National Museum of Natural History Bulletin for Teachers

Vol. 12 No. 3 Fall 1990 THE FIRST SOUTH AMERICANS: ARCHAEOLOGY AT MONTE VERDE i!§RARlLS When didTTuman beings first set foot in the In recent years, the most significant New World? How did they get here? What advances in the study of the First Ameri- lifeways did they follow? How did they cans have come from innovative data adapt to and affect the ancient American recovery and analysis techniques that have ecosystem? These questions have been hotly yielded vastly more accurate reconstructions debated for over 100 years. Scientists now of ancient environments and subsistence agree only that big-game hunters were in strategies. For example, the soil from a North America by 11,500 years ago. house floor at Monte Verde, in Chile, contained amino acids specific to collagen, The earliest possible date for the initial a protein found in bone, cartilage, and skin. arrival of early humans and other aspects of Microscopic analysis of the material their culture are disputed, although field suggested that a thick skin, possibly a work over the last fifteen years has yielded mastodon hide, had been used in the more evidence about their economy, construction of the shelter. The first South technology and social organization. But the Americans were not just specialized big- biggest surprises have come from South game hunters armed with large bifacially- America, where recent work suggests that chipped projectile points, like the Clovis this continent was occupied by at least hunters of North America, but collected 12,000 years ago, and possibly much earlier, wild plant foods and fished in streams and by people with very diverse subsistence lakes. A few North American sites, such as strategies.

PLEiSTOCEaJE HUK7^R-^ATttET?E?S |M THE CHILEAN fOREST-S Page 2 Anthro Notes

Meadowcroft Rockshelter, have also and inorganic remains have been studied by provided evidence of diverse economic an interdisciplinary research team to strategies at an early date. reconstruct the paleoecology of the site area and to critically evaluate the evidence for In the early 1970s, evidence about the first human intervention in the site. Specialists South Americans was limited to a small include more than sixty scientists from such series of stone tools and animal bones, disciplines as geology, palynology, botany, mostly from caves and rockshelters. Dates entomology, animal pathology, paleontology, for these sites were often questionable, and ecology, forestry engineering, malacology, many of the tools were not clearly made by diatomology, and microbiology. human hands. Twenty years of work by Latin American archaeologists and others The area around Monte Verde today has have provided more reliable and accepted moderately warm, dry summers and cold, data. Sites such as Tequendama, Tibito and rainy winters, with a mean annual El Abra in Colombia, Monte Verde in Chile, temperature fluctuating between 12 and 15 Los Toldos in Argentina and Pedra Furada C. The climate that prevailed in the late

in Brazil are all radiocarbon dated to 1 1,500 Pleistocene after the ice sheets receded years ago or possibly earlier. While the resembled this setting, although it was minimum occupation age of South America probably slightly cooler and more humid. A appears to be around 12,000 years ago, some forest made up of a mixture of deciduous evidence suggests a possibility that the and coniferous trees covers the region today; earliest South Americans actually arrived as it abundantly supplies numerous varieties long ago as 20,000 to 35,000 years ago. of edible tubers, nuts, berries, fruits, and soft and leafy plants throughout the year. Monte Verde Discovered There are also small game, freshwater mollusks, and fish. In late Pleistocene times, The Maullin River flows through the cool mastodons, saber-tooth tigers, ground sloths, forested country west of the Andes in South and probably camelids roamed the area. As Central Chile. In 1976, while directing the the Late Pleistocene sea level was lower, the anthropology program at the Southern nearest point on the Pacific coast lay about

University of Chile, in Valdivia, I was 65 kilometers west of the site and offered surveying the river near the site of Monte many edible species of marine organisms. Verde with a number of Chilean and The early inhabitants of Monte Verde could Argentinean colleagues. Buried in the banks choose from all of these varying sources of of a small tributary creek, we found an food. unusual site. Layers of peat bog, which only form in cool wet climates where organic Late Pleistocene Settlement Structure materials are water-logged before they have a chance to decay, had preserved organic The excavation at Monte Verde was divided remains to an extraordinary degree. Not arbitrarily into east and west sides. On the only did we find chipped stone tools and east side the remains of ten or eleven animal bones but also well-preserved foundations of residential huts were wooden tools, house foundations of wood recovered. The foundations measure about and earth, and the remains of medicinal and 2.5 by 3.5 meters and are formed by small edible plants. These suggested the presence timbers, limbs, and roughly shaped planks of a complex village settlement. usually held in place by wooden stakes. Fallen branches and vertical post stubs To our surprise, radiocarbon dates on both reveal that the hut frames were made the cultural and non-cultural levels placed primarily of hardwoods. The side walls were this settlement between 12,000 and 13,000 placed against a log foundation and then years ago. In another area of the site, deeper apparently draped with animal skins as deposits contained stone tools and possible suggested by the presence of a few small cultural features that may be even older. fragments of skin still clinging to the fallen side poles. Preliminary results of micro- At Monte Verde, the extraordinary preser- scopic and other studies by microbiologists vation, diversity, and complexity of organic and pathologists suggest that the skins are Page 3 Anthro Notes

most likely from a large animal, probably a the site served a special purpose, rather than mastodon. as living quarters.

A wide variety of plant remains, stone tools, Tools and Food Remains at Monte Verde food stains, and small braziers (shallow pits for holding burning coals) was found on the The stone tools from Monte Verde are living surface inside each hut. The braziers, similar to those from other sites in the which contained ash, specks of charcoal, Americas, although the use of naturally and the remains of numerous plant foods, fractured stones, common at Monte Verde, were probably used to heat each hut and to has not been widely reported from other warm the food. Cooking was evidently a sites. The organic remains, however, are communal effort, as shown by the discovery more unusual. More than four-hundred of two large clay and charcoal hearths bones, including those of extinct camelids, centrally located outside the huts. The mastodons, and small game were recovered recovery of three roughly-shaped wooden from the site. Most of the bone remains are mortars and several grinding stones near the rib fragments of at least seven individual hearths suggest that the preparation of plant mastodons. Several bones were modified as food took place next to the hearths. possible digging sticks, gouging tools, or other implements. Who were these ancient South Americans? No human bones have yet been recovered Beside the wooden architecture foundations, from the excavations at Monte Verde, but several types of artifacts made of wood there are two indirect sources of were excavated, including a sharply pointed information about the site's inhabitants. One lance-like implement, three crude wooden is the imprint of a foot preserved in clay mortars, two tool hafts or handles, and more around a large hearth. Another consists of than three hundred pieces of wood possible coprolites (fossil excrement) that appear to be of human origin. These were recovered from small pits dug in the ground also near a hearth.

The west side of the site is characterized by a unique structure and activity area. The central feature is a roughly ovoid-shaped artificial rise of sand with a little gravel. Resting on this rise is an architectural foundation made of sand and gravel compacted to form a peculiar wishbone shape. Fragments of upright wooden stubs were present approximately every few centimeters along both arms of the structure. Presumably these are the remains of a pole frame draped with hides. The same type and size of braziers recorded on the east side of the site were found both inside and outside the structure. Of particular interest is the association of the hearths with preserved bits of apparent animal hide, of burned seeds and stalks of bulrush reed, and of masticated leaves of plants found in warmer environments and used today by the THC AR£UAEDLD

exhibiting cut or planed facets, burned of South America and hence reminds us that areas, cut marks, and\or smoothed and we will probably discover and verify yet thinned surfaces. Several bones were earlier sites in North America in the future. sharpened and burned. Their association The next few years will undoubtedly yield with underground plant parts (tubers and additional information from both continents rhizomes) and with grooved wooden slats about the entry date of the first Americans with horizontal grooves suggest that they and about their environment, technology, might have been used as digging sticks and and lifeways. But even if more such gouging tools. information is discovered and accepted, the emotionally charged issue of when the first What did the ancient Monte Verdeans humans entered the New World may never capture with their assortment of stone, bone be settled, since even if we discovered the and wooden tools? From the array of very first evidence of that arrival, we inorganic and organic remains, we can probably would never recognize it as such. determine that they were exploiting It is the questions being asked and not a resources from distant reaches of the single answer being sought that is the "Mauillin Valley. Most of the differing driving force motivating this scientific environmental zones were aquatic areas: search on two continents for clues to the swamps, bogs, river bottoms, marshes, earliest Americans and to the solutions they estuaries, and lagoons. How many people developed to flourish in the environments lived at the site? Ten or eleven residential in which they lived. structures and one unique structure have been excavated. Among the modern For Further Reading: Mapuche, similar huts are occupied by two to three individuals. By analogy, we Bryan, Alan L., ed. New Evidence for the estimate that at least 25 to 35 individuals Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas. lived at Monte Verde during the Late Orono: Center for the Study of Early Pleistocene. Man, University of Maine, 1986.

If wood had not been preserved, we would Dillehey, Tom D., ed. Monte Verde: A Late have recovered only stone tools, postholes, Pleistocene Settlement in Chile. Vol. 1: A stains and perhaps bones and mollusk shells. Palaeoenvironment and Site Context. Evidence of plant foods and most of the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. residential characteristics that tell us this was a village would have been lost. In fact, Dillehey, Tom D. "A Late Ice-Age Settlement the site might well have been interpreted as in Southern Chile." Scientific American a kill site with a temporary residential 251 (October 1984):106-1 17. component, like most of the North American palaeoindian sites. Fagan, Brian M. The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient America. New York: Conclusion Thames & Hudson, 1987.

The preservation of the perishable materials Shutler, Richard Jr., ed. Early Man in the at Monte Verde, along with the diversity of New World. Beverly Hills: Sage the social, technological, and economic Publications, 1983. activities represented there, makes this site exceedingly important and scientifically Latin American 'specialists who have unique at this point in time. Monte Verde contributed to the documentation of the warns us all to keep an open mind toward first South Americans include: G. Correal, the possible diversity of lifestyles of the G. Ardila, J. Cruxent, A. Cardich, L. Nunez, first Americans and of the various ways G Politis, N. Flegenheimer, N. Guidon and these lifeways might be expressed and P. Schimitz. preserved in a local archaeological record. Tom Dillehey Department of Anthropology Furthermore, this very early dated University of Illinois at occupation site comes from the southern end Urbana-Champaign Page 5 Anthro Notes

WHY I'M NOT THANKFUL do Native Americans have to reconcile themselves to forever putting up with such FOR THANKSGIVING exhibitions of puerile ethnocentrism?

Attitudes pertinent to "racial" or sex-role [Note: The following article by Michael identity are among the most potentially Dorris gives insights into the feelings of a hazardous, for these can easily be parent of Indian children who himself is a internalized—particularly by the "minority" scholar, a novelist, and a member of the child. Such internalized attitudes Modoc tribe. These insights provide another profoundly affect self-concept, behavior, view of holiday customs that often are aspiration, and confidence. They can viewed as innocuous and even celebratory. inhibit a child before he or she has learned Thanksgiving for many is seen as a uni- to define personal talents, limits or dimensional historical experience rather objectives, and tend to regularly become than the encounter of richly diverse cultures. self-fulfilling prophesies. Young people It is out of the failure to appreciate and who are informed that they are going to be value the richness of diversity that cultures underachievers do underachieve with and peoples become caricatures. This article painful regularity. is included in Anthro.Notes in the hope that greater sensitivity to other peoples and the The progeny of each cultures from which they come can enable oppressed group are saddled with their own specialized set of teachers to engage their students in true debilitating— multicultural appreciation. and to parents, infuriating— stereotypes. As the father of three Native American children, ten, six, --Dave Warren, Deputy Director, aged and three, I am particularly attuned (but not resigned) National Museum of the American Indian] to that huge store of folk Americana presuming to have to with "Indian lore." Native Americans have more than one thing do not to be thankful about on Thanksgiving. (continued on p. Pilgrim Day, and its antecedent feast 6) Halloween, represent the annual twin peaks of Indian stereotyping. From early October through the end of November, "cute little Indians" abound on greeting cards, advertising posters, in costumes and school projects. Like stock characters from a vaudeville repertoire, they dutifully march out of the folk-cultural attic (and right down Madison Avenue!) ughing and wah-

wah-wahing . smeared with lipstick and rouged as if ready to attend a midnight

showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show . Decked out in an assortment of "Indian suits" composed of everything from old clothes to fringed paper bags, little trick- or-treaters and school pageant extras mindlessly sport and cavort in what Duane Bird Bear once aptly termed "cultural drag."

Considering that virtually none of the standard fare surrounding either Halloween or Thanksgiving contains an ounce of authenticity, historical accuracy, or cross- cultural perception, why is it so apparently ingrained? Is it necessary to the American psyche to perpetually exploit and debase its victims in order to justify its history? And Page 6 Anthro Notes

From the "One little, two little..." messages my son that he and these curious and exotic of nursery school, to the ersatz pageantry of creatures are expected to present a common boy scout/campfire girl mumbo jumbo, front— until one of his first grade precious, ridiculous and irritating "Indians" classmates, garbed in the favorite costume are forever popping up. of Halloween (ah, the permutations of burlap!) or smarting from an ecology Consider for a moment the underlying commercial, asks him how to shoot a bow, meanings of some of the supposedly skin a hamster, or endure a scrape without innocuous linguistic standbys: "Indian a tear. The society image is at this time too givers" take back what they have sneakily demanding and too limiting a model. bestowed in much the same way that "Indian summer" deceives the gullible flower bud. As a parent, what does one do? All efficacy Unruly children are termed "wild Indians" is lost if one is perceived and categorized by and a local bank is named "Indian head" school officials as a hypersensitive crank, (would you open an account at a "Jew's reacting with horror to every "I-is-for- hand," "Negro ear" or "Italian toe" branch?) Indian" picture book. To be effective one Ordinary citizens rarely walk "Indian file" must appear to be supe'r-reasonable, drawing when about their business, yet countless sympathetic teachers and vice-principals athletic teams, when seeking emblems of into an alliance of the enlightened to beat savagery and blood thirstiness, see fit to back the attacks of the flat-earthers. In title themselves "warriors," "braves," such a pose one may find oneself engaged "redskins," and the like. in an apparently persuasive discussion with a school librarian regarding a book titled On another level, children wearing "Indian something like Vicious Red Men of the Plains suits," playing "cowboys and Indians" (or, ("Why, it's set here for 20 years and nobody in the case of organizations like the Y- ever noticed that it portrayed all Indi...uh Indian Guides, Y-Indian Maidens and Y- Native Americans, as homicidal maniacs!"), Indian Princesses, simply "Indians"), or while at the same time observing in silence scratching their fingers with pocket knives a poster on the wall about "Contributions of (the better to cement a friendship) are the Indians (heavy on corn and canoes, short encouraged to shriek, ululate, speak in on astronomy and medicine). staccato and ungrammatical utterances (or, conversely, in sickening flowery metaphor) Priorities must be set. One might elect to let —thus presumably emulating "Indians." With the infrequent coloring book page pass depressing predictability, my children have uncontested in favor of mounting the been variously invited to "dress up and battlements against the visitation of a dance," portray Squanto (Pocahantas is travelling Indianophile group proposing a waiting in the wings: my daughter is only "playlet" on "Indians of New Hampshire." three), and "tell a myth." These possibly well-intentioned theatricals, routinely headed by someone called Not surprisingly they have at times "Princess Snowflake" or "Chief Bob," are evidenced some unwillingness to identify, among the more objectionable learning aids and thus cast their lot, with the "Indians" and should be avoided at all costs. It must which bombard them on every front. My somehow be communicated to educators that younger son has lately taken to commenting no information about Native peoples is truly "Look at the Indians!" when he comes across preferable to a reiteration of the same old Richard Montalban, Jeff Chandler, or the stereotypes, particularly in the early grades. improbable Joey Bishop in a vintage TV A year ago this month my older son brought western. Society is teaching him that home a program printed by his school; on "Indians" exist only in an ethnographic the second page was an illustration of the frieze, decorative and slightly titillatingly "first Thanksgiving," with a caption which menacing. They invariably wear feathers, read in part: "They served pumpkins and never crack a smile (though an occasional turkeys and corn and squash. The Indians leer is permissible under certain conditions), had never seen such a feast!" On the and think about little besides the good old days. Quite naturally it does not occur to (continued on p. 15) Page 7 Anthro Notes

TEACHER'S CORNER: initiate actions based on their own values and judgments, rather than simply react to ERASING NATIVE outside forces such as government pressure AMERICAN STEREOTYPES or cattle ranchers? 3. Are stereotypes and cliches avoided? How can we avoid stereotypes about Native References should not be made to "obstacles Americans when we are teaching, selecting to progress" or "noble savages" who are textbooks, or designing exhibits and public "blood thirsty" or "child-like" or "spiritual" programs? or "stoic". Native Americans should not look like Hollywood movie "Indians," whether Cultural institutions reflect current issues Tonto from the Lone Ranger days or Walt of society. Both museums and schools are Disney's recent portrayals. Native wrestling with new sensitivities and concerns Americans are of many physical types and with cultural diversity. For instance, at a also have European, African or other recent Smithsonian symposium on ancestry. Just as all Europeans or African- Contemporary American Indian Art, several Americans do not look alike, neither do Native American artists asked why their Native Americans. paintings and sculpture are rarely shown at fine arts museums, but are more likely to be Heinrich urges that television stereotypes exhibited at anthropology and natural should not go unchallenged. For example, history museums. Native American artists "when Native Americans fought, they were also question why their work is not combined with other American artists' work in shows (continued on p. 8) on American art (Kaupp, 1990).

In directingan alternative school for Native American children in Chicago, June Sark Heinrich found many misnomers and false ideas presented by teachers as they instructed students about the history and the heritage of Native peoples. She devised ten classroom "don'ts" to help teachers correct these common errors. The D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian at the Newberry Library in Chicago recently began designing a sample checklist for evaluating books about American Indian history.

This Anthro. Notes Teacher's Corner combines the two approaches. The questions that follow provide teachers and museum educators with ways to evaluate their own teaching and criteria to evaluate the materials they use.

1. Are Native Americans portrayed as real human beings with strengths and weaknesses, joys and sadnesses? Do they appear to have coherent motivations of their own comparable to those attributed to non- Indians? -TDNfO TfMDEKS HIS RESIGNATION

2. In books, films, comic strips and curriculum materials, do Native Americans Page 8 Anthro Notes

not more 'savage' than the Europeans and 7. Are communities presented as dynamic, were often less so. Help children evolving entities that can adapt to new understand that atrocities are a part of any conditions, migrate to new areas, and keep war. In fact, war itself is atrocious. At control of their own destinies? Too many least, the Native Americans were defending classroom materials still present Native land they had lived on for thousands of American traditions as rigid, fixed, and years. If Native Americans were not 'savage fragile. For example, some filmstrips and warriors,' neither were they 'noble savages.' books may have titles like "How the Indians They were no more nor less noble than the Lived," as though there are not any Indian rest of humanity." people living today. In fact, over two million Native Americans live in what is Television, especially old movies, often now the United States, about half of them portrays the "Indian" speaking only a few live in cities and towns and the other half words of English, often only "ugh." Yet on reservations or in rural areas. anthropologists have carefully documented the complexity of Native American 8. Are historical anachronisms present? languages. At least 350 different languages The groups living here prior to the 1540's were spoken in North America when did not have horses, glass beads, wheat, or William Bradford and the rest of the wagons. Can your students determine why Puritans first stepped ashore in that is the case and do they understand that Massachusetts. these items were all introduced by Europeans? Stereotypes can be defused if teachers check their own expressions and eliminate those 9. Are captions and illustrations specific such as "You act like a bunch of wild and appropriate for a specific time and Indians" or "You are an Indian giver." In a place? (Wrapped skirts in the Arctic, similar way, do not use alphabet cards that feather bonnets in the North Pacific Coast, say A is for apple, B is for ball, and I is for or totem poles in the Plains never existed.) Indians. It may seem trivial, but Heinrich Are individuals identified by name when argues that such a practice equates a group possible? of people with things. 10. Are the different Native Americans 4. If the material is fiction, are the viewed as heirs of a dynamic historical characters appropriate to the situations and tradition extending back before contact are interactions rooted in a particular time with Europeans? Similarly, Native and place? If they are, a particular group American groups should not be equated such as the Navajo or Chippewa living at a with other ethnic minorities. The fact is specific moment in history will be more that Native American tribes—by treaty likely to be brought accurately to life. rights—own their own lands and have other rights that are unique to the descendants of 5. Do the materials and the teacher's the real Natives of America, because they presentation avoid loaded words (savage, are that. No other minority within the buck, chief, squaw) and an insensitive or United States is in a similar legal position. offensive tone? Native peoples view themselves as separate nations within a nation. U.S. laws and 6. Are regional, cultural, and tribal treaties, officially endorsed by U.S. differences recognized when appropriate? presidents and the Congress, confirm that As everyone knows but does not always put status. into practice, before the Europeans came there were no people here that called 11. If you have Native American children themselves "Indians." Instead, there were in your class, do not assume that they know and still are Navajo or Menominee or Hopi, all about their own ancestry and the or Dakota, or Nisqually, or Tlingit, or ancestry of all Native Americans. All Apache. Instead of teaching about children including Native American generalized Indians or "Native Americans," children need to be taught about the Native study the Haida, or Cree, or Seminole. American heritage, which, in a very real Page 9 Anthro Notes

sense, is the heritage of everybody living in SPICE the U.S. today. Culture and ideas, after all, are learned and not inherent from birth. The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) represents References: a long-term effort by Stanford University to improve international and cross-cultural "Checklist," Meeting Ground, Biannual education in elementary and secondary Newsletter of the D'Archy McNickle schools. The program traces its origins to Center, Issue 23, Summer 1990. The 1973, when a project was initiated to Newberry Library, 60 West Walton upgrade teaching about the People's Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610-3380. Republic of China. By 1976, parallel ("Checklist" was based on criteria projects on Japan, Africa, and Latin provided by Center advisor, Cheryl America had been added, and, together with Metoyer-Duran, UCLA School of the China Project, became the nucleus of Library and Information Sciences.) SPICE. The International Security and Arms Control Project (ISAAC), the Soviet Union Heinrich, June Sark. "Native Americans: and Eastern Europe Project, and the Western What Not to Teach," Unlearning Europe Project have been subsequently "Indian" Stereotypes, A Teaching Unit added. for Elementary Teachers and Children's Librarians. New York, Spice is committed to the NY: The Racism and Sexism improvement of the international dimension of elementary Resource Center For Educators, a and secondary education in the U.S. through Division of The Council on the development of curriculum and staff Interracial Books for Children, 1977. development programs of high quality. SPICE materials are reviewed by scholars and tested extensively in Kaupp, Ann. "Toward Gender and Ethnic classrooms. Most of the reasonably priced materials consist of Equity in Museums." Four Star, small booklets and slides. are ideal Newsletter for the Smithsonian They for supplementing units in a wide variety of Institution Women's Council 10(2), classes, primarily in the social Summer 1990. studies and language arts. JoAnne Lanouette A non-profit educational program of Stanford University, SPICE receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Stanford Institute for International Studies, and several private foundations. For an up-to-date catalog, write: NOW AVAILABLE SPICE Littlefield Center, Room 14 The proceedings from the 1988 and 1989 300 Lasuen Street annual conferences— Qualitative Research in Stanford University Education: Substance, Methods, Experience Stanford, CA 94305-5013 and Qualitative Research in Education: Teaching and Learning Qualitative Traditions are available for purchase at $9.00 (U.S.) and $12.00 (International-Air Mail) per copy. Order through Judith Preissle-Goetz, Tucker Hall 413, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Write checks payable to the University of Georgia. Page 10 Anthro Notes

NEW CURRICULA Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for ON NATIVE AMERICANS Children by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac, 1989. FulcrumPublishing, Golden, Colorado. $19.95 (hard cover). Special In reassessing curriculum offerings, teachers discounts available. Teacher's Guide also may wish to order some new, highly available. Primarily for kindergarten recommended materials. We also note the through sixth grade. recent publication After Columbus: The Smithsonian Chronicle of the North American Winner of the New York State Outdoor Indians by Herman Viola (Smithsonian Education Association Annual Art and Books), 1990, available from your local Literary Award this book combines bookstore. (1990), Native American stories and environmental education activities to help students understand all aspects of the earth and to Teaching About Native Americans . National teach "positive social and environmental Council for the Social Studies, Bulletin No. skills." 84, 1990. National Council for the Social St., Studies, 3501 Newark N.W., Washington, * * *- * D.C. 20016-3 167; (202) 966-7840. $10.95 (soft cover). The Native American Sourcebook: A Teacher's Resource of New England Lesson plans cover the following topics: Native Peoples by Barbara Robinson. environment and resources, culture and Concord Museum, P.O. Box 146, Concord, diversity, change and adaptation, conflict MA 01742. Grades 1 & 2. $15 plus $3 and discrimination, and current issues for postage and handling. Native Americans. The last section, "Resources for Teachers and Students," The sourcebook contains curriculum includes criteria for evaluating educational materials, teacher's guides, background materials and an "Indian Awareness information, activity sheets, extensive Inventory" of 40 true or false questions. bibliography, and resource listing.

The Native People of the Northeast

The Wabanakis of Maine and the Maritimes . Woodlands . An elementary curriculum A resource book about Penobscot, produced by the National Museum of the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Micmac, and American Indian, 1989. National Museum Abenaki Indians. American Friends Service of the American Indian, Broadway at 155th Committee, 1989. Grades 4 through 8. Maine St., New York, NY 10031; (202) 283-2420. Indian Program, P.O. Box 1096, Bath, ME $35.00 04530. $15.00. The Delaware (Lenape) and the Six Nations This 506 page resource manual covers Iroquois are the focus of this curriculum in Wabanaki history, government and poli- a three-ring binder notebook. Forty-seven tics, land and treaties, effects of the classroom activities are found in lesson American Revolution, Indian-White plans whose topics are: cultural diversity relations, and contemporary life. Also and environment, early times, language, included are 180 pages of lesson plans and hunting and fishing, harvest, family, oral readings of Wabanaki legends, stories from traditions, clothing, government, life today. or about different periods in history from A resource section provides information on 1400 to the 1920's, and interviews with publications, audio-visuals, powwows, Native Wabanaki people today. The section, "Fact American supplies, and governments today. Sheets," includes information about material culture; political, social, and spiritual life; games and crafts, as well as a resource listing and bibliography.

10 Page 11 Anthro Notes

THE PUBLIC EDUCATION and new resources. The committee is promoting the new SAA associate INITIATIVE AND THE SAA membership for avocational societies, teachers, and others interested in archaeology. Several projects are underway The Society for American Archaeology's for the 1991 SAA Annual Meeting in New (SAA) Committee on Public Education is Orleans, including public sessions on creating a network of active, committed, archaeology, a session for archaeologists on and energetic individuals throughout North writing for the public and a teacher America (and reaching out to interested workshop on archaeology in the classroom. colleagues abroad, as well). Members of the Long-range goals include evaluation and network will work together to develop, development of curriculum materials. The coordinate, and promote public education committee is coordinating with other strategies related to archeology and the professional societies, including the preservation of cultural heritage resources. SAA, in an inter-society work group to coordinate current and future projects. The SAA views public education as the most effective long-range solution to the pressing The SAA welcomes the participation of problem of site destruction. Additionally AAA members in the SAA public education the SAA considers that a positive message network. To receive the newsletter, send about what can be learned about other your name and address to: Dr. cultures and ourselves from careful Edward Friedman, Chair, Committee on Public archaeological research, as well as about Education, Bureau of Reclamation, why we should care about preservation of Denver Federal Center, PO Box 25007, Denver, cultural heritage, must be conveyed in a Colorado 80225-0007, Attention: D-5530. targeted way to a variety of special interest Please indicate also if you would like to groups from school children to collectors. receive "Actions for the '90s," the executive summary of the Save the Past for the The SAA .believes that those who study SAA Future project. culture history through archaeology have Any additional comments or information about your experiences in a responsibility to share information about communicating with the their findings and methods. Professionals public about archaeology are welcome. must not shut the majority of the population out of the process with the implied message, Edward Friedman "Don't touch. Archaeological resources must Phyllis Messenger be protected for the professional Committee on Public archaeologists." Rather, we must encourage Education Society for American the natural curiosity of children and adults Archaeology to learn about and preserve things past and different, yet connected.

Through the public education effort, the SAA wants to awaken in the public an appreciation for and an understanding of the importance of research and to convey the non-renewable nature of the resources, MANY THANKS to those of you who while exploring ways to allow greater responded to our call for educational enjoyment of them by everyone. The SAA materials for the American Anthropo- wants to contribute to a fostering of respect logical Association Task Force on the for one's own cultural heritage and for the Teaching of Anthropology. At the heritage of others. forthcoming November annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, The SAA Committee on Public Education the Task Force will be discussing various has set an ambitious agenda for its first ways to disseminate information on teaching year and is establishing an informal resources. quarterly newsletter to communicate with the growing network about current projects

11 Anthro Notes

TEACHERS CREATE collaboration, we have three new videos appropriate for elementary and secondary CLASSROOM VIDEOS use in our collection: "The !Kung San: Traditional Life" (26 min.), "The !Kung San: WITH D.E.R. Resettle- ment" (28 min.), and "Yanomamo of the Orinoco" (29 min.). The updated Documentary Educational Resources (DER) videos on the !Kung were prepared by Sue is a non-profit educational organization in Marshall Cabezas, co-producer of "N!ai, the Watertown, Massachusetts dedicated to Story of a !Kung Woman," and by Eileen producing and distributing anthropology Sullivan, curriculum co-ordinator for Acton, films and videos. Written texts and study Massachusetts Public Schools. Geography guides accompany many of the films, which teachers Maureen Moran and John Daly at have been used in anthropology classes Wayland Junior High and DER's Judith throughout the U.S. and abroad. Readers Nierenberg, a former teacher, produced the may be familiar with our collection, Yanomamo video and study guide that especially John Marshall's series on the focuses on land use and problems the !Kung San and Timothy Asch and Napoleon Indians face in the rainforest. Chagnon's films on the Yanomamo. We have attempted to expand this project In 1986-88, DER received an incentive in the Greater Boston area and have located award from the Massachusetts Council on teachers in seven more school systems who the Arts and Humanities (now the would like to work with us. Maureen Moran Massachusetts sees this project as Cultural Council). a model for other The award was for teachers who want two purposes: first, to have more input to expand our into the materials market into pre- that they bring into collegiate classrooms, their classroom. We and, second, to make hope to find age-and content- alternate sources of appropriate videos funding to continue for classroom use. this project as the We met our first Massachusetts goal through Cultural Council has familiarizing experienced teachers with our enormous budget collection by cuts. At present we attending social are working on a studies, library, and large scale film independent school production on the conferences; by !Kung, which has advertising in taken priority. journals; and by visiting numerous For further schools through the information about commonwealth. the new videos or These interactions any of the titles in also enabled us to assess areas in which our collection please contact: DER, 101 teachers needed new materials. Morse St., Watertown, MA 02172; (617) 926- 0491, FAX (617) 926-9519. All programs are Our second purpose, to make classroom available for purchase or rental; we have a videos, was implemented with the full free preview policy. permission of the original filmmakers. Teachers in two local school systems worked Judith Nierenberg with us, and now, as a result of this Documentary Educational Resources

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TEACHING RESOURCES and early 20th centuries, the circumstances in which they lived and worked after FROM THE SOCIAL SCIENCE coming here, and how immigrants and EDUCATION CONSORTIUM others viewed the process of "Americanization." Past and present positions on immigration policy are The Social Science Education Consortium discussed. is a not-for-profit educational organization with headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. The SSEC, which is dedicated to the Global Issues in the Elementary Classroom improvement of social studies/social science (order no. 322-5; $21.95) and Global Issues education at all levels, conducts a wide in the Intermediate Classroom (order no. range of activities. Among these are: 323-3; $21.95) each contain 20+ ready-to-use lessons organized into five sections: --An annual conference on a pertinent or Introducing Global Awareness, Studying timely topic of interest to social scientists Values, Studying Global Systems, and educators; the 1990 conference looked Human Studying Global Issues and Problems, and at "Teaching and Learning about the Global History. Varied teaching Globalization of the World." Studying strategies are used to help students explore and folk tales, holidays, —Dissemination of information on new such topics as toys school rules, inventions, holidays, religion developments in social science education, values, the Nobel Peace Prize. A with recent activities on science-technology- and and

volume. Global Issues : Activities society education. companion and Resources for the High School Teacher (order no.312-8; $21.95) focuses more —Teaching training, including an NEH- specifically on contemporary issues (e.g., sponsored summer institute using a world trade, energy and natural resources, humanities approach to teach about the global conflict, rights). early national period in U.S. history. human

—Curriculum development. A Look at Japanese Culture Through the A small sampling of the products developed Family (order no. 349-7; $9.95) invites students to use case studies of family life and published by the SSEC is described below. in Japan to make hypotheses about the traditions, social institutions, and values of the Japanese people. The 33 case studies, A Humanities Approach to U.S. History: Activities and Resources for Secondary written by teachers who spent one-and two- with rural urban Teachers (order no. 348-9; $21.95) presents day home stays and families, rich on 30 activities taking an integrated approach provide a array of data Japanese life. related volume, Japan in to U.S. history with activities on art, music, A

Classroom : Secondary architecture, literature, and tasks of daily the Elementary and Activities (order no. 318-7; $16.95) presents life. Source material is abundant. A companion volume, A Humanities Approach 18 activities on such topics as Japanese poetry and proverbs, Japanese history, and to Early National U.S. History : Activities and Resources for the Elementary School economic development. Teacher (order no. 307-1; $14.95), presents 22 activities that help fifth-grade students understand the colonial and early national Teaching About Korea : Elementary and Secondary Activities (order no. 309-8; periods from a humanities perspective. $16.95) provides 18 activities teachers can use to teach about Korean history, Korean homes and food, Korean folklore and Immigration : Pluralism and National poetry, and Koreans in America. Identity (order no. 332-2; $3.00) is a student booklet that examines immigration from various perspectives: why immigrants chose Activities for Teaching Russian and Soviet Studies in the School (order no. 328- to come to the United States in the late 19th High

13 Page 14 Anthro Notes

4; $21.95) intends to enhance student TEACHER SYMPOSIUM understanding of Russian and Soviet culture and to motivate students to want to learn ON NATIVE AMERICANS more. Among the topics explored are changes in Russian life under Tsar Peter the The National Museum of Natural History Great, the frontier in Soviet and American will be sponsoring a two-day symposium on thought, and collectivized agriculture. Teaching About Native Americans for Significant attention is given to Russian and metropolitan Washington area elementary Soviet literature. A related teacher school teachers, March 8 & 9, 1991. In the background piece is Studying Russian and lectures and workshops, teachers will be Soviet History (order no. 317-9; $9.95) which introduced to past and contemporary life of provides insights into Russian and Soviet Native Americans, with emphasis on the history from the earliest days to the present. Northeast Woodlands and local Indians; new For each period covered, the book also curricula, three of which are described on provides a rich bibliographic essay. page 10 of this issue; and Native American educators and scholars who will offer For additional information about the SSEC's suggestions on how to recognize and deal activities and publications, contact the with stereotypes in teaching materials. Area SSEC, 3300 Mitchell Lane, Suite 240, teachers interested in receiving more Boulder, CO 80301-2272 (303) 492-8154. information should write to: Ann Kaupp, Department of Anthropology, National Laurel R. Singleton Museum of Natural History, Washington, Social Science Education D.C. 20560. Consortium, Inc. HANDBOOK OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS

The Smithsonian's Handbook of North American Indians, general editor William C. Sturtevant, is an encyclopedia summarizing SMITHSONIAN RESOURCE knowledge about all Native peoples north of Meso-america. Scholars contribute to the GUIDE FOR TEACHERS volume chapters that cover human biology, prehistory, ethnology, linguistics, and history. Nine of the 20 volumes thus far The Smithsonian Institution's Office of completed are: Volume 15: Northeast, 1979 Elementary and Secondary Education has ($27.00); Volume 8: California, 1978 produced Resource Guide for Teachers: ($25.00); Volume 9: Southwest (Puebloan Educational Materials Available from the peoples and Southwest prehistory and Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art, and the history), 1980 ($23.00); Volume 6: Subarctic, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing 1981 ($25.00); Volume 10: Southwest (non- Arts. The guide is organized by topics such Puebloan peoples), 1983 ($25.00); and as American Studies, Language Arts, Volume 5: Arctic, 1984 ($29.00); Volume 11: Sciences, World Cultures. Great Basin, 1986 ($27.00); Volume 4: History of Indian-White Relations, 1988 The cost of the 93-page spiral-bound booklet ($47.00); and Volume 7: Northwest Coast, is $4.95, which covers the cost of printing. 1990 ($38.00). Write to: S.I. Press, To order, make your check out to the Department 900, Blue Ridge Summit, PA Smithsonian Institution-OESE and send it to: 17214; (717) 794-2148. Prepaid orders will Smithsonian Institution, Department 0561, not be charged for postage and handling. Washington, D.C. 20073-0561.

14 Page 15 Anthro Notes

("Thanksgiving" continued from p. 6) Protecting children from racism is every bit as important as insuring that they avoid contrary! The Pilgrims had literally never playing with electrical sockets. Poison is seen "such a feast," since all foods poison, and ingrained oppressive cultural mentioned are exclusively indigenous to the attitudes are at least as hard to antidote, Americas and had been provided, or so once implanted, as are imbibed cleaning legend has it, by the local tribe. fluids. No one gains by allowing an inequitable and discriminatory status quo Thanksgiving could be a time for to persist. It's worth being a pain in the appreciating Native American peoples as neck about. they were and as they are, not as either the Pilgrims or their descendant bureaucrats Michael Dorris might wish them to be. If there was really Adjunct Professor a Plymouth Thanksgiving dinner with Native Studies Department Native Americans in attendance as either Dartmouth College guests or hosts, then the event was rare indeed. Pilgrims generally considered [This article was excerpted from Interracial Indians to be devils in disguise, and treated Books for Children Bulletin, vol. 9, no. 7, them as such. And if those hypothetical 1978.] Indians participating in that hypothetical feast thought that all was well and were thankful in the expectation of a peaceful future, they were sadly mistaken. In the ensuing months and years they would die from European diseases, suffer the theft of their lands and property and the near eradication of their religion and their language, and be driven to the brink of extinction. Thanksgiving, like much of SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION TO American history, is complex, multi-faceted, JAMAICA, Febrary 22-March 4, 1991 and will not bear too close a scrutiny without revealing a less than heroic aspect. Help document Pagwa, a Hindu celebration Knowing the truth about Thanksgiving, of the winter harvest and the renewal of both its proud and its shameful motivations life. Introduced to Jamaica by East Indians and history, might well benefit who came to the island as indentured contemporary children. But the glib laborers between 1845 and 1917, Pagwa retelling of an ethnocentric and self-serving combines music, song, dance, and offerings. falsehood does no one any good.

This Smithsonian expedition to Kingston Parents' major responsibility, of course, will involve interviewing local residents, resides in the home. the earliest From conducting library research for background possible age, children must be made aware material, or assisting with preparations for that many people are wrong-headed about Pagwa to learn more about Jamaica's Indian not only Native Americans, but about heritage. Expeditions leaders will be Olive cultural pluralism in general. Children must Lewin, Executive Director, Jamaican be encouraged to articulate any questions Institute of Folk Culture, and John Homiak, they might have about "other" people, and cultural anthropologist, Department of "minority" children must be given ways in Anthropology, National Museum of Natural which to insulate themselves from real or History, Smithsonian Institution. implied insults, epithets, slights or negative stereotypes. "Survival humor" must be For more information, write Smithsonian developed and positive models must Research Expeditions, 490 L'Enfant Plaze, consciously and unconsciously, be available S.W., Suite 4210, Washington, D.C. 22024, or and obvious. Sadly, children must learn not call (202) 357-1350. to trust uncritically.

15 .

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Natural History- ANTHRO. NOTES , a National Museum of Bulletin for Teachers, is published free -of- charge three times a year (fall, winter, and spring). Anthro. Notes was originally part of the George Washington University/Smithsonian Institution Anthropology for Teachers Program funded by the National Science Foundation. To be added to the mailing list, write: P. Ann Kaupp, Public Information Office, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560.

This newsletter may be reproduced and distributed free -of- charge by classroom teachers for educational purposes

Anthro .Notes Staff: P. Ann Kaupp, Ruth 0. Selig, Alison S. Brooks, JoAnne Lanouette, editors; Robert L. Humphrey, artist. Illustrations @ Robert L. Humphrey, 1990.