IIItIII 'Mil.'." A
NEWSLETTER
UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY .
603 EAST SOUTH T.EMPLE SALl] LAK~ CJI'Jj UlAl:f
.. VOL . 15
NO.4
DECEMBER
1969
INDIAN ROCK, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
_.---- ----------- -- ._---
._------_._ ---
[lAB AtI.CHAEOLCGY is published quarterly by the Utah Statewide Archaeological Society. Correspondence concerning activities should be dirE!cted to the President. ~~nuscripts and news items or articles shollld ~A sent to the Editor. Eemberships to Secretary-Treasurf'r.
~.;• •
to
UTAH STATEWIDE ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Reede~
President:
Grant M.
Pres. Elect: Sec. - Treas.: Editor: Ed. Staff:
G. Cloyd Krebs M.D. Mrs, Gloria Barnett John L. Cross Janice L. Cross Jeanne L. Cross Dr. J.D. Jennings
Advisor:
M.D.
1969 South Claremont Drive Bountiful, Utah 84010 3353 Cherekee Lane, Provo, Utah 447 No. Main. Payson, Utah 84651 274 West 1400 South, Grem, Ute 8405'( 274 West 1400 South, Grem, Ute 84057 274 West 1400 South, Orem, Ute 84057 University of Utah, Department of Anthropology, Salt Lake City, Ute
84112 EDITOR'S PAGE THE COVER: The covers of No,'s 3 and 4 of Volume 15, Utah Archaeology, represent 4 figures copied by your editor in 1942 from two panels of pictographs done in red paint in caves and depressions in what was kn?wn as Indian Rock, located at about 1900 South on Wasatch Boulevard in Salt Lake City, -Utah. A number of the figures accompanying those pictured, were too faint to distinguish. Several pieces of pottery and some glass beads we~e recovered from the fine rock of the "slide" from the caves down to the roadside, at the same time as the pictographs were reproduced. Some marine fossils were also found. THE NEWSLETTER: Our first article in this issue, " Some Historic Indian Burials From Utah Valley by Evan De Bloois, opens up to us a field of study thay many of our members may have some familiarity with personally or through members of their families, neighbors or friends and would provide interesting papers and historical data. Mr. De Bloois is finishing his Ph.D at Brigham Young University. He has done work in the Fremont Culture in Central Utah as well as research on Meso-American cultures in Yucatan (see news clipping in "I See by the Papers" section). He joined the staff at Weber State College in June 1969. The second article by Dean Caldwell, Dig Chairman of the Salt Lake- Davis Chapter, USAS, is particularly interesting as it is the missing link between the professional and the amatuer. That is, it covers the activities of a group who are vitally interested in the Archaeo-Anthropological fields and, not having been schooled, are receiving an education, along with fun and adVentUre as they pursue their association, and interests with the amatuer. They, at the same time, are approaching their education on and under guidance of the professional field and helping to multiply the hands and time of the professional as they add to the knowledge of Utah Archaeology. Congratulations and k eep up the good work. A very nice r eport on the Utah Museum of Natural History is included from the pen of Dr. Jesse D. Jennings, Director of the Dept. of Anthropology, University of Utah, as well as director of the new Museum •• This article r eviews the history of the museum and explains the part played by the U,S.A.S, and its members, along with other individuals and organizations, in making this dream a reality. As individuals and a Society, we are only limited in what We can do by what we think we can do. You will note also that Dr. Jennings s erves the Socity as Advisor. (1)
"I See By the Papers" ¡ brings news in increasing quantities about the latest happenings in our field and. associated fields, about our chapter~ and their members and about our contributors. Notice what is being done by the "amatuer" in other places. A list of books and recent articles that may be of interest to our members are ¡included also. This is by no means complete, but represents a few that your editor hA~ r~Ln across in his readings and ramblings. If you know of others, send the information. Three Chapter reports are very welcome and proves that our interest is not all at a standstill. How about getting re-organized and reactivated as chapters in Moab, St. George? How about some new chapters in Richfield, Manti, Cedar City, Tooele, Kanab and other places around this State of ours? Need help? drop a line to your editor or to your President and we'll be happy to assis~ you. Pay special attention to the notices for the Annual State Convention . Come join: us, bring your friends and be prepared to elect a new President-Elect for 1972, to succeed Dr. Cloyd Krebs who is now President-Elect and will serve the Society as President for the next two years. A new secretary will also be elected at this meeting. We need some ideas here also. It is to be hoped that some of you will fill in the form to register giving a paper or suggesting others who could and would do so. The 'Bonus r eprint for this nUmber is the last half, numbers
3 and 4 of Voiume 2. 1956. We hope that these reprints will be helpful to those who have taken membership in more recent 'years and to those who might have misplaced their originals. Your editor would like to acknowle&ge Mrs. pye and Mr: James of the Utah Historical Society for their offer to us to copy all of the missing i55\1es, noted in past printings, thereby completing the Editor's file and the file in the Dept. of Anthropology at the University of Utah. Also, Mrs. Norma Dalton of Sunset, Utah who made a similar offer. I appreciate the response that is coming with articles and ideas. Keep them coming and we will be better able to serve our subscribers. It would be a show of ingratitude indeed, if I failed to once again thank Jeanne and Janice, our editorial staff, for the tireless efforts to complete and mail out these past three numbers along with all else they have had to dod~ing the Holiday Season whi~h in turn r eminds me, A Happy & Prosperous New Year to all of you. .
.. . j
(2)
SOME HISTORIC INDIAN BURIALS FROM UTAH VALLEY Evan I. DeBloois
In November of 1965, three rock hunters discovered a burial near Salem, Utah at the south end of Utah Valley. They reported their discovery to the writer and showed him the location of the site. The burial is located in Water Canyon east of Salem. Upon examination the "burial" turned out to be two burials and possibly three in shallow rock-covered graves at the base of a rock slide. The remains of the burials and the associated artifacts were removed to the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Brigham Young University where the author was a graduate student. This discovery was originally describec in ,the author's Masters thesis (DeBloois 1967) and is reported here because of the detail it gives concerning a very important period of Utah history about which little is known archaeologically. The i~dian burials near Salem (42Ut225) yielded many artifacts from the early historic period of Central Utah. These are individually described under the headings of metal artifacts, bone and shell artifacts, leather artifacts and ceramics. Metal Artifacts Most of the metal objects were badly rusted from exposure to the elements in the shallow rock-covered graves, According to the informants, most of the items found were associated with the uppermost burial, designated Burial 1. A pair of common square-tipped hous ehold scissors, 7-3/4 inches long, a tablespoon 7-7/8 inches long with traces of leather rusted to the handle, and a knife 7-t inches long were among the items found. All of the above items were badly rusted, and the tip of the spoon broke off upon removal. The remains of a wooden handle and the copper rivets that a ttached it to the shank of the knife were still preserved . A second knife 7-1/4 inches long and 1-1/8 inches wide fits a leather sheath described below. The point is missing, but most of the wooden handle is still attached by metal rivets. An 18 inch long iron spear point with double-edged blade is 1-3/8 inches wide. The metal collar from the fore-end of the handle is still held on the square shank of the spear by the tapered crosspin that once held the wooden handle. The lower three inches of the blade contain a series of notches filed into both edges, 19 on one side and 20 on the other. The blade is heavily pitted with rust.
Eleven metal projectile points were recovered with Burial 1. These are long (4 inches to 5-1/8 inches), narrow (3/4 inch to 1/2 inch), and thjn (1/16 inch) iron blades with parallel-sided stems. The blades have straight sides and slightly rounded points. Two of the points have pieces of fabric rusted to them, either from a cloth container or from contact with fabric in the burial. Slight traces of organic material on the tangs of several other points may be the remains of wooden shafts. Although longer than most stone projectile points, the consistent size and frequency of these metal points indicates their use as projectiles. They are about the same size and weight as many modern metal arrow points.
... " 0 '
Also found with Burial 1 were the parts of a cap-and-ball rifle. The wood stock and forepiece have disinteg~ated, but the metal parts were recovered. The barrel is three feet long and octagonal in shape as is the bore. The front sight is 'a tapering blade. higher toward the rear. 'The rear sight is badly eroded, but it appears to have been a vertically adjustable notch sight. Three small tabs protrude from the lower surface of the barrel and tapering pins are wedged through holes in these tabs, probably to fasten "the forepiece to the barrel. : Pieces of fabric similar to those on the projectile points are rusted to the 'b~rr~l also. 'The firing mechanism is side mounted and still contains a fired cap in position over the firing port. 'The trigger guard, trigger ass embly, screws from the stock, a cheek piece, and two copper joints from the ram rod were also recovered. Fragments of a powder flask. consisting of the narrow opening and top end and part of the wooden base were part of the burial goods. The wood still shows stains from black powder. Other curving pieces of metal may also have come from the flask. Another metal container was found in very poor condition and its use has not been determined. For'ty~two lead bails of three different calibers came' from the burial site, smallest balls fitting the above mentioned rifle. Sixteen balls are of large caliber, ' 1.3 cm. in diameter and averaging 13.4 grams in weight. Twentyone balls are of medium size. 1.1 cm. in diameter and averaging 8.3 grams. The smallest rifle balls are 1.0 cm. in diameter and weigh an average of 6.8 grams. One of the large caliber balls is flattened on two sides as if it had been fired and then recovered. th~
Two bone-handled pocketknives were also found. Each is ~1/8 inches long and 1 inch wide. They have two blades each and small metal insets in the bone handles. One is badly rusted and has broken into several pieces, The other is in fairly good condition. One i ron
ax was included among the items from Burial 1.
It measures
6-3/4 in~hes long and taper s f rom ~1/2 inches in width at the cutting edge to 3-3/8 inches at , the he~l •. The cutting edge is convex and thick. 'A small
pie~e
6f the wooden
hand~e i~
pres er ved .
A brass pail with a wire bail measures 9 inches in diameter and 6 inches in depth. The outside is blackened with smoke and the rounded bottom has numerous dents. The bail shanks are riveted to the sides of the pail. Except for the rivets and the bail, the pail is in excellent condition with very little corrosiori. A tinned-iron basin 9 inches in diameter at the bottom and 12 inches in diameter at the top was found with the pail. Its sides are n~de of five sections of metal, four 8-1/2 inches long and one ~1/2 inches long, The sides ar e 4-1/2 inches high and are r olled OVer a reinforcing wire at t he top. The metal is still strong even though it is coated with rust. Several metal buttons were discovered, nine are of the shank type, and one is a flat button with four center holes. The shank buttons are of different sizes and are decorated with two different designs. Five large buttons, 1 inch in diameter, are decorated with an outspread eagle td th a shield on its chest. 'Three of these copper but t ons were strung together on a l eather thong 2 inches long. One button o;f br onze also carries t he outspread eagle design.
(4)
Two small copper buttons are 1/2 inch in diameter. One carries the same eagle and shield design while the other has a four-pointed star inside an eightpointed star. On the reverse of the shank buttons with the eagle design, the words A.N. VORSTMANN & ALLINN can be made out, (The underlined letters are questionabl;.) This is apparently the name of the manufacturer. The last of the metal buttons is made of copper with a silver coating. It has a design of a standing lion inside a circle formed by a belt with buckle and eyelets. Written on the belt above the lion's head are two words, some of the letters of which have been obliterated by corrosion. The first word is VIRIV IS, the two underlined letters being either questionable or unreadible. -The last word is clearer, AMORE. Three iron buckles were found associated with numerous leather straps. One buckle is 1 inch by 3/4 inch, and two are 1-1/2 inches by 1 inch in size. Fragments of lea-ther are observed on the buckles and they likely are the remains of a bridle o~ harness of some kind. A small copper bell was found with Burial 1. About 3/8 inch in diameter, it has a shank for mounting and a narrow slit with circular holes at each end for emitting sound. A small bracelet of bronze or copper measures 2-3/8 inches in diameter and may belong to the smaller individual of Burial 2. It is made of a strip of metal 3/8 inch wide bent into a circle. It is much more rust resistant than most of the other objects. Three wire rings 2-3/4 inches in diameter of undetermined function were also found. These are made of wire 1/16 inch in diameter. The ends are not fastened together, but the ends of the wire are tapered and grooved to fit together. Shell and Bone Artifacts Several small buttons made of white shell and one of yellow bone or i vory came from the burial area. Seven white shell buttons 3/8 inch in diameter with oval cross-sections and four holes probably came form the ffame garment. Three other white shell buttons are 3/8 inch in diameter and have a dish-shaped cross-section and four holes. The one yellow button is 5/8 inch in diameter and has f our holes. Tho one yellow button is 5/8 inch in diameter and has four holes. It is flat in cross-section. Leather Artifacts The leather from 42Ut225 is very fragile and brittle. With the exception of the shoes from Burial 1, only small pieces of leather were found. Numerous leather straps were all that remained of a bridle or harness. The shoes were in unusually good condition compared to the other items found. They are about size nine (the interior length is 9 inches). They appear to have been machine sewed and are laced through a pair of holes in the front of the shoe and two holes in each of two side pieces that wrap around the ankle. The toes are square.
A knife sheath of leather fits the wooden-handled knife described above. This scaggard i5':7-3/4 inches long and 1-1/2 inches wide. It was handsewed but the thread has long since decayed. J\.l~ng the back edge o,r ' this sheath a 'series of 18 notches have been cut. Ceramics Only one 'ceramic object was found at 42Ut225, a pipe bowl made in the form of a human head. This pipe is obviously of European manufacture and shows a heavily bearded man with curly hair. The facial features represented are distinctly European. The pipe is made of red-fired pottery with a glazed surface. In the interior of the bowl only a few signs of use are noticable. The pipe measures 1-3/4 inches from the chin of the he'a d to the top of the bowl and the bowl is 1-1/4 inches in diameter. The short stem was likely fitted with a mouthpiece of wood or some other perishable mA.te.rial. :, . Human Skel etal Remains ..
Two complete skeletons were removed along with a fragment of a third skull from the burial location in Water Canyon. These were designated Burials 1,2, and 3 in order of their discovery. Burial 1 was the most recent and best preserved of all the skeletons, and was found directly above burial 2 and 3. This burial was associated with a number of artifacts dating to the early historic period of Utah and described above. It is likely a northern Ute burial of the l800¡s. The skull of Burial 1 is in excellent shape and is pronouncedly dolichowith no occipital flattening . Measuring roughly 190 mm. in glabella-occipit al length, and 130 mIn. in width, it has an approximate cephalic i ndex of 68.4. A small segment of the l eft zygomatic arch is missing and there is a small nick in the mandible directly below. c ep~alic
The teeth are all present except for the lower rigllt canine and the upper right first pre-molar,The lower incisors and canines are crowded and have grown irr egularly. The l ef t lower third molar was lost. prior to deat h and the mandible has grown over the root hole. There is one large cary i n the third molar on the r i ght side of the lower jaw. The other lower teeth are fr ee f r om caries exc ept for very small ones in the first molers. The upper t eet h are also in good condit ion, well worn but not to the point of obl iterati ng t he cusps. All of the t eeth are well developed. Both upper third molars have deep caries, but only a few small ones appear in some of the other molar and pre-molar teeth. Burial 2 from 42Ut225 represents a small delicate individual, probably female, and the skull separated into several sections along the sutures upon removal. The skull of Burial 2 measures roughly 170 mIn. in glabellooccipital length and 135 mIn. in width for a cephalic index of about 79.4. The teeth are little worn and indicate death at a relatively young age. All of the lower teeth are pr esent except the r ight second mol ar , which was lost after death. Both 10l"er third molars are impacted and t he toot h buds can be seen developing through small root holes in the mandible .
(6)
_ . .. - --
-
--
~ ---- -.
--_.
-
-~-
_ .. --- -
.. - .
More of the upper teeth are missing, as the left second molar, left pre-molars, right second incisor, right canine, and right pre-molars were lost after death. The two upper third molars are also impacted and can be seen well-developed just below the surface of the maxilla. Very small cavities in the fissures of the pre-molar and molar are the oniy ones seen. There was a considerable amount of over bite and the front teeth extend above and below the levels of the pre-molar and molar teeth. The fragment of a third skull was found at 42Ut225 upon the examination of the site after the other two skeletonS had been removed by rock hunters. The fragment consists of the upper half of the left eye orbit, the left half of the supraorbital torus, and the left front section of the calvarium. Measuring only 50 mm. from the orbit to the top of the skull ana 55 mm. from the supraorbital torus to the bregma, it is the skull of an infant or very young child. Summary The burials and associated artifacts were found about 500 feet into Water Canyon, at the foot of a rock slide some 50 feet wide and 150 feet long. The two burials were recovered from the foot of this slide by informants, and a third burial was removed from the same location several years eariler by a local resident. Broken limestone rock was used to cover the deceased, and some soil, probably windblown, also overlay the remains. The two burials were not contemporaneous, and the earlier (Burial 2) was greatly disturbed by the later one (burial 1). Most of the artifact found probably belonged to the latest burial. The location of the burials near the foot of a talus slide appears to be a relatively common occurance in this part of Utah as other burials with similar artifacts have been reported for different talus slides from the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon south along the Wasatch front. These bruials have not to me knowledge been reported in print, although artifacts from several have been donated to various museums, including Brigham Young University. The nature of the associated artifacts suggests that these were historic burials, probably dating to the period of time shortly following the settlement of Utah Valley in the 1850's. The frequency of known northern Ute burials in these environments suggests the remains are of the same group. There are no artifacts of excusively '"ndian orgin in the bruials, but the presence of "shovel-shaped" incisor teeth in both skeletons indivates they are Indian rather than European. It would be useful to both the archaeologist and the historian alike to have more information from this little known period of IndianWhite contact in Utah and hopefully other burials similar to those described above can be found and excavated in the future.
( 7 )
Excavation The excavation is handled exclusively by the Salt Lake Chapter of U,S,A,S, with the assistance of the University Archeology department under the direction of Jack Marwitt, who surveyed the site and gave all the pertinent instruction on our prngrel'l5: The m01lYld ,.re 1'TOrked on last su,.'mncr (42JB2-6) turned out to be, as near as can be told, a large grainery of sorts, There were no walls incountered of upright masonary. there was some plaster like clay layers that could have been used against the bank or side, and fallen off, that was found. Other than that no evidence of rooms Were present, evidence of culture followed throughout the mound to a general depth of three to four feet, consisting of artifacts of bone ih excellent . condition, pondants. awls, garnering pieces, scrapers, and a bone ring , highly polished, that could be used for a wedding band today, Pot sherds in great abundance were found through out the site and were of many different types. Artifacts of rocks such as knives. drills, and bird tips of many different oolors were found, Some f ood stUffs and some possibly restorable pottery were also recovored. A final analysis will be done following our lab works, which will begin at our January meeting, Jack will be there to give us this information and bring a sample display of sherds and other material found on mounds near ours for comparative study. All in all it's been a most enjoyable summer; after the sun goes down you can hear the strumming of guitars and contented voices coroming from camp sites, indicating that a good time was had by everyone, and thats as it should be.
Dean Caldwell, Salt Lake-Davis Chapter U.S.A.S.
(8)
UMNH OPEN by Dr. Jesse D. Jennings The Utah Museum of Natural History opened on October 6, 1969, and has begun to have an impact as an educational resource for the State of Utah. With the cooperation of the news media and through the strong interest of elementary and secondary school people through the State, many folks are generally aware that the Museum exists and is now operating. Far fewer people, how·ever, are aware of the history of this new facility on the University of Utah campus. The Museum was established by the Utah State Legislature in 1963 by Senate Bill 18 which authorizes the establishment of a State Museum of Natural History, However, a comparable bill had been introduced in the 1961 Legislature. The 1961 bill was misinterpreted by some of the legislators who feared that the establishment of such a statewide institution would damage or harm or compete with other State institutions such as the Vernal Field House. The members of the Utah Statewide Archaeological Society were requested to inform the Representative and Senators of the need for a museum, explaining that · there would not be competition with other institutions and that it would become a State resouce as both a local educational resource and °a tourist attraction, The Society members did their work will; the 1963 bill passed without dissenting vote. Particularly active in the compaign of persuasion were Messrs. Geroge Tripp of Bountiful, Merril Peterson of Logan, and Eldon Dorman of Price. Thus in a very real sense the Archaeological Society gets credit for the difficult first step: an authorization. After the establishment, the areas of cooperation in development increased greatly. On the University of Utah campus, Vj_ce Presidents Maxwell, Hodson, Dykstra, Adamson, Emery, and King helped in every possible way, including persuading the regents to make available necessary space in the George Thomas Library when the new Library opened. The enabling legislation provided no funds with which to create the displays so the UniVersity appointed a Director but made no funds available. It became necessary, then, to raise money in the community. First donations came from Mrs. Cleone Cooper Hansen of Monticello, The opportunity for the seed gift was made known to her by Mr. Cal Gaddis of Dean Witter & Company. Mr. Gaddis subsequently organized and incorporated the Associates of the Utah Museum of Natural History and has served as President of the corporation from the beginning. The Associates have succeeded in raising some $120,000, all of which has gone into planning, construction and installation of the Museum displays. Additional financial help has been received from the National Science Foundation while the UniVersity has made limited funds available as an advance against future income. The October 6, 1969, opening came some 3 1/2 years after the first exhibit was constructed. Exhibit Curator Hague, with a modest staff, build exhibits during the entire three-year period so that when the library building came available it would possible be assembled over 80 first-class, high-quality displays in a relatively short time. The
opening itself was a simple affair to which all donors, including family membership holders, University administrators and members of the Junior League were invited. , In view of the fact that we think of the Museum as a cormnunity resource, it is designed for the layman viewer rather than the specialist. Thus it is already popular with tho schools; their support began the very first day. The Junior League of Salt Lake City has donated the salary for Mrs. Frances Minton, the Scheduling Officer; she is also Head Docent. She schedules all school visitations -and schedules the many Junior League women to act as docents. - These women are all volunteers. Without the continuous support of the League through the years and the volunteer work of these 'women, we could not operate the facility effectively. -Junior League support has been manifgst and continuous over the last four years. And at present the League is making firm plans to establish' and operate a Junior Academy in conjection with the Museum, further strengthening it as a service institution. In sum, the Museum represents continous dedicated labor and , volunteer support on the part of many people over the years. ',Its success seems to be assured and all who have participated can 'we.el be proud. Construction of exhibits will continut for severl years because one entire hall. basic Biology and Ecology, has not been build, but it is necessary for the roungi~g our of the natural history concept.
(10)
", /'
HistOf\/ Of Utes Off
•
he Press
~
trl
~
~
By FAYE JENSEN De3eret News Correspomlent
R 0 (l S EVE L T - "Ute People," one of the first Inrlian histo ri es \\ritten from the Indian point of view, came off the prrsses this week, and first copies were presented at a banquet in Roosevelt, The book was prepared by -the Western History Center of the University of Utah and wil~ be used during this school 'year in several Uintah Dis'trict schools. · Researchers s, pen t 2% · years taping intervieivs with · older Utes, talking with re"i , dents 'about old documents. racqUlrmg photographs and checking hundreds of sources of information in archives an1 museums at Denver, New , Y 0 r k, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
LABOR OF LOVE "This book represents :l 1l1bQr of lov~ to these people who worked on it," said F10yd O'Neil. assistant director ot "the Western History Cenier. "It represents our active Ia;lh in the Ute people. They have been a defeated and rejected people. They have also bee a a socially rejected people Oy a dominant people. This can all be changed. "Pictures in the book are of Indians, not the white man's fort, white agents, etc. This is a sodal history with digniiied people as Its subject. Our one -'Jurce was the Indian people 1selves. The Indian people
en
white neighbors need to know present Tribal Business Com· more about the Indians. This mittee. It tells about many Inwill also help us to know more dian customs, their dances, about our5elves. Maybe :"ome homes and culture, and of im· of our ' problems may be provements in education and solved." other fields on the reserva• Helping to compile the his- tion. Some 65 persons attended tory were Mrs. June Lyman, Mrs. Norma Denver, Loya the banquet. Copies o~ the Goodrich, Gordon Loosle and book were also presented to Norman Shelley. The book Mrs. Denver, Mrs. Lyman, was produced in cooperation Loosle, all the members of the with the school district and Uintah District school board and superintendents of bot h ' Title 1: funds. Craig Kennington, di~tor Uintah and Duchesne school . districts. I of Title I for Utah, said, "It is An early copy of this histotruly a unique adventure. This is the only written prod- ry, completed in 1967, was uct done by cooperation of taught in several Uintah DisTitle I the school district and , trict schools as a pilot project. local persons. This is what , - _.Congress charged the program with when it was set up - to better the educational lot of the Indian students. This group has produced something that is going to do this." OTHER TRIBES Kay Hays of the University of Utah said other tribes have contacted the university to find out how they can get their school districts to do something like this. It is believed to be one Of " Gary Poowegup, left, receives first copy of Indi;!' . the first times that local histohistory" "Ute People," from Floyd O'NeU., ry has been ta1\ght in a school .here the minority group's want everyone to know what thing back to the Ilchodl!l. RJIJ ,history is being taught to that their history is. not file Indian wh~ needs tua minOrity group. "We have received the com· .education now. It is the whit.' The book is completely up plete cooperation of the Tribal man. '- let us at long last 16 date, with pictures of the ' Business Committee aqd' tne learn about thl! Indians." Uintah and Ouray superin. Gary Poowegup, member of tendent, Stanley Lyman. and . the Tribal Business Commit· many others. After 21f2 years tee, Who received the first of work, we can return some- copy of the book, said, "Our
(0 (0
co
'<
~
!
=:r' (0
I-C ~
~ (0
l-1 V'J
II
DESERET NEWS, Monday, November 24, 1969
A7
U graduate students examine Navajo Indian social needs CHINLE, Arizona - Twelve student social workers and their instructors in the Graduate School of Social Work are getting a first-hand look at the problems of 120,000 Navajo Indians who live on the sprawling reservuti.o n at Four Corners, where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado intersect.
See photo essay on page 3 The grad uate studen ts, assigned to the Inte rmountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah, make periodic tri ps to the reservatio11 to see the families and friends of the Indian boys and girls attending the northern Utah boarding school, observe their environment and gain insight into the Navaj cultme. This fall they visited remote, isolated hogans in all five of the agencies on the reservation - at Tuba City, Ft . Defiance, Eastern Navajo, Shiprock and Chinle. Margie E. Peters n, assis tant professor of social work and one of the supervising fie ld instructors, says her grad uate student "try to he lp Navajo parents understand the educational program at the school and to get them involved tluollgh their sons and daughters." In the proce til U student. are gain ing a much better understanding of the pecial social and educational needs of both the Inter-
mountain School children and their parents. "YOLI can't come down here like this and not gain compassion for the Indian," says Lynn H. Crockett, 26, from Idaho Falls, Idaho. The young graduate students are being introduc d to mutton . t w and Navajo fry bread, pic king lip a mattering of on e of th m st dimcult American languages, and learning Indian customs. Before traveling back to Salt Lake City, the U social workers visi ted several Indian trading posts, attended a Navajo "Sing" (religious cer mony), talked to a "Y ibeiche" (witch doctor) and sampled Navajo foods. "What we're learning out here could never be picked up in the classroom or out of a textbook," ay Robert Halpin, 25 from Midva le tah. "We go back hom with an entirely different view of t he Navajo and his problems." The trips to the reservation are often emo ti on-packed experience. for the young . o cial work rs. 'J II never forget on vi, it," . ay Patrick G. Me ill , 2. r Ogden Utah. "The mother of one of our students cried when she learned we had traveled all the way to her home just to see her, deliver a picture of her daughter and tell her how her child was doing in school. We all had tears in our eyes and lumps in our throats."
J4 t\
~a rf l:lkr Trihnnr.
~"nda~' , ,'oF'mlwr
:?:t, 1969
-,All{'i(~llJ Tomb.~ ATIJENS. Gr~EEC:I-: (,\1') -:- \\"orkc,'s rlig;!illg ;1 lOlllld:,. tlOn ror it n('\\' hlli1(liJ'" i!1 downtOlvn Athen,. un("I'v~,,(," S'a .t 1I. r rI <1 I iI 1 ,I r;!r prr. Chnstlan era c(>meten' II illl most of its tomh~ int;]cf. . Archeologisis believe the cemetery was used by the 11 n· ient Athenians to bury nonresidents. . Excavations came to 1\ halt after the tomhs were fonnd in order to givp the Greek Ar. che.olo~ical Sprdr'e an opportumty to cRrefull\" e:'((';1v811' tll.e site ;1nd sift thrOUgh the ruins.
JOHN CROSS
University of Utah Review / November, 1969
County Archeological Society Elects John Cross John Cross, Orem, has been and her late husband, Dar~en · elected president of the utah Haws. This included a collectIon County Archaelogical SOCiety. of new and old Indian necklaces. OUler of[icers were Wilford She introduced Mr. Cross who MeIJor, vice president; Kathryn told about Indian legends and Tuttle, secretary; Cecil Dixon, myths, reading sl"Jme of the legreporter. ends. Dr. Kyle Clark, outgoing pres· Tommy McGinnis, 12-year-old ident, presided and conducterl ,Shoshone Indian, son of Mr. and the el~ct.ion. Mrs. Thomas McGinnis 0 f He al<;o introduced Mrs. Clar- Orem, ~resented several auth. ce Haws, who showed Indian entic Inc!iHn dances. He appear1rtifacts collected by herself ed in full Plains Indian costume. SUNDAY, NOV. 23, 1969 Provo,
Utah
Sunday Her'lld
3
7
16 A
DESERET NEWS, Tuesday, December Of,
1'1'0'1'
Y. Aide Assiss Fossi Find "strong evidence" for continental drift. Such creatures "could not have migrated bet wee n continental areas across oceanic barriers." Since similar fossils have been found in other parts of the world, scientists believe they can say with certainty that Antarctica was once joined to other land masses now widely separated.
By HAL KNIGHT Dr:':f'ret News Science Writer .\ scientist from Brigham YOllng Univrrsity is part of a team which hils made "one of
thr truly great fossil finds of all time" in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. The "find" is an incredibly an~~nt skull from a reptile brlt&ved to be the ancestor of pr~flistoric dinosaurs. Such a fo!-'sil has no husiness being in the vicinity of the South Pole. GROVP OF EXPERTS .T~mr<; A. Jensen. curator of gf'C1!ogy at BYU. few to •4ntarctica this filU as part of ;1 group of experts searching for just such a discovery. "If we can find it," he said, .• i t will be solid progf that the !'Omi nental drift theory is ac('llrate and that Antarctica \\ ~s once part of other conti-
SANDSTONE BED
"mE'1I
James A. Jensen .•• fossil expert
The bones were found in a sandstone bed about 400 miles from ,the South Pole. The lystrosaurus 'is a "key index fossil" of the Lower Triassic geologic period in the Southern Hemisphere land masses. The discovery establishes "beyond question" the fact that a great southern continent - tenned by scientists as "GOndwanaland" did exist at {lne time.
SPANNED ATLANTIC The theory is that Gondwanaland once spanned the South Atlantic oceans and included most of Africa. South America and India in a single lilnd mass. Stlldies in geology hi) ve tended to confirm this ideil. but this is the first time that fossils have been found in i"olated Antarctica which match those from other areas. Jensen was invited to take part in the expedition because of his reputation as a field worker in the finding and collection of dinosaur bones. The BYU expert does not hold a college degree, but is highly regarded by fellow workers in the field of paleontology and has submitted a number of scientific papers to scholarly journals.
I to
four-foot·long creature. The National Science FounThe . sponsormg . . fossilt .uncovered t by f the h d'ation . t whl'ch IS group con aInS par s o t e , the expedition said th fi d . hrad of a lystrosaurus, a two . , e n IS
;1('l1tS."
.
I
I
...u
iii
a
"U C
..B c
A. -U
.2
"U
c
cu
~
..r:: III
o
(!)
GJ
0'0 0-
c
o ~
'+-
'';::: C
cu
-0
...
a
CI)
..c
E CI)
u
D..
• « t-o o '" CI)
0
>. c "E:::> C
c .-
I/)
a-
.,;
3w
z
:)
... w
co: w II) w
0
:)
c:c
0
I
8
16 A
DESERET NEWS, Wedne,day, December 10, 196.
Merry-Go-,Round: This Is L¡ove For The Navajos? By JACK ANDERSON WASHINGTON - BaITY Goldwater, who makes heap bIg noise about his love for Indians, has become the Senate champion of the bureaucrats, ranchers, and other Indian oppressors. In Goldwater's native Arizona, the Navajos have been reduced to Biafra-Ievel malnutrition by greedy white traders and Mr. Anderson sponging ranchers. The situation is so desperate that Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wis., ha.s ordered this Anti-poverty Suhcommittee to investigate. This column has now obtained docu¡ ments collected by Nelson's jnvestigators in preparation for upcoming hearings. ,The dor.um ..nts show criminal neglect of the Navajos so gross that it cries out for some bureaucrats' scalps. The Bureau of Indian Affairs licenses all white traders on the reservation. Although charged by law to protect Indians from raw deals, the Bureau has let the white traders become Virtual dictators. They act as postmasters, welfare check agents, food stamp dispensers, pawnhT"nkl'r~ and. of course. general Iltorekeepers. Lately, a valiant little hand of.Poverty Corps lawyers. invited by Navajos. has moved into the bleak reservation to aid the poore!:t of it~ 125.000 people. They have documented for Sen. Nelson how the traders and other whites have teITrorized and impoverished the Indians. Sen. Goldwater carried the trader;;' ca~p. against the Poverty Corps lawyers to 1h~ Senate floor. He charged that the attorneys were causing dissension in the tribe and demanded that their $1.1 million anti-pov..rty grant be restricted.' So that the public can judge whether 1he lawyers should be curbed, here are ~omp examules of the "di~sension" they have ::;tirren up: At Torreon, N.;\L a whitp. tr .. der ;leting as postmaster plucked out an old \l"oman'~ Welfafp. check ;I~ it (;Imp throu/rh the mails . He barged into her
hogan and demanded !lhe endorse the check over to him. When she refused to sign it, he brandished a knife at her. Still she resisted. He grabbed her hand, forced her thunb on an ink pad and then forcibly "endorsed" the check with her thumbprint. Two outraged Poverty Corps lawyers went to the trader and threatened him with charges of assault and battery and illegal conversion. The bully returned the check and settled the assault case with an additional $100. -In Holbrook, Ariz., a woman pawned her fine "concho" silver belt with a white trader. When she came to redeem it, he wanted 10 per cent interest 8. month, far beyond the 2 per cent allowed by Arizona law. The lawyers quickly set him straight and got back the bf>lt without interest. -Twenty years ago, near Flagstaff. Ariz.. a white rancher drove Navajos families from their land, burned their hogans and corrals, and fenced off the property. The Navajos complained to the Bureau of Indian Affairs which, typically, did nothing. Now the Poverty Corps lawyers are taking the case at last into federal district court. The young lawyers have gotten a racIst school principal fired, forced out two school board members, invoked an old ,treaty to get water to the reservation, demanded that the Bureau of Indian Affairs do its duty. and tried to prevent whites from throwing their garbage into Navajo streams. The lawyers also ::Ire trying to help the Navajos raise their annual income above the present. starvation. U.500-per-family level. Clearly, Goldwater is right about the 'lawyers stirring dissension which may be bad for the traders but is good for the Indians whom Goldwater professes to love. Note: If there are any poorer ~ople under the American flag than the Navajo!'. jl]ey are the Eskimos who occupy thl' frozen wastelands of Alaska. They m:lnal!E' to exist on less than half the calories required for human lifp.. Except for thp. few who Ii,¡"" in th., cilj,,~. there i~ almost no empioYnlP1l1 and no income except for hunting ilnrl fish;ng. The average age at death is 34. :<no infant mortalif:,' is Vi time<' gre~t~r than that or other Alask;m~.
9
s, co ......... lI,w. Oec I' .. o .. ~
10A
Weber Prof
Puzzle Found
OnBYU .Field Trip OGDEN - A Weber state College anthropologist is 'WIth a group rrom Brigham Young University on a three-week) archeological trip to MexicQ. ; Evan DeBloois, assistant ~ professor of anthropology at .Weber State wUl iesearc.h the problems of prehistoric ecolo-, ' gy at lturbide. Campeche.·
Mexico. He plans to
retu~
Jan. 2. The work is being made in connection with bls research Jdr a Ph.D. degree on how prehistories solved the problems of water and wata- star· . age' and which time periods ~ they lived in. ! The Brigham Young group is, under the direction of Dr. I Ray T. Matheny, chairman of I the Depllrtment of Anthropol~ I 0l!Y lit BYU. . 1 Tht' trip IS funded by the
i
New World Archeological rounclation at BYU, Mr. 'DeBioois said. , "In some areas of 'Mexico !I as long a 190 days ~ sses : l'Iitllout t'ain or water of any : kind surfacing the earth," he ;
~~d.
DESERET NEWS, Tuesday, December 16, 1969
In Old Tomb ROME (AP) ...... A group of It a lia n amatent areheolo· gists has found a carved stone in' a 2,600·year·old Etruscan , :,~b which it .claims depicts face resembling the. myste· rious sculptures of Easter' Islllnd.
a
large mouth.
n Giornale.
which published picture of, the sculptured stone, said it depicts a face 'with strong pre·Colombian 'American outlines. , It
"Scholars," said the paper, been thinking of linking The Rome newspaper n , the stone with the idols of Giornale d,'Italia. which re~ Easter Island. Some of them ported t~~ '#Jding Monday, archeologists have thought of a pOSSIble link said th~ called the' • '. d stone HEl with old Ap1.erican · civilizaChe," :after €uban . perrilla 'tions." leader: ,Ernesto Che Guevara, The archeologiSts. all memo killed- in Bolivia. ·b e r s of an orga,nization The stone is oval land of called Roman .Archeological ~srnall siZe. It showed a carved GrQJlP. said the stone was , crude face with a long big fOUBCi irt-an Etruscan tomb of nose, small eyes and a rather the 7th century B.C; They dug it out in an area around Tar· clfic. The origin of its famous monolithic heads, 20 to 30 feet quinia, .. central Italy. !~Ea~'lsll!ld is 2,500 miles .tall and weighing ~ to II toM, we!!: of 'Chill in the South P~ 'has Dever been determined. ~"have
:
.. I want to find out how they j stored water for human con· ~ sumption and farming during i tho~e periods at different times in history of the area." , .. Another purpose of the trip is to survey and map a couple sites which have not been studied since they wer!! first ' discovered in 1842. The sites are Santa Rose Xtarnpak and DZlbUnobac, which are about as primitive areas a~ can be found," hp said.
i
WHAT IS A PREHISTORIC BISON SKELETON DOING IN AN IOWA
PEATBOG? The recent discovery o f University of Iowa geologists puzzles the sci entists . The animal. wh ich became extinct some 25.000 years ago. was usually dismembered by predators. Scattered bones are often found. but never a complete skelebon. One theory offered by the men who found this one: The ton-and-a-half creature fell through the ice of a lake, sank to the bottom i n kneeling position, became covered with vegetation and debris. Ages later the pond dried and the remains stayed right where they were until this past October .
'0
.....
- .. , -
- .-
._--. ... . -
---
..
RECENT ARTICLES OF BOOKS OF INTEREST ARTICLES: (1)
Scientific American November 1969 PP42-52 EarlÂĽ Man in the West Indies Jose M. Cruxent and Irving Rouse
(2)
Scientific American November 1969 Harappan may be Drauidian.
p 62
(3)
Scientific American December 1969 The Rise and Fall of Arabia Felix Gus W. Van Beck
pp 36-46
(4)
Argosy December 1969 pp 23-27 Atlantis at Last? Robert F. Marx with Dmitric Rebikoff
(5)
Argosy January 1970 pp 21-27 Adventure Award for 1969 to Pablo Bush Romers Robert Fe. Marx
(6)
Science Digest December 1969 pp 17-22 Mummies: Man's Drive for Immortality Burt Hare
(1)
The Emergence of Man - John E. Pfieffer Harper and Row New York, New York; 10016 $10.00
-WORLD WIDE-
The Cahuilla Indians - Harry C. James Desert Magazine Bookshop $7.50 Palm Desert, California 92260
-CALIFORNIA-
Men Along the Trail - Neil M. Judd Desert Magazine Bookshop $5.00 Palm Desert, California 92260
-UTAH, ect.-
BOOKS:
(2)
(3)
(11)
UTAH COUNTY CHAPTER The monthly Chapter meeting Qf the Utah County Chapter was held at the Grant School, Springville, Utah, November the 20, 1969. Displays of Artifa~ts and fossils were set up by Wilford Mellor. Artifacts; Crafts and costumes by Mrs. Darrell (Clarice) Harus. Rubbings of ink on white cloth of potroglyphs of Capitol Reef were displayed and te~hniques explained by Mrs. Harry (Cecil) Dixon. The program included John L. Cross, editor, The Newsletter, who spoke on Indian Legends and Myths. Mr. Cross was the organizer of this chapter. Authentic Indian Dancers were presented by Tommy Mc ~rinnis of Orem, Utah. Tommy is a full blooded Indian, Indian, ShoshoneBannock and is 12 years old. He displayed a good deal of talent along with beautiful bead and feather w?rk, all authentic. Elections were held under the direction of Kyle Clark, M. D., outgoing President, and the following T/ere elected for one year terms: J ohn L. Cross - Orem, Utah - President Wildford Mellor - Springville, Utah- President Eelct. Kathryn Tut tle - Springville , Utah- Secretary and Treasure Ceil Dixon - Provo, Utrul - "Reporter Program Chairman and other chapter officers will be appointed later. No meeting will be held in December, but big things are expected" for 1970. SALT LAKE - DAVIS CHAPTER Big things are planned in the Salt Lake Davis Chapter for 1970 and scheduling a Y8ars program and appointment of the,various program chairmen will help make it happen. Neilo and Berta Taylor will'host our Janu&ry home meeting in the latter-part of the month. Dr . Rodney and Irene Stone ..rill host our Fe burcuoy home meeT.l.ng. Irene will show us how to put non-matching black arrowhead parts together with clay and paint them . Irene had a frame of arrowpoints at our las t meeting , December 10, 1969.. We couldn't tell they were broken Our March meeting will be at the Dean and Shannon Caldwell home. Our first meeting each month, held on the 2nd Wednesday, will be at the U. of U. We will start in January to Catalog our dig artifacts. We should be able to have this done in order to have a map showing what has been done and what needs to done to finish the
(12)
Cant.
mound. The maps will be done by Harris Salisbury. We will also use this display in the Utah State Fair. We have all enjoyed this project and have worked well together. Another project that is underway is the preparation of a basic outline for school lectures. This is appreciated so much by the children and helps them to realize the need to protect and preserve the mounds, pictogrpahys, ect. We are going on a field trip December 25th thru'January 1st. for petroglyph impressions, ect. Mostly around the St. George and Hurricane area. As soon as weather permits wewill have a field trip to NineMile Canyon for petroglyph impressions uneer the direction of Jay Gustaveson. Also, a field trip St. George way again on May 30th Mrs, Afton Crawford. CACHE CHAPTER Our Chapter had very successful and interesting meetings this past year. Oscar and Verda Grunig were the Program Chairmen. At our first meeting we had an interesting program on Jewelry Designing and "Lost-Wax" casting, given by Weldon Kofoed. An interesting program and film were presented on the Olympics in Austria by Merrill Peterson. Emil and Clara Rosenau from Ogden showed us slides and told us about the Northwestern Federation (minerological Societies) show and also showed us proper material and ways to prepare our cases for showing. Lester Lowe, a member of our club gave a program on how to cut and polish stones, and put on display, which was enjoyed by all. Mr. Lloyd Gunther of Brigham City presented films and a lecture on the remote places of the Arizona Desert and on performance of four-wheel drive vehicles in the desert. Mr. Tay Ashcraft of FJ'emonton presented a program, shol~ng pictures and lecturing on Dinosaur Bone, Agate, and how coral of WYoming as well as Indian Artifacts, Joshua trees, Anderson mine agate and petrified wood of Arizona. Mr. Mc Laren Funh presented a program on Astronomy. Mr. Wayne Wilcox of Brigham City presented a program on "The Old Mormon Trail," which was very educational and interesting. Mr. Llyd Peterson of Idaho Falls gave us a program on something different and very enjoyable when he showed us many pictures and lectured .on his trips to "The Autartic" where he spent six months on a goverment assignment. Our final meeting slides were shown from the Northwestern Federation entilled, ''r1an Inherits the Earth," "Creatures of the Sea," and "Cauopy of the Air."
Mr. our and for
We also enjoyed a lovely summer party at the Canyon home of & }~s. Wallace Hopkins and Mr. & Mrs, Carl.Felix, members of club. A Christmas party was also held where we exchanged-gifts had a good program and held nominations and elections of officers the coming year.
A very successful Rock Show was held April 26 & 27 at the Logan High School, Owen Anderson was Show Chairman. There were 105 displays with 36 participants, 37 nonr prizes were given away and a grand prize of a beautiful table made by Bartlett Hill was given away. A large crowd attended and we feel it was well worth the time soent. Mr. &.Mrs. H. Merrill Peterson, Mr. & Mrs. Oscar Grunig and Mr. & Mrs. Lester Lowe had show cases displayed at the National Gem and Mineral Show held at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, ,Tune 19-21, 1969.: Lester and Grace won first place on their display wit h a 97% rating. Sever al t rips w~re made by members of the club to WYoming for Jade. Some beautif ul pi eces wer e f ound by the lucky ones. A trip to Goose Creeks for limb casts wa s very enjoyable. The elections held at our Christmas Party have not been completed as yet, but Owen Anderson of Logan, Utah was elected President and Eruin Thoms on of Logan , Utah was elected Vice President.
(14)
-
.
·.....
,
.
\ : .)
Grant M. Reeder Mu D. 1969 South Claremont Drive Bountiful, Utah 84010 Dear Mr.
Reeder:
I plan to attend the Annual Convention of the Utah Statewide Archaeological Society, March 14, 1970 at 1:00 PM in Room 202 in the Orson Spencer Hall, University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. ;--~
I will present a paper entitled __________________________ I will need the following special equipment _______________ Suggestions for meeting program __________________________ Sincerely,
NAME
ADRESS
CITY
INVITE A FRIEND - RECRUIT A MEMBER
STATE
ZIP
NOTICE TO
~~ffiERS
The 1970 subscription fee for the NEWSLETTER is now due. For your convenience, a remittance blank is printed below. Please use it whether you mail your subscription directly to the State officers or pay it to the Sec.-Treas. of your loca) chapter. Make your ch~ck ($2.00) payable to the U-Lah Statewide Archeological Society, and Mail It to Mrs. Gloria Barnett, 447 North Main, Payson, Utah 84651 •••.•.•• Perhaps you have a friend or relative interested in subscribing to the NEWSLETTER,an extra order blank is printed for tlis purpose •••••• Utah Statewide Arche logical S cietx Memberslup Renewal Blank for 1970 Name of local Chapter__~____~~__~__~~~~--~~--~~~~~~~~ All subscribers are members of the state Society whether they belong to a local chapter or not. Name:
Addre~s~s~:-----------------------------------------------------------------
City, State, and Zip Code, _______________________________________________
The Utah Statewide Archeological Society welcomes new members! You may become a member of the State Society by subscribing to our Newsletter, "Utah Arche logy", which is published quarterly, '1arch, June, Sept6mber) and December. Mbmbers.hip in the local chapters may be enjoyed by contacting one of the officers of the chapter nearest you or write for additional inf orma tion • . P Please make a check of $2.00 payable to the Utah Statewide Archeological Society, and mail ·itto l'11'6. Gloria Barnett, 447 North Main, Payson, Utah 84651. Your subscription will begin with the March 1970 issue. Name:
Addre~s~s~:-------------------------------------------------------------
City, State, and Zip Code:
-------------------------------------------
BE SURE TO SEND YOUR SUBSCRIPTION IN BEFORE MARCH lstl
THANK YOU J
UTAH ARCHEOLOGY A Newsletter "BONUS"
Vol. 2; No. 3
October 19.56
CONTENTS Editor's Notes
Page 1
Third Great Basin Archeological Conference Jesse D. Jennings
Page 2
1956 Archeological Activities of the University of Utah
James H. Gunnerson
Page 4
Recent Publi'c ations ,
Page 15
University of Utah Site Survey Form
Page 16
Utah Archeology is distruibuted 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, Utah (16)
EDITOR'S
NOTES
With the advent of fall, field activities are nearly over, so the preparation of a preliminary report of the University ~,ct U.L
TT...I-~1....I ___ .... ~........... """" U lietll .:> OUll111l0.l.
..p~ __
'....l 0..'-' ......... +~"".~+4 ...... ~ v...L V..L '-'..LOU
J.. ..LO.LU
~I"'ll':'"
1-.,......,,~
.L.LCl..U
U,-,\"..I.L.I.
C"'Y"Ir..,.,rif"""lrt "'""
,t-" ................A.'-""-..A..
"T'\
\,A.J:-"
C,....
..........
+h~+
....,...... '- ....
"tT,,",,"
J..., .......
will receive it while it is still news. To many of you, parts of the report will not be news since I have had the good fortune of sooing some of the members of the USAS during the summer. CONFERENCE It was gratifying to see that several USAS members attended the Great Basin Archeological confe~ence held in Salt Lake City August 19-21, but it was disappointing that not more of you were able to be present, Next Year the conference will be held in Utah again for about four years, There were not enough members of the US AS at tbeconference at any time to justify trying to hold a separate sessions. In the connection, I would like to get the reaction of the members of the USAS to the idea of holding meetings in various parts of the state, wherever there are enough members in a community to make it practicable. There is a good chance of my being able to attend at least some of the meetings. Another possiblity which should be considered is that of holding an annual meeting, perhaps in Salt Lake City, for our entire organization, If you have any ideas concerning either of these suggestions I would greatly appreciate hearing them, USAS Starting with Volu.'1le III, receipt of Utah Archeology will be contingent upon your paying one dollar a year membership dues in the Utah Statewide Archeological Society. Shortly after this was first announced in this newsletter last June, payment was received from one member, A notice to the effect that membership fees are due will be enclosed in the next Dewsletter, SITE SURVEY An increasing number of people are showing an interest in reporting the location of archeological sites to the University of Utah and inquiring as to the best way to do so. Therefore, attached to this issue of the :newslet,ter is 8- copy of the Site Survey Form which we use to record such information. The vaious headings are reminders of the type of information which is useful to us in our attempt to compile a record of as many Utah Archeological sites as possible. I would like to encourage all the members of the USAS who care to do so to send us information concerning archeological sites which they know about, If any of you have sites which you would like to have entered in our file, I will gladly send yuu as many survey sheets as you need.
..
,"
.~
.....
MUSEUN There continu~ to be numberous requests from people wanting to visit the Museum of Anthropology on the University of Utah campus on week ends, Last spring, we had the Museum· open Saturdays and found that many people were coming in. Because of this ~nterest, we have decided to have the Museum open even more on week ends~ so until mid-winter, at least, the muse~~ ~nll be open on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m, until 5:00 p.m. and on Sundays from lzOOp.m. until 5:00 p.m •• On week days, it will still be open from 8:00 a,m. until 5:00 p.m. except on holidays observed by the University. A map showing the location of the museum may be obtained by writing to the Museum of Anthropology. '. THIS ISSUE I have asked Jesse D. Jennings to present an evaluation of the 1956 Great Basin Archeological Conference. Dr. Jennings was the chairman of the program committee and was responsible to a large extent for the high 'quality of the entire program.
It has been again possible to get a nominal yost the overrun on a page of illustrations from another article covering much the same material that is reported in this issue of the newsletter. THIRD GREAT BASIN ARCHEOLOGICAL CONFEFENCE .~ i •
•
• •
4
AN EVALUATION Jesse D. Jennings
An evaluation of the Great Basin Conferenc,e is difficult becaus,e ,'of the wide range of the paperS' presented. However, n8R.r'y all the papers were carefullyworkod ' out and well presented; all of them added a little to the small store of knowledge of Great Basin prehistory. I was much impressed by the sustained strong interest which led to almost one hundred per cent attendance at all sessions, It was also very encouraging to discover that the final registration was 80 persons instead of the 50 we had expected; several were non-professional Utah people interested in archeology. The high point of the two .days is hard to select. One was General Chairman Fay-Cooper Cole" s ,banquet address to some 60 people. It !oJ"a s one of the most effecti-ye st9-tements on the scientific method in archeology I ,have ever: heard.' Another high point was the radiocarbon symposium. Here Charles Hunt, as devil's advooate, vigorously attacked the validity of an estimated 75% of all the published dates derived through radiocarbon techniques. He warned against an uncritical belief in the resutls. He also emphasized the carelessness which had charachterized much collecting of samples, This carelessness, of
(18)
~ourse, is 'the digger's first respon~ibility, but the laboratory men have also been unaware; perhaps indifferent, to the possibility of field contamination before and during collection. Hunt gave point to his remarks by showing that several known stratigraphic sequences were reversed in the published dates. As might be expected the response to his paper was spirited. Several discussions (>OYl+Ol"or1 ",."",..,,.1 +},~ '" m,,++o,.. "f' ~T"l ~ ,.1; +~T _ - ............. ..., ...... - ............. - .................."".... _ ......._ .... - - --â&#x20AC;˘ - - - - - -J â&#x20AC;˘
R~ToYl ......... -
+_h,.",O'h - .. - ...... - 0 - -
l"II"\
---
f'';- -YI.!ll ~"mm'; nO' "n --- --_.- - - - - 0 --J,.-
-
was attempted, it seemed to me that several of Dr. Hunt's criticisms were sustained, However, the symposium members seemed to agree that dates reached through the radiocarbon technique would become increasingly valid in view of improved laboratory technique, a greater caution on the part of archeologists and geologists in interpreting the results, In any case, a single date for one locality does not constitue proof of age. From the nuclear scientists present we also learned of several new approaches to the problem of radioactive dating through the use of other elements than carbon. Among the other papers, the new early man sites were quite interesting. One was the report of dwarf mamoths in association with extensive fire (barbecue pit) on Sata Rosa Island. The single radiocarbon date here was 27,000 B. c. Even more interesting was the 35,000 B.C. date for Clovis fluted points at a site near Dallas. In both cases there was but a single date, and these finds must be held suspect until other evidence is weighed. On the strength of the evidence as presented at the conference I am much inclined to accept the Dallas site than the Snata Rosa claims. From the Lehner site in southeastern Arizona eight mammoth skeletons and several Clovis fluted points were reported but no radiocarbon dates have been run. This ecvellent site was skillfully excavated. If it can be dated it will provide an important fixed point in the chronology of the so-called Llano oU1tur~. In any case the meetings were stimulating and fun to attend. I hope that more of the supporters of the University of Utah archeological program can attend this past conference, most of the papers presented are now in the hands of the editor of the University of Utah fu1thropological Papers and should be available in printed form in a few months.
1956 A..RCrw.OLOGICft-T, ACTIVITTF.S OF TIm UNIVERSITY OF UTA.l1 James H. Gunnerson In spirte of the short intermittent season, the Utah Statewide Archeological Survey had a successful summer. Three weeks were devoted to making test excavations at Fremont sites near Emery, Utah, which had previously been recorded by the Survey (Gunnerson, 1955). This work was financed jointly by the University
'.
of Utah'Research Fund and the Department of Anthropoiogy, at the University of Utah. The crew consisted of only one ,paid worker (Ri9hal~ Graham of Fairview, Utah), one full-time volunteer, occasionaL other yolunteers, and the writer. Since everyone involved had had professional,:training or experience, the crew , although small, was efficient. An;., addi tional week and a half was devoted to checking sites which had been reported to u~ in Uintah, Sari Juan, Emery, Sevier, and Millard Counties. EXCAVATIONS Test excavations were made at four sites near Emery (Fig. I), Last year the University of Utah excavated two small Fremont culture sites in thi~ same general area (Taylor, 1955). This year it was decided to make tests at some of the larger villages to determine whether or not there are any obv:l.ous differences in architecture and artifact inventory between the large and smaJl sites and to select a large site for intensive excavation next summer. All of the sites tested had been extensively damaged by erosion and/or amateur digging so that excavation of these sites is. in one sense, salvage archeology. Emery Site ,
;
The first site tested was the Emery site (42Em47), located about three miles northeast of Emery,Utah and reported ,to the survey by Dixon and Paul Peacock of Emery. At this' site, the obvious surface or shallow structures had been for the most part destroyed. The surveY .did, however, locate one deep pit house which had been damaged relatively little. The fill in this house was extremely hard, which, along with the great size of the structure (It was about 26 feet ih diameter and 4 feet deep) permitted our small crew t.o ,excavate only about one quarter of it. From careful excavation of this quadrant, however, we were able to learn a great deal about the original structure, and to secure enough pottery fragments and other artifacts for analysis, which will be 'done this winter. The site was located on a low, irregular ridge about two miles out from the foot of the Wasatch Mountains..A.n intermittent stream and a seep ".Tere near by. Part of the surrounding level is . now cultivated â&#x20AC;˘ . Into this ridge, which is made up of partly-decomposed shale, the pithouse had been dug. At the center of this round str~cture was a fireplace~ surrounded by a modeled adobe rim and apparently originally paved ;with flat stones, but only those sl~b3 partly under the adobe rim were left in the part of the fireplace 'uncovered. The fireplace was ..about 2 ¡. feet in diameter, ' Surrounding the fireplace were several post holes. The largest, .located northeast of the fireplace and 4,2 . .~ inches from the wall, was 11 inches deep, 7%- inches in diameter, and '3onta:1.ned much decayed wood. An interesting variation in post holes was also noted at this house! where two posts had been set in. broad shallow basins, which were then.' ,filled with adobe. ' It ,is possible that :thes,e posts were added to support a .sagging roof after construction was completed. " The digging of the basin would have permitted the sliding of the bottoms of the posts into position while the tops of the posts were against the roof timbers. Other post. holes were from about 3 to 7 inches in diameter and 3 to 6 inches deep. They formed no definite pattern except that 'for the most part they were about half way between the fireplace and the wall. The floor of the house was saucer-shaped, about 6 inches higher at th8 edge than in the middle, and covered with alsy which in places was as much as
(20)
much as three inches thick. The clay was apparently used to smooth the irregular shale pit bottom. In no place could definite evidence of wall plaster be found, although there was a great deal of nearly sterile clay found in the fill of the pit. This tended to form a layer nearly resting on the floor in the middle of the house and extending to about two feet ~boVG the floor at the edge. In some plaoEls thel'~ Were large irregular blocks of this material. There seems to be little question but that this clay was roof material which had fallen into the house ~fter it was abandoned. The only evidence of an entrance found in the pOl'tion excavated was a sandstone disk about two feet in diameter and two inches thickt which was found broken near the floor north of the fireplace and about half way to the wall. This presumably had been a cover for a roof opening, probably the entrance. Associated with the floor of the house was a Utah-type metate, turned upside down over a mano. Other artifacts found in this excavation includedl broken pottery, disk cut from broken pottery, unworked animal bones, bone awls, bone gaming pieces, chipped flint implements, and charred corn cobs. Elsewhere on the site, the remains of a badly disturbed hearth was uncovered. This had originally been about lt feet in diameter and slab paved, and may well have been in a surface structure whose other features had been destroyed. One interesting association with the hearth, however, was half of a charred bean. Last Chance Site Last Chance site (42Sv28) is located about 14 miles southeast from Fremont Junction on a broad, level flat along Last Chance Creek, about a mile from where the creek leaves the mountains. The site was called to the attention of the Survey by Mr. Stewart WYllie. Surface material is abundant at this extensive site, but excavation confirmed our fears that wind erosion had destroyed much of the occupation level. The condition was actually worse than we had feared, since in most places several feet of soil had apparently blown off. In one place, we found burned earth, probably the remains of a hearth, on the surface. Around it were three large post holes dug into the sandy soil and containing much clay, presumably to stabilize posts. It seems likely that this was what remained of the bottom of a pit house, the remainder having eroded away. A few scattered post holes were found in another area, a stone-lined hearth was found on the surface but nothing definitely associated with it could be found. Round Spring This site (42Sv23) is located about 200 yards from and well above Last Chance Creek near a mountain meadow. This site has been badly damaged by digging and by road construction, since the Fremont Junction-Fremont Road has cut through it about 12 miles south of Fremont Junction. The most obvious structure at the site is on top of a small knoll and is outlined with a ring of boulders about 28 ft. in diameter. At the north side of this ring is one Drucb larger boulder, incorporated into the ring. Since this structure has been dug in many times we were not able to salvage a great deal of information. We were able, however, to find part of a central fireplace represented by burned earth but too badly distrubed for us to determine the construction of it. To the west of the fireplace we found a group of three post holes and a (21)
short row of stones suggestive of a deflector. Around the outer edge of the area inclosed by the boulder ring, a row of post holes was found. These apparently had been spaced about six feet apart but not all of them could be completely verified, especially on the lowest side where the e~osion has been the greatest. There were a few ?ther post holes which may have been part of an inner ring of posts about 11 ft. in diameter. There seems to be little doubt then, that this had been a structure. To the southeast of this structure about 24 feet we excavated a small pit house (Fig. 3a) This structure had been excavated about feet into the ground and was oval with diameters of 10 And 12 feet. Just to one side of the center was a stone-paved, adobe-rimmed fireplace. Around the fireplace and about 4 feet from its center were three post holes with decayed post butts in them. A prob!1ble fourth post hole was in an area distrubed by rodents . Artifacts were not especially numerous from this site but included among thom wero chipped stone implements, worked bone and broken pottery. A skull from a large bird was found on the floor of the small pit house.
It
Snake Rock This site (42Sv5) is situated on a low boulder-strewn ridge near lvie Creek, near where the canyon begins to broaden out. The site has been greatly damaged by many people digging into it, since it is located conspicuously beside the highway about 2 miles east of Fremont Junction. There, at one ~ime, were several rooms outlined with basaltic boulders but nearly all of these have been nearly completely dug out. The one remaining ring had only a small hole dug into it ~o we were able to clear out half of it and determine what these structures were like. Through test pitting, we were able to locate a second pit house of different construction which had been built over at least one older structure, The rock-outlined house (Fig. 3c) was about half cleared and was found to have been excavated about 3 feet into the ground and to have been about 10 feet in diameter. In two places in the portion of the house excavated, large boulders had been l eft in place and had formed part of the wall of the pit~ Around the pit had apparently been laid a wall of basaltic boulders. After the abandonment of the houso, this boulder wall had collapsed and many of the boulders had fallen into the pit and Were mixed with the house fill. From the numbers of boulders found in the fill, the wall above the surface of the ground must have been at least two feet high, The floor of the pit house consisted of a layer of clay. In the middle of the floor was a stone-paved, adobe-rimmed fireplace full of ash and charqoal. There was no evidence that the walls of this house had bee~ plastered or specially prepared in any way. . The second excavation (Fig. 2; 3b, d) was about 35 feet northeast from the first. Here, one pit house was half excavated. This one was about 15 feet in diameter and had apparently been excavated about 2 feet below the then surface, partially into undistrubed earth but mostly into midden fill. The wails, which sloped outward, and the floor had been plastered with clay. An adobe-rimmed fireplace was situated in the center. A small pit, probably a post hole, was found southwest of the fireplaye. ' A test trench through this house disclosed a lower use surface, probably a house ÂŁloor (House III), under, and therefore earlier than, the upper (Hous e I). One wall of this (22)
()-/AH ' -'
N
o
50
miles
42Unl26 I
JENSEN / - -
I
/ 1 /-
1 ) Il I
, SALINA.
'-
RIC~FIELD/ I
I
,,
\
\
"(
(
42Em47 • 42Sv5 EMERY ° 42Sy:2 3----""'" ' \ • 42Sv28
L/
0
\ Fremo-;;tR.
j
/
.\.,
v/
~=-
Fig. 1 (23)
\1 .
I~ /()o
Elk Ridge
San Juan
------- -.-- _.. . --..,---
R~
-~
______
--
.: ..
--
?
.~
./
I
' ! - - -- - - - \
5
'0
/
\
I
\ )
A
i.-=--:-~=- -=._--~~- .--=-----.-=--- ~ -- '-. '--:"~":~~-GROUND
L ____-.:..-
- _ . (. '--.
-~ ,,' ....._... . . .
,_.-.: ". - -~-... - ...
~~USE ?
.....
( - -""
-
DETRITUS - -. HEARTH HOUSE
....' . __. _ - _ . _._._ ._ 0'" _
,-1~'>\HOUSE' tJ/F I /
/ / 0'·
Fig. 2
. SURFACE
.
, ...
---/ ' '\ /~
r -
--
~-- -- - -- ~ --~~ . .
< -/ -- 1 . ) . .UNDISTURBED
-/'/i_--
/ . Ir .
--
". _~ ?
0
Simplified plan (above and pro{ile of excavation exposing portions of three structures (Houses I, III & IV at Snake Rock (42Sv5).
(24)
4_"
lower house showed no special preparation and the other had apparently been removed by the construction of a wall ' of stone and adobe which probably represents a structure (House IV) of intermediato age. Present plans call for the return of a party from the University of Utah next summer to complete the excavation commenced this summer. The preponderance of the artifacts from this site, as from the others, consisted of broken pottery, worked arId llIfworked stone and worked and unworked bone.
Conclusions The sites tested this summer are all assignable to the Fremont culture (Morss, 1931; Wormington, 1955) and would not s eem to differ too greatly in age from those sites excavated in 1955 by the University of Utah in the same area, There do seem to be some differences in architecture between these two groups of sites in that some of the structure types encountered in 1955 were not encountered this year. This could be due in part to the limited amount of work done this year in the large sites as compared to the complete excavation of the two small sites in 1955. Hence, any conclusions based on the limited testing of these sites would probably be premature. This summer's work has established that there is still some information to be salvaged from these larger but vandalized sites. SURVEY
Uintah County Jesse D. Jennings and James H. Gunnerson made a visit to Thorne Cave (42Unl26) near J ensen, Utah (Fig , 1) at the invitation of Mr. Robert Thor ne who had discovered the cave and who gave a brief report of it at the Great Basin Archeological Conference . The cave was apparently occupied during a period of alluvial deposition in the canyon, which resulted in a filling of the cave and a sealing off of the material in it. Recent erosion has exposed the cave and the cultural levels in it. The geological situation at the cave suggests that the cultural material in it could well have considerable antiquity. Mr. Thorne is awaiting a Carbon 14 date for charcoal from the cave sent to the Carnegie laboratory. San Juan County: Several sites on Elk Ridge (Fig. 1) in San Juan County, reported by richard Lewis of the U.S. Geological Survey, were also visited by Jennings and Gunnerson. Sites were both in the open and in caves or rock shelters and would appear to be mostly Pueblo II although Pueblo I occupation may also be represented. One site, Lewis Lodge (428256), consists of about 45 rooms strung along a narrow ledge under an overhang. Included is one kiva with roof intact and several rooms in near-perfect condition. This site is well concealed and difficult to get to, which may well account for its good preservation. One open site (42Sa271J and another site (42Sa272) which is partly under an overhang could well have had 100 to 200 rooms each. Such a size is suggested by the rubble piles and, at the latter site, by upper storey beam sockets in the cliff fac e. This area would well repay a largescale excavation program. Lewis estimated that there Rre probably a thousand sites in the Elk Ridge area.
......... -
_.. .......................
..
_
-- ,.. ..
Sevier River Drainage A quick trip was made into the Sevier drainage in the determine whether or not the Fremont culture extended into been followed to almost the divide on the east side of the but village sites had not been checked on the west side of
Richfield area to this area. It had Wasatch Mountains, the Wasatch.
Mrs. Laverna Hyatt took the survey party to a village site (42Sv29) over~ looking the Sevier River south of Joseph" A preliminary examination of the material from this site suggests closer affiliation with material further west and south than with the Fremont material. The party was also taken to several of the many pictograph panels in Clear Creek canyon along the highway from Joseph to CovÂŽ Fort. These are, for the most part, well preserved even though they are easily a ccessible. The elaborate designs which are considered most characteristi of the Fremont culture are not presento Further north, near Scipio, Earnest Herbert took the survey party to two sites that would seem to be very similar culturally to the Joseph site. One of these is especially interesting in that it is semicircUlar and about a quarter of a mile in radius. Most of it has been cultivated for up to 40 years, but there appears to have b een very little erosion so that it is likely that pit houses would still be intact if present. Since these sites in the Sevier drainage are not directly pertinent to the current primary research problem of the University, except in the delimiting of the Fremont area, it is unlikely that additional work will be done in the area in the immediate future.
Literature Cited Gunnerson, J ames H, 1956. "Utah Statewide Survey Activities--1955." No, 1, pp. 4-12. Salt Lake City.
Utah Archeology,
Vol. 2,
Taylor, Dee C. 1955. "Archeological Excavations Near Salina, Utah." Utah Archeology , Vol. 1, No.4, pp. 3-8 Salt Lake City. Morss, Noel 1931. "The Ancient Culture of the Fremont River in Utah." Papers of the Peabody Mus eum of American Archeology and Ethnology . Harvard . Univer sity. Vol. XII, No.3. Cambridge, Mass, Wormington, H.M. 1955. "A Reappraisal of the Fremont Culture." Proceedings ¡of the Denver Mus eum of Natural History, No, 1 Denver, Colo.
(26)
Explaination for photographs not included. a. House II at Round Spring (42Sv:23). Note the adobe-rimmed, stone-paved hearth near the center of the house floor. Two post holes are evidont to the right of the hearth. The bank of Last Chance Creek can be seen in the background. b. Work at Snake Rock (42Sv5). The pin at the lower right hand corner is in the fireplace of House I, the southwest half of which has been uncovered. The man with the cap is standing on the floor of House III. The man at the left is above a section of an adobe and stone wall which probably is part of a structure (House IV) of age intermediate between House III and House I (the most recent of the three. A section of curved, sloping, adobe-plastered wall of House I is about tangent to and to the right of the shovel. This section of wall has been removed in Q. The camera is facing approximately north. lvie Creek is at the foot of the canyon wall in the background. c.
House II at Snake Rock (42Sv5) before the floor was completely cleaned. adobe-rimmed, stone-paved hearth was later uncovered under the ash~ area above and to the right of the arrow (pointing north and one foot long). The rock~ to the left, and in the back ground are on the surface of the ground and were part of the wall of the structures. A few of the boulders shown in the profile in the lower right and the one large isolated boulder on the floor had apparently all fallen into the house pit as had many others which were removed during excavation. ~n
d.
View facing southeast across the finished excavation shown in progress in
]2; the profile at the left (see also Fig.2) bisects House I (far half of excava-
tion), cuts across the northeast corner of House III (near half of excavation) and intersects a third house. The large boulders at the far side of the excavation had been left in place when House I was excavated. The near portion of the floor and wall of House I have been removed, exposing the floor of House III. e. Facing south along Lewis Lodge (42Sa256) on Elk Ridge showing ruins of many rooms. Kiva I (see f.) is located just this side of the "T"-shaped door in the center of the pictur;.
f. Facing approximately east inside Kiva I at Lewis Lodge (42Sa256). Note part of small square niche at lower left, one of the six pilasters in the center, (flanked on either side by t.he b,qnqIJPt.te) :'lnd t.hs cribbed roof overhead.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
PERTI~ffiNT
TO UTAH ARCHEOLOGY
Daugherty, Richard D, 1956. "Early Man in the Columbia Intermontane Province," University of Utah Anthropological Papers, No. 24. Salt Lake City, 123 pp. The initial purpose of this publication is to summarize the known information concerning early man in the Columbia Intermontane Province with special emphasis on the Lind Coulee site. A full report of this site, however, will be published separately. Daugherty also briefly summarizes all of the early man information from western North Ameriqa . A table, listing 193 early man sites by state and including such info rrr~tion as location, artifacts found, paleontology, geology, radiocarbon date s and references provides a handy source of information. Meighan, Clement W., et all 1956 "Archeological Excavations in Iron County, Utah." University of Utah Anthropological Papers, No. 25. Salt Lake City, l32 pp. This is a report of the 1954 excavations by the summer archeological field school of t he University of California, Los Angeles, a Puebloid site at the north edge of Parag onah, plus a short description of near-by petroglyphs. U.C.L.A. has subsequently devoted two more summer's work to this site, The work marks the return of archeological investigation to the area after a gap of nearly 40 years since Neil M. Judd 'excavated part of the same site in 1915 and 1917 for the University of Utah, and the , Smithsonian Instit~tion â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ Wormington, H.M. and Robert H, Lister "Archeological Investigations on the Uncompahgre Plateau is 1956 West Central Colorado." Denver Museum of Natural Histo:pr Proceedings, No.2 Denver, Colorado. 129 pp. The authors of this publication report excavation of several archeological sites, mostly rock shelters or caves, which share a non-ceramic tradition repres enting a time span of probably several thousand years. This tradition, which they have called the Uncompahgre complex, is similar to the Desert culture of the Great culture of the Great Basin. Other sites, reported from the same general area, seem to have a shorter and probably later time span. A date of ca. 1150 A.D, is suggested for the most recent occupation by the associated pottery found at one site.
(28)
UT/ili ARCHEOLOGY Bonus Vol. 2., No. 4
A Newsletter December 19.56 contents
Editor's Notes Early Man in the West •••• Jesse D. Jennings Each to the Other •••••••• William A. Ritchie
Page
I 2
6
Editor's Notes
I
This issue, the eighth in the two years since the inception of the Utah Statewide Archeological Society,. t ,e rroinates the period of full subsidy of the orga,nization and its newsletter by the Department of Anthropology at the Univer.sity of U~ah. Starting with the next issue , receipt of Utah Archeology and membership in the USAS will be conting.ont upon payment of $1.00 annual tnelllbo:rshi~ dues. The Department of Anthropology will continue to provide most of the . labor in the profuction and distribution of the newsletter. For those of you who want to maintain membership in the society but who have , not a s yet paid your 1957 membership dues, there is a remittance form attached to this newslettol' This Issue Tho first article cbnsists of extensive excerpts from the Thursday lecture presented at the University of Utah on November 29. 19.56 by Dr. Jesse D. J ennings , Head of tho Anthropology Department~ Distinguished scholars of the University faculty are selected to present these weekly lectures for the edification of ~tudent body and faculty in general. The lecture was profusely illustrated with colored ' slides of sitos and artifacts which, unfortunately, we are unable to reproduce here. The other article in this issu:e is ~lso by a ' professional archeologist, Dr. William A. Ritchie, who is the New York State 'Archeologist, and the President of the New ~York State Archeological Association. The article is reprinted from the March, 1956, Bullotin of the latter organization. The paper was presented in a longer form at the 19.56 llnnual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology where one half day was devoted to a Workshop on Local Arch$ological Societies. I plan to include in the next issue of Utah Archeologv another paper presented at the same Workshop by a dedicated amateur archeologist, Clarence H. Webb. ', '
.
Utah Archeology
is distributed quarterly to members of the Utah Statewide All correspondencG should be directed to the EditorJames H. Gunnerson, Department' .of' Anthropology, : tJni verpi ty of Utah, Salt. Lake City, Utf3.h.' ", ' ,, .
. Archeological . Soci~ty.
(29)
I '
.. EARLY MAN IN THE WEST Jesse D. Jennings Let us proceed to the subject--"Early Man in the West"- by defining our terms. West is defined as that part of the United States lying west of the 102nd meridian. Of course, ear~y man is a misleading, if not meaningless term; the history of the term I won't relate . For today, let: it mean simply evidence of man's presence during the closing stages of the last ice age. Under what conditions may we expect scientists to accept as valid or authentic any claim of early man? Ideally, four criteria are minimum. First, the location containing evid~nce must be a buried or protected one, and moreover be sealed by unbroken strata overlying the culture-bearing zone . Surface finds are ruled out bec~use they are uncontrollable. Second--perhaps an extension of I-.he first--is the need to identify both the culture deposit and the overburden with adjacent identified (or identifiable) geologic phenomena. Third, there is, most t imes, an association of cultural objects with one or more extinct forms (elephant, bison, horse, or sloth). Fourth, there should be present diagnostic or index artifacts. Such criteria would establish a relative and geological age for a deposit, but gives no absolute age. ~ these standards many sites, claimed as ancient, are ruled out of consideration as lacking in control. Since 1950 some absolute dates have been available through Carbon 14, a radioactive isotope of carbon . Many of you know about the classic finds at Folsom and Clovis, New Mexico, and many other places. But today I want to present information recovered in the last 5 years~ so it is best, I think, to let the evidence testify in its own behalf. I wish to emphasize in passing that many scholars, for very sound reasons, deny the validity of radiocarbon dates, whose accuracy can quite properly be questioned. On the other hand, I will appear to rely heavily on them here today. We will begin with the big game hunters. In the western plains and touching our area were the Clovis and Folsom so-called cultures. Of these, the Clovis is the older--its age is estimated at 15,000 years. Indeed, the bulture may be twice that old. Just last August at a new site near Dallas there were found good Clovis fluted points associated with mammoth and giant armadillo bones, around large fireplaces. These finds are dated by a series of 4 carbon 14 dates, all exceeding 35,000 B.C. The full facts are not yet roportod, but I suspect that the archeological work will stand sciontific scrutiny; tho control arc good , and provisionally , I accept the association but not yet the date . Othar Clovis s ites aro always, so far, mammoth kill sites and are deeply buried. That is, the sites were once swampy areas where the huge beasts . were least mobile and could be kill ed by even one hunter. From the west coa st a noth er quite early mammoth s ite has been dated at 27 , 000 B.C. On Santa Rosa Island, off the coast of s outhern California, Orr reports large burned areas where deposits of dwarf malmnoth bones--always scattered and brok en--are found in l arge firepits. Four radiocarbon dates from this site agree at about 27,000 B.C. So far, neither the archeological controls nor the interpretations availabj.o warrant acceptance of this find. No artifacts were in association. I mention it here because it received local newspaper mention recently, and because I expect i t to be further, and critically examined. Very possibly it will be proved valid. (30)
Shifting now to f~izona thoro is the Naco site, perhaps the best documented of the mammoth sites. It was dug and reported by Emil Haury of the University of Arizona. The deposit was discovered in an arroyo ba~~. It is an ancient kill site la.t.er cc'''..rered b:,r ~'J~;tcr c~rried Gilt It yieldE-~ t:b.e bO:fle5 uf one adult mammoth and several diagnostic flint specimens--Clovis fluted points. Eight specimens we~e found in association~th the bones. This location met all the criteria for acceptance; It was sealed cover; was associated with an identified geological event , that is, a previously studied period of alluviation; was associated with extinct fauna; and yielded diagnostic artifacts. The Clovis fluted points from Naco run 3-5 inches in length, are elliptical or leaf shape, and have a flake scar running from the eared base, which gives the fluting which is diagnostic of the form. These points are presumed to have been lost during the kill or the subsequent butchering. 4
j
The Lehner site--also in Arizona and excavated b,y Ted Sayles of the State Museum of Arizona--has recently been reported in Sports Illustrated. It also was a creek bed kill site where mammoth were slaughtered and butchered. It too, was silt covered. A trio of unique pieces are present and are almost identical lv.ith the Naco pieces, The geological estimates 'of age for Naco run around 8000 B.C. Lehner has just been dated at 6000 B.C.- a date much younger than anticipated,. other Clovis culture sites occur on the edges of, and in, the Great' Basin but are in poor control and are omited here. 0
Later than th~ Clovis cultures, exemplified above, are the Folsom remains, too well known and well documented to require extensive description here. Folsom remains are always stratigraphically younger than the Clovis and always associated with a long-horned extinct bison, not the elephant~ The dates for Folsom run around 10,000 years old. The recently reported Midland, Texas site, which yields Folsom specimens, exemplifies the fruitful collaboration of scientists and is one of the very few early man sites which has yielded human remains. Here a very complicated geological, erosional and paleontological correlation was undertaken by Texas scientists--Fred Wendorf', E.H. Sellards, Alex Krieger, C.C. Albritton, and Dale Stawart. In this desolate blow-out where an ancient lake had twice been silted ~p--a human skull and other bones wer e found. It is a completely modern skull; adult but quite small. Midland man is, in faxt, a woman. It is of a type already recognized as oarly or earliest jon America ; it is not Hongoloid in its features. But never before has the sq.me associat:i:on--if , there is association--been observed. ' The skull was actually found on the surface in the remnant of an old deposit, in the blowout (our criteria are not operating here). Above the locus of the skull, there were Folsom fluted points--knoWn to be later in time than Clovis fluted. Hence, we have a skull eroding out of a layer lower than the Folsom. The combined and exhaustive study of the scientists led the team to conclude that the skull is ,stratigraphically older than the Folsom material, that it was until quite recently buried in t):1e gray sand and that i t was antecedent--only slightly--to the Folsom debris. Radiocarbon,fluorine" and other age tests do not agr~e . The age ascriptions for various specimens cover a wide range and the age ~s very uncertain. In any case bison and horse oand antelope--all extinct' species--are found above the skull. The man mayor may not be Folsom â&#x20AC;˘ O
., (31)
â&#x20AC;˘
â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘ 1'
"
Now for the Great Basin: while Folsom men were dominating the Plains, the Basin supported a widespread but simple bulture called the Desert cultllre. which is geared to an exploitation of the full plant and animal resources of the region--as opposed to the hunters who specialized in big game. There are hundreds of sites of this people. They may be open sand-dune camps, siltcovered camps, or caves. Several are reported and accepted; several have series of Carbon 14 dates, ranging from 4500 to 9000 B.C. From Oregon, Luther Cressman has explored and reported several sites. The radiocarbon dates here cluster around 7000 B.C. In Fort Rock Cave was found a deposit containing woven textile sandals dated at 7500 B.C. They aro made of well-spun string and are of varied manufacture. From Roaring Spring Cave ancient spear throwers came. And from an open site near Odell Lake, Cressman has recovered delicate chipped obsidian tools or weapon points. The siZe, shape and material of these points are quite diagnostic of the early }'hn.se of the Desert culture in the Basin. At the Karlo site in California were found burials and imperishable specimens like the Oregon material, particularly trin.ngular, wide-notched points and long, slender blades. The equal frequency of occurrence of these two types of point or knife argues of an age of about 2000 B.C.--a time when, in Utah caves, these same frequencies are observed. Turning now to Utah, I call your attention to Danger Cave, one of a series of caves investigated qy Utahns and including Deadman Cave, dug by Elmer R. Smith, and the Promontory caves, dug by Julian Steward. I have been personally involved in the excavation of Danger Cave qy University of Utah students. The cave is large and its portal was choked with debris of aboriginal living. Its lowest levels are dated at about 8500 B,C.; the topmost are modern in age. The depth of cultural material was about 12 feet and contained five major cultural layers composed chiefly of ash, earth and sand and vegetable chaff such as pickleweed chaff; the charred seeds of this plant, ground into flour, were a staple of diet. Level I was composed of 2 sand layers with 6 little fireplaces between. These fireplances are the first evidence of man in the cave. Levels II-V contained the several thousand manufactured objects recovered from the cave, The similarity of the flint pieces from Danger Cave to the Karlo and Odell Lakes series is striking. In fact, except for the sandals, t,he California, Oregon, and Utah collections are very similar. Hore interesting tha:n stone are the objects of fiber, bone and wood, such as hornspoohs, and bone a"yls, bone dice and beads, dart shafts, and arrows p knife handles, a piece of coarse cloth, twined textile oldest so far dated in the world , a small coiled basket , pieces of larger coi l ed basketry, and a strong and lively net. All the basketry pieces are sound and strong. The twined basketry is 9000 years old; the netting over 5000 years of age. It is evident that this latter group of sites yields almost identical series of artifacts; from this and other evidence I have inferred a way of life labelled the Desert culture, All of you already know that the Gosiute and Paiutes of Utah and Nevada were still, in 1850, conquering the desert with the techniques of the Desert culture. The evidence now at hand is, I predict, not a tenth of that which will be available 10 years from'now. Indeed, most of what I have presented has been recovered since 1950. It is interesting that most of the finds are accidental. Host often these crucial finds have been located and then reported by intelligent laym6n, who know tha~ their skills are not up to proper recovery and
(32)
obs e ~vat;i.on of data and who cal:l:. on .the. speqialists. ,I cite the Midland skull, which was reported by Keith Glassco~k, a pipeline worker; or the Naco find made by a ranch father and son, Navarette by name; or the Dallas site reported by Dallas hobbyists, as examples. I would urge that each of you can serve science best i f you report suspect sites before, rather than after your own well-meant but untrained digging. Inexpert excavation usually destroys more eVidence than it preserves; association relationships are usually overl.ooked.
As a part of mY remarks I want to make a point which many of you will already have noticed; my conclusions are based on a blend of several areas . of special, scientific knowledge. The ages, for example, I have ascribed are not the findings of archeologists, but rest on work of other specialists whose conclusions stem from other observations examined in a different context, and in the light of a separate cluster of data, assumptions and biases; most often this is done without thought of or interest in the age of man upon this or any other earth. For example, the half life of Carbon 14 is of first i nter est to nuclear chemists and physicists on entirel y theoretical grounds. They were , at t he time , ignorant of and indifferent to the age of man, or to the abs ol ute dating of geologic events. Nor are the geologists overly concerned with man. They, for their own studies of process an<;l s~quence, have, for example, long ago correlated a vanished ice sheet ldth the stones and. dirt i t pushed in front of it. When and if an archeologist finds man or man's leavings under or in one or another natural geologic deposits, the geology is not changed. The age ascriptions r emain th,e same, The result is that a r elative date for man's objects is given by one wh~se interes t s lie els ewher e . In exactly the s ame way , t he paleontolo. gists have long known, for purposes of their own, that cer tain animals became extinct at various times, and when we find the bones of thes e animals intermingled With man's charcoal, ashes, flint objects and tools of bone, the relativ( time is already fixed. I hasten to insert, of course, that the archeologist may bring some skills to the task, but in matters of assigning dates, he only injects man into the picture; the time and age figures oome largely from elsewhere. Hence, the crucial time element in. the problem of manls antiquity in this conti nent or in the W9rld, derives from the ' work of a much larger core of non- s ocial scientists whos e findi ng s a r e. made in the special context of orie or ano'ther natur al or physical s cienc e . Thus I remind you that the material I have presented is susta i~ed by t he depth and excellence of data from many of t he oldest fi elds of s cienc e ; my contribution today has been.one of collation and s ummary and inter pr etation. In summary, I have told you of two ancient lifeways in the West. In one case as early as 15,000 years ago (and perhaps 35,000) there existed in the Plains a culture entirely parasitic upon the big game . In the marginal areas the gib game hunters and the Desert foragers overlapped, but in the main we can now see tvro disti nct a ncient streams of culture. At the same time as t he bi g game cultur e we know tha t man has been in the arid west for more than 10,000 years . His culture was si mple--geared to full exploitation of the land. He gathered vegetabl e f o ods, ' he milled small seeds, he hunted and trapped all evailabl e animals and he exis ted i n a state of precarious balance with the land and climate . The effective s ocial and political . unit was the family, with warfare and aggr es sion ess e~tially unknown. Oddly, the weaker Desert culture sur vived until 1850 . It earlier al so gave rise to the ,higher Southwestern cul tures such as Puebl o and Hohokam. The big game 4unters, however, are long vanished, having. departe,d with the l arge animals. (33)
,... '.
EACH TO THE OTHER William A. Ritchie
There has been, of late, nluch ado in archeological circles about amateur and professional relations. Actually, there is no new problem here; there h.;ts always been an area of strain as well as an area of amicable cooperation between these groups. The tension, it is true, grows more acute with the rapid decrease in number of good sites and is, therefore, simply another manifestation of the competitive friction associated with increasing population pressures on resources of all kinds. Moreover, the spread of amateur interest in archeology has been tremendous, but the number of jobs for professional prehistorians remains, as always, small, Now, the growth of i"nterest in prehistoric man within the population as a whole is in itself salutory, since it seems to reflect an intellectual curiosity which may temper in some measure the predominantly technological and commercial bent of our civilization. A. large supporting public interest, :furthermore, serves to su.stain the professional archeologist in his investigations. The degree of popular interest can be gauged to a certain extent by the acceptance of books dealing with the subject and by the avidity of news media for stories about excavation work. But there is an inherent grave danger, here, too, for this surge of interest and activity on the part of ever-increasing numbers of people imposes a threat of early destruction of the limited, precious, and often unique sources of our data of prehistory. It must be obvious to all that some serious reappraisal of this matter is needed without delay; that emotionalism must be subordinated to sober vision; that means of mutually supporting behavior between amateur and professional workers must be found, explored together and agreed upon. In short, they must "plight their troth each to the other", in a union of minds and hands. This could well be a major aim of local and state archeological societies, and of larger affiliations such as the Eastern States Archeological Federation. One hears frequent talk of enacting state antiquities laws to curb wasteful and pointless digging. Some states already have suoh legislation, as has the Federal Government for its lands. I do not think, however, our best solution is to be found in legal sanctions. A.s a nation we boast of individual freedom and we still cherish a shadowy tradition of frontier independence. I subscribe to the concept of freedom in thought, and action, even though the latter becomes more and more of an illusion with the tightening of centralized control correlated with steadily increasing demands upon finite natural resourC 88 But only the aberrant individual can feel free to violate his social obligaticns to the human community on which he is dependent. We are, therefore, compelled to reconcile our outlook and to adjust ourselves emotionally to a pattern harmonious with the conversation of our naturaJ. and cultural resources~ There is much need for the amateur in the search for the means of obtnininG a broader and deeper perspective of man's past achievements on which rest his potential ,growth. This goal is, in fact, a central core element of intellectual freedom and human dignity. The amateur can participate in this quest fruitfQlly and with immense self-satisfaction; his rewards here far transcend the possession o.f. a collection of mute relics. When once he senses the Pursui.. t of probl em :.' l1i~ mind' :will kindle to new and' exci ting adv~ntures beyond the'.'.
.'
(34)
ordil1~n'Y thrill of coJlect.i.ng. He can have his holiday with its relaxation , anticipation, and thrill of discovery (which, inoidontally, forms a part of the r eward of the profes sioal digger as well), but he can add to these r ewards the mental stimulus and satisfaction ' of contributing to the unfolding drama of human development.
The means to this larger end are to be found in an arrroAQh to archeolo~y which is problem-centered rather than relic-centered. The problems are many and diverse. They are best known to the professional who has given years of hard work, hard thought (and hard cash ) in preparation for and execut." on of his job. He and the amateur can pool their efforts with mutual advantages, He can offer aid not alone in formulating problems for research, but in the procedure of recovery and recording, that must be observed for useful interpretations, which constitute the intrinsic value of all such work, A collection of measurements is not enough to reach this end in digging a Site, as too many amateurs have assumed. Nor is a collection of artifacts suf'ficient. Only pa" nSbtking attention to soil details; associations of features and objects, lOto "mal and plant r emains (including charcoal for radiocarbon dating), postmold patterns , human skeletal r emains, and numerous other items , will yield the harvest oÂŁ information to be found variably on every site. All siteS are of course not equally significant. On some, especially after a preliminary appraisal with profe ssional guidance, the amateur can proceed quite successfully. There are others--certain burial sites and stratifi ed habitation sites--for example, where his competence, due to lack of training, is usually insufficient to prevent tragic loss of data. If an amateur calls thus upon the services of his professional colleague for appraisal, advice and actual aSSistance, does he there-by lose his site or his discoveries? ~ no means â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ A considerable number of amateur friends of all professional archeologists can testify to this, As said before, the professional archeologists can testify to this. As said before, the professional has better resources to appraise and interpret ; he can often use, with proper credit, the information so obtained from the amateur in his published r ecords, and he can encourage and guide his amateur co-worker to observe , record, interpret and publish on his own. Herein, lie the larger r ewards for both.
In New York we no\o1' need, and badly, this kind of teamwork. Road building, Seaway construction, housing and commercial developments of all sorts are rapidly eroding our limited potential of archeological information. We have made much headway together, as our present status of knowledge shows, but many problems must still be solved. Wa know far too little about important stages in late Archaic and early Woodland horizons, the relationship of Iroquoian to earlier cultures in the area , the radiocarbon dating of large segments of the culture sequence, the beginnings and consequences of the introduction of agriculture into New York, and the development of settlement patterns and th eir economic, socio-political and other correlates, to mention but a few of the salient problems. The closest cooperative efforts of atna:teu:, and professional will be needed f or this task and the satisfactions will be commensurate with the labors involved .
UTAH ARCHEOLOGY Depa~tment of Anthropology University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
J I
•
~ ..
~
.. r
\
<Y
Utah St te U·st. Soci ty 603 1:. • e pIe Salt L e Sity, Ut h 412
.--
,.
~