyon are nearby. Happy travels. Beginning in the 1880s, settlers around Flagstaff disDAVID GRANT NOBLE is the author of Ancient Ruins of the Southwest: An covered Walnut Canyon’s archaeological treasures and deArchaeological Guide. veloped a Sunday pastime of exploring and ransacking its

SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park is the recreation of a 12th-century Fort Ancient village in Dayton, Ohio. The houses were rebuilt in their original locations using native materials.

Examining the Fort Ancient By excavating and recreating, arc haeologists are learning about Ohio’s last prehistoric culture.

JIM CALLAWAY

By Rob Daumeyer

he thermometer reached 95 degrees on a fiery August afternoon in Dayton, Ohio.The city seemed deserted, except for a small excavation site in a tree-ringed public park just outside of downtown near the narrow Stillwater River. A group of archaeologists and volunteers from the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery was excavating at one of the northernmost sites of a prehistoric people known as the Fort Ancient.

american archaeology

About six miles away from this excavation, more backbreaking work was taking place at a 27-acre plot of land just out of sight of the city’s compact skyline. Here, in a field by the banks of the Great Miami River, five women and two men at SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park were building a Fort Ancient house, framed with wood, plastered with clay, and thatched with prairie grass. This house is in the same location the Fort Ancient people

JIM CALLAWAY

These wooden poles placed at the center of the village were essential to the survival of the Fort Ancient. When the sun rose behind the central pole early in the year, the villagers knew they could plant corn, beans, and squash without fear of a late frost killing their crops.

used 800 years ago, and it was being built with the same materials the Fort Ancient utilized. Dayton may seem to be an unlikely locale for archaeological activity of this type, but under the auspices of their parent organization, the private, non-profit Dayton Society of Natural History, the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park make Fort Ancient archaeology their primary field of research. The Fort Ancient people lived in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia from around A.D. 1000 to 1650, and were the region’s first farmers.Two houses have been identified at the small excavation site, and the archaeologists believe they could find more. They hypothesize that the site may have been an outlying habitation of a larger village nearby. Historic records document the existence of such a site about two and one-half miles away. Dozens of Fort Ancient villages have been excavated since the 1890s, but few have been systematically investigated or as thoroughly excavated as this habitation site. Researchers can’t tell exactly how many people lived at this habitation, but they estimate there were at least a few dozen. Based on excavation of contemporaneous Fort Ancient sites, the Boonshoft archaeologists surmise the length of occupation was no more than 20 years. Systematic excavation of the site by the Boonshoft crew began in 1993.“Radiocarbon dates and the type of ceramics recovered here establish the time period during which the site was occupied,” said Bill Kennedy, assistant curator of anthropology at Boonshoft. Kennedy pointed to a dark organic stain on the wall of an excavation unit. The stain is a vestige of a summer • 2002

BOONSHOFT MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY

Volunteer Christina Lewis and Boonshoft crewmember Shannon Yee work in the native garden. Corn, beans, and squash are planted here each year using the same method used by the Fort Ancient. Corn is planted in the middle of the hill, beans are planted around the corn, and squash is planted at the edge of the hill. As the corn stalks grow, the bean vines latch onto them, and the squash plants spread down the hill.

JIM CALLAWAY

(Above) Intern Wes Cooper prepares bundles of prairie grass used to thatch the roof of the Winter Solstice house. (Above right) Shawn McCarty lashes the bundles to the roof. (Right) Reconstruction Supervisor Sara DeAloia consults plans for rebuilding the village.

storage pit that was dug by the Fort Ancient people. Food was stored in these pits, which eventually accumulated moisture and became unusable.They were then filled with garbage, such as broken tools, pots, and animal bones. “These pits are gold mines of data,” Kennedy said, indicating another partially excavated pit studded with preserved deer bones. Lynn Simonelli, Kennedy’s colleague and the curator of anthropology at the museum, said that the degree of preservation of the site is remarkable. “It was an extensively farmed area in modern times,” she said. “But past flooding episodes from the Stillwater capped the site, helping to protect it from subsequent plowing.” The soil is neither alkaline nor acidic, and a bed of gravel beneath it makes for good drainage.“We’ve found crayfish claws, fish scales, and tiny rodent bones,” said Simonelli.“These are things that aren’t always encountered at archaeological sites, even those sites that are relatively recent.” The archaeologists also investigated features that might be privies. “They’re rich in organic midden, they contain very little artifactual debris, and they aren’t

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shaped the same as the other trash pits,” Kennedy said. Since no fecal matter has been found, the archaeologists will be analyzing soil samples for phosphate, copper, and other indications of human excretion. Privies have not been identified in Ohio’s Fort Ancient excavations, and Kennedy believes that if this hypothesis can be proved, it will bolster the significance of the site.

WHO WERE THE FORT ANCIENT ? Archaeologists are trying to understand how the site was laid out. Some Fort Ancient sites are rigidly planned, circular villages with central plazas and stockades surrounding the village.“This habitation is not typical,” Kennedy said. “There does not seem to be a plaza, and there’s no circular design to the place.” But the Fort Ancient culture has confused archaeologists long before this site was discovered. Most people know the name of the culture through the Fort Ancient State Memorial in Warren County, Ohio, where earthen embankments and miles of walking trails sit on the northern ridge of the Little Miami River. But, ironically, the Fort

Engaging the Public

This decorated pottery rim (left), which resembles styles produced in northwestern Ohio, is unique among the sherds recovered at the excavation site. Several pipes, such as the one above, have been recovered at Fort Ancient sites.

In situ finds like these potsherds can be invaluable to researchers. The identification of ceramic styles and decorative techniques help to date the site.

Ancient people didn’t build those embankments.The area is actually a Hopewell site, which predates the Fort Ancient culture. Researchers in the 19th century named this hilltop embankment Fort Ancient and speculated on its defensive capabilities.The embankment was believed to be contemporaneous with villages that had been discovered on the floodplains below the bluffs overlooking the Little Miami, and it was assumed that the same people constructed the hilltop enclosure.Thus the villages were incorrectly named after the Fort Ancient site. Researchers in the early 20th century suspected that the embankment was older than the villages, and subsequent radiocarbon dating confirmed that it is indeed several centuries older. The Fort Ancient people were also once assumed to be part of the Mississippian culture that, beginning in the ninth century A.D., dominated what is now America’s heartland. Many archaeologists argue now that the Fort Ancient co-opted some Mississippian practices, like ceramic decorations and shell gorgets. But politically and economically, the Fort Ancient people were distinct. Unlike the Mississippians, the Fort Ancient did not fashion a hierarchical society. “When we look at the burial record of Fort Ancient sites, we can define some individuals who may have achieved a certain level of status, but it seems likely that this was a largely egalitarian society,” Simonelli said. Their villages were self-sufficient and temporary, which is in clear contrast to the Mississippian culture, which built large, permanent cities in the Midwest.“The Fort Ancient practiced slash-and-burn farming, which can’t be maintained in one place for more than a few decades,” said Kennedy.“The Fort Ancient had to be a highly mobile summer • 2002

JIM CALLAWAY

The Boonshoft team strives to involve the public in its work. Passersby are welcomed to the site, and they sometimes end up volunteering to work in the excavation. Volunteers dig, sort artifacts, record their findings, and write notes about the excavation. When archaeology is used to reveal local history, “people become proud and even protective of archaeological sites,” Simonelli said. “We want to preserve this culture so we can create a connection,” Kennedy said. “Young people dig with us and go on to become professionals. Field experience is difficult to get in Ohio,” he said, “but we’ve been doing it since 1971. It’s an integral part of our mission.” But public access also presents problems. “One of the most challenging and rewarding things about this site is that it’s always a balance: You want the public involved, but also the site must be protected,” Kennedy said. “We’re always dealing with issues of vandalism and looting. So far, we’ve been lucky, but isolated and minor episodes of vandalism have occurred here in the past.”

BOONSHOFT MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY

society, based upon that economic foundation.” Although the Fort Ancient lived along rivers, analysis of the garbage recovered from their trash pits indicates they didn’t eat much fish. Instead, they consumed the corn, beans, and squash they produced in their fields, and the white-tailed deer, elk, and wild turkey they hunted. Researchers have measured the amount of stable carbon and nitrogen preserved in the remains of the Fort Ancient to identify the amounts of corn and meat they ate. According to these data, 48 to 70 percent of their diet consisted of corn. By studying similar agricultural societies, scientists have learned that over-reliance upon corn results in a lack of protein and vitamins in the diet, which can result in a lowered resistance to infectious diseases as well as more specific vitamin-deficiency diseases, such as spina bifida. Another consequence of this diet that was found in Fort Ancient populations is severe tooth decay, due to the sugar content in corn.

MARY WOLF

RECONSTRUCTING THE VILLAGE Just south of Dayton, at SunWatch Indian Village/ Archaeological Park, the knowledge obtained from excavations is used to reconstruct a Fort Ancient village. SunWatch is “Dayton’s Oldest Neighborhood,” a National Historic Landmark and an archaeological treasure that has over the last three decades yielded abundant information about the Fort Ancient people. Sturdy houses, built to reflect what was recovered at this site, ring the center of the village, which contains an arrangement of upright cedar poles, limestone slabs marking burials, and trash and storage pits. A stockade—possibly used during prehistoric times for defense—has been reconstructed around the village by weaving thin willow branches between wooden posts. A carefully tended garden that produces corn, beans, and squash lies outside the village.The gardening is done with many of the implements and techniques employed by the Fort Ancient people. This unique site was nearly lost. In the 1970s, the city was preparing to turn the property into a sludge field and the original goal of the archaeologists was to recover as much data as possible before the site was destroyed. Once researchers realized the site’s importance, saving it from destruction became critical. Due to the efforts of local archaeologists, community groups, and philanthropists, the city of Dayton was made aware of the value of this site, and it was preserved as SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park. James Heilman III, of the Dayton Museum of Natural History (it was renamed the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in 1999) led the excavations conducted at SunWatch over a period of 17 years. In 1988, replete with a visitor center/museum and the partially reconstructed village, SunWatch was opened to the public. Experimental reconstruction of the village is a vital part of the work at SunWatch. Roofs of big bluestem

american archaeology

A volunteer works on the wall of a house, applying clay daub over prairie grass attached to wall posts.

prairie grass are now being made in a way that differs from past reconstructions.The reconstruction crews had placed bundles of grass on the roof framework with the cut ends of the grass overlapped by the next row of bundles. The crews subsequently changed their methods, using smaller bundles of grass, with the cut ends turned in the opposite direction, and tying the bundles to the framework in a different way.

James Heilman III and his dog, Cricket. Heilman played a crucial role in the preservation of SunWatch. He directed the excavation of the site that ran from 1971 to 1989. As curator of anthropology for the Dayton Museum of Natural History (now the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery), he ensured the preservation of the artifacts recovered from SunWatch, as well as those from cultures across the globe. Largely due to his efforts, SunWatch was declared a National Historic Landmark. Heilman retired in 2000.

of a guided tour of the museum and the village. Scouts can also earn nine different badges at SunWatch.

“It seems to be working better than the old way,” said Sara DeAloia, who started working at SunWatch three years ago as an intern and now supervises the reconstruction.“It takes less prairie grass to finish a roof this way, and it seems that using the previous method, the roofs leaked more, and needed to be replaced more often.” She added,“This may have been the way they did it 800 years ago.” Archaeologists and volunteers, using the same materials as the Fort Ancient, have reconstructed six buildings on the site exactly where the original structures stood

SunWatch Site Anthropologist/Manager Sandy Lee Yee walks along a path leading from the museum to the village, flanked by native prairie grasses and flowers. Yee works to increase public awareness of this unique archaeological site.

ROB DAUMEYER is the editor of the Cincinnati Business Courier. summer • 2002

JIM CALLAWAY

These Boy Scouts are participating in an educational program composed

around A.D. 1200. Several of the structures are houses, but there are also two ceremonial buildings.They have raised one of the most important features of SunWatch: its center pole complex. “The Fort Ancient people were sky watchers,” said Sandra Lee Yee, SunWatch’s manager and site anthropologist.“The villagers used the sun to schedule activities. In fact, the entire village was a sun calendar.” Yee pointed to the center of the village, where a reconstructed 40-foot cedar pole stands in the middle of a group of smaller poles.When the center pole area was discovered in the 1970s, archaeologists found a piece of the original pole in the posthole. Biologists identified the type of wood used for the post as red cedar, which is known for its durability and historical ceremonial significance.The dimensions of the reconstructed pole were deduced from the depth (four feet) and width (two feet) of the posthole. On certain days of the year, when the sun rises behind the center pole, shadows thrown by the pole act as a solar alignment marker. The Fort Ancient people used these alignments to establish planting and harvesting dates. SunWatch appears to have been occupied only once prehistorically. Calculating the number of people per structure, scientists hypothesize that perhaps as many as 250 people lived in this village for about 15 to 20 years. Preservation of artifacts is superb. Crayfish claws and turkey eggshells more than 800 years old have been found, along with the remains of ceremonially buried dogs.“There was farming here in the 19th and 20th centuries,” said Yee.“But plowing impacted the site in only a few places.” Despite being contiguous to a wastewater treatment facility and a landfill, SunWatch is a tranquil oasis in its urban milieu.To complement the village site and restore the landscape, another type of archaeological experiment is taking place. In a field to the north of the village, a project has begun with the support of the Ohio Environmental Education Fund: Botanists are attempting to eradicate all European plants. Sumac, panic grass, tick trefoil, bee straw, and ground cherry are known to have grown in prehistoric times here, and experimental archaeologists are reintroducing these and other native plants to see if they will once again thrive. The Fort Ancient were the last prehistoric people in Ohio. Between 1650 and the early 1700s, it is thought that the region was largely unoccupied, and no archaeological sites have been found corresponding to this period.The ultimate fate of the Fort Ancient people is unknown. Although their way of life has vanished, the work of scientists at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park ensures that their heritage will not be forgotten. “You really can feel what it must have been like to live here,” Yee said.“We’ve worked so hard to make sure of that.”

Excavating

the Gold Rush Ships In September 2001, Archeo-Tec, an archaeological consulting firm, uncovered the hulk of the General Harrison in San Francisco’s financial district.

ARCHEO-TEC PHOTOS

For mapping purposes, the archaeologists constructed a 5-by-5-foot grid above the exposed portion of the 19th-century vessel.

San Francisco was built around a huge fleet of ships that invaded its harbor 150 years ago. Many of them are known to be resting under the city. Several of these ships have been unearthed, reminding us of this remarkable time. american archaeology

By Leora Broydo Vestel

rchaeologist Allen Pastron was not a bit surprised when a gold rush–era ship was discovered in the heart of San Francisco’s financial district. It was buried beneath his favorite Chinese restaurant, Yank Sing, where he’d eaten hundreds of times. Often, while digging into a plate of dim sum, he’d dream of unearthing the historic vessel entombed beneath his feet. “I’ve always known it was there,” Pastron says.“Every time I went there I’d think, here’s my next job.” Eventually, it was. Last September, Yank Sing was

This photograph, called the Forest of the Masts, shows the hundreds of ships that docked in San Francisco. Many of these ships were deserted by their crews and passengers, who went to the hills in search of gold. This photo was taken in late 1850 or early 1851. A number of these ships were damaged

demolished to make way for a hotel. At the construction site Pastron found the oak hull of the General Harrison, a 409-ton merchant ship that sailed to San Francisco in May of 1850. Deserted by its gold-obsessed passengers and crew, the ship was converted to a storage facility before it burned to the waterline in the Great Fire of May 1851. Pastron used a drill rig to bore for the ship.When the drill hit oak, he knew he’d found it. Eighty-four feet of the 126-foot hull sat 12 to 16 feet below street level—the remaining 42 feet rested below a building to the west.Working for 18 straight days, from dawn to dusk, Pastron and his team toiled in the muck to recover thousands of charred and waterlogged artifacts found alongside the ship.Their work addressed the question of what kind of goods these ships carried.“We didn’t know what was on the General Harrison at the time of the fire,” says Pastron. “Now we know.” Boozing was a popular pastime during the gold rush. “The amount drunk is perfectly astounding, appalling,” wrote miner William Swain in an 1850 letter.Therefore it’s not surprising that Pastron’s team found cases of wine packed in hay and encased in wooden shipping crates. These were located right next to the starboard side of the ship. When salvagers came through to strip the ship after the fire, Pastron believes they dumped much of the hull’s contents overboard because they assumed it was burned and useless and they were anxious to get to the valuable copper and brass fittings. Most of the bottles were broken—the area reeked of vinegar—but eight or nine were still intact.Though no labels were found, Pastron believes the wine is most likely

Bordeaux or Burgundy shipped from France, and that it was made between 1847 and 1849. “I believe these are among the oldest extant bottles of French wine in the world,” he says. Tens of thousands of tiny red, white and blue glass beads, made by the Italian company Murano and used for trading with Indians, were also salvaged. Charred bolts of cloth, a Derringer handle inlaid with silver, hemp ropes, wheat, and a crate full of tacks, all melted together during the fire, were also found on the ship’s perimeter. Artifacts found inside the hull include “pegged” leather footwear (common during the gold rush, the soles of these shoes are fastened to the upper by wooden pegs), and a huge cache of European penny pipes, used to smoke tobacco prior to the advent of cigarettes. Such worldly items were shipped to San Francisco to meet the demands of the city’s swelling population. The contents of the General Harrison, and its bizarre financial district location, speak volumes of the wealth and change generated by the gold rush. Virtually overnight, a village called San Francisco became an international port city, teeming with fortune seekers from every corner of the globe.America, and the world, would never be the same.

Before the start of the gold rush, San Francisco was an inconsequential hamlet with a population of about 450.Then, on January 24, 1848, New Jersey carpenter James Marshall chanced upon several gold flakes in the Sierra foothills. News of “gold in them thar hills” spread like wildfire. Argonauts headed to San Fransummer • 2002

SAN FRANCISCO MARITIME NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

in the Great Fire of May 1851.

ARCHEO-TEC PHOTOS

cisco in droves hoping to get rich quick. role in San Francisco’s burgeoning economy. More than A common misconception is that most arrived over150 waterfront “storeships” provided a secure place for land via wagon trains. On the contrary, the majority came miners to stash trunks and baggage while away in the gold by sea. In 1849 alone, more than 700 vessels carrying fields. Merchants used them to house goods during gluts in some 35,000 aspiring gold diggers sailed into the Golden the market so they could sell at the best possible time at Gate from U.S., Pacific, and European ports. higher prices. Small storefronts opened upon their decks Upon arriving in San Francisco, passengers set out for to sell direct to the public. the gold fields. Crews, and even officers, infected with San Francisco literally built itself around these famed gold fever, abandoned their ships. Before long the waterships. Piers, and then buildings and streets, were confront area,Yerba Buena Cove, was glutted with deserted structed around them to provide easy access from land and ships. In 1850 there were no less than 526 vessels sitting sea. It was a bizarre sight.“At the time people were stunned to see ships surrounded by blocks and buildings,” says maridle in port.With crews impossible to find or too pricey to itime historian James Delgado, executive director of the hire, many of these ships “rotted at their anchors.” Vancouver Maritime Museum in Vancouver. But some vessels were put to new and creative uses. In time, the mudflats of Yerba Buena Cove were filled The “Instant City,” as San Francisco was dubbed, was desin with sand and debris to perate for buildings and make way for a more modstorage space to accommoern waterfront. The gold date its expanding popularush ships were buried tion. Clever entrepreneurs where they lay. In the last realized they could capital25 years at least four 19thize on the deserted ships by century ships have been unrecycling them. A number earthed during construction of abandoned ships were inprojects in the city’s finantentionally beached on the cial district.These represent cove’s mud flats and cona small portion of the graveverted into warehouses, a yard fleet—it’s estimated restaurant, tavern, hotel, that more than 40 such church, prison, and even an ships exist. In the 1960s, hisinsane asylum. Converting torians at the San Francisco ships was quicker and Maritime Museum used hischeaper than building a This pipe was found during the General Harrison excavation. Clay pipes— toric journal and newspaper new structure. accounts to create a map But the converted ships frequently called penny pipes because of their price—were common in the showing where they’re all played an especially critical 19th century.

american archaeology

DANFORD/CAMPBELL

This model of the Niantic recreates the gold rush days. The ship had been converted into an office, hotel, and warehouse. The rectangular boats, known as lighters, are delivering cargo to be stored in the warehouse. On the far right corner of the pier a man is dumping a cartload of debris into the water. The debris was used to fill in the bay.

buried. It was this map, not a fortune cookie, that led Pastron to the General Harrison. Studying the buried ships from construction to destruction provides insight into the gold rush era and the fiery American entrepreneurial spirit born of the time. Americans began chasing the proverbial dream, and the ships were a means of achieving it. In that way, the final resting place of the ships—whether beneath the Transamerica Pyramid, Levi’s World Headquarters, the old Federal Reserve Bank, and other icons of industry—makes perfect sense.

In the beginning there was excitement.Then panic and chaos. Finally, there was sadness. Such was the emotional roller coaster ride caused by the discovery of the gold rush ship Niantic at a San Francisco construction site in 1978. The Niantic is the most famous of all the waterfront gold rush ships. She was the first to be beached and converted to a storeship. Described extensively in newspaper accounts, the journals of forty-niners, and the notebooks of scribblers and sketch artists, she is also the most documented storeship of the day. Built in 1833 in Chatham, Connecticut, the 451-ton, 119-foot-long Niantic first carried goods between New York and Canton, China, and was later used as a whaler. Her shrewd captain, upon hearing of great profits being made transporting gold rushers to San Francisco, sold a

cargo of live donkeys and used the money to convert the Niantic into a passenger ship. Charging up to $250 per head, the Niantic set sail from Panama to gold country on what would be her last ocean voyage. Sixty-six days later, the Niantic arrived in San Francisco on July 6,1849. Her passengers and crew promptly deserted for the mines. Unable to find a staff or a buyer, the ship was pulled ashore at high tide, roofed over, and converted into a warehouse, office, and hotel.“Rest for the Weary and Storage for the Trunks,” read an entryway sign. The Great Fire of May 1851 ravaged the San Francisco waterfront, engulfing 2,000 buildings.The Niantic was one of them. In 1978 the remains of the Niantic were uncovered during the construction of a high rise.Though an environmental review had confirmed the Niantic’s presence, there was much confusion over what to do when she surfaced. California law now provides that mitigation measures to protect historic resources must be agreed upon before construction begins. But no such measures were in place then. San Francisco officials, caught flat-footed, could not retroactively demand the developer pay for a proper excavation. A fund-raiser was launched to raise $630,000 to remove the ship from the site.Though there was considerable public interest in the Niantic’s fate, the money wasn’t forthcoming and each day’s delay cost the developer $16,000.The developer contacted the San Francisco Maritime Museum, which was given three days to salvage as much of the Niantic as possible. summer • 2002

better than that,” Delgado, who was working on the dig, says of the find. But he couldn’t say the same of the champagne, which he ventured to taste.“It was horrible.” Finding a buried ship like the Niantic is like visiting gold rush Pompeii. In the same way the ancient Roman city was mummified by ash spewed forth from Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, the absence of oxygen in San Francisco’s mudflats suspends gold rush moments in time. On the Niantic, researchers found a jacket folded on top of a champagne crate; it was as if a warehouse worker had set it down the day before. All too soon, the Niantic went down again. Despite public outcry, construction workers bulldozed the remains of her great hull to a pulp. Adding insult to injury, the Niantic was later refused inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places because of the haphazard way the artifacts were collected. On the bright side, the Niantic experience galvanized San Francisco’s planning department to develop laws for the greater study and care of archaeological resources in the city.

Levi Strauss is arguably the most famous forty-niner of all. So it seems appropriate that a gold rush ship was uncovered in 1980 during construction of the world headquarters for Levi Strauss & Co., the company he founded.

ARCHEO-TEC PHOTOS

The developer turned to the museum because contract archaeologists were then in short supply and “we were the best they could find,” says Stephen Canright, who worked on the dig. Canright is the institution’s curator of maritime history and, like the majority of the excavation crew, he knew ships, not archaeology. In fact, the most expert of the museum’s crew was a secretary who happened to have a master’s degree in archaeology but lacked field experience.“We recovered what we could in as organized a fashion as we could,” Canright says. A photogrammetric recording of the hull, of which 90 feet were exposed (the bow remained buried beneath an adjacent lot, next to the Transamerica building), was conducted. Jackhammers, saws, and axes were used to sever an 8-foot-wide cross section of the hull.The rudder, log windlass, large beams, and copper sheathing were removed. Well over 600 artifacts were recovered in this dig. These items included picks, axes, pens, ink bottles, wood and metalworking tools, guns, construction materials, furniture, glass and tableware, porcelains, foodstuffs, garments, currency, and even the dung of mules that were transported on the ship. And there was wine. Buried beneath fragments of charred wood and glass were crates containing several intact bottles of vintage 1843 champagne. The vintner, Jacquesson Fils, is still in business. “It doesn’t get much

Intact and corked wine bottles in straw-packed crates were among the artifacts collected alongside of the General Harrison. It is believed that soon after the Great Fire of May 1851 that destroyed the ship and most of San Francisco, ship breakers pushed the contents of the ship into the shallow bay waters to get at the valuable copper fittings that held the boat together. Most of the artifacts collected in association with the General Harrison were recovered in this area.

american archaeology

WILLIAM SELF ASSOCIATES

During the excavation of the Rome, archaeologists, along with construction workers, had to enter a pressurized tunnel by going through this tunneling machine (left). Everyone working in the tunnel adjusted to the conditions by passing through an airlock (right), in which the air pressure was gradually increased to equal that of the tunnel.

Historical documents revealed a strong likelihood that one of two merchant ships, either the British brig Palmyra or the American William Gray, lay ensconced on the site. Both ships, perhaps used as storeships at one time, were scuttled to serve as bulwarks for Griffing’s wharf, which was constructed in 1852. (Because of its unknown provenience, the ship was named Frederick Griffing’s Ship.) The company paid $50,000 for an exploratory excavation of the ship even though it was not required to do so.The ship would have remained undisturbed by the work on that part of the site. To determine the ship’s location and orientation, Pastron, who also directed this project, devised a testing strategy that involved laying a grid over the site and doing a series of test bores to obtain subsurface soil samples. His team used a truck-mounted drill rig, usually reserved for well digging. Industrial-grade tools were used, as it was believed that the ship might lie as far as 22 feet below the surface. When several test bores struck oak—suggesting the ship lay below—Pastron prepared to dig. A backhoe exposed a heavy iron chainplate, used to secure a ship’s standing rigging. Further digging uncovered a portion of the hull, about 10 feet down, in extraordinary condition. A hatch, an iron pin rail, and deck planking were also visible. No gold rush artifacts were found, as the ship was most likely emptied of its contents before being scuttled. Pastron surmises that the ship’s structure was so well preserved because it was filled and surrounded by yellow sandstone from nearby Telegraph Hill. Over time the shale had decomposed to form a dense blue clay—an excellent preservative. With the ship located, historians from the San Fran-

cisco Maritime Museum sought to prevent Levi Strauss from covering it up again. As ships of the era were hand built without the use of plans or schematics, historians argued that the Levi’s ship should be uncovered fully so that its architecture could be studied. “Beyond the obvious importance of the Levi’s Plaza vessel as a survivor of perhaps the most remarkable fleet ever assembled, she is also representative of a class of vessel, once seemingly ubiquitous, about which maritime historians have not a great deal of detailed information regarding typical or variant construction details or practices,” notes a report on the project written by Archeo-Tec, Pastron’s company. It was proposed that the ship be completely uncovered and ramps be built to provide access to it—an openair gold rush museum of sorts. But the plan was rejected because of its expense. Frederick Griffing’s Ship did, however, make it to the National Register. And, unlike the Niantic, it’s still intact, preserved beneath a park that was established by Levi Strauss.

The hull of the Rome was found 35 feet below street level during the excavation of a downtown subway tunnel.The Rome was a 344-ton, three-masted ship built in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1829. After a 210-day voyage from New York, she arrived in San Francisco on February 28, 1850, carrying passengers and cargo. Deserted by her crew, the Rome was soon drawn to shore and sunk by the most famous scuttler of the day, Captain Fred Lawson.A consummate schemer, Lawson would buy idle ships and then sink them to demarcate water lots for property owners, making a tidy profit in the process. summer • 2002

DANFORD/CAMPBELL

The Rome proved especially challenging to excavate. The opportunity to touch history is what makes the archaeology of the gold rush Construction workers, operating within a confined space ships so valuable. Thousands of people filled with compressed air, dug through mud to make the stopped by to observe the excavation of the tunnel.The compressed air and wood lagging planks that General Harrison, according to Pastron, who were held in place by large hydraulic jacks prevented the believes the event connected San Franciscans mud from collapsing on the workers. Being in this presto their past. surized, subterranean environment was like being under“Nine time out of ten you don’t find anything that water, and everyone working in the tunnel had to be couldn’t be found in historical records,” says Pastron, who trained and certified. is currently writing a book about the General Harrison. None of the ship’s structural components were re“This is more about context than content.” covered intact because the ship had to be cut into pieces “Doing this kind of archaeology is an opportunity to that were small enough to be transported to the surface. experience the gold rush in a sensual sense,” he says. Due to the lack of space, construction workers excavated “You’re down there twenty feet below the street where the ship while the archaeologists were relegated to the role of observers, taking measurements and photos as necessary. Initially, it was thought the hull timbers were rotten and would thus be a snap to penetrate. But, as with other gold rush ships, the hull proved to be hard as a rock. “It burned chainsaws left and right,” says James Allan of William Self Associates, the firm that conducted the excavation. “The timbers were huge—it was so heavily built. They were really stymied on how to get through it.”The workers finally resorted to a hydraulic pile cutter to grind through, rather than cut, the wood. For Allan, an experienced diver, investigating the Rome was The copper-sheathed lower stern and rudder of the Niantic is on display at the San Francisco Maritime not unlike working on shipNational Historical Park. The upper portion of the stern was burned in the Great Fire of May 1851. wrecks in the murky waters of the San Francisco Bay.“It’s a senthe city used to be.” Indeed, Yerba Buena Cove may be sory vacuum. We could only see pieces of it and had to gone, but the tide still rises and falls below San Francisco’s mentally reconstruct and form a mental template.” Yet, towering buildings, just like it did in the 1800s. Allan adds, “we got a better view of ship construction than anyone ever has.” Fragments of the floors, futtocks, The General Harrison remains below ground, porceiling planking, keel, and foremast were recovered and tions of its hull having been damaged when the foundation of the hotel was laid. Pastron is using the computer studied. Other than several delicate, intact ceramic jars, program AutoCAD to produce a three-dimensional reconlittle was found in the way of cargo or other cultural material; the Rome had apparently been stripped prior to struction of its hull so that the ship will, as he says,“live being sunk. The ship’s remains were moved to a nearby again through time.” warehouse, where the archaeologists recorded and phoHaving worked on the General Harrison excavation, tographed them. Pieces considered unworthy of preserthe ship is very much alive in Delgado’s memory. “You vation were discarded. could actually smell the sea, the booze, the fire. It was magic. It’s really an intimate experience, putting yourself Looking back on the difficult project,Allan is wistful. on the bay bottom in the ship. Anyone that encounters “It’s sort of cliché, but it really was a snapshot of the time,” those ships is moved.” he says. “We could see parts of a ship that hadn’t been touched in 150 years.” The bulk of the ship remains beLEORA BROYDO VESTEL lives in San Francisco and dreams of finding a ship neath Market Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, buried in her garden. with the subway running through its hull.

american archaeology

POINT p ro g r a m

POINT Fund-Raising Completed

hanks to the generous support of foundations, corporations, and individual Conservancy members, The Archaeological Conservancy is pleased to announce that fund-raising for the groundbreaking POINT Program has been completed. One million dollars was raised to match the $1-million challenge grant that launched the program. The Conservancy announced the beginning of the POINT Program, an ambitious emergency acquisition project, in the fall of 2000. Initiated by Conservancy founder and board member Jay Last, the program was designed to provide funding to support emergency purchases of nationally significant archaeological sites that were in immediate danger of destruction.The Conservancy focused on Algonquian and Iroquois villages in the Northeast, monumental sites of the Mississippi Delta,

Moundbuilder sites of the Ohio River Valley, Anasazi sites in the Four Corners region, sites of the native peoples of California’s Central Valley, and Paleo-Indian sites nationwide. Funds for the project were contributed by over 3,000 Conservancy members, and by organizations including American Express, the Ford

POINT Acquisitions White Potato Lake

Martin

Lorenzen

★

Cambria

Squaw Point Pueblo

Sumnerville

Indian Village on Pawnee Fork

McClellan Parchman Place A. C. Saunders

Ingomar Mounds Graveline Mound

O’Dell Mounds Hunting Creek

Waters Pond

Foundation, the J. M. Kaplan Fund, the George Gund Foundation, the Laurel Foundation, the Tom Juda and Nancy Juda Foundation, the Moore Family Foundation, the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, the Margaret T. Morris Foundation, and the Wallace Genetic Foundation, among others. Mark Michel, the Conservancy’s president, said, “I just want everyone who supported this project to know how grateful we are.The sites they helped save as part of the POINT Program were really in desperate need, and we’re so glad to have been able to step in and protect them.” To date, the Conservancy has protected 15 highly endangered sites throughout the nation as part of the project, and we will continue to purchase and preserve archaeological resources in immediate need of protection until the funds are expended. —Martha Mulvany

summer • 2002

new POINT a cq u i s i t i o n

Prehistoric Community Preserved in Southwestern Colorado

ANASAZI HERITAGE CENTER

JIM WALKER

The Conservancy purchases one of the largest and best-preserved prehistoric village sites in the Mesa Verde region.

outhwestern Colorado has a number of large, well-preserved prehistoric village sites, and Squaw Point Pueblo, a recent acquisition of the Conservancy, is an exceptional example. This 40-acre site is located near Dove Creek and consists of a series of large linear roomblocks on terraces that rise up from the biggest spring in the area.The village has as many as 400 surface rooms, a large burial area, and at least 65 kiva depressions. “This is one of the best-preserved sites I’ve seen,” said Mark Varien, director of research at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in nearby Cortez. “The site contains a massive roomblock—one of the largest single blocks of contiguous rooms anywhere in the northern San Juan region.” One of the Conservancy’s goals is the preservation of ancient communities, which have greater interpretive and research potential than single isolated sites. Squaw Point Pueblo is the Conservancy’s fifth preserve within a 25-mile radius in the central Mesa Verde region. Squaw Point Pueblo is about two miles from two other pueblos that are part of the Conservancy’s re-

american archaeology

(Left) This black-on-white water jug was recovered from Squaw Point in 1940. (Above) Archaeologist Dave Breternitz (left) and landowner Jack Hampton tour the site.

cently established Brewer Archaeological Preserve. Although very little research has been conducted at Squaw Point, surface ceramics and architectural styles indicate that the pueblo’s main occupation occurred during the 13th century, which is often called the “Great Pueblo Period” due to the large, elaborately built villages and beautifully crafted pottery and jewelry that characterized this era in the Mesa Verde region. It was also during this time that the area’s population reached its height and major changes occurred in the layouts and locations of villages. The inhabitants moved from dispersed farmsteads on fertile mesatop areas to larger, more densely aggregated villages established around

springs that were typically found along a canyonhead or rim. Squaw Point Pueblo, which was probably occupied up to the late 1200s when the prehistoric Pueblo peoples completed their final migrations from the region, has tremendous potential to contribute to a better understanding of the changes in settlement patterns that occurred earlier in the 13th century, and the migration of the people from the region by the end of the century. The Conservancy used POINT funds to purchase the site from Jack Hampton, a resident of Longmont, Colorado. His desire to see the site established as a permanent preserve prompted him to contact the Conservancy. —Tamara Stewart

n e w a cq u i s i t i o n

Conservancy Is Acquiring Its First Site in the Coosa Province The Swancy site will be the newest preserve in Georgia.

Conservancy Plan of Action

summer • 2002

ALAN GRUBER

n the mid–16th century, few, if any, chiefdoms in North America were as large as that of Coosa. Stretching from what is today northeastern Tennessee through northwestern Georgia and into central Alabama, the Province of Coosa comprised numerous small vassal chiefdoms that were subject to a powerful paramount chief. Our first accounts of this province come from the writers who chronicled the Hernando de Soto expedition that passed through the area in 1540.They found a valley filled with towns and fertile farms, but they found no gold. Among the towns was the Swancy site, a fortified town nestled in a bend in the river. There was also an earlier occupation at Swancy that dates to the Carterville Phase of the Early Woodland period (circa 500 B.C. to A.D. 250).The earlier town was probably located along the river to take advantage of the abundant game and easy access to the waterway. During Mississippian times, the town also benefited from the river. However, its location was primarily determined by the surrounding fertile bottom lands. When the expedition of another European explorer, Tristan de Luna, arrived in Coosa 20 years after de Soto, the towns were in sharp decline. The Old World pathogens The search for gold brought Hernando de Soto to the Coosawattee River brought by de Soto’s army had done their deadly work and Valley, where Coosa was located. He found thriving towns, but no gold. reduced the once-mighty chiefdom to ruin. Nonetheless, Native Americans continued to occupy the area until removed to Oklahoma by government troops in the 1830s. The SITE: Swancy preservation of the Swancy site is Swancy 85 CULTURE and TIME PERIOD: urgent. Few of the sites from the 75 Coosa Province era remain. The Early Woodland (500 B.C.–A.D. 250), Atlanta 20 threat to the Swancy site by real esand Late Mississippian Augusta 85 tate development has increased ex(late A.D. 1400s–middle 1500s.) ponentially in recent years as the Macon STATUS: The site is threatened by 185 sprawl of metropolitan Atlanta development. 16 began to creep into the valley. Columbus ACQUISITION: The Conservancy has to Savannah The Swancy site will serve as a raise $59,875 to purchase the site vital link to the past and a unique HOW YOU CAN HELP: Please send your 95 laboratory in which archaeologists 75 • • • • • •• contributions to The Archaeological can answer many of the questions Conservancy, Attn: Swancy, concerning Mississippian period life 5301 Central Ave. NE, Suite 402. and the exact route of the de Soto Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517. expedition. —Alan Gruber

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Missouri’s Industrial Beginnings The Conservancy acquires the remains of a historic salt works.

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

n a small wooded ravine near Saline Creek outside Ste. Genevieve,Missouri, there is a concentration of limestone blocks and a few iron kettle fragments scattered amid a poorly vegetated patch of low ground.The vegetation is sparse because the soil is permeated with salt as a result of a once profusely flowing salt spring.The blocks and kettle fragments are all that remain above ground to mark the location of La Saline salt works, one of Missouri’s first industrial enterprises. In the late 17th century, French colonists established their first settlements west of the Mississippi at Ste. Genevieve. Although the initial attraction of the area was its rich agricultural land, the salt spring was soon recognized as a useful resource. Surviving documents indicate that by the 1690s, La Saline had become an important source of salt. By the 1750s salt had become such an important part of the French colonial economy that it was declared an official medium of exchange. The salt works remained in production until the 1830s. It closed due to competition from Louisiana salt mines. After production ceased, the hamlet of La Saline, which sprung up around the salt works, was abandoned and the land passed into agricultural use. Today extensive archaeological remains mark the former importance of the salt spring.To insure their preservation, the Conservancy has entered into an option agreement with the owners to purchase a 20-acre tract of land that encompasses the remains of the salt works and the hamlet.

(Left) This 1789 medallion commemorating George Washington’s inauguration was discovered at the site. (Above) The 1986 excavation of La Saline.

Limited archaeological excavations in areas surrounding the spring have discovered substantial historic and prehistoric deposits, the later resulting from Mississippian-period Native Americans who utilized the salt spring nearly five centuries before the French arrived. Considerable portions of the French-period furnaces— which were used to boil the brine to produce the salt— remain intact and buried. Excavations in the hamlet area have revealed remains of early French colonial poteaux en terre houses. A particularly intriguing find is a 1789 medallion commemorating George Washington’s first inauguration as President. —Paul Gardner

Conservancy Plan of Action 29

SITE: La Saline CULTURE and TIME PERIOD: Late Prehistoric (A.D. 1200–1400), French and Anglo-American Colonial (A.D. 1690–1830) STATUS: The site is well-preserved agricultural land that is threatened by development. ACQUISITION: The Conservancy has until the end of the year to raise $75,000 to purchase the 20-acre property and pay for its management, including a prairie restoration. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Send your contributions to The Archaeological Conservancy, Attn: La Saline, 5301 Central Ave. NE, Suite 402, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517.

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• •• • • • • •

Independence Kansas City

St. Louis

Jefferson City 44

Springfield

La Saline 55

C O N S E R V A N C Y

Field Notes The Conservancy Acquires Third Parcel at Waters Pond SOUTHEAST—In April, the Conservancy used POINT funds to purchase the Vance Parcel, the third and final parcel needed to ensure the permanent preservation of the Waters Pond site in northern Florida. This newest acquisition protects three acres of village and midden area on the south side of the site that dates to the Deptford Phase of the Early Woodland period (circa A.D. 200). The nearly pristine prehistoric Indian mound and village are located in a lakeside subdivision. If left unprotected, they would have been lost to development.This past winter the Conservancy purchased two lots containing the mound and about two-thirds of the village area. The

University of Florida archaeology graduate students help backfill a mound at the Waters Pond site during stabilization work that took place in March of this year.

Vance family of the Tampa area owned the third parcel. Upon learning of the site’s archaeological value

and the Conservancy’s mission to preserve it, the family readily agreed to sell the lot instead of building a house upon it. The site will be permanently maintained by the Conservancy and is available for professional research.

The ruins of the Episcopal-Methodist Church at Cahawba. Cahawba’s story is told by numerous such ruins. The Conservancy has been acquiring tracts of land at Cahawba since 1995.

SOUTHEAST—In March, the Conservancy acquired its 15th tract at the Old Cahawba site in Alabama. This latest acquisition is a five-acre parcel that was once part of the “Cahawba Commons,” a communal area where livestock were pastured and families kept garden plots. Cahawba was the first state capital of Alabama from 1820 to 1826, and it was visited by the Marquis de summer • 2002

ALAN GRUBER

Dumas Tract Acquired at Old Cahawba

STEVE KOCZAN

Lafayette. By 1861, Cahawba was one of Alabama’s largest and most affluent towns. By 1875, it was a ghost town ruined by the ravages of war and a series of natural and economic disasters. Cahawba’s rapid demise made it a virtual time capsule of urban life in the Old South. The Conservancy plans to ultimately transfer the Dumas tract to the State of Alabama for inclusion, along with most of the site, in a state park. The site will be open to researchers as well as the public. Cahawba is now open to the public every day. It’s located about 12 miles west of Selma off of State Highway 22.

Preservation and Educational Programs Underway at Barrio de Tubac SOUTHWEST—More than 25 people attended the Management Committee meeting for the Conservancy’s Barrio de Tubac Preserve that was held in February at the University of Arizona in Tucson.The group discussed longterm management issues for the preserve, including site security, access, stabilization, and planned public educational programs. The Barrio de Tubac site is the southern neighborhood of the larger Presidio de San Ignacio de Tubac, the first permanent European settlement in Arizona, which was established in 1752.The presidio is now preserved as the Tubac Presidio State Park, which lies adjacent to the Barrio site. The site is also associated with the activities of Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza, and an important

american archaeology

Volunteers from the Southwest Archaeology Team of the Mesa Southwest Museum place fill used to stabilize a slope where the stone footings of an 18th–century structure were exposed at Barrio de Tubac.

segment of the Anza Trail passes through the property. The Barrio de Tubac project was financed in part by a grant from the Historic Preservation Heritage Fund whch is funded by the Arizona lottery and administered by the Arizona State Parks board. The project was also made possible through a charitable property donation from Baca Float Land Development, Ltd. The Conservancy acquired the 10-acre site in 2000 and established it as a permanent archaeological and educational preserve.Working closely with members of the Tubac Historical Society, the Conservancy completed the stabilization of exposed portions of the site in April and is now designing an interpretive trail that is expected to be open for guided public tours by the end of the year. Between 1988 and 1996, Jack

Williams, director of the Center for Spanish Colonial Archaeology, conducted excavations at the preserve, uncovering the remains of Colonialperiod buildings and more than 100,000 artifacts dating from prehistoric to recent times. As part of the Conservancy’s project, researchers at the Arizona State Museum are working to process and curate the artifacts recovered from the site, along with excavation notes, maps, and photographs. The museum waived accession fees for the collection. Some of these materials are currently on display at the adjacent state park. It is hoped that the Barrio de Tubac preserve will ultimately become a part of the larger Presidio de Tubac State Park, and to this end the Conservancy is working closely with the park’s staff on preservation and public interpretation plans for the property.

T H E

A R C H A E O L O G I C A L

C O N S E R V A N C Y

The Moundbuilders’ Legacy OHIO MOUNDBUILDERS TOUR

Massive mounds and earthworks, some nearly 70 feet tall and others covering hundreds of acres, are the legacy of the Hopewell and Adena cultures that dominated the eastern United States from about 800 B.C. to A.D. 400. Archaeologists have found exotic mica objects, copper ornaments, burials, and the remains of wooden structures and stone walls at many of the mound sites. The significance of the mounds, which often were built in animal and geometric forms, is still a subject of great study. Our tour begins in Columbus, Ohio, with a visit to the Hopewell collections at the Ohio Historical Center. From the Newark Earthworks—a magnificent Hopewell Mound complex that once covered more than seven miles—the tour heads to Chillicothe and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, now a flourishing center of Hopewell re-

PAUL GARDNER

When: September 21–25, 2002 Where: Southern Ohio How much: $799 ($175 single supplement)

The Newark Earthworks, a Hopewell site in Ohio, once extended more than seven miles.

search. You’ll also visit Serpent Mound, a massive effigy mound that stretches more than 1,400 feet. Throughout the tour, expert archaeologists give their insights into the world of the moundbuilders.

Exploring the Land of the Anasazi BEST OF THE SOUTHWEST

The Conservancy’s Best of the Southwest tour features spectacular archaeology such as these cliff dwellings found at Mesa Verde National Park.

The American Southwest is home to some of the best-preserved evidence of prehistoric civilizations in the New World. The magnificent ruins of Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde are but two vivid reminders of the complex cultures that dominated the region between the 10th and 14th centuries.The Archaeological Conservancy’s Best of the Southwest tour includes these two settlements as well as other prehistoric sites and modern pueblos where ancient traditions persist. summer • 2002

MARK MICHEL

When: September 21–October 1, 2002 Where: New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado How much: $2,095 ($390 single supplement)

In New Mexico, you’ll visit remarkable sites such as the cliff dwellings at Bandelier National Monument; the “Sky City” of Acoma, a pueblo flourishing atop a high mesa just as it did 600 years ago; and San Ildefonso Pueblo, which is famous for its pottery. Several nights will be spent in Santa Fe, providing an opportunity to enjoy the city’s museums and shops. In Arizona, you’ll take a jeep tour through Canyon de Chelly National Monument and visit Montezuma Valley’s seldom-seen prehistoric pueblos. In Colorado, the worldfamous cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, including Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree House, and Sun Temple, await. Back in New Mexico, you’ll stop at outliers of the Chacoan culture and tour Chaco Canyon, which was the center of a great civilization around A.D. 900–1150. Expert archaeologists will accompany you on this memorable 10-day excursion.

Placing Trust in the Conservancy The Conservancy recently established a new leadership society, the Living Spirit Circle, to recognize those members who want to make a lasting contribution by including the Conservancy in their will or estate plans, or by making a lifeincome gift such as a charitable gift annuity. One member who signed up right away is Carol Baker of Texas. Carol, who has been a member since 1997, let us know that she has included the Conservancy as a beneficiary of a trust that she established. “I have some property in New Mexico, and I put the Conservancy in the trust. Since I live in Texas, it just seemed logical to avoid probate in two states. Plus I want to continue to support the Conservancy, and this is a good way for me to do it.“ Carol, who is in her 50s, believes that the land’s value will go up the longer she owns it. Rather than making a donation of any property now, she will hold onto it and let it increase in value. That way, by the time the Conservancy receives it, the gift will be worth much more. “I really like the concept of being able to preserve sites that are threatened. Obviously, since I live in the Southwest, Southwestern sites are my first love, but all of them need to be protected. I love the philosophy that the Conservancy has of just going in and buying sites, and I love it that my contribution can help to get that done.“ —Martha Mulvany TO MAKE A DONATION OR BECOME A MEMBER CONTACT :

The Archaeological Conservancy 5301 Central Avenue NE • Suite 402 Albuquerque, NM 87108 (505) 266-1540 www.americanarchaeology.org

american archaeology

Patrons of Preservation The Archaeological Conservancy would like to thank the following individuals, foundations, and corporations for their generous support during the period of February through April. Their generosity, along with the generosity of the Conservancy’s other members, makes our work possible. Life Member Gifts of $1,000 or more Caroline Wells Atkeson, Washington, D.C. Betty Banks, Washington David Bergholz, Ohio Richard Bost, Texas Nance and Barbara Creager, Texas Jeffrey Gosnell, Ohio Randy and Bryn Potter, California Suzanne Rice, Colorado Jeff Starkey, Illinois Miriam M. Sternberg, Texas James Thompson, Massachusetts LeRoy Weber, Jr., California

Anasazi Circle Gifts of $2,000 or more Anonymous (3) Carol M. Baker, Texas R. M. and Joanne Hart, Colorado Jean James, Arizona J. E. and Memorie Loughridge, Florida Robert Robinson, California Harlan and Ann Scott, Delaware Melvin and Giulia Simpson, New York (in memory of Eleanor Simpson) Hervey and Sarah Stockman, New Mexico Gordon and Judy Wilson, New Mexico

Foundation/Corporate Gifts of $1,000–$4,999 Roth Family Foundation, California

Foundation/Corporate Gifts of $5,000–$9,999 Kinder Foundation, Texas Sidney Stern Memorial Trust, Connecticut

Foundation/Corporate Gifts of $10,000–$24,999 Colorado State Museum, Colorado Historical Society, Colorado The Roy A. Hunt Foundation, Pennsylvania Jordan Family Foundation, Texas Stockman Family Foundation Trust, New Mexico

Foundation/Corporate Gifts of $25,000–$34,999 Bartus Trew Providence Preservation Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, D.C. Wallace Genetic Foundation, Washington, D.C.

Bequests Joe Heuston, Colorado Thomas Morley, Minnesota Diana White, Nevada

Reviews The Fall of the Ancient Maya By David Webster (Thames & Hudson, 2002; 368 pgs., illus., $35 cloth; 800-233-4830)

Cultural Resources Archaeology By Thomas W. Neumann and Robert M. Sanford (AltaMira Press, 2001; 304 pgs., $25 paper; 800-462-6420)

Most American archaeologists today work in cultural resource management (CRM) rather than pure research.The authors have produced the first guide to the process of identification, evaluation, excavation, and reporting of archaeological resources in a regulatory context. Emphasizing real-world problems and issues, this is an outstanding handbook for archaeology’s fastest growing field.

The Classic Maya collapse is one of the great mysteries of archaeology. For more than a thousand years the Maya developed an advanced culture in the rain forests of Central America. Their culture’s manifestations included monumental architecture, a sophisticated calendar, true literacy, hereditary kings and lords, long-range trade, and stunning art. But in only a hundred years, beginning in the eighth century A.D., it disappeared. Not the Maya themselves, but the sophisticated aspects of their civilized, ordered society. In the southern Maya lowlands building ceased, writing stopped, artwork was discontinued, and the nobility disappeared. Many of the greatest Maya cites fell into ruins. The last recorded date at Palenque was A.D. 790. Copan collapsed shortly thereafter. By the end of the next century Tikal was in ruins. Pennsylvania State archaeologist David Webster draws on recent research to present us with a comprehensive account of the vast changes that took place in the Maya world. The more you look at the problem, the more complex it becomes. Webster points out that while many of the great cities of the south ceased to function, Maya cities in the north continued to prosper right up to the time of Spanish conquest. Even in the south, the people didn’t disappear, just the complex culture. Webster carefully examines the problems with Maya culture and weaves a complex story of the collapse. Several causes contributed to this major change. First and foremost was a growing imbalance between population and resources leading to a food shortage. There were also the destabilizing

effects of intercity competition and warfare. Finally, there was a rejection of the ideology and institution of kingship. While some scholars will disagree with Webster about the relative importance of the causes, few will reject them. The Fall of the Ancient Maya is a very readable and persuasive treatise on a very important and difficult problem.

Plains Indian Rock Art By James D. Keyser and Michael A. Klassen (University of Washington Press, 2001; 326 pgs., illus.; $25 paper; 206-543-4050)

Archaeologists James Keyser and Michael Klassen have produced an outstanding study of the rock art of the northern Great Plains from Colorado to Alberta. This is the land of the Cheyenne and the Blackfeet, the Crow, and the Sioux. This area also contains some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in the Americas, and there is rock art covering thousands of years. It is carved on glacial boulders, cave walls, and riverside cliffs in spectacular settings of rolling grasslands, majestic mountains, and scenic rivers. Keyser and Klassen carefully examine the various rock art traditions that include such fascinating examples as the Hoofprint and the Robe and Ledger art. Each is amply illustrated and interpreted.They use all the latest techniques to try to date and understand the meaning of the art in order to bring it alive to the reader. This is a comprehensive study of a fascinating area of North American rock art. It is certain to be the standard for many years to come. —Mark Michel summer • 2002

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.

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American Archaeology Magazine | Summer 2002 | Vol. 6 No. 2

Articles inside

new acquisition MISSOURI’S INDUSTRIAL BEGINNINGS

new acquisition THE CONSERVA NCY IS ACQUIRING ITS FIRST SITE IN THE COOSA PROVINCE

point acquisition PREHISTORIC COMMUNITY PRESERVED IN SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO

EXCAVATING THE GOLD RUSH SHIPS

EXAMINING THE FORT ANCIENT

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL TOUR IN ARIZONA

THE AMAZING TALE OF THE MIAMI CIRCLE