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american archaeology •
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WINTER 2012-13
Pointless Barking
a quarterly publica
tion of The Archae ologica
l Conser vancy
Vol. 16 No. 4
Assessing the Evolution of Chaco
$3.95 $3.95
I was bemused to see my current Chaco work treated like a Steve Lekson’s article joke or a crackpot “Chaco, Through a Diftheory, which it is ferent Lens” identifies an So lving th e My Stery o f not. You’ll have to often overlooked aspect Cha Co Can yo take my word for it; of settlement pattern n? readers won’t learn at Chaco Canyon: that much from “Chaco substantial settlements through a Different that likely supported the Lens” (Winter 2012big towns in the Canyon 13) about how the altepetl might were located in the drainages surhelp us better understand Chaco. The rounding but outside of the Canyon. writer, Mike Toner, chose instead to Years ago my colleagues and I compile startled reactions from my described this phenomenon as the archaeological friends. “Chaco Halo.” Joseph Needham, the historian of A challenge for future researchers science in China, endured similar guff is to determine how much time depth from his colleagues, who knew for a is associated with this pattern to assess certainty that science started with the evolution of the Chaco Canyon Thales and Pythagoras. Needham con- system. Whether or not this pattern soled himself with an Arab proverb: has any connections to Mesoamerica “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves remains to be seen, but as Lekson has forward.”Toner’s article, alas, was more previously observed, the few Mesoabout the barking than the caravan. american elements present there seem Please see “Chaco through the to appear as embroidery on an Anasazi Looking Glass” at www.stevelekson. fabric. com. Lekson may believe that in his latStephen H. Lekson est version “he has solved the mystery” Curator of Archaeology and of Chaco, but there are clear reasons to Professor of Anthropology remain skeptical. University of Colorado Museum of Natural History David E. Doyel, Ph.D. Boulder, Colorado Scottsdale, Arizona AA Win 2012-13
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Editor’s Corner Charlie Beeker was grappling with one of archaeology’s big problems: how to prevent looting. One typical method is to store artifacts in a museum. Beeker, the founder and director of Indiana University’s Office of Underwater Science, chose this method, but he’s gone about it in a way that’s anything but typical. (See “Museums Under the Sea,” page 26.) Beeker does his work underwater, excavating historic shipwrecks in the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. Raising and conserving the remains of ancient vessels and their associated artifacts is both difficult and expensive, so why not leave the shipwrecks in situ, and make the site a museum? “We see the oceans and seas as a great museum,” said Jim Delgado, the director of maritime heritage for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Sanctuaries Program. Indeed, NOAA has 14 underwater museums that feature thousands of shipwrecks. Beeker has established a number of underwater museums in the Dominican Republic, Florida, and California. In addition to preserving the shipwreck, he also preserves the ecosystem that has grown on and around the vessel’s remains. There are no glass cases or underwater guards to protect these shipwrecks from treasure hunters; nonetheless, the concept has proven effective in thwarting looters. And visitors—divers and snorkelers, in this case—can have an experience they won’t get in a typical museum.
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