Letters Making Sense of the Miami Circle The summer issue of American Archaeology was outstanding. I lived in Miami from June 1999 to September 2001 and followed the Miami Circle story in the press, but the story never made much sense until I read your article. It did a great job of telling a complicated story in a clear timeline. I also enjoyed the article “Excavating the Gold Rush Ships.” I’ve traveled to San Francisco often, but I’ve only seen one or two articles about the ships. That “Forest of Masts” photo is amazing. Catherine F. Smith Fernandina Beach, Florida
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Disburse or Disperse? We were fascinated by the story of the Miami Circle and we hope you will follow up with a future article to describe what has been learned about the purposes of the circle and its possible future as a park. Incidentally, it was interesting to read that “the police had to disburse the crowd” demonstrating for preservation of the site. Is this the way they distribute money in Miami? Carol Georgopoulos Salt Lake City, Utah
Too Narrow a Focus I find it incredible and sad that David Grant Noble could not find a single place south of Phoenix worth mentioning in his article on archaeological sites in Arizona. The Hohokam town and its three-story-high puddled-mud building preserved at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument is the equal of any site mentioned in the article. The Arizona State Museum, the premier museum for Native American history and culture, is at least as important as the Heard. The Amerind Foundation, the Folsom site—these are not noteworthy? There is abundant rock art around Tucson, and Colossal Cave and Kartchner Caverns also seem to be worth noting, since BoyceThompson Arboretum State Park is mentioned in the article. Werner S. Zimmt Tucson, Arizona
Editor’s Corner I have two dogs, and the idea of doing a story about dogs in the archaeological record greatly appealed to me. It’s said that dogs were the first animals to reside with people and the only animals to live with people the world over. How did dogs become domesticated? What tasks were they assigned by humans, and did these tasks change over the course of time? Was there always an emotional bond between humans and dogs? These and other questions crossed my mind. But as our feature "Dogs Throughout Time" reveals, the archaeological record, supplemented by historical and ethnographic accounts, can answer a number of these questions, but certainly not all of them. What archaeology does tell us is that the relationship between humans and dogs is a long, complicated, and at times paradoxical one. Dogs meant different things to different people, and to some people they meant little, if anything. In those days when there were no slippers or newspapers to fetch, dogs served humans in various other ways, some of which cost them their lives. Some archaeologists surmise that there was an immediate emotional bond, while others think the emotional connection was awhile in coming. In any case, dogs have proven themselves to be remarkable animals. Today, as well as thousands of years ago, dogs have displayed an amazing ability to adjust to their human companions.
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