Letters Central Authority at Chaco Thank you for the excellent coverage of archaeological research being conducted throughout the San Juan Basin. Tamara Stewart’s article in the Summer issue, “The Changing Perspectives of Chaco Canyon,” is the most recent example. Too often arguments for a centralized authority at Chaco are lost in discussions pertaining to pottery or the kiva. Yet, it’s the monumental structures within the canyon and region that scream “central authority.” Procurement of building materials, organizing and feeding a labor force, and managing construction of the buildings likely necessitated a staggering infrastructure. Great house construction in the San Juan Basin could have been the economic driver for the region, where construction projects provided palaces and prestige for the elite, and conceivably food and security for the populace. Outliers managed the rural workforce. Persuading locals to buy into this arrangement was essential, with impending brutality perhaps the principal motivation. Donald W. Hintz Richmond, Virginia
the largest Oneota site ever discovered. It was apparently a combination religious and market center in the 16th and 17th centuries, the western terminus of the French “fur-traders’ road” linking the Mississippi and Big Sioux rivers, a very early Canadian commercial outlet to the Great Plains. Unfortunately, Blood Run today continues to be chewed away by a gravel contractor as well as by suburban development. That it gets so little notice even in such venues as American Archaeology doesn’t help. Incidentally, the “mysterious” V-shaped line of rocks at Blue Mounds is not some “seasonal indicator” (probably the locals’ fantasy), but is a conventional, if particularly well-preserved, buffalo run designed to aid in funneling bison over the adjacent precipice. Many readers will have seen descriptions of this wellknown hunting technique. Robert R. Dykstra Worcester, Massachusetts
A Missed Attraction Something felt wrong with the Summer issue’s “Archaeological Tour in the Upper Midwest” when it showcased the mini-attractions at Blue Mounds but overlooked the huge (over 1,000-acre) Blood Run Site literally just down the road. Once embracing nearly 300 mounds, some 76 of them still visible on the surface, it’s
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Editor’s Corner One of our features in this issue is about virtual technology and its potential impact on archaeology. Though virtual technology is not a new development, it is new to American archaeology, and its few practitioners seem convinced that, as one of them flatly declared, “It is the future.” The benefits of virtual archaeology are obvious to anyone familiar with the science. Its effects run the gamut from artifact preservation to NAGPRA to curation to education. Imagine the delight of an archaeologist who can per form precise examinations of Maya hieroglyphs in Guatemala while sitting at his computer in Cleveland. Imagine how the conflict between science and spirituality could be ameliorated if researchers can study virtual remains and artifacts long after the genuine items have been repatriated to affiliated Native Americans. There is no question that virtual archaeology has remarkable potential, but there are various obstacles to overcome before the potential becomes reality. It is, at this point, an expensive technology, and it’s likely that any number of institutions and individuals who would like to avail themselves of it find the cost prohibitive. And, curiously enough, the archaeological community here has been slow to embrace virtual technology. Two experts noted that we lag behind the Europeans in this regard. One of them said that archaeologists “don’t necessarily know how to use it.”
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