Utah Statewide Archaeological Society Newsletter, Volume 3, Number 1, March 1957

~ UTAH ARCHEOLOGY Ne'w sletter

A

Vol.

3~

March 1957

No. 1 Contents

2

Editor's Notes Salvage Archeology . • • •

0

0

The Role of the Nonprofessional in the Local Society . . •

•

•

0

0

•

0

•

•

•

•

James H. Gunnerson

3

Clarence H. Webb

6

•

Pictograph from near Thompson, Utah

Utah Archeology is distributed quarterly to members of the Utah Statewide Archeological Society. All correspondence should be directed to the Editor-James H. Gunnerson~ Department of Anthropology~ University of Utah» Salt Lake City 12, Utah.

--

1:'

Editoris Notes Salvage.Archeology and Congress There is now rn~ch pressure on Congress to reduce the Federal Budget as proposed by the Presi,dent.

Salvage archeology in Glen Canyon and Flaming Gorge-may be labelled as a "frill" by some CongressD\en anC;l Senators. If any members-¡ of the USAS fee1 9 as I do, that the inititation of the salvage operations is important to Utah or the the science of archeology in general, or both~ now is the time to tell your ~enators and Representatives in Congress. The funds for the Glen Canyon and Flaming Gorge archeological salvage activities are included in the Qnited States Department of Interior, National Park Service budget for Protection and Maintenance. ' There is more about salvage archeology

"

late~

in

th~s

Newsletter.

The Societ y The response to the membership dues notice included in the last issue of the Newsletter resulted in 56 paid=up members~ Membership payments are s t ill coming in. This answers one question: there are many people interested in the Utah Statewide Archeological Society as an organization rather than as a source of a free Newslett er. We have adequate money on hand to continue the Newsletter on a quarterly basis for a year and to print it by a somewha t more satisfactory process. Encourage your friends to join the society.

The more members we have~ the more effective the organization 'w ill be and the more all of us will get out of ito The solid show of interest in the form of paid memberships suggests that it is time that our society take on a more formal look, I suggest that we hold an organizational meeting in Salt Lake City this summer and I will plan a program to accompany the business session.

Please fill out the attached blank indicating your preference as to meeting dateso In the June Newsletter I will include an announcement of a meet-.i.ng time based on the majority of statements of pref= erenceo Moab Chap t er I have received word from Lloyd Pierson of Moab that a group of about 30 people interested in Utah archeology met on January 31 and formally organized the Moab Archeological Society, which decided to affiliate with the USASo Mro Pierson served as the temporary chairman of the organization until officers were elected o (I don't have a list of t hem ,yet)" I The group intends to meet once a month, and I plan to meet with them in April o Congratulations should go to both Lloyd Pierson and Bates Wilson, who were instrumental in ' the launching of the Moab group 9 the first local chapter of our state organization. .

The : formation of local chapters is an excellertt idea and it is to be hop~d that groups in other communities also organize Local ch~pters of archeological societies in other states have been very success~ ful in that they promote a way for the members to take a more '8lctive part in the organizatipnso 0

This coming summer promises to be an active one. The first project f ')r ; your editor will be a six-week archeological survey in northEastern New Mexico to try to find sites which will shed light on a problem rela t ed to the Great Basin~ plains and Southwest I pl.an to be back June 10 0

3

The University of Utah summer arch~olqgicai field school is scheduled for the period July 5 -~August15 and will' propab1y ,'be held near . .

Emery, Utah, where it will continue .worka:t Fre~ont; . culture sites .The Universityoc California at Los Ange1eg will probably be holding a summer archeological field school at Paragonah again this year, but th~ dates have not yet been announced.

If Congress approves appropriations for salvage archeology in the Upper Colorado River reservoir areas, the university of Utah will probably have archeological parties in both the Glen Canyon and ' Flaming Gorge areas after_July 1. .

The June Newsletter will include more details on summer plans.

This Issue The article by Mr. C1altence H~ Webb of Shreveport, tpuisiana~ is reprinted from the October, 1956, issure of American Antiquity.

Mr. Webb is a dedicated amateur and has b~en act'ive in 'archeology in the 10~er, Mississippi River:, area fDr. ma~)f .years t ' Thi$paperwas presented at the 1956 Annua1 ' Mee.ting of the Society for -Americ'a n Archeology 1 where a half-day wa's devoted to a Workshop' on Local Archeological Societies. ¡ 0

.

(

i

The article by your ~ditor on Salvage Archeology' is felt to' be timely, since salvage archeQlogy has be,en teceiving a great deal of -"attention during .thepa,st several years and is loothing large on the horizon in Utah at the present time.

SALVAGE ARCHEOLOGY James H. Gunnerson In the past few years~ archeological sites in the United States ihave ¡ been destroyed by large~scale construction work at an alarming rate. The most destructive projects , have been the construction of large dams 9 since river valleys were by far the most heavily occupied areas of aboriginal North America.

Other activities which , have ~lso taken a la~ge toll of our archeological resources inc1ude fa~ing, city and to~ building and the construction of pipelines, roads , and highways. Much of the damage to be done by ,farming and city building has been done already. The past few years, however, have seen an increase in tempo in the construction of dams, hignways, and pipelines" Fortunat ely, a conscientious ~tteqlpt has been made to salvage at least a sample of the archeological material.

There has been legislation since 1906 to protec~ archeological, historical and paleontological material on federal land. Hence~ the government has been obligated to provide for the salvage of such material threatened by its own construction work. It has fur t her insisted that private ~oncerns, such as pipelines, agree to hire archeologis t s t o locate and salvage material that would ~e da~ged or destr9yed by construction activities.

Such stipulations have been included in the permits issued for pipeline construction across federal land. , .

(

I

The pipeline construction companies, to theit! surprise, found that they received so much favorab1e publicity with regard to their salvage activities that they frequently had salvage operations extended to cover the part of the right-of-ways on prQvate land as well.

Furthermore, they have financed the- publication of the archeological reports. '

e

4

As mentioned earlier, dam construction is the most destructive to archeolpgical sites. In fact it would be difficult to plan a wQolesalle destruction of sites as effective as that which has tclken place in the Missouri River Basins> for example. Three major dams across the Missouri River itself are producing lakes which extend nearly continuously from the Nebraska-South Dakota boundary across Squth D~kota~ North Dakota and northern Montana. In additions> the damming of numerous tributarie~ of the Missouri bas inundated many other archeologically rich areas in the plains. Much of the construction work is completed and many of th~ smaller reservoirs have been filled for several yea~s. In other areas, the water has not yet reached its meximum pool level and salvage archeology is ~OIl­ tinuing~ The number of published reports of salvage excavation and survey is constantly increasing and it is only through such publi. cations that the infcr~ation recovered can be preserved and made useful.

.

Since just after World War II, the governments> through the Nati(mal Park Services has made funds available for the enormous job of locating archeological sites and excavating sites carefully selE~cted to provide the best possible sample of the archeological materi~Ll to be destroyed by dam construction. The actual fietd work has been ' carried , out by the Smithsonian Institution and by many other capable . cooperating agenciess> such as universities and museums. , The recent construction of dams has not been limited to the Missouri River Basin. Other projects of somewhat smaller scale have been undertaken in ,.several parts of the country. In most of these projects, the government has provided funds for salvage archeology. Earlier dam construction (in the 1930 8 s) in the southeastenl' part of thE! United States was carried out without such a well organized salvage program~ Heres> the limited salvage of archeological material in the ~rtis~ Pickwick and Wheeler Basins was carried out primarily with labor supplied by several federal relief programs and the reports of this ' work were publi.shed by the Smithsonian Institution,

******* We in Ut ah are being faced with many archeological salvage problems.

In the southeastern part of the state many archeologically rich areas are becoming accessible to jeep travel through the construction of roads for use by uranium and oil prospectors. Sites in these areas are now vulnerable to looters and vandals. "It is hoped that Utah's !lew State Park Commission will take control of these newly~ discovered rich archeological areas and protect them p thus presE!rving them for future. scien tific study. Utah can also expect a grea.tly increased rate of highway construction as pc,:lrt of the Federal GovernmentBs nighway program. Government funds are available for salvage ~rcheo16gy nece1ssitated by such nighway construction~ but trained archeologists and time are needed in addition to the money. ,

j

I

I

The largest salva.ge program facing Utah isp of course,P that crea,ted by the Upper Colora.do River program. Already cotnmertced is the construct iOil work on three dams = = the Glen Canyon Flaming Gorge and Nava,ho projects, which will result in thE\! flooding of many archeologica.l sites.

Several smaller da.ms are planned in a.ddition to these three la.rge ones.

The legislation a.uthorizing the construction of the dams specifi.ed that the archeological resources be salvaged, and presumably the money jl

"

5

will ' be appropriated for this. The '~ive.rsi,ty of Utah has been asked by the Nattonal park Service tc carry out the major portion of the salvage operations 'in the Glen Canyon and Flaming Gorge reservoirs.

The difficulties in doing archeological work in these reservoir areas will be more numerous~ progress will be slower, and costs will be much higher than in areas w~ich are easily accessible~ La~gely because of remoteness and isolation, these a;eas have_r~eived very little previous attenti.on, and the need for· sa.mple salvage is even more important.

River partie-s going-.dQwn the Glen Ca~yon of the Cqlorado have seen archeological sites apd a partial survey of the main river channel has recorded well ovef lOO'sites. The numerous tributaries which will be flooded are completely unknown. Many sites will probably be found on these tributaries if the same pattern holds. here that is foutld further north along the Colorado and. Green Riv'ers,• . The combined lengths of the tributaries wili grea~ly exceed the 196 miles of the Colorado River and the 76 miles of the San Juan Rivers that will be flooded.

According to present planning, there will be only about ten years .in which to complete salvage archeology behind the Upper Colorado River dams.. Hence.~ J.L ~ .s.igD; £1 cant sample of the archeological material in these areas is to be. salvaged it is imperative that adequate funds be appropriated this year so that salvage operations can start this summer. Construction has started and srime material h?s probably alrea,dy been destroyed.

*' * *' *' * *' Archeologists look upon archeological salvage programs with mixed feelings.

They are all grieved to see the irreplaceable sites with all the data they contain destroyed, although they realize full well that not all of the sites ' might ever be completely excava.ted even if they were not being destroyed. Archeologis ts ~n.ow th?-t there :lJS much to be gai ned economically and in other ways with t he ~Qnstruction of dams,highways, etc. Moreover, salvage archeology:· provides more money for field. work than would ordinarily be available. ;B ut , because of the nature of the situation~ "the archeologist feels 't hat ~e must recover t he maximum amount of information he can in the time available~ even though is ~o doing he is not able to ~ecover some of the details that he could under less pressure of time.

Also, there is constant realization that he is salvaging only a sample of the material and data and that the material and data which does not salvage will be forever lost. Furthermore the archeologist will never know whether or not the sample that he salvaged is actually a true sample of everything destroyed; for until a site is completely excavated no one can be certain what it contains.

I

'

.

I

9

~he advent of large=scale archeological salvage programs has necessitated a change in one very basic approach of archeology.

c

6

Ordinarily the archeologist plans his work around a problem. He selects sites for excavation which he has reason to believe will supply the -i~formation needed to answer the questions he is asking or fill the gaps in the body of knowledge with which he is dealing.

Such problem~oriented research may take the archeologist over a wide area~ or it may take him back to the same site to continue careful a painstaking excavation year after year. Salvage archeology, on the other hand p limits the archeologist to a particular a·rea (which may be hundreds. of miles long and a few feet wide in the case of pipelines and roads) and requires of him that he make as heterogeneous a study as possible and collect data bearing on every conceivable problem relevant to the threatened sites. To be sure, in a reservoir area for example~ problems will become obvious to the archeologist and he can keep them in mind during aa,lvage operations. Seldom~ however $ , does he have the opportunity to pursue them as far as he would like. The main satisfaction that the archeologist gets from salvage archeology is the realization that he is rescuing data that would soon be lost without his efforts.

THE ROLE ,OF THE NONPROFESSIONAL IN THE LOCAL SOCIETY

.'

The history of the natural sciences is replete with instances of valuable contributions by nonprofessionals, f~om the discovery IJf new stars.9 the recognition and description of new species of flora and fauna~ the collection and accurate recording of specimens~ to the interpretation of the sciences to the general public through the media of the written and spoken work. Many museums have been founded or enriched through the generosity of amateur enthusiasts. Unfortunately, on the other side of the coin there are mo ,many instances of cornmercialism p hoaxes 9 and fakes in many sciences. Archaeology is a favo~ite field of the nonprofessionals~ who are to be found in every city or town~ running the full gamut of boyhood curio seeker~ amateur collect~or~ Boy Scout explorer!> private museum owner, serious nonprofessional student, pot hunter» commercial collector and trader~ manufacturer and purveyor of false artifacts, and manipulator of skillful hoaxes.

The professional and the honest; nonprofessional,? brought togethE~r in the local society)). pave the joint opportunity and responsibilit y of training the yout:h~ restraining the overzealous ~ curbing the CODll= mercialist,? and exposing the faker.

*This article is reprinted from American AntiquitYa Volo 229 No .. 29 -pp. 170-172 » October a 1957.

7

Everyone is agreed t ha.t the nonproÂŁ.e s sional serves the science best who surveys his area ; makes well~ recorded surface collections; watches for accidental exposure (!I f artifacts and sites which turn up as a resu l t of highway , railroad, or other construction; helps to make local collectiolls avai lable fo r s choo l instruction lOr the study of int erest ed expert s ; and mai n t ain s contact with the nearest professionals.

All of t hs es valuable f unctions can be carried lOut more effectively t hrough group action L~ a l oca l society. Cert a i nl y the unwitt i ng or carel e s s destruction of mounds and sites p which is proceeding at a terrif ic pace since the a dvent of earth mov ing machinery , and the despoiling of s ites by pot hunters or t he w~n ton ly cur ious ¡ can be prevent ed more effec tively by group a cti on t han by i ndividual effort 0

The making of surveys and collections from sites ~hich are threatened with destruction is an important function of an~teurs in local groups.

The best known examples are ' the flooding of areas by dam proj~cts~ but in our area the caving in of river valley sites by the migrant streams~ sheet and gulley erosion of hillside sites~ and revert~ng of fo~r farms to woodlands arid pasturage are further ex~.mples of site destruction or removal from availability for surface collecting.

In the Souths the economic revolution of the past 20 years has resulted in the desertion of many marginal farmlands; in the ~ore fertile areas there is a shift from cotton to cattle; many sites from which I made surface collections 20 years ago are vanished or covered with underbrusho The famous Gahagan burj~.l mound and much of the site have caved into Red River 9 as have several other mound sites in its valleyo The Belcher site is a cotton field 9 leveled by power machineryo The professional and intelligent nonprofessional would do well: to s t udy small local collections now~ before they are broken up or the information about t hem dies with the collector~ as many of t he sites from which these collections came may 110 longer be available for study In other parts of the country new sites will become availabl e lOr old s ite B will disappea.r from other ca uses :J a.s the fac~ of the land changes~ so that nonprofessionals in local societies can' play important r oles everywhere in collec ting mat erials and recording inf~rmationo 0

The serious nonprQfessional can serve in other ways in organizations~ which may be local~ statewide~ or regional Sometimes the enthus~ iasm of nonprofessionals sparks the forma t ion of a so ciety~ oft en they stabilize it through continuity and perseverance==for the pro~ fessional is more likely t o move as his career carries him t o other parts of the country or world=c'2nd always the nonprofessional can help with financial supp o rt ~ as he may be in a better position to contact the publico 0

I shal l now indul ge in the very human trait Qf illustrat ing my points by personal experience and observation ~ since all of us feel more comfortable in .doing so ~ and enjoy itÂť whether lOr not lOur audiences dO Q '"""'

My first contact with an, archeological orga.nization s in the 1930 us , was in attending meetings of the Texas Archeological Society (t~en

8

T.A. and P.S . }. I found that this society had been sired» nursed along ~ and supported financially through the efforts IOf lOne ent:hus~ ias tic amat eur Dr. Cyrus Ray-=bless his crusty p kindly argumen t ative soul~ Now this society numbers several Qundred members ~ professional and nonprofessional" is on a sound statewide footing~ and has published valuable contributions to American archeolcgy. y

In the latter 1930°9 my first contacts with professionals were with the L . S.U. group~ FIOrd » ~illey ~ Quimby~ and Neitzel)) and be it to their eternal credit that they welcomed a green amateur and tried to teach him something of archelogy and methcdology. Seen there~ after )) Jimmy Griffin even encouraged me to start typing the pettery frDm what -was 'later to be the Belcher foq~s9 the first attempt at Caddoan pottery typology.

.'

During the early 19400s,9 W.P.A. excavations in the Caddoan area~ in Texas an.d Oklahoma)) some of which I was priv~leged to visit)) led tD talk cf a Caddoan Area Conference. Preliminary meetings in my hDme~ attended variously by Krieger and Newell from Texasj) ,Beecher from L.S.Uo)) Baerreis and Cobb from OklahDma» laid the groUndwork for the first Caddoan Area - Conference~ held at the University of OklahDma in 1946. A subsequent pDttery typology conference in my home was a.ttended by Krieger~ Stevenson, Howard,9 Cotter, and Ha.ag.

Through the years 'si.n ce i.942 D I have had the stimulatin.g and pleasurable experience of corresponding» traveling~ working » and arguing with Alex Krieger» in the attempt to clarify the picture of the Caddoan a.rea. As a.n illustration of continuity ~ of all the~ professionals with whom I have worked on the Caddoan problems p only Krieger and Bell are presently active in the area.

Many amateurs have rendered valuable service in the Caddoan are~a~ keeping collections intact)) making them and their records available to interes t ed professionals or amateurs ~ and in some instances being active in organizat ions or making report s of· their s t udies. Neild, Williamson s Todd ~ Fu.lton.\> Beckman.\> and Dodd in Louisiana. ; Leml€y~ Miroir~ Dr. and Mrs. Hodges 9 Soday~ Proctor» and Huddleston in Arkansas; Harris, Hayner .\> and other i;Texas CDme to mi nd.

I am almos t an impos t er in this workshop on the local archeo logical society» since I have not participated in the formation or conduct of such a society. Howe~ er s in 1946 ll- three of us originated the Shreveport society f or Na t ure ~tudy which has i nc luded an active p although in£ormal~ group who were interested in archeology . The other 2 founders were HoB. Wright p dioramist and curator of the Louisiana State Exhibit Mtllseum~ who is presently engaged in producing an immense diorama of Poverty Point~ and woeo Spooner 9 a geologis t: who had covered much of Guatemala ~ Honduras $ and Yucatan IOn f oot and muleback and had a keen interest in archeology and ~thno logy o Although the Audobon Serie$ constitutes a ma.jor part of the 6 to 8 annual meetings of this society p' archeological programs a.re inc!ludedo At present Bob Fulton and several others cDntinue studies of t he Bellevue focus,!) Beckman and I are collaborating with Ford i n bringing Poverty Point up to da t e and a.ll of us are working with Neitzel at the Marksville State Museum and Haa.g at L.SoV o toward So state~wide summary and listing of archeological sites o Formalized local and stat e socie.ties a.re in the offing.

9

Proper encouragement of youth is one of the functions of the non= professional. During t he past year Ful ton has guided a S~ out explorer Troop from a haphazard collec ting to an organized study of sites. I have had t he hGtppy experience of wor k ing with 2 h-i.gh school students, in eas t ~central Lo~isiana and east Texas p who have a near-professional approach in perception and methodology . Both wi.ll likely enter the professional field.

If the first person singular has been used here too often p fo~give me p but it best presents my conception of the ways in which the oon= professional , can participate with, the professional towat'd l lO.C21 . and regional goalso From personal experience I can assure the amateur who is interested and willing to learn that he -will have the encouragement and assistance of the professional in his area ; conversely, the professional can be ' certain of a wealth of enthusiasm, many man-hours of time and leg-miles of distance if he cultivates the 'amateur.

To the professional and nonprofessional I would say that there is work for all to do, individually and coilectivelY9 but we can do it much better if we are banded together on the local, state, region41, or national level. On behalf of the thousands of amateurs in the country 9 my thanks to the ~nlightem~d profes/sionals who have not scorned uS p but have helped to make o~ avocation a search for truth as well as an enquring pleasure.

CLARENCE , H

0

Shre:veport~

WEBB

La.

May 1956 ~~~---~~~~a~~G~

__

~ o~=~~o~~~~_~mQ~ ~ ~_Q.~m~~QG~Q~~ ~ O~ _ ~~~_~~~~~~~~~~

__

Utah Statewide Archeo l ogical Society 1957 Meeting Please mark the three dates , indicating order of preference p which would be most convenient for you to a.ttend a one day (10~ 00 a,.m. =~ 4:00 p.m.) . meeting of the USASo The meeting will be held at t he Department of AnthropologY9 University of Utah.

June 7

(

)

June 12

(

)

June 29

(

)

Aug. 19

(

)

June 8

(

)

June 28

(

)

July

(

)

Aug

(

)

Please mail to: James Ho Gunnerson Department of Anthropology University of Utah Salt Lake 129 Utah

1

0

20

Name and address

~

__

'\

Utah Archeology 'Department of Anthropology ¡niversity of Utah :alt Lake City, Utah

Non-profit Org.