American Archaeology Magazine | Spring 2003 | Vol. 7 No. 1 by American Archaeology Magazine

OUR PHOTO CONTEST • DEFINING THE CADDO • A NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRADITION

american archaeology SPRING 2003

a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy

Vol. 7 No. 1

Fort Vancouver’s

$3.95

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Beautiful Spode

archaeological tours led by noted scholars

superb itineraries, unsurpassed service For the past 28 years, Archaeological Tours has been arranging specialized tours for a discriminating clientele. Our tours feature distinguished scholars who stress the historical, anthropological and archaeological aspects of the areas visited. We offer a unique opportunity for tour participants to see and understand historically important and culturally significant areas of the world. Our scholars on the road

SPAIN:MEGALITHS,MOORS&CONQUISTADORS

Spain is a treasury of ancient remains, from prehistoric paintings and the oldest megalithic monuments in Europe to the cities left by the Greeks, Romans and Arabs. As we travel south from Madrid to Toledo, Merida, Cordoba, Seville, Ronda and Granada, we shall study the most important historical monuments from these civilizations, examine their artifacts in museums and study the development of their art and architecture. During our exploration of Spain’s lovely countryside, we will sample its unique cuisine and fine wines. MAY 21 – JUNE 7, 2003 18 DAYS Led by Prof. Ellen Perry, College of the Holy Cross SILKROADOFCHINA

This exotic tour traces the fabled Silk Road from Xian to Kashgar and includes the rarely visited Buddhist cave complex of sculptures and paintings at Tianshui, Urumqi, and the fascinating Sunday bazaar at Kashgar. We will explore the caravan oasis of Turfan, Dunhuang’s spectacular grottoes of sculpture and murals, the Tibetan monastery at Labrang, Buddhist caves at Binglingsi and the fine museum at Lanzhou, ending in Beijing.

OASESOFTHEWESTERNDESERT

CYPRUS,CRETE&SANTORINI

(Siwa, Bahariya, Dakhla & Kharga) Beginning in Alexandria, we explore the fabled oases of Egypt’s Western Desert: Siwa, famed for its Temple of the Oracle, consulted by Alexander the Great; Kharga and Dakhla’s temples and painted tombs; and lastly, the wonderful temple dedicated to Isis and Osiris in Doush. MAY 25 – JUNE 12, 2003 19 DAYS A tour highlight will be the newly opened archaeological sites in Bahariya Oasis. The tour ends in Luxor, with Led by Prof. Robert Stieglitz, Rutgers University visits to newly opened tombs and Malqata. Desert landscapes and colorful villages add to the magic of this ANCIENTPERU special tour. Specially Designed for Grandparents and Their Grandchildren OCTOBER 3 – 20, 2003 18 DAYS This unique Inca tour for children and their grandparents Led by Prof. Lanny Bell, Brown University begins in Lima and includes a three-day visit to Cuzco ANATOLIA and two days at legendary Machu Picchu. Additional highlights include a flight over the Nazca lines, the (Crossroads of Europe and Asia) fascinating marine bird reserve on the Ballestas Islands, fossil hunting in Cerro Blanco, and visits to ancient Beginning in Ankara, this tour features the Hittite capital stone fortresses, colonial churches and colorful of Hattusa, the rock-hewn churches in Cappadocia, the markets. We have planned special events with English- Hellenistic cities on Turkey’s southern and western coasts, speaking Peruvian children, including lunch on a ranch, Pamukkale, the ongoing excavations at Aphrodisias, a dancing horse show, and a folkloric music program. Sardis, Ephesus, Pergamon, legendary Troy and Ottoman Bursa. Our adventure ends with a three-day visit to AUGUST 7 – 18, 2003 12 DAYS Istanbul’s fabulous mosques and museums. This tour examines the maritime civilizations linking preand ancient Greek and Roman cultures with the East. After a seven-day tour of Cyprus and a five-day exploration of Minoan Crete, we sail to Santorini to visit Thera and Akrotiri. The tour ends with Athens and a visit to Mycenae and Tiryns.

MAY 27 – JUNE 18, 2003 23 DAYS Led by Prof. Daniel H. Sandweiss, University of Maine Led by Prof. James Millward, Georgetown University ETRUSCANITALY

SPAIN:THEPILGRIM’SROADTOSANTIAGODE COMPOSTELA

Examining the art and culture of the Etruscan people, we will visit the great Etruscan collections in Rome, Florence and Bologna and explore the medieval hill towns of Perugia, Siena and Orvieto. Our touring will encompass Etruscan necropolises and cities, including Volterra, Sovana, Chiusi, Tuscania, Cerveteri and Tarquinia. Etruria’s beauty and wonderful cuisines will enhance the study of these fascinating sites.

The age of the pilgrimage coincided with a great flowering of Romanesque architecture. Our route is lined with a series of Romanesque, Gothic, Mozarabic and Visigothic architecture. Starting from Zaragoza, we wend our way to Santiago de Compostela, visiting beautiful cathedrals, monasteries and shrines in and around Jaca, Pamplona, Burgos, León and Oviedo. We will also visit Celtic and Roman settlements, archaeological museums, and the JUNE 14 – 29, 2003 16 DAYS fortress/palaces of the kings of Aragón and Navarra. A tour highlight will be the vespers Gregorian chant at the Led by Prof. Larissa Bonfante, New York University Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos. SCOTLANDANDITSISLANDS

This exciting new tour explores the fascinating prehistoric and early Christian sites scattered in the lush Scottish countryside. Our touring will span thousands of years as we study Stone and Bronze Age monuments and artifacts, Celtic remains and medieval castles. Some of the tour highlights include the enigmatic megalithic Stones of Callanish on the Isle of Lewis, the Machrie Moor ceremonial landscape on the Isle of Arran, fascinating carved Pictish menhirs, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow, and the many Neolithic sites on the Orkney and Shetland Islands.

SEPTEMBER 5 – 21, 2003 Led by Dr. Robert S. Bianchi, Art Historian

OCTOBER 10 – NOVEMBER 1, 2003 21 DAYS Led by Dr. Mattanyah Zohar, Hebrew University ANCIENTCAPITALSOFCHINA

with an Optional Yangtze River Cruise This tour focuses on the major capitals of Imperial China, including Beijing, Xian, Luoyang and the garden city of Suzhou. Some of the tour’s highlights are the Longmen Buddhist caves in Luoyang, the famous terra-cotta warriors and the recently excavated Famensi Temple near Xian, the newly installed museums in Beijing and Shanghai — plus an optional four days on the magnificent Yangtze River, sailing from Chongqing to Wuhan through the famous Three Gorges.

17 DAYS 17 DAYS OCTOBER 13 – 29, 2003 Led by Prof. Robert Thorp, Washington University ADDITIONALTOURS

MUSEUMSOFSPAIN

This glorious new tour focuses on the art and artifacts Ethiopia; Egypt; Eastern Turkey; No. India; Chile and found in the museums of Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid. Easter Island; Mali; Guatemala...and more After visiting Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, we will begin our study of the fabulous art created by the ancient peoples who have lived in Iberia, as well as the rich international offerings that have poured into the peninsula’s museums. We will also examine Gaudi’s unparalleled architectural style and study art from the earliest Romanesque to the Golden Age of Spanish painting, all the JULY 2 – 21, 2003 20 DAYS while sampling the culture and gastronomy of the Basques, Led by Dr. Mattanyah Zohar, Hebrew University Catalonians and the Spaniards. OCTOBER 2 – 12, 2003 11 DAYS Led by Prof. Ori Z. Soltes, Georgetown University

NEW

american archaeology a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy

Vol. 7 No. 1

spring 2003 COVER FEATURE

30 A S T O C K A D E O F ARCHAEOLOGICAL RICHES BY DENNIS JOHNSON

More than 50 years of research have made Fort Vancouver a major archaeological site.

12 D E F I N I N G T H E C A D D O A N C U LT U R E BY RACHEL FEIT

Archaeologists agree that the Caddo were a complex and powerful people. But they disagree about several other characteristics of these little-studied people.

20 A FIRST LOOK AT PARCHMAN PLACE BY MICHAEL FINGER

A remarkably well-preserved Mississippian mound site is professionally excavated for the first time.

26 E N G A G I N G T H E P U B L I C BY KERRY ELDER

The Center for American Archeology strives to convey the excitement of the science to the public.

38 G E T YOUR CAMERAS READY American Archaeology announces its second photo contest.

39 A N E W A R C H A E O L O G I C A L T R A D I T I O N BY LEORA BROYDO VESTEL

Archaeological investigations are being enriched by Native American oral tradition.

44 new acquisition L A N D O W N E R D O N ATES A FA M O U S A R I Z O N A SITE Fourmile Ruin can shed light on a little-known period.

45 point acquisition THE CONSERVA N C Y ACQUIRES AN ANCIENT ROCKSHELTER The shelter’s Holocene deposits contain evidence of Great Basin climate after the last Ice Age.

4 6 point acquisition A H U B O F P O V E R T Y P O I N T C U LT U R E The Jaketown site in west-central Mississippi has yielded a plethora of unusual artifacts.

48 point acquisition CLASSIC MIMBRES PUEBLO PRESERV E D Pruitt Ranch is one of the few remaining large Classic sites in the Mimbres Valley. COVER: Fort Vancouver has the largest archaeological collection of mid-19th-century Spode ceramics in the world. This photograph shows the variety of patterns and colors of the Spode found at the site. Photograph by Paul Lawson

american archaeology

2 Lay of the Land 3 Letters 5 Events 7 In the News Earliest Mesoamerican Writing • Oldest New World Human Remains • Sloan Canyon Petroglyphs Preserved

50 Field Notes 5 2 Reviews 54 Expeditions 1

Lay of the Land

he delta of the Mississippi River is blessed with some of the richest soil on earth. Before the Europeans arrived, it was a wonderland boasting an abundance of plants and animals beyond description. Ducks and geese blackened the skies with their numbers, and cypress and oaks soared some 200 feet above the river, forming a lush canopy. It is no wonder that this region supported a large and diverse population, the development of some of prehistoric America’s most elaborate cultures, and its earliest mounds. One of our features,“A Mississippian Ceremonial Center,” deals with

the Parchman Place mounds of northwestern Mississippi, which are being explored by the University of Mississippi. Only a small number of these wonderful mound sites remain. Most have been destroyed by modern agriculture and the massive efforts to tame the delta, drain the swamps, and control the rivers. Looters have taken a high toll as well. The Conservancy is working hard to preserve what remains, and we are having some success.We have purchased seven mound sites in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas in the past year or so with emergency POINT funds. We have our sights on

DARREN POORE

Preserving A Fabulous Resource

MARK MICHEL, President

many more. Working with the states and local groups, we intend to preserve as many of these sites as possible. They are fabulous national resources that we cannot afford to lose.

Touch the Past

Feel the Presence on a Southwest Exploration! Zuni Communities through Time August 11-17

For a hands-on archaeological experience, participate in an Adult Research Program

Weeks of June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29* and August 10, 17, 24* and 31. (*Adults Only Weeks!)

Navajo Skies & Star Ceilings: Astronomy and Cosmology in Diné Culture October 19-25

People & Plants of the Sonoran Desert: November 9-20

For information and reservations, call 1-800-422-8975 or visit www.crowcanyon.org for a free program catalog

CROW CANYON

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Near Mesa Verde in Cortez, Colorado

Archaeology Learning Adventures for all ages Excavation and travel programs in the Southwest and the world beyond

CCAC’s programs and admission practices are open to applicants of any race, color, nationality, or ethnic origin. CST 2059347-50

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Give Blame Where Blame Is Due Michael Bawaya’s wonderfully incisive article on 17th-century Jamestown in the Winter 2002-03 issue clearly certifies that archaeology is very much more than just “a footnote to history.” As a working historian, however, I’m always disheartened by the inclination to make the case by marginalizing orthodox historical scholarship. “Most historians say the [Jamestown] colony failed because the Virginia Company failed,” project archaeologist Bill Kelso is quoted as saying. “It’s not a fair account.” The colonists, he says, were really trying to make a go of it, for example, in metallurgy and glass making. For the record, what most historians say is that the first colonists sent by the company should have been predominantly soldiers, laborers, and experienced farmers instead of metalworkers, glassblowers, and unemployed “gentlemen.” That was indeed the company’s fault; no reputable historian blames the hapless first colonists themselves. Robert R. Dykstra Worcester, Massachusetts 7

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A Prehistoric Dog’s Life I was greatly pleased to receive a copy of the Fall 2002 issue from my wife for Christmas. It was my first

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encounter with your wonderful magazine, and I am looking forward to more issues in the future. I have been very interested in archaeology and paleontology for over 10 years and have studied the subjects avidly, as well as books on prehistoric and historic peoples. I would like to comment on the article, “Dogs Throughout Time,” by Dennis Johnson. I agree that, at times, dogs were treated roughly by people. But what the article did not mention is the fact that in the process of chasing, treeing, and killing game (bears, wild pigs, etc.) for their masters, the dogs also incurred serious injuries from other animals. Additionally, dogs were quite protective of their masters and territory, so they suffered injuries and death at the hands of attackers. A prized dog would naturally be buried with honor if killed while trying to protect its master and home. Let’s put some of the injuries suffered by those dogs into a more positive light. They suffered not only abuse by their masters, but very likely injuries from other plausible sources as well. Thank you for an otherwise enlightening article. John F. Buck Addison, New York

Letters Editor’s Corner To my mind, one of the most intriguing areas of human affairs is that point at which the scientific and the spiritual meet. This meeting, which is often more aptly described as a collision, occurs everyday in various ways. In the field of archaeology, the scientific encounters the spiritual when archaeologists employ Native American oral tradition as a tool in their investigations. It used to be that archaeology and oral tradition were thought to work hand in glove. But that was decades ago, when archaeology was in its infancy. As the discipline became more scientific, the examination of oral tradition seemed inappropriate. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 has, to some degree, forced archaeologists to consider oral tradition. However, as is noted in our feature, “A New Archaeological Tradition,” there are archaeologists who would utilize oral tradition even if they weren’t compelled to do so by law. Some archaeologists maintain that oral tradition has little if any place in a scientific investigation, but others counter that it broadens and enriches their work.

Sending Letters to American Archaeology American Archaeology welcomes your letters. Write to us at 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517, or send us e-mail at tacmag@nm.net. We reserve the right to edit and publish letters in the magazine’s Letters department as space permits. Please include your name, address, and telephone number with all correspondence, including e-mail messages.

american archaeology

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 255 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 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517; by phone: (505) 266-1540; by e-mail: tacmag@nm.net; or visit our Web site: www.americanarchaeology.org

5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902 Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517 • (505) 266-1540 www.americanarchaeology.org Board of Directors 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 • Dorinda Oliver, New York 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, Business Manager Kerry Elder, Special Projects Director • Lorna Thickett, Membership Director Shelley Smith, Membership Assistant • Valerie Long, Administrative Assistant Yvonne Woolfolk, Administrative Assistant Regional Offices and Directors Jim Walker, Southwest Region (505) 266-1540 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902 • Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108 Tamara Stewart, Projects Coordinator • Steve Koczan, Site-Management Coordinator Amy Espinoza, Field Representative Paul Gardner, Midwest Region (614) 267-1100 3620 N. High St. #207 • Columbus, Ohio 43214 Joe Navari, Field Representative Alan Gruber, Southeast Region (770) 975-4344 5997 Cedar Crest Road • Acworth, Georgia 30101 Jessica Crawford, Delta Field Representative 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

american archaeology

PUBLISHER: Mark Michel EDITOR: Michael Bawaya (505) 266-9668, tacmag@nm.net ASSISTANT EDITOR: Tamara Stewart ART DIRECTOR: Vicki Marie Singer, vickimarie@nmbiz.com Editorial Advisor y Board Ernie Boszhardt, Mississippi Valley Archaeological Center Darrell Creel, University of Texas • Jonathan Damp, Zuni Cultural Resources Richard Daugherty, Washington State University • David Dye, University of Memphis Kristen Gremillion, Ohio State University • Megg Heath, Bureau of Land Management Susan Hector, San Diego • Richard Jenkins, California Dept. of Forestry 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 • Ann Rogers, Oregon State University Kenneth Sassaman, University of Florida • Donna Seifert, John Milner Associates Art Spiess, Maine Historic Preservation • Richard Woodbury, University of Massachusetts National Advertising Office Marcia Ulibarri, Advertising Representative 5401 6th Street NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87107; (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 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517. Title registered U.S. Pat. and TM Office, © 2003 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 902, 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 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517; (505) 266-1540. All rights reserved.

American Archaeology does not accept advertising from dealers in archaeological artifacts or antiquities.

spring • 2003

Museum exhibits Meetings

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Tours

Education

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Conferences

■ NEW EXHIBITS University of Oregon Museum of Natural History

OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE

Events

Festivals

Eugene, Ore.—“Formed from Fiber—Native American Basket-Making in the Pacific Northwest” explores 10,000 years of basketry, from the world’s oldest sagebrush bark sandals to baskets made by contemporary Native Americans. (541) 346-3024 (New long-term exhibit)

Abbe Museum Bar Harbor, Maine—The new exhibit “75 Years of Archaeology at the Abbe Museum” examines archaeological research conducted by the museum since 1928. The exhibit will address the significance of the research in understanding how native peoples lived in Maine for thousands of years, and the museum’s role in preserving Maine’s cultural heritage. (207) 288-3519 (Opens April 26)

Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University, New Haven, Conn.—The new traveling exhibit “Machu Pichu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas,” is the

largest and most comprehensive exhibition on the Incas ever assembled in the U.S. It draws on recent research and findings to tell the story of the Incas and the role that Machu Pichu played for the Inca elite. This spectacular exhibit includes some of the finest surviving examples of Inca art on loan from Peruvian, European, and U.S. museums, as well as objects excavated by the Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1912, which are on display for the first time. (203) 432-5050, www.peabody.yale.edu (Through May 4)

■ CONFERENCES, LECTURES & FESTIVALS Museum of New Mexico Spring Lecture Series Fridays 7–8:30 p.m. through the month of March, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, N.M. Lectures will be presented by New Mexico archaeologists and researchers regarding Spanish Colonial stone tool-making, the results of the recent excavations at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, and changes in Pueblo and Spanish culture following European contact. (505) 827-6343

A R M A N D L A B ´B E

Bowers Museum of Cultural Art Santa Ana, Calif.—The native inhabitants of Southern California are the focus of the museum’s new permanent exhibit “The First Californians.” This exhibit features baskets, bowls, pipes, jewelry, feathered headdresses, and other artifacts. Among the exhibit’s highlights are a carved stone ceremonial disc, mollusk shells strung on cords and once used as currency, and a 19th-century ceremonial wand. (714) 567-3600 (New permanent exhibit)

american archaeology

Old Sturbridge Village Sturbridge, Mass.—Drawing on the museum’s remarkable collection of early Native American artifacts, “The Enduring People: Native American Life in Central New England” documents how the region’s earliest inhabitants adapted to the changes to their homelands and culture and found a way to endure. The exhibit uses artifacts, images, and stories to show that the Indians were in the region at least 10,000 years before the Europeans arrived and that they remain a part of New England today. (800) 733-1830, www.osv.org (New long-term exhibit)

19th Annual Maya Weekend: The Four Corners of the Maya

Canadian Museum of Civilization Gatineau, Quebec, Canada—The museum’s new 21,500-square-foot permanent exhibition, “The First Peoples Hall,” has been planned for over a decade. It highlights the cultural, historical, and artistic achievements of Canada’s first peoples. The hall’s new exhibits contain more than 2,000 artifacts and works of art that portray these peoples from prehistoric times to the present. (800) 555-5621, www.civilization.ca (New permanent exhibit)

March 23–25, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Penn. Join Maya enthusiasts for a weekend of lectures and workshops that take an indepth look at the interplay of Maya cosmology, politics, and architecture during the Classic era.The weekend concludes with a Sunday evening fiesta featuring traditional Maya cuisine. (215) 898-4890, www.museum.upenn.edu

37th Annual Meeting of the Society for California Archaeology March 27–30, Doubletree Hotel, Sacramento, Calif. Presentations, workshops, receptions, and local tours of historic and archaeological sites are planned throughout the weekend. www.scanet.org

68th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology April 9–13, Midwest Express Center and the Hilton Milwaukee City Center,

Milwaukee,Wisc.A wide variety of symposiums, forums, workshops, and poster sessions will take place.Tours of local archaeological sites will be held throughout the conference weekend. (202) 789-8200, www.saa.org/meetings

American Indian Celebration at the University of San Diego April 25–27, San Diego, Calif.This year’s celebration features artist demonstrations, lectures, music, storytelling, dance, and native goods. (619) 2604698, www.sandiego.edu/indianfestival

CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION

Events

103rd Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico May 2–4,Taos, N.M. Hear the latest on New Mexico’s archaeology and past environments, and join the society for food, fellowship, and field trips. Jeff Boyer, who has conducted significant archaeological work in the Taos region, will make a presentation. Contact Ann Smith at (505) 737-9611, asmith@laplaza.org

Gainesville, Fla.—Over 200 of the finest examples of native art from the museum’s Pearsall Collection will be on display in the new exhibit “The Pearsall Collection of American Indian Art: 40th Anniversary Selections.” The exhibit includes the largest private collection of Northwest Coast argillite carvings in the world, totem poles, and other wood carvings also from the Northwest Coast, a pre-European contact Florida canoe, stunning Ojibwa, Potawatomi, and Cree beadwork from as early as 1840, ivory and bone carvings from the Far North Arctic and Subarctic regions, and Pueblo pottery from the Southwest. (352) 846-2000, www.flmnh.ufl.edu (Long-term exhibit opens March 22)

spring • 2003

FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Florida Museum of Natural History

in the

NEWS

Olmec Glyphs May Be Earliest Writing in the New World Researchers continue to debate the definition of writing.

CHRISTOPHER VON NAGY

esearchers have discovered what they claim to be the earliest example of writing yet discovered in the New World—a clay cylinder seal depicting a bird who appears to be speaking symbols, and greenstone plaque fragments containing other carved symbols.The artifacts were recovered from the Olmec site of San Andrés in Mexico’s Gulf Coast state of Tabasco. Radiocarbon dating of organic remains that were deposited with the artifacts has produced a date of around 650 B.C., making the artifacts some 350 years older than the previously known oldest Mesoamerican writing. “We have identified the symbols as writing based on their similarities with later glyphs used in texts by people in the Maya, Oaxaca, and Isthmian areas,” said Mary Pohl of Florida State University. Pohl, Kevin Pope of Geo Eco Arc Research, and Christopher von Nagy of Tulane University published their findings in the journal Science. Similarities between signs on the cylinder seal and Maya glyphs led the researchers to translate the seal’s symbols as “King 3 Ajaw”—the Maya glyph “ajaw” represented a day name in the sacred 260day calendar and the word for “king.” The 3,000-year-old Olmec civilization was the first to establish large urban centers with monumen-

american archaeology

The ceramic cylinder seal found at San Andrés, which is located on the outskirts of La Venta, in the state of Tabasco, in Mexico.

tal architecture and sculpture such as are seen at La Venta, located next to San Andrés. Pohl and her colleagues believe that these urban centers, along with their buildings and artifacts, are evidence for an early state society, and they suggest that writing was a tool closely associated with the formation of the state. “Writing was a way of publicizing the king, and displaying writing was probably a prerogative of the king and his elite supporters,” Pohl said.“We believe that Olmec writing later spread to other areas of Mesoamerica along with this new form of kingship associated with con-

quest and sacrifice of conquered elites.The Maya developed this Olmec prototype into the New World’s most elaborate writing system.” The artifacts containing the glyphs were discovered along with evidence of feasting and are thought to have been used in personal ornamentation. The cylinder seal was probably inked and rolled across cloth or a human body, and the greenstone plaque fragments were likely pieces of jewelry. Some scholars object to Pohl and her team’s characterization of the symbols as writing. Brigham Young University archaeologist Stephen Houston stated that the symbols are simply another example of the sophisticated iconography of the time. “They show no evidence of syntax or sequent signs that signal the presence of writing. Show me a real text with sequent elements and I’ll be more convinced. The standard for showing the first writing has to be set fairly high, and a few isolated emblems, including a straight forward icon, fall well below that standard.” Pohl admitted that they are just beginning to get evidence for writing and is confident that there is more to be found, stating part of the problem is that early writing was most likely done on perishable materials. —Tamara Stewart

in the

NEWS

The skull suggests that the New World’s early humans may not have been related to modern Native Americans.

ritish scientists have determined that a skull found decades ago in Mexico is almost 13,000 years old, making it the oldest known human remains in the New World. The skull was kept with other ancient remains in a collection of 27 early humans held at Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology.The collection was originally discovered in central Mexico and has been in the museum for decades. Geologist Silvia Gonzalez of John Moores University in Liverpool came across the collection and, together with Jose Conception Jimenez, curator of the museum’s human collection, submitted five of the specimens to Oxford’s Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit for dating.The Oxford lab is considered one of the best in the world, and its director, Robert Hedges, also dated the famous Turin shroud. The two oldest skulls from the collection that were analyzed, both of which are older than 12,000 years, are long and narrow-headed, traits that are typically Caucasian.The collection’s more recent skulls are short and broad-headed, which is more typical of modern-day Native Americans and their Mongoloid ancestors from Asia. “It looks like some of the most ancient Paleo-Americans were not of Mongoloid affinity and therefore perhaps not directly related to modern Native Americans,” said Gonzalez.“The remains from central Mexico that date to

JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY

Mexican Skull Is Nearly 13,000 Years Old

Silvia Gonzalez examines one of the ancient skulls that was discovered decades ago near Mexico City.

more than 12,000 years old and have long, narrow skulls are very similar to the Pericue group from the southern part of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico that went extinct at the beginning of the 18th century.” With the help of a multidisciplinary team, Gonzalez plans to look at the genetic affinity of the newly dated remains and the Pericue group using DNA and craniometric studies to determine if they belong to the same people. This will indicate the possibility of a human migration route along the Pacific Coast possibly heading north, rather than across the Bering Strait and heading south, as the standard model has held. The 26-year-old prehistoric woman died during the last Ice Age on the edge of a large lake, which once existed in the area now covered by Mexico City’s suburbs. After her initial discovery in 1959, her nearly complete skeleton was excavated, and information about the type of sediments in which she was found was recorded. She had been thought to be no older than about 7,000 years. The dating results have prompted the UK’s Natural Environmental Research Council and the Mexican government to fund a three-year plan that will enable Gonzalez and her team to continue their research. They plan to date and conduct DNA testing on the rest of the museum’s collection as soon as possible. —Tamara Stewart spring • 2003

in the Earthlodge Unearthed in Alabama

NEWS

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA

The structure is the largest of its kind in the Southeast.

n excavation of a 15th-century earthlodge last August, first discovered by a University of Alabama archaeological team in 2001, has revealed it is the largest such structure ever found in the Southeast, according to the archaeologist who directed the excavation. Located in the University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park, the structure is also the first of its kind to be discovered in the state. A few earthlodges have been found in the southern Appalachians and in Georgia, but until the 2001 find, archaeologists did not believe they existed as far west as Alabama’s prehistoric Moundville. With a floor area measuring 1,444 square feet, the Moundville Earthlodge is slightly larger than any other earthlodge in the region.The exterior of the square structure measures 57 feet per side and the interior is 38 feet per side.Vernon James Knight, curator of Southeastern Archaeology for the Alabama Museum of Natural History and the leader of the excavation, said that “the earth-covered lodge would have

This triangular arrow point of crystal quartz was discovered at the earthlodge.

resembled a dome-shaped mound of earth from the outside.This earth coating was supported by a heavy log framework, with broad support posts placed in foundation pits seven feet deep.”Access was by means of a tunnel entranceway that also connected the earthlodge to a second building just to the east. Radiocarbon tests date the structure to the early 1400s. According to Knight, the lodge was continuously occupied until the decentralization of political power among local villages caused its abandonment in the 1500s. During its occupation, the earthlodge was once dismantled and rebuilt in the same place. It was later

intentionally burned during a commemorative ritual. Excavations revealed ceramic smoke pipes, a quartz crystal arrow point, a stone ax head, bits of native copper, beads of marine shell and painted clay, and decorated pottery fragments. “A whole pottery vessel was found in a clay-lined pit inverted over an offering that consisted of two acorns and a short length of braided rope,” said Knight. Although less than one-fourth of the earthlodge was excavated, hundreds of artifacts were collected at the site that are currently being analyzed. Last October, remote sensing by Jay Johnson and a team of students from the University of Mississippi revealed the large, unexcavated portion of the earthlodge, thereby showing its full size as well as an additional entrance trench. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the site, said Knight, is that “the style of architecture is foreign to Moundville, indicating a strong external influence during Moundville’s waning years.” —Kerry Elder

The Conservancy’s Chairman Dies

MARK MICHEL

arl L. Gadbery of Pittsburgh, The Archaeological Conservancy’s chairman of the board, died of prostate cancer on November 9, 2002. He was 76. He was the president of the Alcoa Foundation from 1986 to 1991. A Kansas native, Gadbery had a life-long interest in Native American culture. When he retired from Alcoa, he joined

american archaeology

Earl L. Gadbery

the board of the Conservancy, becoming chairman in 1993. He guided the organization through a period of rapid growth and development during which time regional offices were established across the country. The Conservancy has named the Indian Village on Pawnee Fork in central Kansas in Gadbery’s honor. —Mark Michel

in the

NEWS

n excavation at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the nation’s oldest continuously occupied public building, is revealing information about the interactions between native residents and the Europeans. During the early 17th century, the building was known as the Casas Reales, or the royal houses. It reflected the power of the king of Spain and served administrative and defensive needs. Based on old maps, previous test excavations, and remote sensing, archaeologists had hoped to find the extent of the 18thand possibly even the 17th-century configuration of the Casas Reales complex.Their findings exceeded all expectations. During the first phase of the project, which began last October and involved excavations along the north wall of the building’s patio of-

Finding Evidence of Santa Fe’s Past

Excavations expose some of the earliest Spanish Colonial construction in New Mexico’s capital. fices, employees of the Museum of New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies, with the help of volunteers, uncovered a sequence of extensive 17th- and 18th-century foundations. Below the foundation of the existing building, which is believed to have been built in the late 1860s, workers exposed a massive river cobble foundation that may date between 1700 and 1760.The cobbles are thought to have been the foundation of the north wall of a long building. Below these, more cobble foundations were revealed that researchers believe may be the remains of the north wall of a building or wall that was constructed before the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, making it some of the earliest Spanish Colonial construction in Santa Fe. “The finding of these 17th- and 18th-century walls and the intensive effort to systematically document them is unprecedented in Santa Fe

and northern Rio Grande archaeology,” said archaeologist Steven Post, who is directing the project.“Finding the foundations allows us to add significantly to the palace footprint for the pre-Pueblo Revolt and Spanish Colonial periods.” More than 80,000 historic period artifacts recovered during phase one tell of trade between the Europeans and the surrounding pueblos, and give details about the daily life of Spanish Colonial households that are unattainable from historical documents alone. During phase two of the project, researchers will excavate the building’s parking lot, an area that once consisted of outbuildings, corrals, and fields. Following the project’s completion this fall, a threestory, 111,000-square-foot State History Museum will be built in the parking lot directly north of the Palace building. —Tamara Stewart

Nevada Cave Looter Appeals $2.5 Million Fine Looter is subsequently jailed for murder-for-hire scheme.

onvicted cave looter Jack Lee Harelson has appealed the $2.5 million penalty imposed upon him last December by Judge William Hammett for destruction of archaeological resources at Elephant Mountain Cave in northern Nevada. The fine, the fourth-largest ever assessed for archaeological theft, results from the significance of the site. Officials at the Nevada State Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages the land the cave is on, consider it to be one of the five most important archaeological caves in the Great Basin. At Harelson’s home in Grants

Pass, Oregon, officials recovered thousands of artifacts from Elephant Mountain Cave and other looted sites, said Pat Barker, an archaeologist with Nevada BLM. These included 10,000-year-old sandals that possibly were the oldest footwear found on earth. While illegally excavating the site over a period of at least five years, Harelson built five-foot rock walls to hide the back dirt and to conceal his actions, Barker said. Harelson and his then-wife discarded all but the most valuable artifacts, such as two large baskets containing the skeletal remains of

two children. They buried the remains in their backyard and cleaned the ancient basketry with Lysol.“It’s a devastating blow losing this information,” Barker said. “This is outrageous. It’s the worst case of looting we know of in Nevada and one of the worst in the West.” In January Harelson was arrested again for conspiracy to commit murder after allegedly paying $10,000 in black opals in a murder-for-hire scheme that targeted an ex-wife, a detective, and Judge Hammett. At press time, Harelson was being held in an Oregon county jail on $1 million bail. —Elizabeth Wolf spring • 2003

in the

NEWS

SOUTHWEST MUSEUM

Los Angeles Museums to Unite A decision will be made about the future use of the Southwest

The Autry and the Southwest museums announce partnership.

Museum’s historic building. It might remain open to the public or be used primarily as a research facility.

he Southwest Museum will join forces by next year with the Autry Museum of Western Heritage to expand the reach of both. Founded in 1907 by historian Charles Fletcher Lummis, the Southwest, the oldest museum in Los Angeles, houses one of the nation’s premier collections of art, artifacts, and library archives related to indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Autry focuses on the history and peoples of the American West. The venerable Southwest Museum has long been straining against the seams of the historic Spanish Revival building it has occupied since 1914, said Executive Director Duane King.“Because of space limitations, only a fraction of the Southwest’s collection has been exhibited at any one time,” he said.The building’s location in Mt.Wash-

ington, a part of town rarely frequented by museum-goers, has also been a problem. In contrast, the Autry, a modern facility that plans to expand to accommodate the Southwest Museum, is ideally situated at the junction of Interstate 5 and the Ventura Freeway in Griffith Park. The partnership, to be finalized after a six-month due diligence and planning process, will allow the Southwest Museum to reach a much broader audience, to increase its programming, and to store and exhibit its collections more effectively.“The possibilities for the future are immense,” said King. “The collaboration will enable us to raise funds beyond what either museum could attract independently, and to do the kinds of things that museums should be doing, far beyond what either museum could hope to do on its own.” —Elizabeth Wolf

Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area Created President Bush signs act that preserves hundreds of petroglyphs.

ast November President Bush signed the Clark County Conservation and Public Land and National Resources Act, protecting several wilderness areas in southern Nevada totaling more than 450,000 acres. Rapid urban development and vandalism threatened the area. One of the most remarkable cultural resource areas protected by the act is Sloan Canyon, home to more than 1,700 petroglyphs. The act es-

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tablishes the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, 48,000 acres of land south of Henderson that boast one of the state’s largest collections of Native American rock art. A 500-acre parcel of land adjacent to the conservation area will be sold to fund research and interpretation of the archaeological and geological resources of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area. The funds will also be used for conserva-

tion, development of a trail system, and construction and operation of a visitors’ center. Several Native American tribes, including Yuman-speaking peoples of the Colorado River Valley and Numicspeaking Southern Paiutes, occupied the area from approximately A.D. 1100 to the late 1800s, leaving behind hundreds of petroglyphs. The images resemble animals, calendars, and cowboys on horseback. —Kerry Elder

By Rachel Feit

Archaeologists often disagree about the characteristics of these important, but little-studied people.

TEXAS ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCH LABORATORY

Defining the Caddoan Culture Archaeological evidence and historical accounts guided the restoration of this pole-and-thatch Caddoan house at the George C. Davis site. At about 30 feet in diameter, such structures could easily accommodate an extended family of eight or more members.

hen French explorers from Réne-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle’s expedition came to east Texas in 1687, they were surprised to be met by three indigenous people, one of whom was dressed in Spanish garb. Thinking themselves near the mouth of the Mississippi, it troubled them to discover such strong evidence of Spanish influence in lands France hoped to claim as its own. The closest Spanish outpost at the time was in northeastern Mexico over 500 miles away. The people LaSalle’s men encountered were members of the Caddo culture—a number of politically independent, but linguistically related, groups that inhabited contiguous parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. At the time of the LaSalle expedition, the Caddo people had been living in the region for at least 800 years. They inhabited small, dispersed farming communities along creeks and rivers. These communities generally revolved around

a larger town that served as a political, economic, and ceremonial center. The important buildings were built on mounds, some of which rose as high as 30 feet. The Caddo grew maize, beans, pumpkins, and melons from fields they tilled with wooden or bone-tipped hoes. Henri Joutel, a member of the LaSalle expedition, noted that their houses were built of logs placed upright in a circular pattern, and then covered with thatch, forming a bee-hive shaped structure wherein 20 people could live comfortably. A hearth was built at the center of each house and, according to Joutel, never went out. They built granaries in which they kept ample stores of maize. “The men are generally handDated to about A.D. 1200, this highly polished stone human-effigy pipe was probably imported to the Spiro site in east-central Oklahoma from the Cahokia area in southwestern Illinois. Slightly more than nine inchhead, the stem in the back of the figure. The left hand holds what appears to be a deer head rattle and in the right hand is a fringed object.

spring • 2003

DENNIS PETERSON

es high, the bowl of the pipe is in the top of the

some… the women are generally well-shaped,” wrote Joutel. He also noted that both men and women decorated their bodies with tattoos and scored their cheeks using sharp knives, a practice that he found “disagreeable.”

Found in southwestern Arkansas and probably dating to about A.D. 1500, this striking head pot is a Caddoan copy of a vessel form found more commonly in sites in the lower Mississippi Valley. It is decorated with fine lines made after the pot had been fired, a technique known as engraving that is very typical of the finer Caddoan ceramics.

TEXAS ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCH LABORATORY

PICTURES OF RECORD

addoan societies left an unusual signature on the landscape, one that archaeologists have been studying since the beginning of the 20th century. Circular arrangements of postholes, often accompanied by a small trash midden, form the remnants of their houses. Some houses had a hall-like entranceway that archaeologists believe indicated that they were residences of the elite or that they were used for social and religious rituals. Almost all of the houses excavated at the large mound at the Hatchel site, which is found along the Red River near Texarkana, include such features, according

to Timothy Perttula, an Austin, Texas-based archaeologist and a leading Caddo researcher. Cemeteries are often found in association with Caddoan sites. Perttula believes that most family farmsteads included a cemetery “though archaeologists haven’t always been very good at finding them.” Large burial mounds are a common feature of the major Caddoan sites. These are usually associated with bigger, more densely populated political centers and tend to contain rich artifact caches, many with items that could only have been obtained through long-distance trade. Platform mounds that supported temples or other important religious and political buildings are also part of the Caddoan built environment. Large political and ceremonial

Excavators work in Mound C, the elite cemetery area at the George C. Davis site, where shaft-like burial pits were found in and under the mound. They date from A.D. 900 to 1300.

american archaeology

TIM PERTTULA

Cleared postholes found beneath a mound at the Hatchel-Mitchell site in northeastern Texas mark the former presence of a very large circular pole-andthatch building with an interior partition. This structure was capped with an earthen mound that contained a series of platforms upon which other structures were built. The architectural details of these buildings, their mound associations, and their deliberate destruction and subsequent capping identify them as special structures, such as buildings for community events and residences of elite members of the society. Some archaeologists believe that the

centers such as the Belcher site near the Red River in Louisiana, the George C. Davis site along the Neches in Texas, or Spiro in eastern Oklahoma generally consist of both temple and burial mounds surrounded by a village. Often that village extended over large areas, as is the case with the Hatchel site, which archaeologists be-

lieve sprawled out along 10 miles of the Red River. The Caddo built their mounds through multiple episodes of construction and reuse. The burial mound at the Davis site, for instance, was preceded by a large and deep rectangular pit containing eight individuals. A wooden structure had been erected over the burials, greenish earth spread over its roof, the pit filled, and a low berm built around it. Dee Ann Story, one of Texas’s leading archaeologists and a Caddo authority, has speculated that the purpose of the berm may have been largely emblematic: to mark the burial site and protect its sanctity. Similarly, she believes that many of the grave goods had symbolic significance. For example, an extraordinarily large flint knife placed in the right hand of This shell bead mask is one of the remarkable artifacts found at Spiro Mounds.

one of the interred individuals, she thinks, singles out that person as a leader. Story estimates that there are approximately 75 to 90 individuals interred in the large burial mound at the Davis site, and that the burials spanned a period of roughly 400 years. Mounds that supported structures also expanded over time. When the Caddo abandoned their important homes or temples, they burned them. The Caddo would then cover them with dirt and start over. Archaeologists tend to measure the importance of a particular structure by its size, architectural complexity, and the number of previous occupations beneath it. Analysis of the artifacts and of skeletal material from burial mounds indicates that the members of the Caddoan elite can probably be identified by exotic adornments such as large earspools, copper and marine shell ornaments, and, in some areas, by cranial deformation, which resulted from using boards or soft wrapping to mold the skulls of their children into an elongated, conical shape. This practice may also have served as an ethnic marker, delineating different Caddoan groups from each other. spring • 2003

FRED W. MARVEL

Hatchel mound can be identified as the temple mound shown on the Teran map of 1691 (opposite page).

The Teran map was made in 1691. The temple mound at the left end of the map is said to be the HatchelMitchell site. The Red River TEXAS BEYOND HISTORY

is near the top of the map. Caddoan houses are seen throughout the map.

Some archaeologists have suggested that multiple interments within large shafts indicate the Caddo sacrificed other household members when one of their chiefs was buried. However, as with so many issues concerning the Caddo, there is no real agreement among researchers on this point. There is simply not enough good comparative data from Caddoan sites—many of which were excavated in the 1930s before scientific dating techniques and other types of specialized analyses (such as pollen, DNA, and stable isotope analysis) became components of archaeological investigations.

southeast Oklahoma whose language and culture is believed by researchers to be related to the Kadohadacho or the Hasinai, another important group of tribes. After the forced migrations to Indian Territory in the

DAVID JEANE

he first person to make the connection between the Caddo tribes known historically, and the southern mound-building cultures known archaeologically, was Mark Harrington in 1920. After observing similarities between the prehistoric ceramics found in burial mounds around the Great Bend of the Red River and the ceramics produced by Caddo formerly living in the Natchitoches, Louisiana area, he began to seek evidence in the historical narratives of the early explorers. His research was later expanded by Work Projects Administration and other archaeologists in the 1930s who found European artifacts at a number of sites along the major rivers of southeast Oklahoma, northeast Texas, northwest Louisiana, and southwest Arkansas. Since that time, researchers have frequently compared the archaeological and historical records to draw inferences about the prehistoric Caddo. What archaeologists refer to as prehistoric Caddoan culture, however, is basically an artificial construct. The term “Caddo” originates from the name of one particular group, the Kadohadacho, who occupied the region around the Great Bend of the Red River. However, there were a number of other groups spread throughout northeast Texas, northwest Louisiana, southwest Arkansas, and

american archaeology

Caddoan pottery varies a great deal in decoration, shape, and size, providing archaeologists with important clues to temporal changes, regional variations, and functions. The large jar shown here was used for cooking and storage. Miniatures like the one in the foreground were sometimes placed in the grave of a child.

This illustration depicts the first burial in the Mound C area at the George C. Davis site. A log tomb structure is being built over the burials. Subsequently, this grave was capped with a mound that contained a succession of additional shaft burials. It dates to about A.D. 900.

bones from hundreds of individuals and represents a very different and very complex pattern of curation and interment of the deceased. In fact, one of the problems facing archaeologists is how to define exactly what is Caddoan in a region marked by a fair amount of behavioral diversity.

ost researchers agree that Caddoan culture emerged sometime around A.D. 800. It grew out of the Eastern Woodland tradition, during which an initial shift occurred from the nomadic hunting and gathering tradition to a more sedentary, horticultural pattern. The prehistoric Caddo are considered to be a regional variation of the broader Mississippian mound-building cultures that proliferated throughout the American Midwest and Southeast during the first millennium A.D. They represent the western-most extension of these mound builders. In spite of certain affinities to other mound-building spring • 2003

NOLA DAVIS/TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPT.

19th century, the term Caddo was collectively applied to these once independent groups. These various groups later embraced the term, and today the Caddo Nation consists of the descendants of the approximately 25 tribes who in historic times inhabited the Caddoan archaeological region. Archaeologists believe that prehistoric Caddoan culture also comprised a number of diverse, individual communities that possibly spoke different dialects and practiced slightly different customs. This information comes not only from historical accounts, but also from the archaeological record of the Caddo region, which has revealed inter-site variations in material assemblages such as pottery, intensity of agricultural development, architecture, and cultural practices. The careful separation of individual burials at the Davis site, for instance, contrasts with the great mortuary in the Craig Mound at Spiro, which contained disarticulated

PICTURES OF RECORD

als and ceremonial structures originated with other Lower Mississippian peoples, and diffused into the Caddo region. He points out that Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma, one of the best-known ceremonial sites in this region, exhibits an atypically elaborate material culture complex (characterized by a large number of engraved shells and stone effigy items), that may represent an intrusive group within the Caddoan region who maintained a trading post at Spiro. He also argues that several other sites within the Caddoan region, most notably the Sanders site in Texas, are also not Caddoan. The debate over whether Spiro and other sites are in fact Caddoan has led researchers to question some of the most fundamental assumptions about where the Caddo came from and what characterizes a Caddoan site. In spite of the difficulties in defining what Caddoan societies looked like prehistorically, most archaeologists agree that many of these groups shared a few key cultural traits such as horticulture or agriculture, ritualistic burial, mound building, and extensive long-distance trade. Caddo peoples also produced engraved ceramic vessels, and distinctive clay pipes. They developed saltworks, many of which have been identified archaeologically. Historical accounts refer to an active trade between the Caddo and other Native Americans in bows and bison hides. One of the peculiarities of the Caddo region is the way in which various ceremonial mound centers seem to have periodically waxed and waned. Archaeologists such as Perttula have noted differential population increases, agricultural development, and mound-building activity with no identifiable pattern. Among the Caddo, there was no single powerhouse like Cahokia. Caddoan culture was marked “by a number of regional expansions and contractions,” according to Story. While she concedes it may have something to do with the effects of a drought-prone environment, she also points out A falcon headdress of copper, over 13 inches that too often archaeologists attribute environlong, was found at the Spiro site as part of mental causes to cultural alterations. “The fact a cache of seven such objects. This cache is, we just don’t know.” dates to about A.D. 1400. While most other Mississippian mound builders were dispersed by the end of the 13th century, well before the first Europeans made landfall, Cadsocieties, many archaeologists argue doan mound building continthat Caddoan culture developed in ued into the historical period. situ, and that it was contemporaThe Hatchel-Mitchell neous with similar Mississippian site, for instance, located period societies rather than on the Texas-Arkansas borpart of a cultural diffusion der, is believed to be the from one of them. Populavillage depicted on a tion increase, success growwell-known 1691 Cading crops such as maize, and doan settlement map. It a “desire to organize and creshows the village with a ate a new culture,” according large temple mound in to Perttula, likely played a significant role in the expansion of Caddoan societies. A large marine shell pendant On the other hand, Frank (7 / x 7 inches) engraved with a double Schambach, a Caddo archaeologist in band of hands, palms up, from the Spiro site. Arkansas, has argued that the tradition of This artifact is one of a remarkable array of engraved long-distance trading and mound building for ritual buriand carved shell ornaments and large conch shell cups from the site. 1

american archaeology

CADDOAN SITES DESTROYED BY LOOTING

use at its western apex. Excavations at a nearby mound site have found European trade goods confirming that it was occupied until about the 18th century. However, mound building did eventually diminish in the historic period. Archaeologists speculate that this was due to severe depopulation wrought by European-introduced diseases, increasing territorial warfare, and forced migrations, all of which severely compromised Caddoan traditional lifeways. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of Caddoan society is that their towns—unlike so many of the Mississippian centers to the east—were unfortified. In fact, warfare seems to have played a very limited role in their political success. But to say that the Caddo were a peaceful people would be “foolish,” according to James Brown, an archaeologist at Northwestern University. The Caddo had their enemies just like any other society. At various times during the historic period they counted the Karankawa, the Tonkawa, the Choctaw, and even other Caddoan peoples among their adversaries. However, there is a marked absence in the prehistoric record of evidence of systemic warfare by the Caddo. “I can’t think of a single Caddoan burial that provides evidence of violent conflict,” says Perttula. “There is nothing to suggest that they systematically fought or attempted to occupy another group’s territory in order to assert political authority.” This is relatively unusual among other groups of the same time period. Large Mississippian towns such as Cahokia were generally palisaded, and there is ample evidence—in the form of burials with arrow points in 18

TIM PERTTULLA

addoan sites, particularly burial sites, have been the targets of looters for many years. “It’s extensive,” says archaeologist Dee Ann Story of the damage caused by looters. “It’s destroying many sites.” The looters have dug up cemeteries, some of which have 50 to 100 burials, in search of grave goods such as pots, points, ax heads, and shell ornaments. “Some of these people are very much economically motivated,” she notes. “A handsome Caddoan pot sells for several thousand dollars.” The situation is especially bad in Texas because it doesn’t have an unmarked grave law that prohibits excavating burials on private land. Story says she knows of a looter who boasts of having dug up more than 100 cemeteries, most of which are Caddoan.

them, or mortally broken bones—in the archaeological record of the Southern Plains Indians to suggest that their people died through violence. By contrast, the Caddo seem to have been able to maintain control over the region not so much through military force, but by controlling the exchange of goods and imposing their will on their neighbors, especially the hunters and gatherers to the west and southwest. The Caddo strategically placed themselves at the heart of the major trade routes linking the woodlands and the plains. They vigilantly guarded their territory, ensuring that no one passed through without their knowledge. Ethnohistorical accounts offer numerous reports of Caddoan scouts intercepting strangers who approached their villages. The Caddo closely monitored people, information, and commodities moving through their territory, and guaranteed themselves access to diverse resources. Excavation of Caddo sites have yielded shells from Florida, copper from the Great Lakes region and the Southeast, lithic material from Oklahoma and central Texas, and turquoise from the Southwest. In exchange for these items, the Caddo offered maize, bison hides, salt, and bows. After the Europeans arrived, the Caddo also traded horses, guns, and European-made goods to other Native Americans. They applied their considerable commercial and diplomatic skills to negotiations with the Spanish, French, and Americans, at times playing the various groups off each other to their own advantage. The story of Joutel’s first experience with the Caddo living along the Neches River illustrates the diplomatic aplomb spring • 2003

DEE ANN STORY

practiced by Caddoan chiefs, who must have foreseen the impact of greeting the French explorers with a scout dressed in Spanish clothes. Excavations of Caddoan ceremonial centers such as the George C. Davis site (late ninth to early 14th centuries A.D) in Texas or Spiro Mounds (A.D. 850–1450) in Oklahoma demonstrate clearly the sort of cultural capital Caddoan chiefs commanded. Gorgeous ceramic pots, burnished and etched with concentric engravings, elaborately sculptured effigy pipes, copper-sheathed masks, copper and bone hairpins, giant earspools, delicately flaked lithic knives, polished celts, shell necklaces, adeptly carved stones in the shape of boats, and spatulated celts made from fine-grained exotic siltstone make these sites some of the richest artifact troves in the country. Indeed, Spiro’s material culture is generally considered to be among the most sophisticated of any prehistoric site in the United States. But Caddoan control of the region during the prehistoric period extended beyond the ability to command the flow of commodities. According to Brown, Caddoan authority “was spiritual and ideological.” At a time when many of the adjacent peoples roamed the land in small nomadic groups, still using Archaic period technology, the Caddo lived in sedentary villages, practiced agriculture, created beautifully formed ceramic vessels, participated in complex, ritualized mortuary prac-

There are numerous Caddoan sites. This map shows the locations of some of the major sites.

tices, and built well-planned ceremonial centers. Perttula agrees, “the Caddo were simply the most complex society around.” Their neighbors respected the Caddo’s “large and well-organized populations.”

DAVID JEANE

espite the opulence of sites such as Spiro or George C. Davis, the Caddo remain one of the least studied of all the New World sedentary societies. And while there seems to be no real consensus among the few researchers over the particulars of Caddoan culture, all agree that more work must be done to better characterize their history and prehistory. According to Story, Caddoan research projects are too short-lived, too rushed, and often short of funds. “Caddo archaeology is an exciting but obscure archaeology,” says Story of the many complexities that make the Caddo region so murky to archaeologists. The Arkansas Valley Caddo were different from the Red River Caddo, who were different from the Caddo along the Neches River. The complexity and variation of the Caddoan region is perhaps the most persistent current running through the work undertaken by archaeologists. This 31-foot-long Caddoan wooden (bald cypress) dugout canoe was found deeply buried in the banks of the Red River in northwestern Louisiana. It was radiocarbon dated to A.D. 1000.

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RACHEL FEIT is an Austin-based archaeologist and writer. Her articles appear regularly in the Austin Chronicle. 19

JAY JOHNSON

A Mississippian Ceremonial Center

Crew members complete work on a trench dug to explore a cluster of house remains located in a cultivated portion of the site. The main mound is covered by the trees in the background.

An investigation of Parchman Place Mounds reveals the expected and the unexpected. By Michael Finger

armers in northern Mississippi tend to keep their eyes on the ground. After all, close attention to the cotton, soybeans, corn, and milo that stretch to the horizon can mean the difference between a good crop and a disaster. Besides, the only things that rise more than a few feet into the air in the Mississippi Delta, which is as flat as a frying pan (and just as hot in the summertime), are the occasional flocks of birds, the regular drone of cropdusters spraying herbicides, and the clouds of mosquitoes that swarm out of the muddy creeks snaking through the fields. So folks in Coahoma County probably stared in disbelief one summer evening last July when what appeared

to be a yellow go-kart dangling from a kite slowly soared across their fields. As it flew closer, they could see that this odd-looking device was a parasail, a propeller-driven ultralight aircraft suspended beneath a rainbow-tinted parachute. Tommy Ike Hailey, an archaeologist at Louisiana’s Northwestern State University, was flying the contraption. Strapped into the seat behind him, taking thermal and near-infrared images of the ground below, was Bryan Haley, an archaeologist with the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Mississippi (better known in these parts as Ole Miss). They were part of the first professional investigation of the Parchman Place Mounds, a 59-acre Mississippian site purchased this winter by The Archaeological Conservancy. spring • 2003

Jay Johnson removes some loose dirt MURRAY RISS

from the floor of the trench. The lighter streak of earth running down the center of the floor is the remains of a prehistoric wall trench.

Drawing the Past from the Present Named after a former landowner, Parchman Place consists of three mounds, one of which is a massive, oval-shaped central platform that rises almost 30 feet above ground level and is flanked by a pair of smaller mounds. “Parchman is probably one of the most significant Mississippian sites around here because of its size and relatively intact mounds as well as the now-known good preservation of buried structural remains,” said John Connaway, an archaeologist with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The site “makes up one of the largest of the unexplored prehistoric ceremonial centers in Mississippi,” added Jay Johnson, the director of the Center for Archaeological Research at Ole Miss and the leader of the investigation. In the late 19th century, the top of the central mound was used as a family graveyard, and it has remained relatively undisturbed. The other mounds, however, have been disturbed for decades, so their original shape is hard to determine. As recently as the early 1960s, visitors to the site observed more than 20 smaller house sites nearby, but these have since disappeared, replaced by an unbroken field of cotton. The only traces of Indian habitation are the broken bits of pottery and brick-colored dried mud, called daub, that plows regularly turned up. “Twenty years ago, the traditional technique would be to plot the site, do a controlled surface collection, then american archaeology

dig some test pits,” said Johnson. “Then, if the pits showed anything, you would come in with a backhoe and scrape off the first several inches, since that’s been disturbed by plowing, and you’re not going to find anything useful there anyway.” A gradiometer survey of the site, done in February of last year, provided the first broad-scale map of Parchman Place. The gradiometer measures subtle differences in the earth’s magnetic field that can result from a house foundation or other construction. In July, Johnson, Connaway, and a team of Ole Miss students spent four weeks at the site. It was a formidable project, as temperatures soared into the high 90s well before noon each day. The crew, loaded down with water bottles, thermos jugs, tubes of sun block, and floppy hats, arrived just after dawn, when a layer of fog would sometimes blanket the field; they worked until 2 p.m., when the heat became unbearable. They would then drive back to their headquarters—a Hampton Inn in Clarksdale, about 20 minutes away (“the nearest town large enough to have a Pizza Hut,” noted Johnson), to clean up and relax for a few hours. Then they washed and sorted the pottery sherds and other artifacts they unearthed and wrote field reports. A thick canopy of oaks and maples on the central mound offered relief from the sun, but it also harbored ticks and chiggers, and mosquitoes from the creek that ran behind the mound were a constant irritation and even 21

that suggest the remains of a house. A photo of a trench is superimposed over the remote-sensing image. The trench, which was dug several months after the remote-sensing survey, revealed charred beams and the hearth of a structure. The charred beams were preserved under daub from the collapsed walls. The daub is identified above as wall fall.

a danger, given the threat of the West Nile virus. The occasional afternoon thunderstorms brought more humidity and flooded the pits the crews dug. Johnson explained that the field school had two goals: “We’re certainly trying to learn what went on here, which we believe to be a large, long-occupation Indian site,” he said. But the main goal was to give the students a chance to work with a full range of remote-sensing gear that included a thermal sensor, a ground-penetrating radar system, a gradiometer, and conductivity and resistance meters. The students employed these sophisticated tools to detect a number of possible house sites in the cotton field, extending some 200 yards south of the mounds. Mapping the large mound proved troublesome. First, the gradiometer detected barbed wire, tin cans, and even pieces of a tractor left over from a turn-of-the-century farmhouse that once stood near the southern slope of the mound. “There’s lots of junk, and that makes our data noisy,” said Haley, explaining that the device is extremely sensitive to buried metal, and the interference tended to obscure the more subtle variations in the soil. Second, the headstoneless graves on top of the mound—believed to be yellow-fever victims from the epidemics that decimated this area in the late 1800s—posed another problem. Mississippi law requires a permit when dealing with a human burial; sometimes, Johnson explained, a coroner has to come out and examine the remains. “So we’ll have to determine where the graves are, 22

JOHN CONNAWAY

The white blurs in this remote-sensing image are underground anomalies

Out in the Fields After clearing a 40-square-yard area in the rows of cotton, the crew began a detailed survey using the remote-sensing equipment. Some gadgets, it turned out, worked better than others. The area’s clay-rich soils reduced the effectiveness of the ground-penetrating radar, for example. Once the survey was completed, ground-truthing— the excavation of the site based on the remote-sensing data—began. The students dug three one-yard-square pits and, at a depth of about eight inches, they discovered the remains of a prehistoric structure. They dug up the intervening areas between the three pits, forming a long trench that revealed a large concentration of daub, along with the remains of postholes and a wall trench. Excavations at other sites reveal that Mississippian Indians built their houses by placing upright timbers into holes dug into the ground. Then they weaved a lattice of cane to form the walls, and smeared mud mixed with grass over the cane until it dried. Sometimes, instead of digging separate holes for each post, they would dig a trench, set the posts in place, and pack dirt around them. The roof was thatched with grass and the floor was bare earth. “These houses were fire traps,” said Johnson. “When they caught fire, the heat fired the clay just the way you would make a brick, and that’s what we’re finding here.” After digging further, the crew discovered a layer of burnt timbers and a large, reddish mass of fired clay where the walls of a house had collapsed. The daub still revealed clear imprints from the cane that once surfaced a wall. At

JAY JOHNSON

and work around them,” he said. In short: “We’re not going to be digging on top of the mound this season.”

A student uses paintbrushes and a grapefruit knife to expose a jumble of charred roof beams from a prehistoric house.

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“Low and slow—those are the requirements of any aerial surveys of archaeological sites,” said archaeologist Jay Johnson, the director of the excavation at the Parchman Place Mounds. Airplanes are, of course, an option, but they pose special problems: Most universities don’t have the funds to purchase their own planes, rentals can be prohibitively expensive, airplanes require trained and licensed pilots (another expense), and they need airports—something that’s not always available at remote sites. An alternative that proved effective at Parchman was a powered parachute, sometimes called a parasail. Suspended from a 550-square-foot nylon parachute and driven—actually, pushed—by a 65-horsepower engine, the two-seat ultralight aircraft is capable of flying as slowly as 12 miles per hour. “That speed is great for aerial images, and at Parchman, we were flying at about 700 feet, which was also optimum for the thermal imaging and near-infrared cameras we were using,” said Tommy Ike Hailey, an archaeologist at Louisiana’s Northwestern State University who, in recent years, has been experimenting with alternative methods of recording aerial images. “The real beauty of a powered parachute, or PPC, is that it can be flown at any altitude, barring obstructions or airspace restrictions, from three feet to 10,000 feet.” The aircraft normally cruises at about 30 miles per hour, but with a tailwind can hit 50. In addition to the remote-sensing equipment, this particular PPC was equipped with a global positioning system to help him locate the precise area to be sur-

The parasail can carry a crew of two, allowing one person to concentrate on recording data while the other pilots the craft.

veyed. Normally, a PPC can take off from a grassy field, but at Parchman all the fields were planted in cotton, so the vehicle took off and landed at the Coahoma County Airport, about five miles away. “Had we been flying over a previously unsurveyed area,” Hailey said, “the GPS would also have been used to document the location of newly discovered sites from the air.” — Michael Finger

BRYAN HALEY

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI

PARASAILING AT PARCHMAN PLACE

(Left) Archaeologist Tommy Ike Hailey records video of the mounds. The Parchman project provided another opportunity for him to continue his work in low-level aerial reconnaissance and archaeology. (Right) The clearing in the woods is the big mound.

american archaeology

Bryan Haley conducts a remote-sensing survey of a portion of the village area, hoping to refine the images of the buried house remnants.

the southern end of the pit they also discovered traces of an oval hearth. “The real pleasant surprise was the intact house floors,” said Connaway, who carefully scribed around the edges of the hearth with a trowel. “Hopefully, they will turn up some unexpected finds in the future, such as plant

The Delta Initiative

he Mississippi Delta, stretching from southern Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the most archaeologically rich regions of the United States. There are literally dozens of major mound sites like Parchman Place scattered along the bayous and oxbows of the Lower Mississippi Valley. Because of the large concentration of sites in the region, most of them, like

Parchman Place, remain relatively unexplored by professional researchers. All too often, the archaeologists who study the region’s

past spend much of their time working ahead of bulldozers and earthbuggies to salvage what clues they can before the magnificent mound sites are leveled for agriculture. Each year, dozens of sites are lost in this way. Though the region is rich in archaeology, the delta continues to be one of the most economically depressed areas of the country. In an effort to help solve the economic problems of the region while preserving its rich archaeological heritage, Congress passed the Delta Initiative in 1994. This effort was led by former Louisiana Senator Bennett Johnston and former National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy. The initiative’s goal is to provide federal funding to identify, study, and preserve the delta’s ancient cultural treasures. These measures will ultimately lead to the creation of a series of state and national park units to protect and interpret the best of the delta’s sites, thus facilitating the development of cultural tourism. However, eight years later the Delta Initiative remains unfunded. In 2003, preservationists in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas plan a major effort to secure funding to acquire important sites and develop new parks and trails throughout the region. National groups like The Archaeological Conservancy will join this effort to promote archaeology and create new jobs. What you can do to help: Contact your congressional representatives and tell them to fund the Delta Initiative. —Alan Gruber

spring • 2003

MURRAY RISS

remains, corn, and so forth, or artifacts sandwiched between the floors and the fallen house walls.” After photographing the floor of the pit and mapping the location of the postholes, clumps of daub, and hearth, one of the students used a trowel to slice off a chunk of burnt timber that was then wrapped in aluminum foil. “We’re taking out chunks of charcoal for carbon dating, but they will also be used for wood identification,” said Johnson. “Also, if somebody is working on the dendrochronology—dating by tree rings—of this area, they can use it.” A few yards away, another pit turned up something of a mystery. The team’s remote-sensing devices detected a small area that might be an ancient trash pit. “Those are a good source for botanical remains, animal remains, and bones,” said Johnson. “Useful things for telling us about the site.” However, after excavating to a depth of nearly six feet, the crew found no traces of trash; instead, they discovered a darkened streak of soil that could represent a wall trench. “That’s kind of what it looks like,” said Johnson, “and it may intersect with this one,” pointing to the wall trench in the unit nearby. “Then again, it might also be a tree root that’s just rotted out.” Another group of students dug a test pit into the sloping side of the mound. After digging less than four inches, they turned up several large pottery sherds, white ash, more chunks of daub, and bones from deer, raccoons, and turtles. A resistivity meter showed evidence of a house up the slope of the mound that was the source of this prehistoric trash. The crew dug a one-by-two-yard trench that revealed one edge of the house floor, a large amount of daub, and some carbonized roof thatching that will be radiocarbon dated.

JOHN CONNAWAY

The crew begins the task of connecting three test units to form a trench. Early morning fog blankets the cotton growing in the background.

Johnson took a pottery sherd of dark-gray clay peppered with white fragments. “See the broken pieces of shell in there?” he asked. According to Johnson, the presence of mussel shell indicates the pottery was made during the later stages of the village’s existence, when the Mississippians started mixing shell with clay to strengthen the pottery and absorb the heat. The Mystery of the Mississippians Indian mounds have been found all over the Southeast. Since 1997, archaeological crews from Ole Miss have been excavating the Hollywood Mound, 28 miles north of Parchman Place, and The Archaeological Conservancy recently purchased an eight-acre site nearby, known as the Wilsford site. Even so, relatively little is known about the Mississippians who occupied this area from approximately A.D. 1000 until at least the mid-1500s, when Spanish explorers moved throughout the region. When Europeans returned to north Mississippi, more than 150 years later, the large mound centers had been abandoned. The exact timing and the cause of the collapse have yet to be determined. “That whole question has been the purpose of a lot of archaeology,” said Johnson, “but we’ve really only explored a handful of sites, maybe 10 or 15, in any kind of detail.” Some of the discoveries at Parchman confirm the model that has been formulated through the study of other sites. That model consists of a village containing a collection of simple dwellings, a large open plaza, and a grouping of high, rectangular mounds that held the chief ’s or priest’s house, or a ceremonial structure. Sometimes these houses were separate structures, built on adjoining mounds. In other places, the chief and priest were believed to be the same person. “But one of the surprises here is that this mound american archaeology

doesn’t look the way we thought it was going to look before we cleared it,” said Johnson. “We thought it would be rectangular, but it’s oval. We also thought it might have one ramp off the front, but instead it has one off the side and maybe another rampart off the other side. “We also felt coming in that this area would be a plaza, clear of houses, because that is the regular model,” he continued. “But instead we’ve got houses that come right up to the edge of the mound.” This suggests to Johnson that the houses predate the construction of the mound by some time. It’s possible that this was a village site, occupied by a small group of families that eventually numbered into the hundreds, long before it was turned into a ceremonial site by the construction of the mounds. “Then some of the houses are abandoned, and the site becomes a center for ritual activity,” Johnson said. “What I think we’re going to find here, once we get a [radiocarbon] date on the mound, is that it’s relatively late and built in a relatively short period of time.” The radiocarbon date notwithstanding, Johnson’s theory won’t be put to the test until much more work is done at the Parchman Place Mounds. “All these things we hope to answer in the next three or four seasons,” said Johnson. “Archaeology is an adventure. You don’t know what you’re going to get, exactly, until you dig, and then sometimes you have to redesign what you think is going on.” MICHAEL FINGER is senior editor of Memphis magazine and The Memphis Flyer. Additional information about the University of Mississippi’s work at the Parchman Place and Hollywood mounds can be found on the university’s Web site, www.olemiss.edu/ research/anthropology.

Engaging the Public Having made its mark with the investigation of the Koster site, the Center for American Archeology continues to thrive. By Kerry Elder

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CAA

n 1953, archaeologists Stuart Struever, Robert Braidwood, Melvin Fowler, and Howard Winters formed Archaeological Research Incorporated. This organization, which gained national recognition because of its excavation and interpretation of the famous Koster site in Illinois from 1968 to 1979, underwent several name changes before becoming the Center for American Archeology (CAA). The CAA is a nonprofit organization specializing in archaeological research, education, cultural stewardship,

In the CAA’s Past Lifeways Program, students learn about ancient technologies by replicating the techniques that produced them. (Top) A student makes a stone tool during a flintknapping session. (Middle) These basswood strips are dyed with sumac, producing a rich berry color. The strips are then used in a basketry session. (Bottom) These students learn how to use an atlatl, an ancient spear thrower.

and public outreach. It’s located 270 miles southwest of Chicago and 80 miles north of St. Louis in the lower Illinois River Valley, one of the richest archaeological regions in the United States.The CAA boasts a computer center, an artifact repository, a 15,000-volume archaeological library, and a number of research associates. In conjunction with Northwestern University, it conducted investigations at the Koster site, during which millions of artifacts were recovered. Over 10,000 years of human occupation was recorded at the site, with 26 separate living horizons defined. Major villages existed at Koster during 3300, 5000, and 6600 B.C. Archaeologists found evidence of the earliest house structures in North

CAA

America, one of the earliest domesticated dog burials in the New World (5000 B.C.), and extensive trade networks that stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.These excavations demonstrated the importance of multidisciplinary research by employing geomorphology and paleobotany in archaeological interpretation. The magnitude of the

american archaeology

CAA

The CAA’s Visitor Center and Museum are located in the historic Kamp store,

The CAA has hosted an annual Archeology Day since the

which was built in 1902 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

mid-1980s. Families with young children frequently

Thousands of visitors pass through its doors each year.

attend.

Koster discovery and the subsequent publicity brought the excitement of archaeology to the general public. The site attracted more than 10,000 visitors annually, and archaeologists and volunteers worked side by side on one of the most fascinating excavations of the century. People ranging from 8 to 80 years old took part in the excavations.The rural town of Kampsville in west-central Illinois, home to 450 people, was transformed by an influx of researchers, students, media, and interested observers into a bustling place. To accommodate the additional 260 students and staff working at Koster, the CAA purchased numerous facilities in the town to house their offices, storage, laboratories, and lodging, and Kampsville became its home. By documenting archaeological sites throughout the lower Illinois River Valley for 50 years, the CAA has played an important role in the region’s cultural resource management.Through its Contract Archeology Program, the CAA has participated in numerous cultural resource surveys. Surveying and testing areas of proposed development can identify archaeological resources prior to destruction.The late 1970s’ Central Illinois Expressway project was a leading example of the benefit of cultural resource surveys.The CAA discovered and excavated more than 600 archaeological sites prior to construction of the expressway. However, in recent years the Illinois legislature mandated that state contracts go to the lowest bidder or to an in-house agency—in this case the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program. Because the CAA incurs high overhead costs to maintain their

staff and equipment, it’s unable to compete for these contracts.As a result, its Contract Archeology Program has been significantly downscaled. Doug Charles, the CAA’s director of research, says his organization wants to do more contract work. But given the change in state law, the CAA is redefining its research agenda, focusing on education and research unrelated to cultural resource management. He called this change “a return to our roots,” a reference to the years spent at the Koster site. Public education is therefore becoming an integral part of the organization’s mission.The CAA emphasizes hands-on learning and offers various educational programs for students in elementary school through college. “We believe that students will better engage, and subsequently appreciate, the rich tapestry of prehistoric peoples and cultures in our region through learning by doing,” says Mary Pirkl, the CAA’s director of education. Elementary school students are introduced to the skills, knowledge, and technology of prehistoric people through the CAA’s Past Lifeways Program. This program provides experiential educational activities such as basketry, ceramics, flintknapping (stone tool making), village reconstruction, horticulture, fire making, and weaving. Students from all over the world have participated in the CAA’s adult and junior field schools, in which excavation and laboratory methods are taught. Under the supervision of instructors, the students are responsible for excavating portions of a site and recording their findings. Students pursue original research projects supplemented by lectures and discusspring • 2003

CAA

The Smiling Dan site, a deeply stratified Middle Woodland village, was excavated by the CAA’s Contract Archeology Program between 1979 and 1983.

sions of theories and methodologies. In 2003, students attending the 36th Annual Bioarcheological Field School will document and analyze structural details and various artifacts while working at Mound House, a 2,000-year-old Middle Woodland site owned by the CAA.The field school is headed by Jane Buikstra of the University of New Mexico, a renowned archaeologist who is president of the CAA’s board of directors. Over the summer, the CAA will offer Envisioning the Past through Archeological Eyes, a special in-residence program for teachers.The program, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, will introduce 25 teachers to the history and theory of archaeology through class time, site visits, and fieldwork. The teachers will work to develop a comprehensive catalog of archaeological resources for all 50 states that will be available on the Web. Since the mid-1980s, the CAA has hosted an annual Archeology Day.“We invite anyone who is interested in archaeology to come tour our facilities, visit our archaeological excavation site, and participate in a number of different activities designed to illustrate the diversity of what we do,” says Pirkl. Last year’s festivities included lectures, site tours, artifact identification, flintknapping demonstrations, and special children’s activities. Though located in a rural area, the CAA has a national membership, and it endeavors to serve a region extending from St. Louis to Chicago, according to Executive Director Cynthia Sutton. Charles says the CAA

american archaeology

encourages archaeologists unaffiliated with the organization to take an interest in the region and develop their own research projects.“We would like to see Kampsville and the CAA serve as the base of operations for such projects,” he says,“and in particular we would like to see a reinvigoration of research focused on the very rich archaeological resources of the area. The Lower Illinois River Valley region has long been known as an important center for prehistoric archaeology, but what is rarely appreciated is how much historic archaeology is also preserved.” The CAA wants to initiate a research program concerned with the ecological history of the area. The program would address the interaction between people and the environment over the millennia.“This region has seen early Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers, the independent domestication of plants, the rise of maize agriculture, European colonization, and the industrial revolution,” Charles observes. “Because so much of the region is still devoted to agriculture, there has not been the kind of destruction of sites one often sees in other areas.” This is another example of how the organization strives to fulfill its mission to discover and disseminate the story of this area’s early inhabitants

KERRY ELDER is the Special Projects Director of The Archaeological Conservancy. For more information about the CAA, visit their Web site at www.caa-archeology.org.

A Stockade of

A view of the reconstructed Fort Vancouver and its period garden. The garden was a horticultural showpiece for John McLoughlin, the chief factor of the fort.

BARBOUR’S PHOTOGRAPHY

Fort Vancouver, the regional headquarters of England’s Hudson’s Bay Company, was a major 19th-century trading post. More than 50 years of research have made it a major archaeological site. By Dennis Johnson 30

Fire steels, which preceded matches, were combined with strike-a-lights (flints) to start fires. These replicated fire steels are based on examples recovered from archaeological deposits.

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Archaeological Riches

National Park Service archaeologists Doug Wilson (left) and Daniel Martin excavate a test unit in the western portion of the U.S. Army’s Vancouver Barracks. The Army established its headquarters and quartermaster’s depot at the site in 1849.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Fort Vancouver as it may have looked in 1845. The fort included hundreds of acres of agricultural fields, thousands of cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs, an orchard, and a garden. It also boasted the first lumber mill in the Pacific Northwest, a salmon-packing operation, a school, a church, and the largest multicultural settlement between Sitka, Alaska, and San Francisco, California.

entle slopes sweep down across the 366-acre Vancouver National Historic Reserve and stretch onto the flood plain of the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. This idyllic vista belies what has long been a graceful but busy landscape, once home to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Vancouver as well as a diverse Euro-American frontier village, and, later, a strategic U.S. Army post. Today, nestled within a growing city of 150,000, the reserve functions as one of the nation’s premier archaeology parks, where more than 50 years of exploration have exposed the past. On a late September day, National Park Service (NPS) archaeologist Robert Cromwell and his team dug tests units on the West Barracks area of the army post. This was part of a cultural resources survey in advance of the restoration of turn-of-the-century structures there. Nearby, Kendal McDonald, who specializes in archaeogeophysical prospection, employed a tubular contraption called a gradiometer, a remote-sensing device that detects underground variations. She recorded anomalies—possibly gravesites—in the earth’s magnetic field where a Hudson’s Bay Company cemetery may have been located. Archaeology has helped bring the early history of Fort Vancouver to life, with the result of drawing thousands of tourists each year. The stockade and several buildings within the fort have been reconstructed exactly above the 32

footings of the originals. The dimensions and features of the reconstructed buildings are suggested by archaeological findings on site. These findings also inform a variety of historical reenactments performed at the site: volunteer blacksmiths hammer away beside the forge, wheelwrights and woodworkers ply their craft in the Carpenter’s Shop, and pelts are sorted and pressed into bales for shipment to England at the Fur Store. “So much archaeology has gone on here that it really is an archaeology park, more than anything else,” said geographer Keith Garnett, as he squints into a surveyor’s scope to locate the cemetery’s boundaries. In order to guarantee its preservation, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site became part of the national park system in 1948. In 1996, Fort Vancouver became part of the 366-acre Vancouver National Historic Reserve, which was established to protect adjacent, historically significant areas. The result is a complex endeavor balancing the interests of tourism and public use with those of scientific inquiry and historic preservation. The fort and surrounding lands serve as a vast open-air classroom where professionals gather for seminars in new archaeological techniques, college students participate in field schools, children wield trowels in summertime Kids’ Digs, and the public can witness the fruits of their work. spring • 2003

This glass button was recovered from Kanaka

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

PAUL LAWSON / NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

ort Vancouver served as the 19th-century economic, cultural, and political hub of Oregon Country (extending from present-day Northern California to Alaska and as far east as Idaho and western Montana). For three decades beginning in 1829, the Hudson’s Bay Company directed its vast Western fur trading operations from this site on the rich Columbia River bottom land. A small corps of managers and clerks—usually fewer than 35—lived within the 734-by-318foot stockade, but the business of the fort made it a crossroads for a much larger population. The fort employed upwards of 200 men, who with their wives and children were dispersed in trapping brigades across a broad territory between the Pacific and the Rocky Mountains. Each spring the brigades would descend on the fort, loaded down with pelts of mink, marten, river otter, bobcat, rabbit, bear, deer, elk, and the most sought after, beaver. They also brought news and supply lists from the network of more than 20 posts in the region under the fort’s command. Trappers stacked the baled pelts in the Fur Store, a large warehouse and processing area, and made stops in the Company Store or the Indian Trade Shop for dry goods, the Bakehouse for provisions, or the Doctor’s Office and Dispensary. Beyond the fort’s palisade, carts would rumble past orchards and extensive gardens and pull up at a cluster of weathered huts known as Kanaka Village. Kanaka’s population swelled to more than 600 in summer between 1830 and 1845, making it the largest Euro-American settlement in the Pacific Northwest. The residents consisted of frontiersmen of French Canadian or Scottish heritage, immigrants from the British Isles, and Native Americans from various Columbia basin tribes such as the Clallam and Klickitat, Walla Walla and Chinook, Spokane and Nisqually. Native American women, who were often critical in building economic alliances between the Europeans and the tribes, married into the fur trade, in a practice called marriage á la façon du pays or “in the fashion of the country.” The Kanakas, for which the village was named, were Sandwich Islanders (from what are now the Hawaiian Islands) who boarded English supply ships midway on trans-Pacific voyages and came to make up about 40 percent of the village population. American settlers streamed into the area, especially after an 1846 treaty with Great Britain set the present-day boundary with Canada and left Fort Vancouver on U.S. soil. The U.S. Army arrived in 1849, establishing a miliamerican archaeology

Village. Four strands of glass were wound to create this ornate button that measures less than one half inch in diameter.

tary reservation on what are now the upper reaches of the Vancouver National Historic Reserve. For a decade, the army and the Hudson’s Bay Company coexisted. Finally, the company abandoned Fort Vancouver in 1860, moving the last operations north to Fort Victoria in Canada.

fter the departure of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Fort Vancouver soon succumbed to fires and decay. Traces of the stockade and its community eventually disappeared. Then in 1947, NPS archaeologist Louis Caywood located the fort’s powder magazine. Over the next five years, Caywood discovered the remnants of the fort’s stockade and he also unearthed the footings of several of its buildings.

Portland State University students excavate within the stockade at the location of the Sale Shop. The Sale Shop was the outlet for Euro-American manufactured goods, which were sold to Hudson’s Bay Company employees, missionaries, and Oregon Trail immigrants.

Living history programs at the site rely on archaeological data to increase authenticity. (Above left) Historically, pelts were sorted and pressed into bales for shipment to England. The reconstructed fur press in the Fur Store is located on the exact location of the archaeological remains of the original store. (Above right) Volunteer blacksmiths use artifacts from the museum collections as prototypes to replicate historical trade axes, beaver traps, and other

BARBOUR’S PHOTOGRAPHY

iron items. (Below) Woodworkers in the Carpenter’s Shop use tools that are identical to those found at the site.

spring • 2003

BARBOUR’S PHOTOGRAPHY

In the late 1960s, archaeologists Susan Kardas and Edward Larrabee located several houses at Kanaka Village. Doug Wilson, an archaeologist with the Vancouver National Historic Reserve, noted that they also dissected the relationship between humans and material objects. “Here’s this incredibly diverse community out in the village,” he said. Kardas and Larrabee took the then-unusual approach of searching for archaeological traces that reflected that diversity. Large-scale excavations in the 1970s set the groundwork for many of the reconstructed buildings, including the Chief Factor’s House and Kitchen, the Indian Trade Shop, the Northwest Bastion, and the Fur Store. Archaeologists Jake Hoffman and Lester Ross focused on what archaeological remains said about the fort’s architecture. For example, their inferences about refuse disposal outside the fort’s main kitchen were used to position the back door in the reconstructed building. Concentrations of brick and mortar indicated the locations and composition of chimneys. Footings and sill timbers suggested the dimensions of buildings. David Chance and Caroline Carley of the University of Idaho identified a handful of Kanaka Village houses, the U.S. Army quartermaster’s depot, and a hospital to treat patients during a period of epidemics. Carley identified areas known as smudge pits, in which smoke was made in order to treat diseases such as “fever and ague.” This malady—later identified as malaria—was thought to be associated with filthy air, which the smoke, ironically, was thought to cleanse. Several houses were excavated in the 1980s under the direction of Bryn Thomas of Eastern Washington University. Workers were elated to unearth a small cellar that held parts for a liquor still and several bottles. No such cottage industry had been documented in the village before. Digs followed in the Officers’ Row and West Barracks areas of the U.S. Army post, and along a proposed utility corridor south and east of the fort. The Oregon Archaeological Society sponsored volunteer excavations within the stockade that showcased professional and avocational archaeologists working side by side.

Dan Martin screens sediments through 1/8-inch mesh screens. In some cases, samples are wet-screened through an even finer mesh to recover very small artifacts, such as beads, seeds, and fish bone.

Barracks last September and October, with analysis and cataloguing of artifacts continuing into December. Concurrent with the West Barracks dig was a remotesensing project in the adjacent East Barracks area, where Army Reserve structures, a granite war memorial, and pavement cover what once was a Hudson’s Bay Company cemetery. Historical records dating back to 1836 indicate that at least 200 individuals from a wide range of ethnic groups, including several Native American tribes and

rchaeologist Dan Martin rocked back on his haunches beside the two-foot-deep shaft he’d dug. He beckoned to Robert Cromwell and Danielle Gembala, who were directing shovel tests across the 12-acre Vancouver West Barracks area, where the U.S. Army first established an encampment in 1849 that it maintained through 2000. Martin traced his finger along one side of the hole. Beneath the upper layers of loam and rock is a distinct stratum of gravel abruptly interposed between decades of sediment. Finely crushed rock, or cinders perhaps, the group surmises, but definitely of human origin. Perhaps a longforgotten road, a fire pit, or part of a foundation. Approximately 100 shovel tests were dug at the West american archaeology

A researcher consults a Munsell Color Chart to match the color of a sediment sample. The chart is used by many scientists to precisely identify colors. Sediments are characterized by color, texture, structure, and other attributes to determine if they resulted from human or natural processes.

BARBOUR’S PHOTOGRAPHY

Spode Ceramics Offer Glimpse of Consumer Behavior

Robert Cromwell noted that the choice and quantity of goods for Europeans “exploded exponentially” during the Industrial Revolution. Indeed, this exquisite English china has shown up in virtually every dig at Fort Vancouver—from the excavations of the chief factor’s house to the lowliest hut in the workers’ village. Cromwell, a Fort Vancouver National Historic Site archaeologist and Syracuse University doctoral student, intends to find out why Spode is so prevalent. He is conducting an analysis of 45,000 Spode pottery shards retrieved from Fort Vancouver to examine consumer choices and their potential to reveal values and behavior. The 19th-century explosion of material goods reached all the way to this outpost in the wilderness. “We know from the historical record that the people who worked at Fort Vancouver had an amazing choice for their time period and their location,” explained Cromwell. As the administrative depot for the Columbia Department of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Fort Vancouver was importing over 200 tons of material goods from England every year in the 1830s and 1840s. Clerks kept studious records, not only of inventories and orders but also of how much everything cost, “from 20 different types of tobacco to 50 different types of cloth to, of course, lots of Spode,” Cromwell said. The historical record also reveals a rudimentary class structure and the disparity of wages in the Hudson’s Bay ranks: from £50 to £5,000 annually for the 30 to 35 “gentlemen” who lived within the stockade, to £17 to £21 for most contracted workers, known as engagés. Yet all shopped at the company store, and the combined data on household income, goods available for purchase, and price inventories provide the context for analyzing material goods excavated from living quarters. Cromwell is analyzing assemblages of Spode ceramic shards from 13 house sites, 10 in the village and three in the fort. Calculating the number and cost of Spode vessels owned in each household leads to a general assumption about purchasing power in the home—the more Spode, the greater the affluence of the household. Then there are reasons for relative

economic position—a larger family, more male wage-earners in the household, ethnicity, special skills—all “hypotheses and questions to be teased out of the archaeological record.” A differing regard for ceramics between the fort’s inhabitants and the villagers is beginning to emerge. Gentlemen of the fort sat at a table with the chief factor in a very formal setting. Artifacts retrieved from fort trash deposits consistently bear the blue-on-white imprinted patterns valued for formal dinner settings; however, all fragments from one period of time will repeat the same pattern, then another pattern will appear and predominate for another few years. Cromwell says this seems to indicate that complete formal settings, with all pieces uniformly matched, were ordered for the chief factor’s table and used for some time. Once the collection was well worn and chipped, it would be disposed of and replaced by a different pattern. The villagers’ incomes precluded a buying spree of Spode, which cost approximately £15 for a complete 72-piece setting. Yet household collections of the ceramics, some of them sizable, have been documented for every excavated house site in Kanaka Village. Recovered artifacts bear a diverse array of patterns and colors, indicating households purchased vessels piecemeal and used them in more casual settings. In short, the gentlemen’s purchases seemed to be dictated by decorum, the villagers’ by fancy. How were they obtained, Cromwell wonders. Did the Hudson’s Bay resell end-of-stock Spode at a discount, or were certain less-popular items marked down in price? Did the gentlemen of the fort pass along chipped or unwanted pieces? Was a black market in operation? Another question is: Why did the people put so much stock in having Spode china? Cromwell suspects an urge for acculturation to European ways. Most village women were Native Americans who married into the fur trade. Historic pictures show them in at least partial European attire, mostly skirts and dresses. Could they have also set a high priority on serving meals and using utensils in the fashion of the Europeans? Cromwell hopes to answer these questions. —Dennis Johnson spring • 2003

BARBOUR’S PHOTOGRAPHY

Kendal McDonald uses a gradiometer to collect data on the magnetic field of underground sediments. She’s searching for evidence of grave sites and other archaeological features.

native Hawaiians, were interred there. The purpose of the remote sensing was to identify the locations of burials so that they won’t be disturbed should any type of construction take place on the property. Remote-sensing technologies can yield valuable clues as to the number and position of interments in the cemetery. One method, magnetometry, measures the earth’s electromagnetic field and records anomalies that indicate sediments have been disturbed. In geologic processes, as layers of sediment settle, iron elements align themselves to the magnetic poles like the pointer on a compass, creating a “somewhat homogenous” field, explained McDonald. Digging a pit, as for an interment, scrambles that alignment or alters the proportion of iron. Two other types of remote sensing—ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity—were employed in archaeological investigations at this site. The reserve’s shifting uses over the years make it an excellent testing ground for combining various types of remote sensing, added Wilson. “Each method will come up with something a little bit different. Magnetometry would be great for finding hearths or concentrations of metal indicating a dump. Radar is really good at getting specific group features. Resistivity is good at getting the different, broader patterns, maybe the outline of the house. So if you put them all together, you can find the house, the hearth, and the dump, and many different features all together.” During the past two summers, field schools working american archaeology

at the stockade and the village have made significant discoveries, including a dwelling designated House Five. Among more than 1,400 artifacts retrieved from its hearth alone are English ceramics and Chinese porcelain, a pierced 19th-century coin likely used for adornment, dozens of clay pipestems, and a hook attached to a chain, possibly used to suspend a kettle over the fire. Studies in micromorphology and palinology (the study of strains and concentrations of pollen) are being applied to seeds, shells, and bone fragments from the hearth area in hopes they will reveal more about the villagers’ diets. “Because of the amount of archaeology and the history of archaeology that has gone on here, [the historic reserve] provides a means for examining past methods and also testing new methods,” concluded Wilson. “We are also committed to higher education and the training of future archaeologists, not only in the most modern, upto-date techniques of archaeology, but also to train them in how to interpret to the public what they’re doing.” For over a half century, archaeology has played a critical role in telling the tale of Fort Vancouver. There is every reason to believe the story will continue. DENNIS JOHNSON is a writer based in Tacoma, Washington. His article “Dogs Throughout Time” appeared in the Fall 2002 issue of American Archaeology. For more information about Fort Vancouver, visit their Web site www.nps.gov/fova.

BRANSON REYNOLDS

Get Your Cameras Ready

Hovenweep National Monument

American Archaeology announces its second photo contest. This is your chance to win a prize and have your photograph published in American Archaeology. In our Fall issue we will announce the winners of our contest and publish the winning photographs. The first prize winner will receive a check for $150, the second prize winner $75, and the third prize winner $25. All winners will receive a gift membership. Good luck. Contest Rules: All photographs must have archaeological subjects such as ruins, mounds, or artifacts. The deadline for entries is July 7, 2003. Contestants must be amateur photographers. Submissions must be limited to no more than three photographs. Submissions will not be returned unless they include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Photographs can be color or black and white, slides, prints, or digital. Do not send digital photographs via e-mail. Please include information that briefly identifies the picture and tells where and when it was taken. Prints and slides must include the photographer’s name. Digital submissions

on compact discs must be accompanied by print-outs of each photograph that include the photographer’s name. American Archaeology has the right to publish the winning photographs in its Fall 2003 issue without compensating the photographers over and above the aforementioned prize money. Send submissions to: American Archaeology Attn: Photography Contest 5301 Central Ave. NE # 902 Albuquerque, NM 87108 spring • 2003

COLORADO HISTORICAL SOCIETY / ROBERT LINDNEAUX

A New Archaeological Tradition

Both archaeological evidence and oral tradition were used to locate the site of the Sand Creek Massacre, which is depicted in this painting.

NATIVE AMERICAN ORAL TRADITION IS PLAYING A ROLE IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS. BY LEORA BROYDO VESTEL

n November 29, 1864, American troops raided a Native American village on the banks of Colorado’s Sand Creek. Approximately 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho, two-thirds of whom were women and children, were killed and mutilated. The attack took them by surprise—they had been offered amnesty, and both white and American flags flew above the encampment. That the Sand Creek Massacre occurred is undisputed historical fact. But the precise location of the village remains the subject of debate. In 1998, Congress passed legislation mandating the National Park Service (NPS), in american archaeology

consultation with tribes, identify the location and extent of the massacre area, and also propose ways to turn it into a national monument. The investigation that followed was multidisciplinary and involved experts in archaeology, history, and ethnography. In addition to an extensive archaeological study, oral histories were collected from 35 Cheyenne and Arapaho descendants. Investigators agreed these “oral histories represent a direct link to the events of November 29, 1864.” And so Sand Creek, symbolic of the hatred between Europeans and Native Americans, came to represent a new cooperation between the groups. Descendents overcame 39

Joe Big Medicine (left), Luke Brady (standing), and Mildred Red Cherries work at the Sand Creek Massacre site. These Cheyenne Indians served as consultants to the archaeologists searching for the battle site. As their interest in the project grew, they eventually took part in the excavation.

their distrust and fears to tell their stories. Investigators listened carefully, hoping to find clues within their stories that would illuminate the past. Things got interesting when the oral histories didn’t quite jibe with the physical evidence. One particular point of contention was the location of the village. Archaeologists determined it was about a half mile north of where many Cheyenne believe it is, which is at the south bend of Sand Creek, an area that has long been sacred to them. The tribe’s determination of the village’s location is based on more than the maps drawn by a massacre survivor. Cheyenne Chief Laird Cometsevah put it this way: “White men call it a sixth sense; maybe the Cheyennes have an extra sense where they can feel or see spirits or areas where spirits are present. Sometimes they see their ancestors, in daylight or night; they have this extra gift that was given to them by the Almighty.” The archaeologists relied on metal detectors, visual survey methods, piece-plot recording techniques, and geophysical remote sensing. One area in particular yielded a large concentration of artifacts consistent with 19thcentury Native American campsites: brass, tin, and cast iron kettles; pots and pans; knives, forks, spoons, plates, and bowls; ornaments; hide preparation tools. Ammunition recovered at the site, including 12-pound mountain howitzer case fragments, was deemed consistent with those used by American troops in 1864. The configuration of bullets suggested a massive, one-sided attack. Archaeologists confidently mapped this area as the location of the village. The south bend was discounted, as it yielded few artifacts. Nonetheless, the Cheyenne held fast to their own version of history. 40

ARCHAEOLOGISTS ARE CONSIDERING VIEWS OF THE WORLD expressed in Native American oral tradition. Sometimes they do so by choice, sometimes because the law compels them. Either way, the increasing use of oral tradition in archaeological investigations is fueling controversy. Archaeology and oral tradition seem strange bedfellows. Archaeology seeks to understand the past scientifically, largely through empirical evidence. Oral tradition, passed in verbal form from generation to generation, explains the past in a highly metaphorical way. The stories are primarily a vehicle for moral instruction or spiritual guidance, and give reason for a tribe’s customs and structure. Yet some say oral tradition can also provide a window to the past. In the same way archaeologists and historians find historical content embedded in the Bible, oral tradition, it’s argued, may contain historical references that elucidate how tribes evolved, lived, and, in some cases, disappeared. Still, modern archaeologists, for the most part, have been reluctant to use oral tradition as a resource. This apprehension was less evident at the turn of the century, when the science was still in its infancy. Back then it was common practice, particularly in the Southwest, to work closely with tribes and use their stories to help interpret the archaeological record. In 1900, archaeologist Jesse Walter Fewkes wrote, “This work...can best be done under the guidance of the Indians by an ethno-archaeologist, who can bring as a preparation for his work an intimate knowledge of the present life of the Hopi villagers.” But as archaeology became more scientific in approach, oral tradition was rejected as mythology and nothing more. “I cannot attach to oral traditions any historical value under any conditions whatsoever,” wrote influential anthropologist Robert Lowie in 1915. Scathing denunciations by Lowie and others had a lasting impact. “As American archaeology as a profession developed and became professionalized, interests in oral tradition dropped out of the picture,” says Roger EchoHawk, an historian with the Denver Museum of Art and a citizen of the Pawnee nation. “Between 1920 and 1980, one can find only a handful of professional publications that give any attention to oral tradition.” Of course, during that time there was general disconnect spring • 2003

WILLIAM LEES/OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

“A number of people within the tribe rejected the archaeological record,” says Doug Scott, who oversaw the field archaeology for the NPS site location study. Despite this discrepancy, Scott maintains the oral histories and archaeology went hand-in-hand, creating a richer record overall. “We’re not really disagreeing about big issues—it’s a minor difference of precision and placement,” says Scott. “The point is there are two cultural views of the world.”

LITTLE BIG HORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT / NPS

(Top) Cheyenne Indians who participated in the Battle of Little Big Horn look at a map of the battle site drawn by Thomas Marquis. (Bottom) Marquis (right), a doctor who treated the Cheyenne and also recorded their oral histories, interviews Wooden Leg, a veteran of the Little Big Horn battle. Archaeologists working at the Little Big Horn site found Marquis’s accounts of Cheyenne oral histories to be a very useful tool in their investigation.

american archaeology

Lyman Lake State Park in east-central Arizona presents both archaeological and Native American interpretations of its petroglyphs. Hopi clan histories describe the migration of various clans through the area's Little Colorado River Valley. Hopi consultants identified this petroglyph as evidence of the Eagle clan's presence in the area.

tion of oral tradition being given evidentiary status alongside archaeology. Ronald Mason, professor emeritus at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, believes that evidence derived from oral tradition should rarely be given the same weight as archaeological evidence. “Notwithstanding the proper need to be friendly, kind, and respectful of other people, one should avoid the democratic fallacy that regards all knowledge claims as being equally valid,” Mason says. “Just as we don’t intrude scientific criteria into religious ceremonies, so politics and other irrelevant considerations should not be welcomed into the scientific arena.” There are also those at the other extreme, such as Native American scholar Vine Deloria, who advocate for the uncritical acceptance of oral tradition as fact. But the majority of archaeologists who have studied oral tradition fall somewhere in the ideological midstream. Archaeologist Steve Holen of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science finds there can be a strong correlation between oral tradition and the archaeological record. After excavating Pawnee earthlodges at a 700 to 900-year-old site in central Nebraska, for example, he was able to find in published Pawnee oral histories (those told to an interviewer and written down) an explanation for a puzzling feature. “Some of [the prehistoric earthlodges] have entrances facing west, which is unusual,” says Holen. “I found in oral accounts that one specific band of Pawnees had westfacing entrances.” Holen points out that the Pawnee were very religious, and symbolism permeated every aspect of their lives. This is reflected in the layout and placement of features in earthlodges, which are symbolically divided into male and female halves. A mortar post for grinding corn found on the front side of the house designates the female half, as corn is a female symbol to the Pawnee. This mortar post, found in the same location in 700 to 900-year-old prehistoric earthlodges, indicates these are probably ancestral Pawnee structures. “The symbolism of earthlodges is derived from oral accounts,” says Holen. Still, he adds, many of his colleagues don’t view oral tradition as important. “A lot of archaeologists are only cultural materialists and don’t deal with symbolism,” he says. “They would notice changes in architecture over time, but wouldn’t notice the religious symbolism.” Archaeologists like Andrew Duff of Washington State University believe those who snub oral tradition outright may miss the bigger picture. “There are many things we cannot know when we use the archaeological record as our sole source of information,” says Duff. “To not consider that there might be important information potentially useful in better understanding or interpreting the archaeological record encoded in oral history seems to me to unnecessarily exclude a potential data source.” Duff has worked with the Hopi and Zuni tribes while spring • 2003

ANDREW DUFF

between archaeologists and Native Americans. The exhuming of human remains and other breaches of sacred ground by archaeologists created deep wounds in tribal communities. Lack of understanding by Native Americans of the scientific mission of archaeologists has caused the latter great frustration. As a result, consultation between the groups has been wanting. “The interface has been very thin and not very thoughtfully constructed,” says Echo-Hawk. “Archaeologists pursuing research have not engaged in dialogue, and Indians historically have not been very thoughtful [about archaeology].” That is changing, at least in part due to federal and state antiquities laws that stipulate that archaeologists consult with Native Americans. The best known of these is the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990, which requires that Native American human remains and funerary objects found on federal or tribal land be returned to culturally-affiliated tribes. According to the law, cultural affiliation is determined through a preponderance of evidence based upon kinship, geographical, biological, archaeological, anthropological, historical, linguistic, folkloric, oral traditional, or other relevant information or expert opinion. Many archaeologists take great exception to the no-

LINDA SOMMER / COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

investigating petroglyphs and the remains of prehistoric pueblo villages along the upper Little Colorado River in east-central Arizona. Hopi and Zuni migration stories, he says, offer insight on the social processes that led clans to the area, how they interacted with each other, and why they left. One question these stories helped Duff answer relates to how tribes in this area adopted aspects of Katsina (Kachina) religion. “The question we’ve always had is: Are new institutions developed internally or brought in from the outside? Oral history talks about migrating groups bringing some of these traditions with them, and these traditions came to be central to Puebloan identity,” he explains. “The link between a new sense of identity, and migrants was a light bulb moment in terms of archaeological investigation.”

ward than the metaphor-rich stories that go back centuries and millennia. Mason seems to wonder if it’s even worth the trouble. “Quite apart from the niggardliness or even absence of anything identifiable as chronology, anyone having any familiarity with the genre at all is not surprised by the large tracts of oral tradition populated by fabulous beings involved in fantastic happenings,” he wrote in American Antiquity. Indeed, oral tradition is filled with such goings-on as children transforming into frogs and people traveling on the backs of cranes. There’s also the natural tendency of storytellers to exaggerate and embellish to make the story more interesting. “Oral tradition evolves to serve the contemporary political and religious purposes of the bearers of the culture,” reminds archaeologist Dean Snow, head of the anthropology department at Penn State University. “Oral tradition STORIES ABOUT RECENT EVENTS, SUCH does not exist to serve the needs of archaeologists.” AS THOSE TOLD by the sand creek But exaggerations, not to mention biases, are found Massacre descendants, are much more straightforin the historical record as well. And often even the most fantastical story has grains of truth. Archaeologist Bill Lipe, professor emeritus at Washington State University, points out that extracting chronological linear histories from any record, whether archaeological, linguistic, genetic, or environmental, is always tough. “You just have to work at it, using appropriate methods to figure out if these records have any information you can use in the particular historical study you are doing,” he says. “The vision of a seamless perfect historical reconstruction, where the archaeology, the documents, the oral traditions, the linguistic relationships, etc. all agree is a naive one,” Lipe adds. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t make a lot of progress in constructing accounts of the past that have increasing empirical validity.” Some archaeologists see oral tradition as a good starting point. “I don’t think you can take oral tradition and just use it as an interpretive framework,” says Snow, who spent 13 years in upstate New York studying 16th- and 17th-century Mohawk demographic trends. But, he adds, “you can generate hypotheses out of oral tradition as easily as you can any other source.” That oral tradition is considered a source at all is progress to those who study them. Echo-Hawk recalls it wasn’t too long ago that he was the proverbial outsider. “Now I publish, I go to conferences,” he says. This is a new area for most archaeologists and research methods are still in the incubation stage. “The scholarship needs time to develop,” Echo-Hawk says. He adds in reference to NAGPRA, “It doesn’t happen Tom King, the University of Nevada’s Oral History Program director, consults with just because it’s mandated by Congress,” Winona James, the oldest living member of the Washoe tribe. The two participated in an archaeology project that employed oral tradition to discover historic and pre-

historic sites in the Carson Valley, just south of Reno. Some of these sites were not detected by a prior archaeological survey that did not incorporate oral tradition.

american archaeology

LEORA BROYDO VESTEL’s work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, and Salon. 43

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

Landowner Donates A Famous Arizona Site Fourmile Ruin can shed light on a little-known period.

JIM WALKER

ver since Southwest archaeologist Jesse Walter Fewkes briefly explored the site in the late 1800s, Fourmile Ruin in east-central Arizona has been well known to archaeologists working in the area. The site’s accessibility also resulted in a century of looting, a fate shared by other large pueblo villages in the Silver Creek drainage. While the site destruction is tragic, news of it helped pass two 1990 Arizona state laws protecting human burials and associated artifacts on private and state lands. Discussions between the site’s landowner, Pete Shumway, and archaeologist Scott Van Keuren, who is conducting research at the Silver Creek sites, led to the donation of the 4.6-acre site to the Conservancy, making Fourmile Ruin the Conservancy’s 20th Arizona preserve. Fourmile Ruin is a 450-room multi-story masonry village with as many as six discrete roomblocks that correspond to different building episodes. The earliest and largest roomblock surrounds a small plaza and dates as early as the late 13th century. Later roomblocks delineate two additional plazas, both of which contain circular kivas. By the early to mid-14th century, the settlement was home to hundreds of inhabitants, making it the largest of the several aggregated towns that were settled in the drainage at the time. Some of these large towns were abandoned around A.D. 1325 as inhabitants moved to Fourmile Ruin and other lower elevation localities adjacent to Silver Creek and its tributaries. The abandonment of Fourmile Ruin by about 1400 marked the conclusion of permanent Pueblo occupation in the Silver Creek drainage. “With the near total destruction of other late prehistoric sites in the Silver Creek drainage, Fourmile Ruin is one of the last remaining villages with deposits that date between 1325 and 1400,” noted Van Keuren. “This period of Ances-

It was believed that adobe bricks were not used in wall construction before the arrival of the Spanish. But the discovery of adobe bricks in this prehistoric wall at Fourmile Ruin refutes that assumption.

tral Pueblo occupation is poorly understood. Despite previous work at the site, we still lack the data necessary to answer questions about architectural layout, settlement growth and abandonment, timing of occupation, and the cultural affiliation of Fourmile Ruin’s occupants.” Van Keuren, who is curator of North American Archaeology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, plans to record the site’s exposed architecture and to excavate test units in the remaining intact deposits. After the site is mapped, the Conservancy will stabilize the exposed areas and create a long-term management plan for the preserve, with the help of the Hopi and Zuni tribes, both of whom claim ancestry to the site. Researchers hope that work within the Silver Creek drainage will help them to better understand the demographic and cultural reorganization of this region of the Southwest during the 14th century. —Tamara Stewart

Conservancy Plan of Action SITE: Fourmile Ruin CULTURE & TIME PERIOD: Anasazi, A.D. 1275–1400 STATUS: Encroaching residential development and continued looting threaten the site. ACQUISITION: The site has been donated to the Conservancy. Funds are needed to fence, map, and backfill the site. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Please send contributions to The Archaeological Conservancy, Attn: Project Fourmile, 5301 Central Ave. NE Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517 44

spring • 2003

N E W P O I N T- 2

The Conservancy Acquires an Ancient Rockshelter The shelter’s Holocene deposits contain evidence of Great Basin climate after the last Ice Age.

a cq u i s i t i o n

ROBERT BURTON

esearchers have long debated the post-glacial climate changes in North America and their concomitant effects on prehistoric peoples’ way of life. Was this a period of warmer and drier climate? If so, was it sufficiently warm and dry to account for changes in human subsistence and settlement patterns? Leonard Rockshelter, the Conservancy’s latest Nevada preserve, contains evidence that can answer some of these questions for the western Great Basin area. The Conservancy used POINT funds to purchase a 640-acre parcel of land that includes the rockshelter from Newmont Gold Mining. Dating from as early as 6,700 B.C. and possibly earlier, Leonard Rockshelter in the Humboldt Valley of western Nevada contains a long record of sporadic occupation that continues until at least A.D. 1400; indeed, the site is one of the oldest and one with the longest record in the western Great Basin. The rockshelter was first discovered in 1936 when, during the course of bat guano mining operations, several ancient artifacts including an atlatl dart and shafts, wooden artifacts, and shell beads were discovered. Archaeologist Robert Heizer of the University of California excavated deposits in the shelter in 1949 and 1950, recovering basketry fragments, cordage nets, matting, an infant burial, and an atlatl dart which was radiocarbon dated to about 5000 B.C. Based on the presence of artifacts buried deeper in earlier guano deposits, Heizer postulated that human use of the site may have begun as early as roughly 11,000 years ago. Abstract images that were pecked into the tufa have been recorded at the back of the shelter which, based on their position relative to the deposits and their style, suggest that they were made sometime between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 1000. “Like Lovelock Cave and other caves in this area, Leonard Rockshelter was probably used as a temporary shelter and storage area, particularly for perishable items,” speculated Peggy McGuckian, a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) archaeologist in Nevada. “With the rock art present, the shelter may well have served some spiritual function as well.” University of California researchers recovered pollen samples from the shelter in 1975 in the hopes that they could resolve the debate regarding post-glacial climate american archaeology

Leonard Rockshelter was discovered in 1936. Artifacts found at the site indicate that humans may have used it as early as 11,000 years ago.

change. Geologist Ernst Antevs’s postulation that in the Great Basin this period was characterized by a warmer, drier climate known as “Antevs’s Altithermal” had long been questioned by other researchers. Analysis of the Leonard Rockshelter pollen record subsequently confirmed Antevs climatic reconstruction, while still leaving the question of the magnitude of climate change open. “In areas such as the Great Basin, even small changes can have far-reaching consequences,” said University of California geologist Roger Byrne. “These changes caused the drying up of nearly all post-glacial lakes, which would have drastically affected the prehistoric peoples that were heavily dependent on them.” —Tamara Stewart 45

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A Hub of Poverty Point Culture The Jaketown site in west-central Mississippi has yielded a plethora of unusual artifacts.

JOHN CONNAWAY

overing nearly 200 acres, the Jaketown site is best known for its role as regional center of the Poverty Point culture in Mississippi’s Yazoo Basin. Located in Humphreys County, the site was occupied during every cultural period from just prior to the Poverty Point period (1730–1350 B.C.) through the Mississippian (A.D. 1400). Surface collections from the Jaketown site include such items as jasper pendants and beads, magnetite and hematite plummets, engraved gorgets and tablets, and Poverty Point fired-clay objects believed to have been used for cooking. The site has also yielded hundreds of micro-lithic tools made from chert blades that are common Poverty Point artifacts. Archaeologists believe Jaketown inhabitants not only manufactured goods from imported materials such as steatite, hematite, and magnetite, but that they also played a major role in the redistribution of raw materials and finished items to surrounding Poverty Point sites. Poverty Point culture sites have been recorded in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Poverty Point culture, named after the type site in northeast Louisiana, is defined primarily by certain tools and artifacts, many of which are made from imported materials obtained through extensive trade networks. Poverty Point sites were usually located on waterways, giving them the advantage of access to trade routes and

Mound B, one of Jaketown’s two extant mounds, is covered by the trees in the right of this photograph. The site’s other mounds have, for the most part, been leveled.

wetland environments teeming with game and fish. This was especially true of Jaketown, which 3,700 years ago was located on what was then the path of the Mississippi River. Jaketown was first recorded in 1908 by legendary archaeologist C. B. Moore, but he was unable to obtain permission to excavate. The site wasn’t revisited until 1941, when James B. Griffin did an archaeological survey of the Lower Mississippi Valley. Excavations were conducted by Philip Phillips and Paul Gebhard in 1946, and James A. Ford and Warren Eames in 1951. Their work revealed evidence of

pre–Poverty Point occupation, overlaid by a substantial Poverty Point midden containing the unusual and exotic artifacts for which the culture is known. These strata were in turn covered by layers containing pottery from Early, Middle, and Late Woodland cultures and, finally, by artifacts and pottery from the Mississippian Period. One excavation trench even showed the remains of Poverty Point structures. This was especially important because very little is known about the houses people lived in so long ago. Both structures consisted of post mold patterns arranged in arcs, which suggests these early in-

spring • 2003

N E W P O I N T- 2

JOHN CONNAWAY

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(Left) A broken plummet found at Jaketown. A plummet is an artifact that’s believed to have been used as a weight in fishing nets. (Right) Chunks of magnetite and hematite, the materials Poverty Point people favored for fashioning plummets. Magnetite and hematite were imported from the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas.

habitants of Mississippi may have lived in circular houses, as opposed to the square structures of later Mississippian cultures. Due to the excellent stratigraphy, excavations at Jaketown helped confirm the age of the Poverty Point culture. At the time, the antiquity of the Louisiana type site was in doubt. Late Archaic people were supposed to have been mobile hunter-gatherers who lived in small groups, and it was thought there couldn’t have been a sufficient number of people nor the social organization necessary to build large earthworks. But Jaketown helped prove that Poverty Point was

american archaeology

in fact a distinct cultural occurrence that manifested itself in many parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley. Aside from the Louisiana type site, Jaketown is the largest Poverty Point site. Originally there were at least six mounds on the site. The two largest are believed to be from the Mississippian occupation; the rest are thought to date to the Poverty Point period. The mounds are arranged in a semicircle on the west bank of what is now Wasp Lake. Unfortunately, railroad construction and farming have taken a toll on the mounds. The site suffered the most damage during the 1940s and ’50s

when the Mississippi Highway Department laid down a highway through the site and excavated a borrow pit on it. Today only the two Mississippian mounds are clearly visible. Fortunately, years of periodic flooding have deposited layers of sediment that protect the deep, earlier middens. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History currently owns 4.7 acres on the east side of the highway, where the Poverty Point house features were found, and a 7.6-acre tract on the west side containing the two Mississippian mounds. The remainder of the site is owned by individuals. Although privately owned, approximately 70 acres surrounding the Archives and History property is under a conservation easement, designed to protect historic properties. This portion of the site was sold to the Conservancy by owners Charles and Herbert Hill, who abided by the easement and dutifully protected their part of the site. Consequently, almost half of this important site is protected by the State of Mississippi and The Archaeological Conservancy. The remainder of Jaketown remains unprotected and is being cultivated. Archaeological methods have greatly improved since the excavations at Jaketown. Very little is known about the Poverty Point culture in the Yazoo Basin. Hopefully, future study of Jaketown will provide answers regarding chronology, subsistence, site distribution, and trade networks of the Poverty Point period. —Jessica Crawford

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Classic Mimbres Pueblo Preserved Pruitt Ranch is one of the few remaining large Classic sites in the Mimbres Valley.

DARRELL CREEL

ites within the fertile Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico are well known for their spectacular black-on-white painted pottery, generally regarded as the greatest painted pottery tradition in North America. For this reason, such sites have frequently been the targets of looters, resulting in the near demolition of many Mimbres pueblos. With only about half a dozen Classic Mimbres sites remaining in the valley, few of which have been protected or researched along the river’s lower course, the acquisition of the Pruitt Ranch site is a very significant addition to the Conservancy’s Southwest preserves. “This site was one of the major communities along the Mimbres River and is one of the very few big Classic Mimbres sites along the river that is still at least partially intact, giving it a great deal of research potential,” said Darrell Creel, director of the Texas Archaeology Research Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. “The masonry of the roomblocks—constructed of a locally available thin, tabular rhyolite rather than the typical river cobbles and boulders—is the best I have seen in a Mimbres site.” Formerly known as the Upton site, the Pruitt Ranch site is located in the heart of the Mimbres culture area along the Mimbres River near

An aerial view of Pruitt Ranch. Looters have disturbed many sites in the Mimbres Valley; Pruitt Ranch is one of the few Classic Mimbres sites that is partially intact.

Deming. It consists of two superimposed villages. The earlier, lower component is a village that dates between A.D. 750 and 1000 and contains an undetermined number of pithouses that are about three to four yards in diameter and have long rampway entrances. Above this is a surface pueblo that consists of at least 150 cobble-walled rooms in three large roomblocks arranged around a central plaza. The pueblo, which dates to the Classic Mimbres period between about A.D. 1000 and 1150, has been heavily looted with bulldozers, but the earlier pithouse

village appears to be in relatively good condition. A pair of earthen berms that lie immediately south of the roomblocks appear to have created a formal entry into the plaza, thought by current researchers to have flanked a prehistoric road that enters the plaza area from the south. During the Classic Mimbres period, the peoples living in the valley are thought to have numbered in the thousands and to have relied heavily on irrigation agriculture for their survival. Because of the impact of looters on Mimbres sites, much of their culture remains a mystery to respring • 2003

N E W P O I N T- 2

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JIM WALKER

searchers, who surmise Mimbres cultural practices and cosmology from the elaborate painted images on their ceramics. After about A.D. 1150, occupants of the valley no longer made their trademark pottery and, while people continued to live in the valley up until about A.D.1400, the nature of the occupation differed considerably from earlier times. Concerned by the vandalism that occurred prior to their ownership, landowners Elizabeth and Eugene Simon sold the 10-acre Pruitt Ranch site to the Conservancy in a bargain sale to charity to ensure its preservation. The Conservancy plans to create a map of the site, backfill all exposed areas, and draft a long-term management plan for the preserve. —Tamara Stewart

This superbly crafted point was found on the surface of Pruitt Ranch Pueblo.

POINT Acquisitions Martin

White Potato Lake

Lorenzen Leonard Rockshelter

★

Cambria

Indian Village on Pawnee Fork

Sumnerville

Fort Foster

O’Dell Mounds McClellan Squaw Point Hunting Creek Mound Pueblo Ingomar Spring Parchman Place Mounds ★ A. C. ★ Wilsford Saunders Mott Pruitt Mound Graveline Waters Pond Mound Ranch Jaketown

The Protect Our Irreplaceable National Treasures (POINT) Program was designed to save significant sites that are in immediate danger of destruction. american archaeology

C O N S E R V A N C Y

The Barrio de Tubac Project Nears Completion SOUTHWEST—The Conservancy’s acquisition and stabilization project at the Barrio de Tubac Archaeological Preserve is nearing completion. The preserve was established in 2001. It is located adjacent to Tubac Presidio State Historic Park in southern Arizona. The Barrio de Tubac Archaeological Preserve protects the southern portion of the Presidio de San Ignacio de Tubac community while the northern portion is included in Tubac Presidio State Historic Park. This community was founded in 1752 and it was the first permanent European settlement in what is now Arizona. The remains of more than 30 Spanish Colonial period structures, including the community plaza and a portion of the acequia, or irrigation canal, are permanently protected within the boundaries of the preserve. The areas of excavation have been photographed, mapped, and stabilized with the help of volunteers from the Tubac Historical Society and the Southwest Archaeology Team. The site map has been updated, a fence has been constructed around the property, the preserve has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, and artifacts from previously completed excavations have been permanently curated at the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. 50

(Left) Steve Koczan, the Conservancy's Southwest Site Management Coordinator, and Joe Martinez, with Tubac Presido State Historic Park, stand next to one of the recently installed interpretive signs.

The Conservancy constructed a new interpretive trail within the preserve and specially designed interpretive signs have been installed. An informational brochure that will be given to visitors has also been prepared.

Barton Site Research Continues EAST—Research on the Barton site continues under the direction of Robert Wall of Towson University with the assistance of Towson University students and members of the western Maryland chapter of the Archaeological Society of Maryland. The research has focused on the Susquehannock (Contact period) and Late Woodland components on this 30-acre property along the North Branch of the Potomac River. These are the primary and most evident occupations. They’re represented by

thick middens, numerous pit features, and multiple stockade trenches. Limited test excavations conducted last fall identified additional Late Woodland features from the Mason Island culture, a horticultural society that inhabited the region between 700 and 1,000 years ago. Pit features excavated during the most recent fieldwork have yielded limestone-tempered Page ceramics, stone tools, and very well preserved faunal and floral remains. These early horticultural societies in the upper Potomac Valley established small hamlets consisting of clusters of circular-shaped houses supported by small gardens of maize, beans, and other plants. The rich diversity of faunal remains recovered from site features such as elk, deer, bear, small mammals, fish, and shellfish, evidences the broad-based use of both large and small game to support these settlements. The success of this adaptation is indicated by the numerous examples of such small hamlets throughout the upper Potomac Valley. Future research at the site will focus on identifying the earlier occupations dating as far back as the Paleo-Indian period. Test excavations have revealed a buried sequence of cultures dating throughout the Archaic period. This record is contained within more than six feet of alluvial soils that have revealed wellpreserved evidence of hearth features and lithic workshop areas. spring • 2003

JIM WALKER

Field Notes

Fieldwork Opportunities George Washington's Boyhood Home

May 27–June 27, Fredericksburg, Virginia Students will excavate at Ferry Farm, a National Historic Landmark. George Washington grew to manhood here, moving to the plantation at age six in 1738 and leaving in 1752. Legend claims that the cherry tree story ("I cannot tell a lie") and his powerful toss of a silver dollar across the Rappahannock took place at Ferry Farm. During the Civil War, Union troops camped here during the Battle of Fredericksburg. The field school allows participants to gain proficiency in excavation, recording, and field interpretation, and will include instruction in the practice and theory of historical archaeology. Enrollment is limited and the application deadline is May 1, 2003. Contact Philip Levy at (813) 974-7642, plevy@chuma1.cas.usf.edu

Northern Great Basin Prehistory Project

June 23–August 1 Dennis L. Jenkins of the University of Oregon will lead an excavation in and around the Paisley 5 Mile Point Caves in the Northern Great Basin. The site contains Pleistocene camel, horse, bison, fish, and waterfowl bones in apparent association with well-preserved perishable human artifacts made of sinew and processed grass. Animal and human coprolites offer a unique view into the paleo-ecology and human economy at this Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene site. Geoarchaeologists will work closely with archaeologists in efforts to reconstruct the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene paleo-ecological and hydrological records. Contact djenkins@darkwing.uoregon.edu

american archaeology

Oak Grove Plantation

May 26–June 13, Saline County, Missouri The Oak Grove plantation site is in an area historically known as the "Little Dixie" region. The majority of Little Dixie’s settlers came from Southern states, and they brought with them their material culture, agricultural system, but also their enslaved African Americans. This is an interdisciplinary project that combines both historical and archaeological studies to examine and to tell the lives of Missouri's enslaved African American citizens. Students will be introduced to archival research methods of both primary and secondary documents. Excavations will focus on a two-room slave quarters located immediately behind the main house. Contact Timothy E. Baumann, Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 8001 Natural Bridge Road, Clark Hall 507, St. Louis, MO 63121-4499; (314) 516-6021, Fax (314) 516-7235, tbaumann@umsl.edu

Archaeology in the Yukon

June 5–July 22, Scottie Creek Valley, Yukon Territory Prehistoric and early historic aboriginal occupations of the Mirror and Scottie Creek valleys will be investigated through archaeological survey and excavations. Oral history of the region will also be collected. The region represents Yukon's southwestern Beringia landscape. Previous work in the region has uncovered evidence of human occupations dating to the Early Holocene, as well as the recovery of Pleistocene fauna. Contact Norm Easton, Arts and Science, Yukon College, Box 2799, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada Y1A 5K4 (867) 668-8849, Fax (867) 668-8805, arts-science@yukoncollege.yk.ca

Reviews largely produced by religious practitioners (shamans) to foster fertility, good health, prosperity, and power. The sites were usually remote and used over and over for centuries. Stone Chisel and Yucca Brush is an outstanding contribution to a growing understanding of this enigmatic art form, as well as a visual feast. Columbus’s Outpost among the Taínos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493-1498 By Kathleen Deagan and José María Cruxent (Yale University Press, 2002; 294 pgs., illus.; $35 cloth; www.yalebooks.com)

Stone Chisel and Yucca Brush: Colorado Plateau Rock Art By Ekkehart Malotki and Donald E. Weaver, Jr. (Kiva Publishing, 2002; 209 pgs., illus.; $55 cloth; www.kivapub.com)

In the past decade there has been a phenomenal growth of interest in the rock art of North America and the world. The Colorado Plateau of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico contains one of the largest and most diverse rock art concentrations anywhere on earth, and authors Malotki and Weaver of Northern Arizona University have produced an outstanding introduction to this fascinating work. Two hundred and seven rock art sites are presented through stunning photographs. Patricia McCreery has added splendidly detailed line drawings that greatly clarify many of the figures. The sites are arranged in more or less chronological order, which helps in understanding the development of the craft. An interpretation accompanies each of the panels, introducing the reader to current thinking about their meaning and historical context. Authors Malotki and Weaver are two of the foremost authorities on American rock art, a scholarly discipline that has blossomed in the past decade. Rock art was once considered little more than graffiti. Some people sought to find written language in the drawings, but to no avail. A growing body of scholars is now convinced that Native American rock art was made to communicate with and conciliate the supernatural beings that directed their lives. It was 52

In 1493, on his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus founded a royal trading colony on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Equipped with 17 ships and 1,200 to 1,500 men (and perhaps one woman), Columbus named La Isabela after the queen of Spain. It was the first Spanish settlement in the Americas. For all its promise, the colony was a failure, and five years later it lay in ruins. Historians have long placed the blame on Columbus’s ineptitude as a colonizer, but the archaeological record tells a different story. Venezuelan archaeologist José María Cruxent and Florida archaeologist Kathleen Deagan spent 10 years excavating the site on the isolated northern coast of what is now known as the Dominican Republic. This volume presents a new story of Columbus and La Isabela and explores the emergence of Spanish-American society. For readers interested in the technical aspects of the excavations there is a companion volume, Archaeology at La Isabela (also available from Yale). What the archaeological record revealed was a well-organized and well-equipped expedition that quickly established a formal colony in the fashion of a Spanish town. While the historical record is rich in details of the unhappy spring • 2003

Reviews lives of the Spanish elite, there is little mention of the workers and the local Indians, the Taínos. The archaeological record alone tells their story, and the authors conclude that the Spanish social and economic institutions were inadequate for an American colony. The discovery of gold on the southern side of the island sealed La Isabela’s fate. Columbus’s Outpost among the Taínos is an outstanding account of the first Spanish colony in the New World that clearly illustrates the importance of historical archaeology and how it expands the historical record to give a more comprehensive view of what happened. The Archaeology and History of the Native Georgia Tribes By Max E. White (University Press of Florida, 2002; 176 pgs., illus.; $55 cloth; www.upf.com)

Max E. White of Piedmont College has produced a concise history of Native Americans in Georgia from their origins some 12,000 years ago to the present. Georgia is a rich land, and over 12 millennia it supported large numbers of people, but they were eventually overcome by the European invasion. No tribes remain in Georgia today, the surviving Creeks and Cherokees having been forcibly relocated to Oklahoma. White draws on an extensive body of archaeological and historical data to tell the story of these people and their impressive accomplishments. The giant mounds at Etowah and the impressive remains at Ocmulgee, preserved today as state and national parks, bear witness to rich and powerful past cultures. Max White has produced a very readable account of this story. Each chapter begins with fictional vignettes that create a sense of time and place. The volume is replete with maps, photographs, and illustrations. —Mark Michel american archaeology

How to Read Maya Hieroglyphs Dictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs By John Montgomery (Hippocrene Books, 2002; 360 and 416 pgs., illus.; $24 cloth and $20 paper; www.hippocrenebooks.com) If you want to read ancient Maya writing, these two guides are essential. The first volume explains the basics of epigraphy, the study of ancient languages, and how this science applies to Mayan, one of only five original, fully functional systems of writing. Undecipherable only a few years ago, scholars have made great strides in reading the glyphs, which are part picture and part phonetic. John Montgomery has codified this work into an overview, complete with history, grammar, and understandable illustrations. He shows how ancient Mayan is structured and gives practical demonstrations for readers. The companion dictionary is the first of its kind with over 1,200 hieroglyphs, phonetic spellings, and meanings. Entries are cross-referenced in Mayan, English, and Spanish. These books are necessary for scholars and fascinating for readers interested in the Maya and their language. 53

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

Following the Fierce Ones FIERCE PEOPLES OF FLORIDA’S MANGROVE COAST

For over a thousand years the Calusa, Tocobaga, and Seminole peoples dominated southern Florida. They developed complex civilizations, created breathtaking artwork, and constructed monumental earthworks. Time and again, they defeated those who attempted to subjugate them. This exciting journey will take you from the ancient mound center at Crystal River to the man-made island of Mound Key, the Calusa’s capital, to the Everglades’ river of grass. Along the way, you will visit the key sites of Florida’s original inhabitants, explore the unique estuarine environment in which these people lived, and encounter a variety of wildlife such as

ALAN GRUBER

When: May 17–23, 2003 Where: Western Florida How much: $1,295 ($350 single supplement)

Useppa Island is one of the fascinating destinations on the tour. The entire island is an archaeological site.

manatees, dolphins, and alligators. Scholars of Florida’s past will join the tour and offer their expertise in the region’s history.

Celebrating Ceramics MASTER POTTERS OF THE SOUTHERN DESERTS When: October 3–13, 2003 Where: Southern Arizona, southern New Mexico,

and northern Mexico

This stunning example of Casas Grandes-style pottery came from the village of Mata Ortiz in northern Mexico.

Join us for a magical journey through time studying some of the world’s most beautiful pottery crafted by people from the Hohokam, Mimbres, and Casas Grandes regions, and replicated by modern masters. The trip includes Hohokam ruins and pottery from the Phoenix and Tucson areas, Spanish missions and presidios, and a behind-the-scenes look at the Arizona State Museum. You’ll also see New Mexico’s Gila Cliff Dwellings, extensive collections of Mimbres pottery, northern Mexico’s Casas Grandes, and the potters of Mata Ortiz. Archaeological experts will join us throughout the trip. spring • 2003

JIM WALKER

How much: $1,995 ($350 single supplement)

LYNDA RICHARDSON/APVA

Jamestown features one of the country’s premier archaeological digs.

Tracing the Footprints of a Nation

Join us in Oaxaca, Mexico, during one of the most unusual festivals anywhere—the Day of the Dead. On this day, people prepare home altars and cemeteries to welcome the dead, who are believed to return to enjoy the food and drink they indulged in while alive. The Day of the Dead is one of celebration. You’ll have opportunities to explore Oaxaca’s museums and markets. Our tour also explores the Mixtecan and Zapotecan archaeological sites in the region, including Mitla, Monte Albán, San José Mogote, and Dainzú. You’ll also visit several crafts villages featuring weaving, pottery, carved animals, and other local art. An expert in the region’s archaeology will accompany us.

COLONIAL CHESAPEAKE TOUR

DAVID WITLEY

When: October 12–19, 2003 Where: Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland How much: $1,895 ($350 single supplement)

From early European settlements to later colonial capitals, the Chesapeake Bay region has played an important role in the founding and development of our nation. Join the Conservancy for a week exploring the area’s rich and diverse historic culture. Our exciting journey will take us from the historic shipping city of Alexandria, Virginia, where tobacco merchants once dominated the shores of the Potomac River, to the home of the Father of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. Along the way we’ll visit the first capital of Maryland, St. Mary’s City, explore the bay-front town of Annapolis, stop in at Mount Vernon, explore Jamestown, and experience the colonial flavor of Williamsburg. Local scholars will share their expertise and explain how archaeology assisted them in interpreting the region’s past.

The tour showcases some of the country’s most remarkable rock art.

Art Set in Stone CALIFORNIA DESERT ROCK ART

JIM WALKER

When: November 2–9, 2003 Where: Southern Nevada and Southern California How much: $1,595 ($295 single supplement)

Visitors explore the extensive ruins at Monte Albán, a city built by the Zapotec and Mixtec.

The Wonders of Oaxaca OAXACA When: October 30–November 8, 2003 Where: Oaxaca, Mexico How much: $1,995 ($250 single supplement)

american archaeology

The Conservancy’s week-long tour focuses on the extraordinary rock art found throughout the Mojave Desert. Created hundreds of years ago during sacred ceremonies, initiations, and shamanic rituals, these rock art sites present an array of unforgettable images from diverse cultures. Beginning in Las Vegas, Nevada, you’ll visit the Atlatl Rock Petroglyphs. Continuing to Southern California we will explore the Blythe itaglios, found along the banks of the Colorado River, and the petroglyphs at Corn Spring, a sacred site in the Chuckwalla Mountains. In the northern Mojave Desert, you’ll see rock art ranging from 200 to 4,000 years old. David Whitely, one of the foremost experts on prehistoric rock art and the author of A Guide to Rock Art Sites of Southern California and Southern Nevada, will accompany the tour. 55

Patrons of Preservation The Archaeological Conservancy would like to thank the following individuals, foundations, and corporations for their generous support during the period of November 2002 through January 2003. Their generosity, along with the generosity of the Conservancy’s other members, makes our work possible.

Life Member Gifts of $1,000 or more

Anasazi Circle Gifts of $2,000 or more

Paula Atkeson, Washington, D.C. Carolyn Boehmke, Connecticut Bill Botkins, Kentucky Barbara and Nance Creager, Texas Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Cushman, Tennessee Elizabeth Dice, Mississippi Professor and Mrs. Robert C. Dunnell, Mississippi Charles Fleischmann, Ohio Robert S. Hagge, Jr., Wisconsin Nancy L. Holt, New Mexico Mr. and Mrs. Donald Kendall, Jr., Texas Roger and Frances Kennedy, New Mexico John B. Lane, Pennsylvania Mr. and Mrs. Roland Mace, New Mexico Harlan Scott, Delaware Catherine Symchych, Wyoming Mrs. Lee Thompson, Colorado Mrs. A. Vaivada, New Mexico Mrs. Robert D. Wallace, California Jon T. Walton, Jr., Michigan George Whitney, Mississippi Edward Wright, Nebraska

Mr. and Mrs. Ethan D. Alyea, Indiana Nina Bonnie, Kentucky Gary Brasher, Arizona Hester A. Davis, Arkansas Jerry and Janet EtsHokin, Illinois Arthur and Mary Faul, Arizona Grace E. Hartzel, Ohio David B. Jones, Minnesota Steven and Judy Kazan, California Nelson Kempsky, California Jay and Debbie Last, California Mark Menefee and Stephanie Wade, Maryland Hugh Th. Miller, Michigan J.C. Morris, Virginia Bruce Nauman and Susan Rothenberg, New Mexico Donald and Linda O’Brien, Colorado Dorinda J. Oliver, New York Doris W. Oliver, New York Jane Sandoval, New Mexico Peter and Loretta Shumway, Arizona Gene and Libby Simon, New Mexico Virginia Stepath, Ohio Mark and Sandra Walters, Texas Gordon and Judy Wilson, New Mexico

Securing the Future Giving to charity can take a variety of forms, from cash to bequests to charitable gift annuities to appreciated securities. One popular win-win giving strategy is the donation of appreciated securities. To promote charitable giving, Congress as well as many state legislatures have provided valuable tax benefits to those who give generous gifts of appreciated stock and/or property to charitable institutions. G. W., a life member of the Conservancy since 1992 and a valued Conservancy volunteer, began donating stock to the Conservancy in 1999. In February 2002, G. and J. W. generously donated 463 shares of Bancorp stock to the Conservancy. When they acquired the stock it was worth $4,723.39, but his gift to the Conservancy was worth $8,913.10. By donating their appreciated stock, G. and J. W. helped the Conservancy, avoided capital gains tax, and claimed the fair market value of the stock as a charitable deduction on their tax returns. G. and J. W prefer to donate stock because “the donor can deduct the average of the high and low price for the security on the day of transfer,” he said. “Neither the donor nor the Conservancy will have to pay capital gains tax. This, clearly, is the easiest way to make a gift. My wife and I greatly value our support of the Conservancy. America’s archaeological sites are our unwritten history of mankind’s struggle for survival.” —Kerry Elder

Foundation/Corporate Gifts of $5,000–$29,999 Haskell Fund, Ohio L-A-D Foundation, Missouri Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, Georgia Philip R. Jonsson Foundation, Texas The Graham Foundation, Colorado

Bequests Richard Dexter, Wisconsin

In Kind Gifts Southwest Airlines Co., Texas Museum of New Mexico Foundation, New Mexico Cost Plus World Market, California Hotel Santa Fe, New Mexico Southwest Seminars, New Mexico TO MAKE A DONATION OR BECOME A MEMBER CONTACT :

The Archaeological Conservancy 5301 Central Avenue NE • Suite 902 Albuquerque, NM 87108 (505) 266-1540 www.americanarchaeology.org

spring • 2003

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TOURS INVITES YOU TO TAKE YOUR GRANDCHILDREN TO PERU

Join us on our archaeological study tour specially designed for grandparents and grandchildren. While travelling to Peru’s major monuments and museums with our special scholar, grandparents will be sharing the irreplaceable experience of discovery with their grandchildren. August 7–18, 2003 led by Professor Daniel H. Sandweiss, University of Maine

BOOKS

This unique tour begins in Lima and includes a three-day visit to Cuzco, two days at legendary Machu Picchu, a flight over the Nazca lines, and a fascinating marine bird reserve on the Ballestas Islands. Additional highlights include fossil hunting in Cerro Blanco, visits to ancient stone fortresses, colonial churches and colorful markets. We have also planned special events with English-speaking Peruvian children, a dancing horse show, and a folkloric music program.

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Make your mark in time. Some Conservancy members think the only way to help save archaeological sites is through membership dues. While dues are a constant lifeline, there are many ways you can support the Conservancy’s work, both today and well into the future. And by supporting the Conservancy, you not only safeguard our past for your children and grandchildren, you also may save some money.

Place stock in the Conservancy. Evaluate your investments. Some members choose to make a difference by donating stock. Such gifts offer a charitable deduction for the full value instead of paying capital gains tax.

Give a charitable gift annuity. Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to make a gift of cash and securities today that lets you receive extensive tax benefits as well as an income for as long as you live.

leave a lasting legacy. Many people consider protecting our cultural heritage by remembering the Conservancy in their will. While providing us with a dependable source of income, bequests may qualify you for an estate tax deduction.

Lamb Spring colorado

Conservancy Preserve since 1995

Yes, I’m interested in making a planned-giving donation to The Archaeological Conservancy and saving money on my taxes. Please send more information on: ❏ Gifts of stock

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Whatever kind of gift you give, you can be sure we’ll use it to preserve places like Lamb Spring and our other 195 sites across the United States. Mail information requests to: The Archaeological Conservancy Attn: Planned Giving 5301 Central Avenue NE Suite 402 Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517 Or call: (505) 266-1540

American Archaeology Magazine | Spring 2003 | Vol. 7 No. 1

Articles inside

A FIRST LOOK AT PARCHMAN PLACE

point acquisition THE CONSERVANC YACQUIRES AN ANCIENT ROCKSHELTER

A NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRADITION

point acquisition A HUB OF POVERTY POINT CULTURE

new acquisition LANDOWNER DONATES AFAMOUS ARIZONA SITE

GET YOUR CAMERAS READY

A STOCKADE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RICHES

ENGAGING THE PUBLIC