Of Mammoth Cave Is Revealed by an Archaeological Inventory

Home , Apalachee Bay, Blackwater Draw, Cactus Hill, Wilson Butte Cave, Winterville Site

A CURATION CRISIS • THE C ASE FOR A PRE-CLOVIS PEOPLE american archaeologyWINTER 2001-02 a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy Vol. 5 No. 4

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COVER FEATURE 20 ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN WONDERLAND BY MICHAEL SIMS The amazing past of Mammoth Cave is revealed by an archaeological inventory.

12 TWELVE THOUSAND YEARS UNDER THE SEA BY KC SMITH An underwater excavation on Florida’s continental shelf gives evidence of Paleo-Indians.

28 A CURATION CRISIS BY NANCY TRAVER Institutions and agencies are trying to come to grips with the problem of properly curating artifacts.

35 THE CASE FOR A PRE-CLOVIS PEOPLE BY ROBSON BONNICHSEN AND ALAN L. SCHNEIDER Why the Clovis were not the first people to settle the Americas.

40 point acquisition: ARCHAEOLOGY ON THE COAST A serendipitous event led to the Conservancy’s purchase of a prehistoric shell midden.

41 point acquisition: UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF INGOMAR MOUNDS 2 Lay of the Land Study of this site may reveal more about its puzzling history. 3 Letters 42 point acquisition: STUDYING CALIFORNIA’S PREHISTORY 5 Events The 3,000-year-old Lorenzen site could yield important information. 7 In the News Hopewell Earthwork Discovered • 43 point acquisition: Hunley Excavation Resumes • ADENA MOUNDS SURVIVE Climate Change Creates An 11th-hour purchase by the Conservancy saves the O’Dell Mounds. Cultural Change 44 Field Notes COVER: A researcher gazes down a large passage in Mammoth Cave. This passage is estimated to be about 20 feet high and 40 feet wide. The cave 46 Expeditions has countless passages, some of which are larger than this and some of which are so small they’re impassable. Photograph by Charles Swedlund 48 Reviews american archaeology 1 Lay of the Land

Solving the Curation Problem

ozens of invaluable collections of ing for the collections becomes more artifacts taken from American acute. The study of these collections archaeological sites are literally may offer the only opportunity to Dhidden away, and consequently answer the many questions of the forgotten and left to deteriorate. We’re past. As new technology becomes not talking about items that bring available, it is often possible to return huge prices on the international antiq- to old collections and get very signif- uities markets. We are talking about icant information. After all, restudy- tens of thousands of little things of no ing the old collections is the most commercial value that add up to in- fundamental form of conservation valuable information available no- archaeology. cost. Let’s follow their example in the where else. Our investigation of the The curation crisis is turning rest of the nation. state of curation in America shows into a national scandal. It is time for alarming shortcomings (see page 28, Congress to investigate and take re- “A Curation Crisis”). medial action before more is lost. As As archaeological sites become Maryland has demonstrated, the so- more rare, the responsibility for car- lution can be had for a reasonable MARK MICHEL, President

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CCAC’s programs and admission practices are open to applicants of any race, color, nationality, or ethnic origin. CST# 2059347-50 2 T winter • 2001-02 E Letters Amazing Ephrata Overselling I find myself constantly Small Insights watching the Discovery As a professional Editor’s Corner Channel and the History historian who has There is no place archaeologists Channel, and many times also done time at won’t go. In this issue, we follow two they have had documen- several archaeo- of them underground and underwater taries on various archaeological digs, I as they attempt to comprehend logical discoveries that I hate seeing his- prehistory. George Crothers has been find fascinating. Archaeol- torical archae- plumbing the depths of Mammoth Cave in southern Kentucky since ogy is an incredible science ologists justify 1992. This is the world’s largest and it was so nice to read their endeavors as somehow known cave system, and within its about the findings of the superior to historical research. hundreds of miles of passages is 1732 religious commune of Conrad The idea that the dig at the evidence of thousands of years of Beissel in the Fall issue of American Ephrata Cloister is “telling a more human activity. The artifacts speak of Archaeology. truthful story” than can be gleaned a wide range of activities—from How he got his followers to do from documents is pure hype. Yes, mining to rites of passage to his bidding is amazing. I guess if you written texts are biased. This is news? convalescing from tuberculosis. really believe the Second Coming will The possible existence of bias is why While Crothers dons a hard hat happen during one’s lifetime, then good historians are systematically and headlamp for work, Michael the follower will do everything neces- skeptics. And what great new truth Faught’s work attire consists of a wet suit and goggles. He explores the sary to make that commune work. has been unearthed at the Ephrata seabed of the Gulf of Mexico, more The information gathered from dig? That the society’s members ate than three miles off the coast of this dig is historically important. meat although cautioned by their northwestern Florida. Thousands of The farming techniques of this pe- leader not to do so. Gosh! years ago, this area was dry land and riod are now well documented, Let the Ephrata project go for- Faught has found stone artifacts that thanks to the hard work done by ward with its good work of adding to are 8,000 to 12,000 years old. these archaeologists. The Cloister at our knowledge of its material cul- Crothers and Faught are exploring Ephrata is a valuable finding for all ture. But please, let’s not oversell the fascinating places, and we have the future generations to study. significance of very small insights. good fortune of accompanying them. Alicia Najar Robert R. Dykstra Red Bluff, California Worcester, Massachusetts

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Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517 • (505) 266-1540 www.americanarchaeology.org he Archaeological Conservancy is the only national non-profit Board of Directors organization that identifies, ac- Earl Gadbery, Pennsylvania, CHAIRMAN quires, and preserves the most sig- Olds Anderson, Michigan • Cecil F. Antone, Arizona • Janet Creighton, Washington tnificant archaeological sites in the Christopher B. Donnan, California • Janet EtsHokin, Illinois • Jerry EtsHokin, Illinois United States. Since its beginning in W. James Judge, Colorado • Jay T. Last, California 1980, the Conservancy has preserved Rosamond Stanton, New Mexico • Vincas Steponaitis, North Carolina more than 220 sites across the nation, Dee Ann Story, Texas • Stewart L. Udall, New Mexico ranging in age from the earliest habita- Conservancy Staff

tion sites in North America to a 19th- Mark Michel, President • Tione Joseph, Office Manager century frontier army post. We are Erika Olsson, Membership Director • Shelley Smith, Membership Assistant building a national system of archaeo- Martha Mulvany, Special Projects Director • Yvonne Woolfolk, Administrative Assistant logical preserves to ensure the survival Heidi Smith, Administrative Assistant • Valerie Long, Administrative Assistant of our irreplaceable cultural heritage. Regional Offices and Directors Why Save Archaeological Sites? The Jim Walker, Southwest Region (505) 266-1540 ancient people of North America 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 402 • Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108 left virtually no written records of Tamara Stewart, Projects Coordinator • Steve Koczan, Site Maintenance their cultures. 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The purpose of the Janet Rafferty, Mississippi State University • Kenneth Sassaman, University of Florida magazine is to help readers appre- Donna Seifert, John Milner Associates • Kathryn Toepel, Heritage Research Associates ciate and understand the archaeo- Richard Woodbury, University of Massachusetts logical wonders available to them, and to raise their awareness of the National Advertising Office destruction of our cultural heritage. Richard Bublitz, Advertising Representative; 22247 Burbank Boulevard, By sharing new discoveries, re- Woodland Hills, California 91367; (800) 485-5029; fax (818) 716-1030 search, and activities in an enjoy- [email protected] able and informative way, we hope American Archaeology (ISSN 1093-8400) is published quarterly by The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, we can make learning about ancient Suite 402, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517. Title registered U.S. Pat. and TM Office, © 2001 by TAC. 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4 winter • 2001-02 Museum exhibits • Tours • Festivals Meetings • Education • Conferences Events

■ NEW EXHIBITS Alutiiq Museum and Exhibit Museum of Natural History Archaeological Repository Ann Arbor, Mich.—The new exhibit Kodiak, Alaska—“Looking Both Ways: “Got Salt?” explores how native people Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq of the Nexquipayac region of Central People” combines art, archaeology, histo- Mexico produce salt from the soils of ry, and oral tradition to follow the Alutiiq ancient lakebeds as they have done for people of Alaska's south-central coast centuries, employing local materials and from ancient to present times. This travel- simple technology. (734) 763-4191 ing exhibition was created by the (Through January 31, 2002) Smithsonian, which worked closely with the Alaska native Frank McClung Museum communities depicted in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, exhibition. Following its Tenn.—The rich heritage of coverlet debut in Kodiak, it will weaving is showcased in the traveling continue its national tour, exhibit “Textile Art from Southern traveling to the Anchorage Appalachia: The Quiet Work of Museum in October 2002. Women.” The intricate weavings illus- (907) 486-7004 (Through April 6, 2002) Canadian Museum trate an unbroken artistic tradition that began prior to the 19th century in Natural History Museum of Civilization southern Appalachia. A portion of the of Los Angeles County Hull, Quebec, Canada—“Kichi exhibit, the most extensive collection of Los Angeles, Calif.—The new exhibit “Of Sibi: Tracing Our Region’s Ancient woven art from the region ever assem- Myth and Memory: Paiute and Shoshone History” explores the history of bled, is also on display at the East Baskets of Owens Valley, California” the Ottawa River Valley through Tennessee Historical Society Museum in includes 72 baskets that serve as a lens for numerous artifacts recovered downtown Knoxville. (865) 974-2144 focusing on the dramatic social, economic, from the region that date from (Through February 3, 2002) and ecological changes in this part of the 10,000 to several hundred years Great Basin since the mid-1800s. The ago. The artifacts provide Paiute and Shoshone Indians populated evidence that aboriginal people the rugged Owens Valley for thousands of lived along the Kichi Sibi years, taking advantage of the rich (“Great River” in Algonquian) resources and practicing a semi-nomadic for thousands of years before lifestyle which is preserved in the baskets the arrival of Europeans. they produced. (213) 763-3515 (Through (819) 776-7000 (Through April 14, 2002) May 26, 2002) Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.—“Distinguished Casts: Curating Lost Monuments at the Peabody Museum” features some of the most important and valuable Mesoamerican casts from the museum's unique collection. Dating from the 19th century, the collection is among the world's largest and preserves a wealth of hieroglyphic and iconographic information now lost forever on the original Aztec and Maya monuments and sculptures from sites ranging from Honduras to Mexico City. (617) 495-2269 (New long-term exhibit) american archaeology 5 Events

El Museo del Barrio of the intertribal hoop dance as they compete New York, N.Y.—The new exhibit “Taíno: for the prestigious World Champion Hoop Ancient Voyagers of the Caribbean” pres- Dancer title. (602) 252-8848 ents some 125 rare Taíno works from major institutions, private collections, and the The Past as Present: Archaeology museum's holdings. The Taíno were the and Descendant Communities dominant culture in the Caribbean region in Northern New Mexico after about A.D. 1200, and were the first Lecture Series continuing through spring people Columbus encountered in the New 2002 at Santa Fe and Albuquerque, N.M. World. The exhibit includes the extraordi- locations, sponsored by The Archaeological nary Deminán Caracaracol effigy vessel, a Conservancy and free to Conservancy mem- masterpiece of Taíno art on loan for a year bers. On February 22, 7 P.M. at the National from the National Museum of the Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. Nan Rothschild and Ann Whitney Olin of (212) 831-7272 (New permanent exhibit) Barnard College and Columbia University will present “San José de Las Huertas: A ■ CONFERENCES, LECTURES Late 18th-Century Buffer Community.” & FESTIVALS (505) 266-1540 Dickson Mounds Society for Historical Archaeology's Museum Annual Conference Kennewick Man and the Peopling of the January 8–12, 2002, Adam's Mark Hotel, Americas Symposium Lewistown, Ill.—The new Mobile, Ala. This year's theme is “Colonial February 22, 2002, 7–10 P.M., Marin exhibit “Images for Origins,” in recognition of the 300th County Civic Center, Exhibit Hall Theatre, Eternity: West Mexican anniversary of Mobile's founding by French San Rafael, Calif. Held in association with Tomb Figures” features colonists. For information contact Bonnie the 18th Annual Marin Indian Art Show, more than 60 extraordi- Gums at the University of South Alabama: the symposium features speakers Bradley nary sculpted ceramic [email protected] or call (251) Lepper, Ohio Historical Society archaeolo- figures created by a 460-6562. gist, Rob Bonnichsen, first American spe- West Mexican culture cialist and lead plaintiff in the Kennewick dating from 200 B.C. Eighth Biennial Southwest Man lawsuit, and Alan Schneider, the lead to A.D. 300. The pieces Symposium 2002 attorney in the law suit. The speakers will represent animals, January 10–12, 2002. Hosted by the discuss the case from a scientific perspec- musicians, warriors, ball University of Arizona and held at the Rich tive and review the latest technological ad- players, and ceremonial Theatre, Tucson Convention Center, Ariz. vances in the study of the first Americans. scenes that reveal the A Friday evening reception will be held at Contact David Bobb at (877) 587-2455 or culture of these the Arizona State Museum, followed by four [email protected] for more information. mysterious people. The half-day sessions on the 11th and 12th. collection is on loan from Sunday field trips will be led to sites in the Eighth Annual Southwest the Hudson Museum of Tucson area. Contact Barbara Mills at Indian Art Fair the University of Maine. [email protected] or (520) 621-2585. February 23–24 2002, Arizona State (309) 547-3721 (January Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, 13–March 31, 2002) 12th Annual World Championship Ariz. More than 100 of the region's finest Hoop Dance Contest American Indian artists sell their works. The February 2–3, 2002, Heard Museum, weekend includes storytelling, traditional Phoenix, Ariz. The world's top hoop dancers music, dances, artists' demonstrations, showcase their skills in a brilliant presentation native fashions and cuisine. (520) 621-6302

6 winter • 2001-02 in the Hopewell Earthwork Discovered NEWS The earthwork was hidden in a thoroughly researched site.

n earthwork was discovered last July at the Hopewell Mound Group, near Chilli- cothe, Ohio. The earthwork, which is a perfect circle with aA diameter of 90 feet, was found by New Earthwork two students from Ohio State Uni- versity, which was conducting a field school at the park. “This is one of the more studied Possible Hopewell sites in the world, and this was never detected,” said Jarrod New Mound Burks, an archaeology technician

SERVICE who works for Hopewell Culture Na-

P A R K tional Historical Park. “The circle is a very shallow ditch.” The site was first 1,650 feet N A T I O N A L mapped in the early 1800s, and has been mapped several times since. He This map is based on several historic maps of the Hopewell Mound Group. The black dots and said the circle was never seen because oblongs are mounds. The large circle and the D-shaped figure represent embankments that are the ditch had been filled with dirt. only partially visible. The Hopewell culture is well mounds have been examined, very the known mounds with a fluxgate known for constructing large earth- little research has been done in the gradiometer, a remote sensing device works, many of which are in geomet- areas between the mounds, Burks that identifies fluctuations in the ric forms such as circles, squares, and said. Consequently, researchers from Earth’s magnetic field. Burks said octagons. The Hopewell Mound Ohio State, working in concert with there might be a structure within the Group is the type-site of the circle, such as the remains Hopewell culture and consists of a of a building. This area large D-shaped earthwork con- will be tested at some nected to a square. About 40 burial point in the future. mounds have been identified within The researchers may the earthworks, which are famous have also found another for the elaborate goods discovered mound while conducting in the mounds. These goods were the survey. It is only collected from as far away as the about two feet high, and Gulf of Mexico and the Rocky rather than a mound it Mountains. The Conservancy ac- may be a pile of dirt that quired most of the site, more than was excavated from a 150 acres, in 1980, when it was The earthwork as seen by archaeologists analyzing the data large nearby mound ap- from the fluxgate gradiometer. threatened by residential develop- proximately 80 years ago. ment. It was transferred to the Na- the National Park Service, began The researchers need to examine it tional Park Service in 1998. conducting random surveys of a further before they can identify it. Though the site’s numerous small portion of the areas between —Michael Bawaya american archaeology 7 in the NEWS Study Indicates Multiple Migrations Peopled the Americas Genetic researchers are seeking the origins and arrival dates of the first Americans.

study released by the Na- tional Academy of Sciences offers additional evidence that the first Americans were descendants of the prehistoricA Jomon people, who migrated from Japan to mainland Asia and eventually to the New World at the end of the last Ice Age around 15,000 years ago. The Jomon have craniofacial characteristics that are more closely related to those of Eu- ropeans than to mainland Asians. The 1996 discovery of Ken- newick Man, the 9,300-year-old skeleton with what have been de-

scribed as Caucasoid features, in- NEWS spired University of Michigan’s phys- A R B O R

ical anthropologist C. Loring Brace A N N and others to examine the possibility C. Loring Brace poses with the Williamson skull, which was found near Austin, Texas, in 1983. of several migrations of Paleo-peoples This 9,500-year-old skull has craniofacial features similar to the Jomon, such as the angle of to the New World, including one the lower jaw bone. that may have originated in Europe. Having compared 21 skull and facial may have arisen from different parts about the date of earliest entry, and characteristics from more than of northern Asia,” explained Univer- if someone can show an earlier date 10,000 ancient and modern popula- sity of Pennsylvania molecular an- it would not bother me,” said Brace, tions in the New and Old Worlds, thropologist Theodore Schurr. who has been curator of biological the study supports the notion of two According to Schurr, the genetic anthropology at the University of or more migrations, which would ac- data of American populations sug- Michigan’s Museum of Anthropol- count for the greater genetic diversity gests that the first wave of migration ogy for the last 35 years. seen in Paleo-Indian peoples at a to the Western Hemisphere may Researchers are working to much earlier date than was previ- have occurred as early as 22,000 to gather more information, including ously thought. Genetic studies are 30,000 years ago, before the last Ice both craniofacial measurements and reaching similar conclusions. Age. Genetically distinct peoples mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromo- “Both the mitochondrial DNA that gave rise to the Eskimo-Aleuts some data from Native American and Y-chromosome data are begin- and Athapaskan Indians later mi- and Siberian populations, to obtain ning to show that at least two expan- grated to the New World from a clearer picture of the processes sions of ancestral populations geneti- mainland Asia beginning about that gave rise to the patterns of bio- cally contributed to ancestral 8,000 years ago. logical variation seen in these Amerindian populations, and these “I do not have strong feelings groups. —Ta mara Stewart

8 winter • 2001-02 in the Hunley Excavation Resumes NEWS Findings could help determine why it sank.

fter a four-month hiatus, the excavation on the H. L. Hunley resumed last Octo- ber. The Hunley is the first submarine to sink an enemy shipA in battle. Shortly after having made naval history, the Hunley mys- teriously sank. The remains of eight men have been found, and archaeologists have concluded that there were no other crew members. The remains will be analyzed with the hope of identifying the men through facial recon- HUNLEY struction and DNA analysis. T H E

O F While excavating the stern area, the archaeologists were sur-

F R I E N D S prised to discover a flywheel, which was located behind the gears of the Senior conservator Paul Mardikian (in the submarine), senior archaeologist Maria Jacobsen, and conservator Philippe de Vivies view a digital picture of the Hunley’s interior. sub’s hand-crank and connected to the propeller. The flywheel was ap- itive submarine fashioned from a compartments were not sealed off parently designed to be a brake for boiler,” said Robert Neyland, the from the crew compartment. This is the propeller. Hunley project director. puzzling, given the sophistication of “This complex system graphi- Archaeologists have also lo- the Hunley’s engineering. These cally demonstrates the advanced cated the aft bulkhead, which was open flood compartments might technology of the Hunley and dis- open. This discovery supports his- have played a role in the Hunley’s pels any notion that this was a prim- torical recollections that the flood sinking. —Michael Bawaya

Computer Simulation Program Explains Mass Migrations New model provides an analysis of human movement.

new computer simulation model whether a group survives by hunting causes of this migration, which state may help archaeologists under- and gathering or by agriculture, and that Numic peoples were able to A stand the reasons behind pre- whether an expanding group moves maintain higher population density by historic mass human migrations. The into the territory of another group that using a wider variety of food sources, model, developed by physicist David is more or less powerful. and as a result, were able to take Young of the Lawrence Livermore Na- Young and anthropologist Robert over the territories of Prenumic peo- tional Laboratory in California, provides Bettinger of the University of Califor- ples. Young says that his quantitative an analysis of the causes of a given nia, Davis, have used the model to an- analysis “adds credibility to the exist- human migration. alyze the migration of prehistoric ing theory.” The model allows its user to place Numic-speaking peoples from south- Although Young suspects that his a group in an area and then to design a eastern California through Nevada to model will have problems accounting set of probabilities according to which Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and for human intelligence and accidents that group will move, reproduce, and Wyoming, and the resulting extinction of history, he believes that there’s still die. Some of the programmable of Prenumic peoples. Their results a lot more to be learned from com- causes of movement are overcrowding, confirm current ideas about the puter simulation. —Martha Mulvany

american archaeology 9 in the NEWS Climate Change Creates Cultural Change Geologists find evidence in New Mexico caves.

wo geologists at the University of New Mexico have found evidence in stalagmites to support the theory that prehistoric cultural shifts in the southwestern United States resulted from climatic change. Victor Polyak, a senior research scientist, andT Yemane Asmerom, an associate professor of geochem- istry, collected stalagmites from two caves in New Mexico with the hope that this would be a new way of learning more about patterns of climate change in the Southwest. Stalagmites contain bands of the mineral calcite that are formed when water drips from a cave ceiling. These bands, which consist of alternating dark and light layers, reflect sea- sonal growth. Their study documents the most complete record of annual bands in stalagmites published thus far. The thickness in band width can be related to moisture, with thinner bands reflecting drier conditions. When the amount of moisture is significantly reduced, the sta- POLYAK lagmites quit growing or they precipitate another mineral

called aragonite, which is chemically identical to calcite V I C T O R but has a different crystal form. By examining the bands These stalagmites are found on the floor of Carlsbad Caverns in southern under a microscope, Polyak and Asmerom were able to New Mexico. It’s believed that they formed sometime between 800 and determine relative shifts in the amount of moisture in the 3,000 years ago during moist conditions. region dating back to 2000 B.C. Examination of the bands has the potential to be took place during times of increased moisture include the equally, if not more informative, than tree-ring analysis, general population expansion in the Southwest during the since the stalagmite record covers greater amounts of time. Pueblo I period, approximately A.D. 750–900, when peo- The period of time derived from counting a series of cal- ple moved from pithouses to above-ground homes. cite bands can then be tested for accuracy by mass spec- Major cultural shifts that occurred during relatively trometric uranium-series dating, which measures the drier periods seem to be correlated with the introduction decay of the element uranium as it breaks down into the of ceramics and cotton agriculture around 1,700 years element thorium-230. ago, the abandonment of higher-elevation dwellings and Polyak, who has an interest in archaeology, said, “We the movement to lower-elevation ones around rivers dur- noticed right away that at 700 to 800 years ago, when the ing the Pueblo IV period, about 700 years ago. stalagmites quit growing, this coincided with an impor- “The big issue,” Asmerom said, “is what caused tant time of population abandonments and redistribu- changes in cultures and in people’s use of the physical en- tions in the Southwest. So we started comparing our vironment. I would say that these findings provide very records with other culture and climatic records.” strong support for the argument that climate had a major The stalagmite record shows that early corn agricul- effect. But I guess that whether you want to say that cli- ture seems to have evolved in the Southwest during the mate change was sufficient or the limit of people’s adapta- onset of a wet period around 3,400 years ago, near the be- tion capacity led to cultural changes depends on your re- ginning of the Late Archaic period. Other changes that search perspective.” —Martha Mulvany

10 winter • 2001-02 in the Utah Rock Art Vandalized NEWS Pigment of uncommon pictograph is damaged.

he Blue Buffalo, an unusual rock derived from ground art panel in southeast Utah near up rocks and plants, T Moab, was recently vandalized. are red, brown, and The vandal tried to rub out the pic- white. tograph. It’s believed that this event Louthan said the happened sometime between late BLM hopes to hire a August and early September. The conservator to repair vandalism was reported to officials of the panel. The conser- the U.S. Bureau of Land Manage- vator would attempt to ment (BLM) on September 10. The Blue Buffalo before being vandalized... remove the smears, but “It’s totally unknown to us who would not repaint the might have done it,” said Bruce image. But there are Louthan, a BLM archaeologist. The few conservators expe- BLM is offering a $5,000 reward for rienced in restoring information that leads to the appre- rock art and they come hension of the vandal. “So far, we’ve at a steep price. He es- not received any calls or leads,” timated the cost of Louthan said. bringing in such an A member of the Ute tribe is expert to repair the believed to have created the Blue and after. damage at roughly Buffalo sometime between 1800 $10,000. As for ob- and 1880. Most of the area’s rock which are painted. The work’s color taining the money, Louthan said, art consists of petroglyphs, which is also unusual; the pigments gener- “That’s certainly up in the air right are etched, rather than pictographs, ally found in this area, which are now.” —Michael Bawaya Prehistoric Artifacts Stolen Twenty-one artifacts are taken from a University of Texas research facility.

ast July, 21 prehistoric Native American pottery This three-legged bottle is one of the stolen vessels, stone spear points, and replicas of painted pottery vessels. The top of each leg L pebbles were stolen from the Texas Archeological has markings that resemble a face. Research Laboratory (TARL) at the University of Texas at Austin. The great majority of the pottery vessels are the FBI is involved because from prehistoric Caddo Indian sites in northeast Texas. the Caddo are a federally recog- The remaining pottery is from the Southwest, including nized tribe and a sovereign nation. a few items from the Mesa Verde region. The Texas Archeological Research Laboratory is of- It’s not known whether one or more people were fering a cash reward of $5,000 for information leading involved in the theft or how the thieves entered the to the arrest and conviction of whoever stole these ob- building. “There was no sign of forced entry into the jects. Staff members and friends of TARL donated the building itself, although locks were cut off of the pot- money. “If we can raise more money, we’ll up the ante,” tery vessel collection area and off cabinets,” said Darrell said Creel. Creel, the director of TARL. He added that the security at TARL has been “sig- The University of Texas police, the Bureau of Indian nificantly upgraded” since the break-in with the instal- Affairs, and the FBI are investigating the case. Creel said lation of new alarms and sensors. —Michael Bawaya american archaeology 11 TTwelvewelve ThousandThousand YYearsears UnderUnder TheThe SeaSea

A remarkable underwater excavation on Florida’s continental shelf is discovering Paleo-Indian artifacts.

By KC Smith

Archaeologist Michael Faught examines a biface fragment found on the seabed at the J & J Hunt site. This artifact, like all others found by Faught and his crew, will be SMITH

washed with fresh water to remove salts before undergoing analysis in the laboratory. KC

12 winter • 2001-02 some of Florida’s earliest known inhabitants. I’d seen the It took about 20 seconds evidence laid out for inspection and photography on the boat before the dive. It was a stunning sample of chipped to descend 12,000 years stone objects and elegant tools that neatly match identifi- able and datable examples from terrestrial sites. into Florida’s past. Underwater archaeologist Michael Faught, a gangly scholar with a ponytail and a non-stop smile, has studied the J & J Hunt site intermittently since 1989. It figured rom the time that I leapt off the stern of the prominently in his Ph.D. dissertation research, and, for boat to the time that I landed on soft sedi- the past four summers, it has been a focal point of ments 12 feet below the water’s surface, I barely Florida State University’s underwater archaeology field had a chance to clear my ears, fuss with my school, sponsored by the FSU Program in Underwater buoyancy compensator, adjust to the 10-foot Archaeology (PUA). Fvisibility, and become focused on the archaeological re- Faught was my underwater guide when I visited the mains that I was about to explore. site. We landed on the seabed next to a huge cinder-block Kneeling on the seabed to get my bearings, I contem- structure with ropes extending outward and vanishing plated the zone of history that I had entered. Located into the distance in each of the cardinal directions. Im- three-and-one-half miles offshore in Apalachee Bay—a pervious to the marine environment, this structure serves northeastern crook in the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles as the site’s central point from which all measurements south of Tallahassee—the J & J Hunt site has yielded a are gauged. In the low-visibility setting, the ropes orient provocative array of stone artifacts dating from 8,000 to divers to areas being mapped or excavated. Faught and I 12,000 years ago. Ranging from the Late Paleo-Indian to headed out from the structure along the westerly base- Middle Archaic periods, these items were produced by line, over a flat and silty terrain. I was amazed by the pro- SMITH KC Kimberly Kasper maps portions of the J & J Hunt site. Students map the locations of rocks and, if test pits are dug, stratigraphic information. Kasper draws on Mylar drafting film clipped to boards with compasses for direction. Inexpensive mechanical pencils are the drawing tools of choice. Maps are drawn in three-foot squares, and then later compiled into a master map. american archaeology 13 STANYARD R A Y

Archaeologist Cheryl Ward finds a 12,000-year-old Suwannee projectile point (above). This is one of the oldest artifacts found on the continental shelf in North America. SMITH C . R O G E R

fusion of colors—deep red, purple, blue, yellow, orange, that he is trying to figure out. “This site,” he said, “is and white—displayed by soft corals, sponges, starfish, more like a plow zone than a protected setting where mollusks, and other marine life. Adding to the profile everything has been buried or a place where everything were intermittent outcrops of limestone and chert, which has eroded away.” Although core samples in deeper sedi- Faught jokingly calls “sticky-up rocks.” These geological ments have revealed marine, brackish, freshwater, and ter- features once were dry land, and artifacts have often been restrial layers, the overburden on most of the site consists found near them. As we glided across this seascape, I no- of marine deposits that are less than three feet deep. ticed that the bottom was littered with prehistoric cul- If the stratigraphy at J & J Hunt is perplexing and tural and natural remains. I saw small stone chips called archaeologically atypical, it is not uncharacteristic of sim- debitage, the refuse of tool making, and pieces of flint ilar sites offshore. The day after my visit, Faught took a that had been fashioned into scrapers and small knives. I group of colleagues to a newly discovered deposit less picked up a long black object and looked quizzically at than two miles away. One of the visitors plucked a my guide, who scribbled “dugong rib” on his plastic slate 12,000-year-old, Clovis-like projectile point right off the (one of the means by which divers communicate) to iden- surface—a find that would be surprising on dry land. tify a bone from a manatee-like mammal that formerly Not only is it is the oldest artifact yet found in the bay, plied these waters. Further on, Faught found an unfin- but it also reflects the vast potential of Faught’s larger re- ished stone tool the size of his palm. The evidence was search effort, the PaleoAucilla Prehistory Project (PAPP), everywhere, sitting right on the seabed. designed to search for and examine prehistoric archaeo- Before our dive, Faught mentioned that most recov- logical sites on Florida’s continental shelf. ered artifacts have been found in marine sediments, on or To date, PAPP has identified 35 locations with artifac- within centimeters of the seabed—an unusual situation tual material from three to nine miles offshore. Finding

14 winter • 2001-02 Two divers hook up a dredge to a floating platform where sediment deposits from the seabed are screened for artifacts by a team of students. In the background is the RV Bellows, the 72-foot boat that houses the crew and its equipment.

these deposits hasn’t merely been a matter of chance. For 15 years, Faught has been building and testing a model based on the study of contemporaneous terrestrial remains. The preeminent Paleo deposits in Florida have been found in and around rivers, sinkholes, and springs near the present- day coast, especially the Aucilla River system. Faught believes that the geological and natural characteristics of early human sites on land will be similar offshore. PAPP research has focused on identifying and examining analogous features in the Gulf of Mexico—in particular, the courses of now-submerged river channels such as the Aucilla. STANYARD R A Y ABOUT 18,000 YEARS AGO, MUCH OF THE Earth’s water was trapped in ice sheets, which caused sea levels to be lower and the world’s continental shelves to be exposed. Florida’s western coastline extended as much as Excavating underwater requires an incredible amount of scuba gear, 80 miles beyond the beaches that sunbathers now enjoy. surface supplied breathing hoses, compressors, dredge engines and Over time, global climatic changes caused the ice sheets to hoses, and several backup systems in case of mechanical failures. melt. As the runoff drained into oceans, sea levels rose. The deck of the Bellows is crowded, but organized, during the day This process occurred rapidly for the first 6,000 years; when operations are underway. Come night, it is cleared in case later, it occurred in waves of flooding interspersed with of a storm or the need to assist a boat in distress.

american archaeology 15 Students Camila Tobon (left) and Norma Huerta-Garcia check their scuba equipment in preparation for their next dive. The two make sure they have everything they need, such as writing slates, mapping Mylar, and tape measures. STANYARD

periods of stability, until today’s sea levels were reached R A Y about 5,000 years ago. Huerta-Garcia enters the water, having gotten the OK from the Faught’s research is trying to determine how the in- dive supervisor and the standby diver. They determined that her undation process took place in the northeastern gulf and equipment was working, and that there was no threat from how it affected the migration of people into Florida and storms, sharks, or jellyfish. their subsequent settlement patterns. Based on archaeological and paleontological evidence, this much is known: people arrived on the peninsula at least 12,000 years ago. nance. One of the sites in the bay may include a Middle The environment was drier and savannah-like, and an Archaic shell midden, but this has yet to be confirmed. abundance of large and small mammals, including mam- I asked Faught whether people predating the Clovis moths, mastodons, saber-tooth cats, sloths, horses, and tradition might have occupied Florida. He suspects that camels roamed the landscape, ever on the lookout for evidence of earlier inhabitants will be found on the conti- sources of water. Hunter-gatherers also were drawn to nental shelf around now-drowned natural features that freshwater locations in search of food and useful re- provided useful resources in the past. In addition, he pro- sources, especially flint. Their tool assemblage included poses that these people may have arrived from Central or Clovis-like projectile points, a hallmark of Paleo-Indian South America. This thinking challenges the common be- populations. They foraged in small family bands that pe- lief that Florida’s first residents derived from the migrants riodically assembled for social and ceremonial reasons. It who settled the continent after crossing from Siberia to is unclear whether they made forays to the coast to ex- Alaska on the Bering Land Bridge. ploit marine resources, although this is probable. Faught “Prehistoric New World colonization is an unresolved suspects that the J & J Hunt site may have once been 50 issue,” Faught said. “So much land now covered by water miles from the shore. was exposed, which bears on our understanding of when By the time of the Archaic residents, whom Faught and where people entered Florida and where they resided believes were unrelated to Paleo-Indian populations, the after they got here. Data from offshore sites may deter- sea level was higher, the environment was wetter, and the mine whether early people migrated along coasts or big game was gone. Consequently, people probably lived whether they came to the coasts after settling the interior close to the coast, relying heavily on the sea for suste- of the continent.”

16 winter • 2001-02 PAPP, according to Faught, is doing groundbreaking noisily as it pumped air through 100-foot-long hoses to archaeological research. Although submerged prehistoric dive teams working on the bottom. Neat piles of scuba sites have been studied elsewhere in the world, they gen- gear filled all spaces not taken by tools and equipment. erally are located in bays, inlets, and fresh inland waters, Students were completing dive logs and transcribing notes and they deal with more recent populations. PAPP is in from slates and Mylar sheets on which they had recorded the vanguard not only in its focus on understanding the features within units they had mapped or excavated un- culture, history, settlement patterns, and environmental derwater. A safety diver sat on the stern, intently moni- adaptations of inhabitants of the continental shelf, but toring the exhaust bubbles of colleagues on the seabed. also in its efforts to develop standard techniques for con- Faught took me into the cabin to show me pictures of ducting research on offshore prehistoric sites. a different sort. A cramped, 10-by-20-foot area provided Nonetheless, Faught admitted that PAPP is at a pri- office and drafting space as well as storage for artifacts, mordial stage. “We’re still trying to figure out the geomor- equipment, and food. Faught clicked through a series of phology and sediment patterns in the bay, the artifact dis- maps and submarine images on his computer to show tributions, and how these things are related,” he said. “It’s how data from various sources are being used to recon- too early to talk about what people were doing, although struct the cultural and natural landscape beneath the bay. eventually we want to know about their daily lives.” Since many PAPP sites are located miles offshore, I was curious about how they had been pinpointed. A few sites have been found through tips provided by fishers and divers. On days when the water is clear, divers are towed behind a powerboat to inspect the seabed for limestone THOUGH THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES and chert outcrops. However, the most revealing informa- are unusual, the daily procedures at J & J Hunt reminded tion has been supplied by remote sensing equipment, in- me of other underwater archaeology projects that I’ve cluding a fathometer, sidescan sonar, and subbottom pro- worked on. Operations were well underway by 9:30 A.M., filer, all of which use sonar waves. The fathometer when the powerboat ferrying me from shore drew along- measures the depth of the water. The sidescan sonar and side the RV Bellows, a 72-foot research vessel on loan from subbottom profiler provide images of features on and the Florida Institute of Oceanography. Anchored securely under the seabed. They have helped to identify portions over the site, the Bellows provided a working platform as of the former margins and drainage system of the Aucilla well as a home for about 20 staff members, students, and River. When Faught displayed a few cryptic, wavy-lined boat crew during a two-week investigation. As I hoisted pictures produced by the profiler, even my untrained eye my gear on board, the back deck bore evidence of well- could discern a clear pattern of the river’s course from the planned activity. A small diesel compressor grumbled shore onto the submerged continental shelf. About 200

Learning Underwater Archaeology Florida State University’s Program in Underwater Archaeology (PUA) offers undergraduate courses and master’s and doctoral degrees. Students receive a well-rounded view of the discipline through course work that emphasizes archaeology and traditional topics and by participating in archaeologist Michael Faught’s summer field school. Based at FSU’s marine laboratory on the coast, the field school includes one week of orientation and lectures, four weeks of field research, and one week of report production and equipment cleanup. Students rotate between the PaleoAucilla Prehistory Project and another PUA research effort, the Dog and St. George Islands Shipwreck Survey, conducted in Apalachicola Bay, about 60 miles southwest of Tallahassee. PUA Students experience prehistoric and historical archaeology on submerged sites. They are also exposed to survey, excavation, and remote sensing UNIVERSITY techniques; artifact identification and analysis; report writing; and

S T A T E equipment maintenance. Because they spend several weeks aboard the RV Bellows or FSU’s 50-foot boat, RV Seminole, participants also discover F L O R I D A the challenge of living and working in close quarters, which underwater Michael Faught projects often require. Some students return to subsequent field schools as paid staff or to pursue research for their master’s degree. For more information, see the PUA Web site at www.anthro.fsu.edu/uw/uw.html. —KC Smith

american archaeology 17 Faught shows writer KC Smith a computer-generated map of the offshore research area. This map incorporates all data from the remote sensing devices used on the boat, surveys and test excavations done by the divers, and the locations where artifacts have been found. This map, used in combina- tion with Global Positioning System technology, is helping Faught’s crew find archaeological sites, as well as to predict where others might be found.

feet wide, J & J Hunt is located on a rocky rise along the margins of the drowned river channel. While we were mulling over these images, a diver rushed into the cabin seeking fresh water to relieve the burning and remove any stinging cells from jellyfish ten- tacles that brushed his face on the seabed. Unfortunately, the sink was filled with fish defrosting for lunch, so he had to look elsewhere. Operations manager Joe Latvis called all of the divers out of the water and kept them on board for 30 minutes while a dense migration of the jellyfish swept through the area, a not-uncommon occurrence. Latvis, a low-key, self-effacing man with 20 years of experience on Florida’s submerged prehistoric sites, is the perfect foil for the high-energy Faught. Daily logistics and diving protocol are his primary concerns, and he oversees these tasks with aplomb. “The bywords for daily success on this project are safety, flexibility, make do, and, occa- sionally, punt,” Latvis observed. “We try to minimize delays and lost diving time by having alternative tasks and redundant equipment. Our motto about gear is ‘two is one and one is none’.” PUA UNIVERSITY S T A T E

BUT EVEN THE BEST-LAID PROJECT PLANS F L O R I D A are subject to unexpected events and the vagaries of na- Student Michael Arbuthnot shows Smith a compilation of the maps that ture. When I arrived at the Bellows, I realized that a 50- were drawn by divers on the seabed. These maps are then re-drawn at gallon drum that I’d been asked to deliver—tied securely reduced scale and compiled into the master map. Almost 1,500 square in the transom of the powerboat when we left port—had feet of the site have been mapped by these methods. made a great escape during our journey. Although the captain retraced most of our route, the container was long

18 winter • 2001-02 During my submarine excursion with Faught, I saw dive teams map and excavate, using techniques that are fairly standard in underwater research. Watching them move slowly and quietly in This Archaic stemmed point their efforts, I was is about 8,000 years old. reminded that work- The point was partially ing underwater has embedded in challenges and benefits. sediments Unlike terrestrial projects, that pro- where an entire site can be seen tected its and stakes can be set in the ground upper half to mark a research area, Faught’s divers from brackish rely on the baselines, compasses, and measur-

STANYARD water that ing tapes to orient and position portable, three-foot-

R A Y stained the unprotected portion. square, PVC grids that define mapping and excavation units. Spared the shoveling and troweling that archaeologists often do, the two-person mapping team gently hand- gone, probably bobbing its way to Honduras. After lunch, fanned sediments, which rise to expose artifacts and out- as students were gearing up to continue mapping and crops in a unit. After drawing these features on a Mylar open a new excavation unit, Latvis called a halt to their sheet—later to be transferred to the master site plan—and plans because a dark, triangular fin was sighted crisscross- collecting diagnostic artifacts, they moved the grid over ing the surface 400 feet off the stern. A recent rash of three feet and began anew. shark encounters in Florida prompted divers to wait a While mapping has helped to define the limits of ar- good 20 minutes after the fin vanished before entering the tifact distribution, test excavations in all four quadrants of water. Shortly after descending, two students returned to the site have yielded details about the geomorphology and the surface to report that sea grass was growing in the area sediment sequences. As Faught and I swam to an area slated for excavation. Under the terms of one of PAPP’s where a test pit was in progress, we could hear the muffled permits to work in the bay, the grass could not be dis- sucking of the induction dredge—essentially, an underwa- turbed, so project staff had to select another place to test. ter vacuum—being used to remove the overburden within Diving safety, inclement weather, 12-hour days, a tax- a three-foot-square grid. As new strata were encountered, ing work environment, and an inordinate reliance on the divers took sediment samples and made profile draw- equipment are routine concerns on an underwater archaeo- ings and videotaped it. The dredged overburden was sent logical project, especially one that is staged offshore for an through a hose to a screen on a platform floating nearby, extended period of time. The logistics are considerable and where another team of students inspected the debris. costly; Faught reckons that his six-week field school, which Faught plans to work one more season at J & J Hunt, includes an equally intensive component focused on his- then move to the site that yielded the Clovis-like point, toric sites around nearby barrier islands, costs about which he believes will be even more fruitful. He also in- $10,000 a week. Support for this multifaceted summer pro- tends to search for evidence of pre-Clovis people farther gram is provided by the field school tuition, Florida State from shore, in water as deep as 100 feet. He mused that it University, in-kind loans of equipment, and grants. PAPP will take about 50 years of study to really grasp the pre- has received substantial funding through special category historic geology and cultural history of Florida’s continen- grants from the state’s Division of Historical Resources. tal shelf. He’s confident explanations will come, many of Of the sites that PAPP has identified, J & J Hunt has which will be provided by the generation of scientists he received the most intensive scrutiny. After 4 field seasons, now is training. “For a long time, there were just a few of about 1,200 of an estimated 30,000 square feet have been us doing this research. I’m grateful that I now have stu- mapped, and nearly 40 test excavations have been dug. dents who are working on the sediments, landscape, and More than 2,000 chipped stone artifacts have been recov- survey operations,” he said optimistically. “Little by little, ered, of which about five percent are tools, including ob- we’ll figure this out.” jects that are diagnostic of culture and chronology. Frag- mented pieces of a mastodon cranium and teeth were KC SMITH is a freelance writer and the Florida heritage education coordi- found in one excavation unit in 1999. nator at the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee.

american archaeology 19 SWEDLUND C H A R L E S

20 winter • 2001-02 Archaeologists in Wonderland The dark world of Mammoth Cave, with some 350 miles of passages and 4,000 years of history, is full of surprises. An archaeological inventory is revealing its amazing past. By Michael Sims american archaeology 21 SWEDLUND C H A R L E S George Crothers (right) informs Earthwatch volunteers of the activities they will perform, such as discovering, documenting, and mapping artifacts. Crothers has worked with roughly 200 Earthwatch volunteers since the beginning of the project.

hen Alice fell down the rabbit hole and ought to be, Crothers has been on this project since its into Wonderland, she entered a topsy- inception in 1992. turvy world that upset her most basic as- “In a sense,” he explains, “this project is federally sumptions about life. People, animals— mandated, because the National Park Service is responsi- W even time and space—refused to play by ble for protecting their resources—including cultural re- the rules. In reality, the closest we can get to author Lewis sources. And they can’t protect them if they don’t know Carroll’s wildly imaginative Wonderland might be another what they have.” underground world—caves. In his work on shell mounds in this same region, Every cave explorer, and certainly every cave archaeol- Crothers has performed excavations on private property, ogist, will assure you that caves have their own Wonderland working with the permission of landowners and within rules. Deep underground it is always nighttime; the very strictures that vary from state to state. He points out one of sky overhead is made of earth; time moves slowly and the the distinctions of working in a national park: “If this was a past remains preserved. These conditions provide archaeol- private cave, and had this archaeological material in it, the ogists with both opportunities and burdens. Prime exam- landowner may or may not let me work in it, and may or ples of both are demonstrated by the Cultural Resources In- may not protect the resources. Here the site is preserved.” ventory of Mammoth Cave that is nearing completion at With more than 350 miles of passages mapped, the Mammoth Cave National Park in southern Kentucky. Mammoth Cave system is the largest known in the world. Every excavation has its demands, but cave archaeol- (A gypsum cave in the Ukraine comes in a distant second ogists must plan for unique conditions. Working in a cave at 150-odd miles.) Although natives had been visiting the is like working at night—but even more complicated. A caves for thousands of years, white settlers of European headlamp is essential, but if angled wrong, it can blind ancestry discovered what we now call Mammoth Cave in other workers. Warm clothes are necessary even in mid- the late 18th century. By the mid-19th century, thanks to summer because there is no solar radiation in the cave. savvy promoters, the cave became a tourist attraction. It Archaeologist George Crothers, acting director of became a national park in 1941. To convert almost the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Ken- 53,000 acres into parkland required the relocation of 600 tucky, has been working under these conditions for families in 30 communities. Within its boundaries, on the most of his career. Crothers, along with two other prin- surface and underground, the park encompasses roughly a cipal co-investigators, is directing the inventory. In his thousand sites of archaeological interest. early 40s, slender, not as pale as a cave archaeologist Because of Mammoth Cave’s long history as first a

22 winter • 2001-02 commercial enterprise and then a national park, its most heavily toured areas are also those that contain the largest concentration of prehistoric and historic artifacts. Situated an hour and a half south of Louisville, Mammoth Cave National Park receives more than two million visitors every year, at least a quarter of whom tour the cave. As Robert Ward, the park’s cultural resource specialist, points out, “Every one of those visitors walks within arm’s reach of 4,000-year-old artifacts.” A cordial Southerner, Ward is one of Crothers’s co-investigators on the project. Besides serving as the park’s chief interpreter of cultural issues, he is liaison between the National Park Service and the conservation organization Earthwatch Institute, which sup- plies volunteers to assist the survey. Because of the variations in park funding, one of Ward’s jobs is to ensure that the inventory continues to exist. Ward helped to initiate the inventory. In 1992, he and other Mammoth Cave officials met with Patty Jo Watson, the dean of U.S. cave archaeology and the Wash- ington University mentor of Crothers, to seek advice about the project. “Our intent here was to do a comprehensive inventory as non-invasively as possible,” Ward says. “Really, the only invasiveness is they’re working off the trail. This is the project’s novelty, because most archaeological surveys are in some way destructive—for example, digging and re- moving of layers.”

SWEDLUND Mapping an Alien World C H A R L E S Crothers has been conducting the survey for eight years, and so far he has worked with roughly 200 volunteers, all of whom are members of Earthwatch. They work under Crothers points to a Native American climbing pole, which was once used federal auspices through the National Park Service’s Vol- to reach higher areas of the cave. Portions of these poles are worn due unteers in the Park program. They pay their own way and to their extensive usage. stay in a bunkhouse. The volunteers are a diverse crew from all over the The archaeologists and volunteers cast giant shadows U.S. and several other countries. They range from college on the stone walls of the cavern, which is lit by gas-powered age to retirees. As introductions move around the table, a lanterns. It is so chilly (the cave-standard 55 or so degrees married couple from New Jersey announce that they will Fahrenheit) that at times their breath is visible. The lanterns celebrate their anniversary while working in the cave. This make the cavern smell like a campground, but what it really is the sixth summer at Mammoth Cave for an Ohio po- looks like is a science-fiction movie set. The stone walls rise liceman, who uses his vacation time to come here. upward into shadow, and above them, rather than sky, is They quickly get a sense of the overall size and variety more heavy stone. Their shadows distorted by helmets, dust of the cave system—literally hundreds of miles of passages, masks, and sometimes kneepads, the workers crawl on their dark rivers, absurdly wide caverns followed by alarmingly bellies and aim flashlights and headlamps into crevices, like tight squeezes. During the volunteers’ first day at work, astronauts exploring an alien world. Crothers quickly teaches them how to efficiently perform Crothers explores on his own, while constantly monitor- the necessary labors. The group works in three teams with ing the work of those around him. Everything raises a ques- three distinct tasks: discovery, mapping, and photography. tion. He gently brushes grit off an exposed shelf and leans The first team locates artifacts and describes them on in- closer. “It looks polished,” he remarks. “Why so polished?” ventory cards. The second employs surveying equipment Crothers looks around to see what might have led to determine the precise location of artifacts by orienting countless people to rub against this shelf in passing. The them in relation to a computerized map of the cave sys- answer isn’t obvious. It seldom is. tem. The third team carefully photographs the items. With a digital video camera, Charles Swedlund docu- american archaeology 23 Photographer Charles Swedlund steps over fallen rocks, which are called breakdown. The yellow flags sticking up from the rocks mark the spots where artifacts have been found. Upon finding an artifact, the archaeologists and volunteers identify it and draw a picture of it on cards that they carry with them. The flags are then attached to the cards. The artifact locations are eventually

incorporated into a map of the FITZGERALD

cave’s main trail. J O H N

ments the artifacts, the layout of the area, the methods of still camera to photograph in black and white a blurred the inventory itself. The third co-investigator, Swedlund signature on the cavern wall. But he can’t decipher the has been photographing the project since its inception. name. “No legibility, no immortality,” he sighs. Now in his mid-60s, a wryly humorous man whose voice seems softened by his bushy white beard, Swedlund describes himself as having “graduated” from teaching pho- Miners and Mummies tography at Southern Illinois University–Carbondale. The years of photographing underground haven’t Using radiocarbon dating of tiny amounts of organic ma- dimmed Swedlund’s enthusiasm for the Mammoth Cave terials, Crothers and his colleagues estimate that people project. He even devised a track on which his still camera were venturing deep inside Mammoth Cave and other moves smoothly, which helps in photographing the cave’s nearby caves as long as roughly 5,000 years ago. However, signature-rich ceilings and walls. In the past, guides and the majority of artifacts date from the Early Woodland pe- tourists were permitted—even encouraged—to sign their riod, approximately 2,200 to 3,000 years ago, when min- names with charcoal or burn them in with the flame of a ing of cave minerals apparently was a sustained industry candle. Frequently, explorers included the date of their in the region. “And I don’t use the term ‘industry’ lightly,” visits along with their names, and Swedlund enters every Crothers laughs. “This was not a casual operation.” decipherable name and date into a database. Day after day, the miners trekked from daylight into Swedlund turns off the video camera and picks up a darkness. One of the most important minerals found in the

24 winter • 2001-02 cave is gypsum. Composed of calcium sulfate and water, been produced by males. A male may have also produced gypsum appears as a white crust on the walls and ceiling, the other sample. Given this and other evidence, Crothers and therefore on some of the breakdown (fallen rock) that hypothesizes that a group of males used this section of the litters passages. Throughout the cave system, there is con- cave for rites of passage, such as boys entering manhood. siderable evidence of gypsum mining: worn and stripped Caves are perfect locations for conducting secretive acts. cave walls, mussel shells used as scrapers, and other artifacts. While the exact nature of this ritual may never be known, Some explorers assumed that gourd bowls found in the cave the evidence suggests consumption of mirabilite for its rit- were used for transporting water, but Crothers scoffs at the ual purgative effect, possibly extended stays in the cave for idea: “That’s silly. There are sources of water already in here. purposes of sensory deprivation, and the collection of We just walked by two.” Apparently the gourds were used gypsum in its spectacular crystalline forms as proof that for transporting mined minerals. one had successfully negotiated this rite of passage. What seems like the simplest question of all is the The analysis of paleo-feces is the best index of the one that archaeologists have yet to answer: Why did the Early Woodland diet. (It can also reveal parasites and even Early Woodland people engage in the labor-intensive task hormonal residues.) Many seeds survive the passage of mining gypsum? Nowadays it’s used in plasterboard, ce- through the body and can still be identified after hun- ment, plaster of Paris, and even as a soil conditioner; but dreds or even thousands of years. Examination of paleo- these are relatively recent innovations. Archaeological evi- feces reveals that the diet of the time was more diverse dence indicates a systematic and long-term industry. Was than scientists had imagined. Apparently trade among the gypsum used in ornamentation? Rituals? Both are possi- Early Woodland peoples was widespread. For example, ble. And why did they visit the cave for many hundreds of Mammoth Cave specimens reveal that gypsum miners ate years before they began mining? sumpweed and marsh elder, which is native to the region, The question of purpose is easier to answer regarding as well as Midwestern sunflowers and plants from the the mining of mirabilite, another mineral found in the Gulf Coast. drier passages of Mammoth Cave. Also known as The cave’s oldest artifacts include hammerstones, bot- Glauber’s salt, the mineral occurs as feathery crystal tle gourds made from hard-shell ornamental squash, and growths. Mirabilite falling in white flakes from the ceiling cordage made of plant fibers. There are even woven fiber inspired the name Snow Room for one of the passages in “slippers,” some of them ornamented with tassels that fea- Mammoth Cave. Mirabilite is highly water soluble, and it tured a drawstring to tighten the shoe around the foot. dissolves and reforms without leaving much of a trace. Torches and torch ties are particularly common in Crother’s team discovered torch ties (strands of fiber Mammoth Cave, as a supply of some kind of light-pro- that hold together bundles of reeds), indications of ducing material has always been the first item on a spe- mirabilite mining, and human paleo-feces (desiccated fecal lunker’s list. Trekking deep underground, the Early Wood- matter). Medicinally, mirabilite is used as a cathartic, and land gypsum miners had to carry enough torches to light finding this evidence in one place suggests that the Native many hours, or even days, inside the cave. The torches Americans understood the cathartic aspects of the mineral were made of bamboo-like river cane and were bundled and used it on site. Archaeologists theorized that the Early together with grass ties. There are so many individual Woodland people used mirabilite as a cathartic. However, torches in the cave that they are no longer recorded as ar- no one predicted that the inventory of the cave would re- tifacts; only bundles are counted. veal such convincing data to support the hypothesis. Among the most dramatic artifacts are the stone huts Twelve of these paleo-feces samples were subjected to used by tuberculosis sufferers. In the mid-1800s the cave hormone analysis, eleven of which were proven to have caught the imagination of John Croghan, a prominent SWEDLUND

C H A R L E S A cross section of paleo-feces indicates This is the only tortoise shell found in the This fresh water mussel shell was used by Native the high amount of roughage in the diets cave. It’s probably a prehistoric artifact, Americans to scrape minerals off the wall. It’s believed of the Early Woodland people. though its purpose is unknown. these shells were obtained from the nearby Green River.

american archaeology 25 (Above) A complete bundle of weed stalks used as a torch. This is the most intact bundle the archaeologists have found. (Right) As the Native Americans traversed the cave, their lit torches developed long ashes that reduced their brilliancy. By striking off the ash against a cave wall, they increased the light. These torch marks often give an idea as to the number of stalks in the bundle. In many areas it appears that it became a habit to strike a particular spot each time they came to it. The number of these marks suggests the frequency of the Native Americans’ visits.

Louisville physician. He thought that the cave’s cool tem- perature and steady humidity might cure, or at least slow the decline of, his TB patients. He lodged several patients in stone huts deep inside the cave, where they resided for months at a time. Unfortunately, Croghan’s prescription turned out to be ineffective, and all that remains standing SWEDLUND of his plan are two stone huts and the sooty stones from

his patients’ cooking fires. C H A R L E S Although there are aboriginal footprints preserved in mud or sand in remote areas of the cave, not even they mummies, and most are disappointed when Crothers compare to the most intriguing of all Mammoth Cave ar- points out that, as productive as it has been, his archaeo- tifacts: the so-called mummies. Over the centuries, several logical inventory hasn’t turned up any previously un- well-preserved human bodies have been found in the cave. known human remains. With so much of the cave ex- The cave’s unvarying climate, perhaps combined with the plored, it may be that all the mummies have been found. presence of mineral salts, dehydrate and naturally preserve organic remains. Scientists frequently find bats and insects that have died but not decayed. Sometimes the same Grand, Gloomy, and Peculiar process occurred with human bodies. The most famous example is the preserved body of a man who was crushed The Wonderland world of Mammoth Cave upended so- by a falling boulder roughly 2,000 years ago. He was dis- cial convention by its treatment of slaves. During the covered in 1935 by cave guides. cave’s early days as a tourist attraction, the guides were Many people have heard about the Mammoth Cave usually slaves owned by the owner of the cave. In the

26 winter • 2001-02 fields and streets of 19th-century Kentucky, these men cave system in 1941, there were no black guides in the were chattel. Yet, by virtue of their arcane knowledge of cave for many years. the cave’s passages, the slaves possessed a higher status It was Bishop who described Mammoth Cave with a while underground. They were in charge, depended upon, phrase that is still quoted: He called it a “grand, gloomy, trusted, praised; some were even allowed to keep tips. and peculiar place.” All of those adjectives certainly apply. Stephen Bishop is a case in point. Bishop was owned For thousands of years, visitors have been fascinated by its by Franklin Gorin, a successful lawyer in Glasgow, Ken- peculiar grandeur. “The simple truth about Mammoth tucky, who acquired Mammoth Cave (and the acreage Cave,” H. C. Hovey wrote in Scribner’s Monthly in 1880, above it) in 1838. Bishop began working in the cave while “surpasses the most ingeniously woven fabrication.” in his teens, and continued to do so until his death in the Hovey closed his article with a vision of the future. late 1850s. He became so well known that his portrait ap- With necessary precautions in place, he said, “let survey- peared in books published abroad and he was credited on ors measure, geologists hammer, and archaeologists delve, maps of the cave system. One of the results of Swedlund’s till the secrets of this subterranean realm are unearthed, photographs and image database is the mapping of and instead of mysteries, conjectures, and estimates, we Bishop’s explorations in the cave system. have definite knowledge.” Some historians claim that, to buy his freedom, a Slowly, painstakingly, the archaeologists are indeed slave named Nick Bransford sold some of the fish that are delving to increase their knowledge of the cave. As was the native to the cave system. Like many other creatures that case for so many others who preceded them, Mammoth live in the eternal dark deep inside caves, the fish has lost Cave’s Wonderland strangeness has captured their imagi- its pigmentation and sight. In the 19th century these crea- nations. George Crothers shrugs and says, “The cave got tures were little known to scientists and shockingly alien to me from the first time I saw it.” to the general public. At the beginning of the 20th century, some descen- MICHAEL SIMS is the author of Darwin’s Orchestra. His next book, Adam’s dants of Bishop, Bransford, and others were still guides. Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Body, will be published However, after the National Park Service took over the by Viking. FITZGERALD J O H N

The cave has attracted tourists for many years. In the past, the tourists were encouraged to write their names on the cave’s ceilings and walls. This portion of the cave, called Gothic Avenue because of its macabre formations, has a smooth ceiling that was easy to write on. american archaeology 27 A E

B F

C MISSOURI L O U I S , S T . ENGINEERS, O F C O R P S

D G A R M Y U S

28 winter • 2001-02 AA CurationCuration

H CrisisCrisis

Lacking the necessary resources, n the early 1980s, Bob Sonderman, a staff archaeolo- institutions and agencies gist with the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., examined the facilities of three area universities throughout the country that stored artifacts recovered from federal lands. “In struggle with the problem 99.9 percent of the cases, I felt the storage conditions of properly curating artifacts. were substandard,” he said. Sonderman recalled the mostI egregious case: “The collections were in a storage BY NANCY TRAVER room where overhead pipes leaked onto the artifacts that were in paper bags. The provenience information written

A - This box of artifacts suffered severe water and compression damage. on the bags in pencil was unreadable. All the metal artifacts Mold is also apparent. were rusted. All the bone had turned to mush.” B - Water damage can be devastating to collections. In this Sonderman’s recollection is one of many examples of the case, leaks in the ceiling caused the deterioration and curation problem that has reached crisis proportions. Uni- breakdown of ceiling tiles, which dropped into this open box of artifacts. When this material dried, it adhered to the versities, historical societies, states, and some federal agencies artifacts and resulted in the growth of mold. have huge repositories filled with artifacts that are being C - Due to being stored in substandard conditions, these damaged because there is not enough money to properly artifact documents became a rats’ nest. house them, curate them, and make them readily accessible D - This box and its contents were crushed by having too much to researchers and the public. “What good is a collection weight stacked on top of them. E -This container and its artifacts have been damaged by when it’s little more than a pile of dust?” Sonderman said. insects, rodents, and, as the molted skin of a snake indicates, Patience Patterson, an archaeologist in the Fort Worth even a reptile. District for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Texas, said F - Storing archaeological documents in inappropriate some of the corps’s collections were stored “in lunch bags, conditions can result in reports stained by rusted paper clips and warped and brittle paper. pizza boxes, and God knows what. Some artifacts were sit- G - Archaeological collections are frequently stored wherever ting in moth-eaten paper sacks.” She noted that, while these space can be found, such as in this garage. conditions, generally speaking, have been improved, some H - These stone artifacts are haphazardly stored. artifacts are still stored in very poor conditions.

american archaeology 29 Assessing the magnitude of the problem, Terry “You get your Ph.D. for digging,” Childs stated. Childs, an archaeologist for the National Park Service’s Among many archaeologists, curation is considered Archeology and Ethnography Program and chairperson of “women’s work.” “You put your weak, sun-sensitive the Society for American Archaeology’s (SAA) Committee woman in the lab to do the clean-up job. The macho man on Curation, said, “We’re talking millions and millions works out in the field.” and millions of objects.” In many cases, the documenta- She also pointed to the widespread practice of storing tion for a collection isn’t stored with the collection. There objects without their field notes. “The problem is espe- are other cases in which institutions don’t know where cially acute in universities, where you find a professor who their collections are stored. The problem may be most sees her work as her own personal property,” Childs said. dire on the state and regional level; a 1998 Army Corps “She thinks, ‘Why should I give it over to a museum, of Engineers study found that only 40 percent of the na- when it belongs to me?’ Or, she says, ‘I’ll give it over when tion’s state historical societies catalogued their artifacts. I’m done with it when I’m dead.’” The problem has been compounded by the plethora THE CAUSES of federal and state laws regulating excavation work. The The crisis has been approximately a century in the mak- Antiquities Act of 1906, which was the first federal law to ing. Prior to the 20th century, most archaeologists were af- regulate excavations in this country, said all collections filiated with museums that “shall be made for permanent housed the artifacts the archaeol- preservation in public museums” ogists excavated. Then archaeol- and shall be accessible to the pub- ogy became professionalized and Some will say we can’t lic. After World War II, the Amer- colleges and universities, many of ican economy boomed and the na- which had no museums, began to throw“ out anything because the ar- tion embarked on hundreds of hire archaeologists to teach the tifacts are a non-renewable resource. large-scale construction projects. science. When these archaeolo- The National Historic Preserva- gists, who had little training in You don’t know if a future technol- tion Act of 1966 mandated that collections management, exca- ogy will yield new insight into a when federal money was used for vated, they often had nowhere to construction projects on federal store the resulting artifacts other piece. But at the same time, we’re land, such as building a bridge or a than their offices or labs. simply running out of space. road, attempts should be made to Some experts have been lob- preserve, or at least minimize, the bying for better collections man- ” damage to archaeological re- Terry Childs agement for about 25 years. And sources. Consequently, countless National Park Service while they concede that condi- excavations preceded countless tions have improved across the construction projects, and archae- nation during this time, there are many collections today ologists amassed staggering numbers of artifacts. They in dire need of attention from trained staff. knew for many years they should store these objects, but Getting archaeologists to focus on curation has his- there were no guidelines to follow. torically been a challenge. Many archaeologists are eager By the 1970s, the problem became alarming. In to excavate and do the laboratory work required to com- 1974, the U.S. Congress approved the Archeological and plete their research; but they are far less eager to carefully Historic Preservation Act—the first piece of legislation to store artifacts in an environmentally controlled repository, call on the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to issue regula- where they are safe, secure, and accessible in perpetuity. tions for curation. In 1984, Congress approved regulation The Internet has made the job even bigger, as most ex- 43 CFR Part 7, which provided for the preservation of perts agree that information about every collection should collections and data. Congress followed up in 1990 with be on-line. Indeed, some curators believe that for every regulation 36 CFR Part 79, which spelled out the stan- hour spent in the field, an archaeologist should spend dards, procedures, and guidelines for federal curation. The four to five hours in the lab. regulation, according to some experts, had several flaws: “Curation is supposedly a back-room, boring thing. There was no deadline for compliance, it didn’t include a People aren’t drawn to it. It’s not Indiana Jones,” said grant process to provide money for curating artifacts, and Sonny Trimble, director of archeological curation and col- there was no means of enforcement. lections management for the Army Corps of Engineers. The question of deaccessioning was proposed, but not “But to my way of thinking, you can teach anyone to pull incorporated in the regulation: In other words, when do something out of the ground. Where the rubber meets institutions have permission to transfer artifacts to another the road comes in analysis and in understanding the arti- institution? Under current federal law, every artifact must facts, records, and their special needs for long-term care be preserved and accessible. Archaeologists have been and conservation.” taught that every artifact should be collected, as they’re all

30 winter • 2001-02 Doing It Right

In Maryland, thousands of archaeological artifacts were stored in acidic boxes, lying around in attics, clos- ets, basements, even the local U-Store-It. Some objects were scattered all over the state in the homes of

WELLMAN the archaeologists who had excavated them. H O W A R D Realizing that so many priceless objects were buried Collections manager Ron Orr and volunteer Lisa Seric store artifacts from the Banneker site using archival-grade in the bottom of cardboard boxes, bags, and labels. boxes, J. Rodney Little, the state historic preservation officer, proposed to the Maryland legislature that it fund one facility that could hold all of the state's archaeological collections. The state set aside $8.5 million to build the center at the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in St. Leonard, Maryland. “That was relatively inexpensive,” said Julia King, director of the Maryland Archaeology Conservation Laboratory, which is located there. “We're not talking break the bank here. After all, down the road there's a high school that cost $20 million.” The laboratory, which was completed in 1998, is custom designed and climate controlled. The state rented tractor-trailers and moved every archaeological object—5,500 boxes from 2,000 sites—into the building. “We fu- migated them, repackaged them, and took everything out of acidic boxes,“ said King. All of the objects are packed in archival-quality material. That means, among other things, that if padding foam is required, it be made of virgin, not recycled, polyethylene. Recycled polyethylene often contains chemicals that can affect the artifacts. The collections are stored with their documentation, and the documentation, when necessary, has been copied on acid-free paper which won’t degrade. “We use compactible shelving,” said Howard Wellman, the lab’s lead conservator. “It basically doubles the capacity of the storage space but it doesn’t reduce accessibility.” This year, the museum received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund a two-year project that will enable curators to sort through one-fourth of the collection and re-catalog everything. By 2003, it will be accessible on-line. “This way, if you're an archaeologist anywhere in the world, you can access

SEIFERT the data,” King said. “Having this facility B . has allowed us to do something we'd ear- Conservators use an overhead crane to place a 700-pound waterlogged oak shipyard brace lier only dreamed of: preserve our cultural from the Steward Colonial Shipyard site into a treatment tank. heritage.” —Nancy Traver

american archaeology 31 important in understanding past cultural activity. you need? How much debitage and fire-cracked rock are Experts agree that the delays and controversy over you going to keep?” he asked. “Rusty nails, broken win- deaccessioning have contributed to the mountain of arti- dow glass—there are huge redundancies in each collec- facts in need of curation. “Some will say we can’t throw tion. In a climate where space is equated with money, ar- out anything because the artifacts are a non-renewable re- chaeolgists must face the hard reality that we simply can’t source,” said Childs. “You don’t know if a future technol- keep everything. The professional community must take ogy will yield new insight into a piece. But at the same the lead on this issue or we face the possibility of having time, we’re simply running out of space.” the decision made for us.” Sonderman agreed. “How many chicken bones do But Darrell Creel, director of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory in Austin, said, “Let’s not be too pre- sumptuous in deciding that something can be thrown out. With rapid changes in technology and new techniques, we Colorado’s can get new information out of artifacts we thought were previously tapped.” Crisis THE COST Most of Colorado’s museums are no longer The considerable cost of storing artifacts poses another accepting collections because they have no space. problem. Thirty-seven states have laws calling for proper “We just don't have anyplace to put things,” said collections management, but many of these states don’t Mark Mitchell, president of the Colorado Council of have the money to support their own regulations. “There’s Professional Archaeologists. definitely a decrease in the amount of material being col- Only four major museums are still accepting lected,” Childs stated. Construction companies, who ab- collections, and they’re restricting what they’ll sorb the costs of excavation and curation associated with accept. For example, the University of Denver their projects, may discourage the collection of artifacts. Museum of Anthropology will take collections That can skew the archeological record. It also puts the ar- found east of the continental divide. chaeologists who were subcontracted to do the work in a The situation is so severe, Mitchell said, it could very difficult situation. “They need to satisfy their client,” halt all archaeological work on public lands in Sonderman said, “and maintain their ethics.” Colorado within two years. Any federal project, such Experts estimate funding for curation should consti- as road construction, that takes place on federal or tute 25 to 30 percent of the total budget for every excava- state land, must be preceded by an archaeological tion project. “That line item must be in the budget,” said investigation. The investigation can’t proceed without Sonderman. “If you spend all your money digging up ob- a curation agreement with a museum. But what will jects and there’s no money to take care of what you find, happen if no museum will enter into an agreement? why bother in the first place?” “Well, that's the $64,000 question,” he said. The Corps of Engineers possesses a huge number of Colorado is a rapidly developing state, and artifacts. Trimble estimated it would cost approximately growth, as Mitchell noted, “generates lots of $40 million for all the artifacts and records to be properly archaeology.” Every object recovered from the housed, catalogued, and put on-line. The corps seeks an state’s archaeological sites has been curated and annual appropriation of $3 million to $4 million from stored in accordance with federal standards. Congress, and usually receives about $1.5 million. Cur- A committee of the council proposed the rently, all of this money is used to identify, access, and, as construction of a regional curation facility. The appropriate, return the skeletal remains and other items group started a dialogue with Colorado's federal from grave sites to Native American tribes, as decreed congressional delegation in July in hopes of under the Native American Graves Protection and Repa- acquiring state and federal funds to address the triation Act, passed by Congress in 1990. “The money we crisis. But since the events of September 11, money receive for curation of collections doesn’t begin to address for domestic programs has dwindled, and Mitchell the curation issue at hand,” Trimble lamented. In his view, thinks the possibility of obtaining federal financing “conditions are getting worse and worse, not better.” to build a facility this year is unlikely. Patterson, of the Corps of Engineers’ Fort Worth dis- The state’s curation crisis has repercussions trict, said, “Down here in the trenches, I’ll tell you, we need beyond the field of archaeology. “There’s the potential to impede energy development projects all the money we can get to bring things up to standards.” and other kinds of public works,” he observed. Unfortunately, maintaining archaeological collections As bad as Colorado’s curation problem is, “is not sexy, like some cool new exhibit” that will attract Mitchell believes it’s no worse than that of other visitors who pay admission fees, Childs noted. Conse- states. —Nancy Traver quently, institutions that previously housed collections for free are now charging fees; those that were charging fees

32 winter • 2001-02 (Left) Archaeologist Robert Sonderman and intern Teresa Moyer conduct an artifact inventory at the National Park Service’s National Capital Region Museum Resource Center in

ADAMS Landover, Maryland. These artifacts are stored in non-acidic, museum-quality boxes. (Above) In Sonderman’s left hand are T E R R Y two points packed in ethafoam, a material that can be cut to are raising them. A 1998 survey undertaken by the Na- fit the exact shape of the artifact. tional Park Service found that fees vary significantly, ranging from $60 per cubic foot in Oklahoma up to $1,080 in Nevada. (See table on page 34.) The survey’s Federal Storage Standards authors postulated that the Western states, charge higher fees because of the high proportion of public Federally owned and administered archaeological lands—and more artifacts—in that region and factor in collections must meet the following requirements: the real cost of curation rather than the rate of com- • Accession, label, catalog, store, maintain, inventory, petitors. and conserve a collection on a long-term basis in One of the toughest challenges for any museum di- accordance with professional museum and archival rector is to find the money for the construction of new standards. repositories. Many facilities have collections that have out- grown their storage space; their only option is to add on. • Maintain complete and accurate records of the For example, Creel is pursuing money to construct a new collections. building. He has asked both state and federal agencies to •Have adequate equipment and space for storage, pool their resources. The proposed building will cost up study, and conservation. to $20 million. Creel said he feels “lucky to have enjoyed • Ensure the security of the collections through safety the support we’ve had so far.” His existing facility contin- codes, fire systems, intrusion systems, and an ues to undergo renovations, at a cost of more than $1 mil- emergency management plan. lion, which include new rooms with smoke detectors, fire • Require staff to be qualified professionals. alarms, fire suppression systems, security systems, environmental controls, high density cabinetry and shelving • Handle, store, clean, conserve, and exhibit units, computer systems, and Web sites to make archeolo- collections in a way that is appropriate to the nature gists and the general public more aware of what it curates. of the materials, protects the objects, and preserves Additional renovations and upgrades are planned. data. • Store forms and records in a protected manner. THE SOLUTIONS • Regularly inspect collections. A significant sum of money is needed to acquire more • Conduct inventories. space and staff. Construction of new storage facilities • Provide access to collections. will require funding from various sources, including american archaeology 33 A Sample of Curation Fees WASHINGTON $300 MONTANA $150

IDAHO WISCONSIN $367 $70

CONNECTICUT NEVADA IOWA PENNSYLVANIA $ $ $250 200 1080 $250 UTAH INDIANA $ COLORADO $ 300 $ 175 250 KANSAS CALIFORNIA $200 $125 $1000 KENTUCKY ARIZONA $ OKLAHOMA ARKANSAS 200 $ 60 $185 S. CAROLINA $ 68 Samples of the highest curation fees as of TEXAS December 1998. $302 Price is a one-time fee per cubic foot for storage in perpetuity. FLORIDA $150 Source: National Park Service

state legislatures and the U.S. Congress. In order to ob- ration. Most archaeologists now learn to curate on the tain government funding, the public must be informed job, if at all. of this crisis. The public is now unaware of the problem, Childs believes that, before going into the field, ar- Patterson said. “You try to talk to them and they’ll look chaeologists need to budget for curation and think about at you and say, ‘archi-what?’ We haven’t done a very what’s going to become of the excavated artifacts once good job, so far, of bringing this issue to the fore.” they’re done with them. “We were never taught these Congress must be convinced that money earmarked things,” she said for curation won’t serve the interests of only a small num- The SAA’s Committee on Curation, which was es- ber of scholars. “I really think these collections can be tablished in 1999, is preparing more detailed standards to used by a wide range of people and not just researchers,” guide archaeologists. The committee started by drafting Trimble stated. ethical principles, but the final wording of the guidelines But money alone won’t solve a problem of this di- “could take several years,” according to Childs. mension and complexity. More archaeologists need to be She believes that deaccessioning may contribute to trained in collections management. Very few universities remedying the problem. “The key is we’ve got to do it in offer classes in curation through their anthropology de- a very careful manner,” she cautioned, adding that a deac- partments; even fewer offer degrees or on-site training. cessioning plan must be clearly thought out. “We’d be ad- “Too often, archaeology professors still teach their vocating to not destroy the collections, but to transfer students that a real archaeologist goes out and digs stuff them to other facilities” if possible. Childs wants to pres- up,” said Trimble. “Someone who works on a curated col- ent the idea to the SAA’s members, and she speculated lection is often considered a lesser professional.” that deaccessioning guidelines could be promulgated in He and his colleagues are working to change that federal regulations in five years. mentality. Trimble assisted his wife, Nicola Longford, a Childs is also intent on getting institutions to put in- museum professional, when she taught a course on archae- formation about their collections on the Web. The Na- ological curation and collections management at Washing- tional Park Service is developing a Web catalogue that has ton University in St. Louis last spring. It was the first time information about the collections found at some of its the course was offered there. “To my surprise, the class- parks. The catalogue should be on-line by the end of room was filled to the ceiling,” he said. “The students 2001, and more parks will be added in the future. know that in today’s market they have to be well versed in “We’re still in a mess,” she said, “but I think we all collections management, even if their professors, who re- agree there have been significant steps forward.” ceived their degrees in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, are not.” Woeful as the situation is, it’s far from hopeless. Trimble joked that, if he were “the king of archaeology in North America,” he would require every student NANCY TRAVER is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Time, earning a master’s degree to take at several courses in cu- People, the Chicago Tribune, and other publications.

34 winter • 2001-02 THE CASE FOR A PRE-CLOVIS PEOPLE LONG S H A R O N RECONSTRUCTIONS:

INSTITUTION SMITHSONIAN C L A R K , C H I P P H O T O :

These forensic recontructions illustrate differences in the shapes of the skulls between ancient and more recent Native American remains. On the left is the reconstructed head of an approximately 600-year old man with a long face and a short, broad cranium. On the right is the reconstructed head of an individual known as Spirit Cave Man, who is more than 9,000 yearss old and has a short face and narrow cranium. Such differences, along with the archaeological and genetic evidence, suggest that the colonization of the Americas was a more complex process than previously believed.

THOUGH THE IDENTITY OF THE FIRST AMERICANS REMAINS A MYSTERY, THERE IS GOOD REASON TO BELIEVE THEY WERE NOT THE CLOVIS PEOPLE.

By Robson Bonnichsen and Alan L. Schneider ne of the greatest unanswered questions of human prehistory is how and when people first colonized Editor’s Note: In the Fall 2001 issue, Brian Fagan, a the Americas. This fascinating topic has been the renowned archaeologist, argued that the Clovis Osubject of a contentious debate among scholars for people were the first Americans. In the following many years. A number of right answers have been proposed essay another prominent archaeologist, Robson for when and how the Americas were peopled. Although Bonnichsen, and Alan L. Schneider, the lead acknowledged for a time, each has ultimately been replaced attorney for the plaintiffs in the Kennewick Man by a better answer. The most recent right answer, the Clo- lawsuit, present a contrary viewpoint. vis-first model, is suffering the same fate. Once widely american archaeology 35 MILLER D.SC. P . D A R Y L P H . D D . , B Y P H O T O A D O V A S I O , J . M . S C I A A These small stone tools were taken from the pre-Clovis occupation at The excavation of Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania revealed the Topper site: A-–E: burins and spalls; F–G: microblades; H: a micro- 11 strata. In addition to stone artifacts, the site has yielded a wealth core; I: a scraper; J: a blade-like tool. of animal and plant remains.

accepted by specialists in first Americans studies, new and widespread appearance of fluted points in North and methods and evidence have undercut its basic premises. South America, and the apparent lack of antecedent cul- Since the time of the early Spanish settlements, many tural developments, many scientists accepted the percep- origin theories have been proposed to explain the initial peo- tion that Clovis represented the first and only colonization pling of the Americas. For many years it was generally event in the prehistoric Americas. agreed that humans first arrived in the Americas no more New evidence, however, suggests that most of the than 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. This theory was shattered in basic premises of the Clovis-first model do not square with 1927 with the discovery of a stone spear point, known as a relevant archaeological, skeletal, and genetic information. Folsom point, associated with the remains of an extinct The first problem with the model is the lack of a clear an- bison near Folsom, New Mexico, in late Ice Age geological cestral homeland for the Clovis culture traits in Northeast- deposits. Slightly older fluted projectile points were found in ern Asia. No archaeological evidence has been found in the 1930s with the remains of extinct mammoth at the Clo- northeast Siberia of a people that were a logical ancestor of vis and the Blackwater Draw sites, in New Mexico, and else- the Clovis. Although the Diuktai archaeological complex where in the Great Plains. These discoveries demonstrated of northeastern Siberia is of the right age to be an ancestor that human presence in the New World was much older to Clovis, the tools and adaptive system used by these peo- than anyone had imagined. A picture gradually began to ples are not similar to Clovis. They relied heavily on the emerge that the earliest American sites contained evidence of use of microblades to fashion composite tools such as har- big-game hunters. By the late 1960s, the radiocarbon dating poons and insets in antler and bone points, knives, and method had confirmed the age of the oldest known Clovis lances. Artifacts typical of Clovis are absent in Siberia. archaeological complex in North America. This complex Another premise of the Clovis-first model is that after dates to a period between 11,200 and 13,500 years ago. crossing the Bering Land Bridge between Asia and Amer- This dating breakthrough spurred development of the ica, which existed only during periods of lowered sea lev- Clovis-first colonization model as an explanation of the els, the Clovis people reached the United States about peopling of the Americas. It proposes that a single band of 13,500 years ago by traveling southward through the ice- nomadic big-game hunters crossed the Bering Land Bridge free corridor. Recent geological research, however, sug- from Siberia to America at the end of the last Ice Age. gests glacial ice closed the northern end of the ice-free These people supposedly traveled down an ice-free corridor corridor until about 13,500 years ago. Even then, and for between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets along the several centuries afterward, early hunters would have en- eastern flanks of the Rocky Mountains and expanded into countered an ecologically impoverished landscape and what is now the United States about 13,500 years ago. In their movement would have been hindered by the many their wake, they left behind a legacy of exquisitely made ar- lakes formed by glacial melting. No satisfactory reason has tifacts, including blade cores, blades, bifaces, gravers, fluted been offered to explain why people would have wanted to points, and large bone tools. Supposedly unimpeded by any use such an uninviting corridor during its initial opening. other pre-existing New World populations, descendants of One likely alternative to the ice-free corridor is the the founding Clovis population are presumed to have set- Pacific Rim coast. Some experts believe that people used tled all of North and South America in an astounding boats to “coast hop” along the Pacific Rim from Asia to 1,000 years. In the process they are said to have extermi- the Americas. Exactly when this may have occurred is a nated 33 genera of large game animals in North America matter of ongoing discussion. Some scientists believe it and over 50 genera in South America. Due to the sudden could have happened near the end of the last Ice Age,

36 winter • 2001-02 Possible Pre-Clovis Sites Blue Fish Caves These sites are considered by some archaeologists YUKON TERRITORY to be pre-Clovis. Though no human remains have Mammoth bone core and flake, microblades Old Crow Flats been discovered at these sites, they have all yielded and debitage. YUKON TERRITORY evidence that suggests human occupation. 12,000–28,000 YEARS OLD Large mammal bones possibly flaked or cut. 25,00–40,000 YEARS OLD

Manis Mastodon Dutton and Selby WASHINGTON COLORADO Bone point in mastodon Flaked and polished rib. Mastodon bone cut Lamb Spring extinct mammal bones. Schaefer, Mud Lake, and flaked. COLORADO Fenske, and Heibor 14,000–17,000 YEARS OLD 14,000 YEARS OLD Flaked mammoth bones. WISCONSIN 13,500–15,000 YEARS OLD Stone tools and mammoth bones with butchering marks. Meadowcroft Rockshelter CANADA PENNSYLVANIA 15,000–16,500 YEARS OLD Lanceolate point, blade-like flakes, and charred basketry. Wilson Butte Cave 13,500–17,500 YEARS OLD IDAHO Modified bones and flakes. Cactus Hill 17,500–18,500 YEARS OLD VIRGINIA Lanceolate points, blades, and blade cores. Lovewell Mammoth 17,000–19,000 YEARS OLD KANSAS Flaked mammoth bone. 22,000 YEARS OLD Saltville VIRGINIA Flaked stone, fractured Pendejo Cave and polished bone. NEW MEXICO 15,000–16,000 YEARS OLD Human hair and prints in baked clay, and possible stone tools. MEXICO Topper 14,000 YEARS OLD Shaffert, Jensen, SOUTH CAROLINA and La Sena Possible stone tools NEBRASKA found in dated deposits. Human flaked 15,000–16,000 YEARS OLD mammoth bone. 17,000–22,000 YEARS OLD Little Salt Spring Big Eddy FLORIDA SOUTH MISSOURI DESIGN AMERICA Shaped wooden stake embed- Possible stone tools. Page Ladson and ded in extinct tortoise shell. H A R T 14,000–14,500 YEARS OLD Sloth Hole 14,000 YEARS OLD FLORIDA

W H I T E Monte Verde • Stone tools and CHILE flakes and cut Many organic artifacts, mastodon tusks.

S P A R K E S stone tools, and house structures. 14,400 YEARS OLD 14,500 YEARS OLD K A T H L E E N

about 15,000 years ago. Others argue that it could have use by Paleolithic peoples. The discovery and dating of a taken place more than 25,000 years ago. The possibility 60,000-year-old human skeleton from Lake Mungo, Aus- cannot be excluded that this route may have been used by tralia, demonstrates early human use of watercraft for more than one group during different periods of time. open-ocean travel. Even during the lowest Ice Age sea lev- Clovis-first and other late-entry advocates argue that els, approximately 50 miles of water separated the Sunda there is no hard evidence to support early boat use in the Peninsula of Southeast Asia from the paleo-continent peopling of the Americas. The lack of such evidence is not called Sahul that included modern Australia. Indirect evi- surprising since wood and hides do not survive over long dence for the early use of boats also comes from Japan. By periods of time except in unusual circumstances. There is, 30,000 years ago, people were navigating the open seas be- on the other hand, compelling indirect evidence for boat tween the Japanese Islands and the Izu Islands, in the Pa- american archaeology 37 38 in tween there consensus stone from 15,000to17,500yearsago Cactus M ified 27,000-year-old No from ited Me Y 22,000 human-flaked mammothbonesdatingbetw the ple, number S cific ported No a versity D in moth time, by 1999 cupation. the premisethatClo water street, ofthe with S M dates M No icas gators, notionsofho of ice r ble. S walked acrosstheBeringLandB wise, theor grounds, eached theAmericasfrom mithsonian I outh ukon T pre-Clo avid ud ilwaukee, hasfoundaseriesof siteswithbutcheredmam eado N these rth r P r r D shelf th th cyhurst are There Denver S If Although Clo ennsylvania, ebraska J O ome scientistsevenarguethatearlycolonistsmayhav y. deposits has ennis Lake, of flaked-lithic bones ites are ames tools it transport remains America the we workshop the P

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S T E V E H O L E N , D E N V E R M U S E U M O F N A T U R E A N D SCIENCE including higher and narrower eye orbits, than are typical of more recent Native Ameri- can and Siberian populations A central question is whether these skeletal differences between ancient and modern populations indicate different genetic relationships or whether they indicate adaptations to different environments. Because these differences crosscut many environments in North and South America, some specialists think that they indicate genetic differences and that early New World populations were not the direct an- cestors to modern native peoples. Early New World skeletal remains also differ significantly from one geographical region to another. These differences are so great that some researchers have rejected the hypothesis that the Americas

CINQ-MARS were colonized by a single group of people. Instead, they believe that the colonizing process involved multiple pop-

J A C Q U E S ulations from different founding regions of Eurasia. DNA studies, such as those conducted by molecular (Above Left) The excavation site at Blue Fish Caves in Canada’s northern anthropologist Theodore Schurr and his colleagues, seem Yukon Territory. (Above) This bone bed was found at the site. A consider- to point in the same direction. Studies of the variation in able portion of the animal remains came from horses. the mitochondrial DNA of Asian and Amerindian populations suggest that New World founding populations may that the process of peopling the Americans was much more have come from a number of regions. These mitochondr- complicated than originally anticipated. With the demise ial DNA variations, called haplogroups A, C, and D, may of the Clovis-first model, leading experts in the field are have been brought to the Americas as early as 30,000 years using the latest scientific tools in their search for the elu- ago. Another, haplogroup B, may have been brought by a sive first Americans. Before scientists can answer the gen- second immigration possibly between 13,000 and 17,000 eral questions of whom, when, where, how, and why, they years ago, either along the coast, or overland, or both. The must first develop models to account for each specific mi- origin of another haplogroup, X, found in low frequencies gration to the Americas. For example, after 70 years of in North American native populations, is ambiguous. It study, we still do not know where the Clovis people and could have arrived in the New World either before or after their technology originated. In many ways, they are as the last glacial maximum, about 22,000 years ago. The ab- mysterious today as they were when first found. sence of haplogroup X in Asia and Siberia and its presence A satisfactory scientific origin theory for explaining among certain European populations suggests another dis- the peopling of the Americas must first be based on solid crete migration to the Americas. and reliable evidence and must be consistent with the The Clovis-first model needs to be replaced, and known chronology of reliable radiocarbon dates. Second, whatever replaces it must be more than a simplistic single- it must provide a way to explain the cultural and/or bio- issue theory. It is becoming increasingly apparent that no logical diversity witnessed among modern-day and past single explanation can adequately account for the peo- peoples. And third, it must provide a framework for ex- pling of the Americas, which likely spanned many thou- plaining cultural and biological descent. Without adher- sands of years and involved numerous factors. Many ex- ence to such standards, attempts to collect and interpret perts now believe that there were at least three waves of data will not lead to a common understanding of how the immigration to the Americas within the last 15,000 years, Americas were peopled. and a number of them believe that the colonization process began well before that point. ROBSON BONNICHSEN is the director of the Center for the Study of the It is clear that we do not yet have a definitive answer First Americans at Oregon State University. ALAN L. SCHNEIDER is a cul- to who first colonized the Americas. It is clear, however, tural law attorney in Portland, Oregon. american archaeology 39 new POINT acquisitions Archaeology on the Coast A serendipitous event led to the Conservancy’s purchase of a prehistoric shell midden.

ranberry farmer Reg Pullen was working on an organic cranberry project on 200 acres of land on Long Beach, Washington, owned by Bill and Pat Weller. When the Wellers happened to mention C that there was a large shell midden on the northern edge of their property, which is a mile from the Pacific coast, archaeologist Reg Pullen’s ears perked up. The Wellers also wanted to harvest timber on their property. When he’s not farming, Pullen is a contract archaeologist, and he informed the Wellers that a cultural resources survey would have to be done before they could get a permit from the state to cut down trees. The Wellers hired him to perform the survey, and thus began Pullen’s investigation of the midden, which is known as the Mar- tin site. The site, which covers about 10 acres, was first recorded in 1947, and it has been excavated by archaeologists from the University of Washington in 1947, 1957, 1959, and 1974. These excavations revealed the midden has a depth of more than six feet and consists mainly of land and sea mammal bones at the lower levels, with upper levels of native oyster and basket cockle. Portions of two residential structures were identified. MICHEL A radiocarbon date of approximately A.D. 200 was

obtained from the lowest level of the midden, and a M A R K date of A.D. 600 came from a higher level. Parts of the Western regional director Gene Hurych examines a shell midden on midden were covered with silt from nearby Espy Lake, the Martin site, located approximately one mile from the Pacific suggesting that the site was abandoned when, at some Ocean. Among the many artifacts found at the site are these time in the past, water levels rose. scored and cut bones. Most of the artifact assemblage found at the site consisted of unstemmed, primarily leaf-shaped pro- marine mammal hunting to taking advantage of jectile points and knives. Pointed bones, which may shellfish, particularly oysters. have served as barbs or fishhooks, were also found. A large amount of whalebone was also found Numerous girdled deer and elk bones indicate that in the midden. The Chinook people, who previ- bone tools were manufactured here. The bones and the ously inhabited the site, claim to have a whale hunting abundant antler wedges were likely employed in some tradition, and the Martin site is part of the limited ar- form of woodworking. chaeological evidence that supports that claim. Though most of the materials from the midden have Pullen suggested that the Wellers offer to sell the Mar- never been properly analyzed, the Martin site is a bench- tin site to the Conservancy, which used POINT funds to mark for Washington archaeology. Even though only half make the purchase. Now the midden is preserved and the of the site is intact, it has the potential to correlate prehis- Wellers can harvest timber on their remaining property. toric cultural activity on the coast to tectonic movements, “The Chinook tribe knew about this site and they didn’t changes in sea level, and the consequent effects on re- want to see anything happen to it,” Pullen said. “It was just a sources. For example, villages may have changed from win-win situation all the way around.” —Michael Bawaya

40 winter • 2001-02 Unlocking the Secrets of the Enigmatic Ingomar Mounds Study of this site may reveal more about its unusual and puzzling history.

he Ingomar Mounds site is located on a section of farm- land in a rapidly developing area of northeast Mississippi. T The mound center consists of a large flat-topped, ramped central mound, which is over 33 feet in height and is surrounded by numerous conical mounds of varying sizes. The Ingomar site was first recorded and partially excavated by the Smithsonian Institution’s Bureau of American Ethnology in 1885. The archaeologists compiled a

GRUBER record of the site with little study of

A L A N the artifacts they found, and without Fourteen mounds have been recorded at Ingomar. Mound 14 (above) is the largest, and the only one the benefit of modern tools, such as that is ramped and has a flat top. The other mounds are conical. radiocarbon dating. In the interven- ing period, it was classified as a chaeologist at the Cobb Institute of archaeologists are now working to Mississippian site because the large Archaeology at Mississippi State Uni- decipher the function of these oddly central mound that dominates the versity, compiled a team to study In- structured mound complexes. As site resembled the temple mounds gomar’s history. The team examined with Pinson and other similar sites, seen in other Mississippian-era (A.D. the artifacts from the Smithsonian there are no signs that Ingomar was 1100–1550) mound centers. excavation and also performed a lim- continuously occupied. The conical However, the science of archae- ited excavation of portions of the mounds excavated at Ingomar con- ology has changed dramatically site, radiocarbon dating charcoal tained some burials typical of Middle since Ingomar’s first investigation, samples from several of the mounds Woodland mounds, but the central and studies of Ingomar in the last to get an accurate time frame of their platform mound is clearly not a typi- 20 years have resulted in debate construction. Rafferty concluded cal mound from the period, given its about its classification. Modern ar- that the Ingomar site was not a Mis- shape and construction. It shows no chaeologists have raised many ques- sissippian structure; instead, it was sign that a structure existed on top tions about the function and place- occupied and constructed during the for ceremonial purposes. ment of the mounds on this site. If Middle Woodland period. What was its purpose? The the site was from the Mississippian Her findings also revealed that mysteries of the site continue to in- era, why was the central platform the mounds are similar in structure trigue archaeologists and to invite mound surrounded by traditional and shape to those at other contem- further study. conical mounds, which looked sim- poraneous mound center sites such According to Rafferty, “Ingomar ilar to burial mounds from the ear- as the site at Pinson State Archaeo- is a fascinating and unusual place lier Woodland period? What was logical Park in Tennessee. that confounds our thoughts and the purpose of the large central With strong evidence to date the shows us we don’t yet know as much mound? Who built these mounds, mounds at Ingomar from approxi- as we think. It has a huge amount of and when? mately A.D. 10 to A.D. 210, and with future research potential.” In 1985, Janet Rafferty, an ar- similar mound centers to research, — Jennifer Gruber american archaeology 41 Studying California’s Prehistory The 3,000-year-old Lorenzen site could yield important information.

n the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, near snow-capped Mount Shasta, is the remains of a Na- tive American settlement that was occupied for at least 3,000 years. Named the Lorenzen site after a former owner, Herman Lorenzen, it is today one of Ithe best-preserved major village ruins left in California. The village site is some 250 feet in diameter. Located in Little Hot Springs Valley of Modoc County in far northeastern California, the Lorenzen site sits near a hot spring, whose 180-degree water would roast a careless bather. The University of California at Davis, under the direction of Martin Baumhoff, excavated a small portion of the midden in 1960. They found a deeply stratified deposit that yielded metates and manos, pestles, tubular and elbow-shaped stone pipes (some of which were incised with decorations), projectile points, and lemon-shaped gambling stones. This is also one of the few sites in Cali- fornia where Siskiyou brownware pottery was discovered. The tested area was some 13 feet deep with clear indications of continuous use. A radiocarbon date of 1300 B.C.was obtained from the lowest level of the test pit. It appears to have been abandoned in the early 19th century after native contact with European trappers and explorers. At the time of European contact the area was part of the territory of the Ajumawi Band of the Pit River Indians, who were Hokan speakers. Evidence from the Lorenzen site

has been used to argue that the area was occupied by DUNBAR Hokan-speaking people who had been forced out of Cali- L Y N N fornia’s Central Valley by Penutian speakers. As such, the site plays a central role in discussions of California’s prehis- Hot springs are generally considered to be sacred locations by many tory, and future research is likely to elaborate on this role. California tribes, but it’s uncertain whether Lorenzen’s hot spring was “This site is one of those key locations in the devel- used for spiritual purposes. opment of California prehistory,” said Eric Ritter, an archaeologist with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. as well as those of the Pit River Indians, who have histor- “It is a data bank of informative resources awaiting future ically visited the site and vicinity from nearby Fall River researchers in a locality that has seen very little study, and Valley to collect various plant foods.” its preservation serves as a legacy to one of California's pi- Former owners Cliff Harvey and Jan Sorochtey have oneer archaeologists and visionaries, Marty Baumhoff. protected the site from would-be looters for many years, The transfer of this property to The Archaeological Con- and they will continue to work as site stewards. They servancy also will serve the interests of both Ajumawi peo- agreed to sell the site and five acres to the Conservancy. ple, who lived near here on a rancheria in historic times, —Gene Hurych

42 winter • 2001-02 Adena Mounds Survive An 11th-hour purchase by the Conservancy saves the O’Dell Mounds.

ucked into the Appalachian Mountains of West Vir- ginia, near such quaintly named places as Hominy Falls and Potato Hole TKnob, the O’Dell Mounds seemed to be beyond the threats of modern- day development. Sadly, it may be that no place is too remote to escape this threat, and last summer the mounds nearly succumbed to it. This pair of Adena period (800 B.C.to 100 B.C.) burial mounds, located in the southeastern part of the state, had been owned by the O’Dell GARDNER family, who farmed the land for gen-

P A U L erations. Long-standing family tradition held that the burial mounds not This is one of the two mounds that have been identified. The former owners of the property claimed be disturbed. Unfortunately, such there are three other mounds, but so far archaeologists have not identified them. traditions tend to fade with the passing of each generation and as family of a six-acre housing tract. The often escapes notice until after the members locate farther and farther young couple, oblivious to the ar- fact. Fortunately in the case of the from the old home place. chaeological importance of the site, O’Dell mounds, Shirley O’Dell This was the case with the planned to construct a home and Ramsey, a family member with a O’Dell mounds. Family members fishpond amid the mounds. sense of responsibility to the mounds, who were unaware of their impor- Such small-scale destruction of contacted the West Virginia State tance recently inherited them and archaeological sites in remote areas is Historic Preservation Office with the sold them to a young couple as part the bane of preservationists, as it very news of the planned development. The preservation office dis- patched archaeologist Joanna Wilson POINT Acquisitions to meet with the new landowners and make them aware of the regulatory Martin Site White ★ Potato Lake hurdles that would have to be cleared before their new home could be built. Sumnerville At the same time, Wilson informed ★Lorenzen Indian Village on the Conservancy of the threat. Pawnee Fork Using POINT program funds, ★ O’Dell Mounds McClellan the Conservancy made the new Hunting Creek owners a cash offer to buy the land. Cambria Parchman Place ★ Ingomar They quickly accepted, giving the Mounds A. C. Saunders Conservancy its fourth West Vir- Graveline ginia preserve and Shirley O’Dell Mound Ramsey some much deserved peace of mind. “This is such good news,” she said. “I’ve prayed about this.” —Paul Gardner american archaeology 43 CONSERV ANCY FieldNotes

Hopewell Earthwork Transferred to National Park Service

MIDWEST—The High Bank earthwork, a massive Hopewell circle and octagon complex, has been acquired by the National Park Service as part of the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe, Ohio. Congress directed High Bank and two other Hopewell culture sites be added to the park in 1992. One of the largest and best-preserved of the massive Hopewellian sites in the Chillicothe area, High Bank has often been linked to ancient astro-

nomical alignments. N’omi Greber BRITT of the Cleveland Museum of Nat- K E L L Y ural History has been conducting research on the site for the past decade The Albuquerque Archaeological Society visits San José de Las Huertas. The Conservancy acquired trying to determine its use and this preserve by obtaining three tracts of land between 1986 and 2000. make-up. The Conservancy purchased the site by bequeathing his portion of the public auction, averting a poten- northern half of the earthwork in the earthwork to either the Conser- tial catastrophe. 1992. Having preserved this portion vancy or the National Park Service. of the 1,900-year-old earthwork for Unfortunately, when he died last Research Continues at the last decade, the Conservancy sold winter at the age of 94, he had not it to the National Park Service. The revised his will in over 40 years. San José de Las Huertas proceeds from the sale will be used The entire McGraw estate, in- to purchase other endangered sites. cluding his portion of the High SOUTHWEST—A clearer picture The southern portion of the Bank earthwork, passed to a cohort of the Spanish Colonial settlement earthwork, encompassing most of of 37 distant relatives. They chose to of San José de Las Huertas near Al- the octagon structure, was nearly have all McGraw’s holdings sold at buquerque, New Mexico, is coming lost. Its owner was Alva McGraw, a public auction. Miraculously, the at- into focus as researchers Nan Roth- local farmer and longtime supporter torney for the McGraw estate was schild and Heather Atherton with of archaeology in the Chillicothe able to arrange for the National Park Columbia University continue their area. McGraw often spoke of his Service to purchase McGraw’s por- mapping and archival research of the plans to permanently preserve the tion of the High Bank site prior to 24-acre Conservancy preserve. This

44 winter • 2001-02 past summer, a group of graduate students assisted the researchers in the completion of a topographic survey of the site, as well as the collection of additional soil resistivity and magnetrometry data, that will help them identify the locations of the site’s buried features. The walled village of San José de Las Huertas was occupied between 1765 and 1826, and contains at least nine housemounds, two trash areas, and what may be agricultural fields within the walled area, surrounded by

COMMISSION agricultural and grazing lands. The site is considered a buffer community on New Spain’s northern frontier due HISTORICAL to the role it played in protecting

A L A B A M A principal frontier settlements from the raids of nomadic Plains tribes. A view of the McColman Tract from the Cahawba River. Old Cahawba is the site of Alabama’s The village is one of only a handful of first state capital. intact colonial period sites in the Southwest, and as such, is important records, and oral histories will be were destroyed in the 19th century to archaeologists and historians study- used as complementary sources of during a major flood ing the area’s early history. information to build a more com- The 4.5-acre McColman Tract, “The 19th century is the final plete picture of the settlement. which is on the Cahawba River stage of Spanish Colonial control close to the Zito Tract, is located in and is marked by weakened central Conservancy Acquires Two More what was once the Cahawba Com- control and more autonomy, espe- mons, an area where the townspeo- cially on the frontier,” explains Roth- Tracts at Old Cahawba Site ple kept their livestock and gardens. schild. “We are particularly inter- Archaeologists have not yet exam- ested in how the residents of San SOUTHEAST—The Conservancy ined the commons. José de Las Huertas saw themselves: recently acquired two additions to When coupled with the 400+ as Spanish, Hispanic, or as members the Old Cahawba site. Old Ca- acres at Cahawba already acquired of some other group, and how they hawba, located about 12 miles west by the Conservancy, the two tracts used material culture, architecture, of Selma, is the site of Alabama’s will help to tell archaeologists the and other archaeologically accessible first state capital. It is also a multi- story of Alabama’s frontier capital, as behavior, to express their identity.” component prehistoric site. The new well as that of the people who lived The researchers hope to finish acquisitions primarily relate to Ca- on the site hundreds of years before. the geophysical survey and remote hawba’s 19th-century occupation. The Conservancy has trans- sensing next summer, which will The three-acre Zito Tract, on ferred all its holdings at Old Ca- guide them in conducting limited the far north end of the old town, is hawba to the Alabama Historical test excavations of architectural fea- located where the toll bridge on the Commission for the developing state tures such as the houses, the plaza, old Cahawba-Selma Highway once park. The park is open to the public storage areas, and corrals. The ar- crossed the Cahawba River. The from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. daily, except chaeological evidence, historical bridge and the bridge keeper’s house for major holidays. american archaeology 45 46 M mounds toCivilW America, Conser moundbuilder ing opportunitytolearnmoreabouttherichandcomplex more How plex andoldestprehistoricsites. Po largest visit importantsites,includingEmeraldM and River Where: When: PEOPLES Sojourns historic times,includingthe G sippi B in M THE eginning ound Nor ounds, ver Much: While the th River ty than April “A” south T America. v M ennessee, P Civil ancy at oint, are which ississippian $1,345 5,000 taking the valley 27–M in OF ’s to also W W

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A L A N GRUBER M A R K MICHEL Patrons of Preservation The Archaeological Conservancy would like to thank the following individuals, foundations, and corporations for their generous support during the period of August through October 2001. Their generosity, along with the generosity of the Conservancy’s other members, makes our work possible. NOBLE Life Member Gifts of $1,000 or more

G R A N T Anonymous (2) David Arthur, Illinois D A V I D The Yampa River offers breathtaking scenery. Emily Dern, West Virginia Richard Dexter, Wisconsin Ellenore Doudiet, Maine A Spectacular River Trip Derwood Koenig, Indiana Julilly Kohler, Wisconsin Y AMPA RIVER J. E. Loughridge, Florida When: June 5–12, 2002 Ursula Michaelson, California Where: Colorado and Utah Jane Quinette, Colorado How Much: $1,595 ($85 single supplement) William and Priscilla Robinson, Arizona H. Warren Ross, California Join us for a downriver adventure through the spectacular Anasazi Circle Gifts of scenery of Dinosaur National Monument, including $2,000–$4,999 Whirlpool Canyon, which was first described by the ex- Sue Anschutz-Rodgers, Colorado plorer John Wesley Powell. Rosemary Armbruster, Missouri In additional to the beautiful scenery, your 70-mile Helen Darby, California journey down the Yampa and Green rivers offers an oppor- Harlan and Ann Scott, Delaware tunity to visit remote archaeological sites, including Fre- Hervey and Sarah Stockman, New Mexico mont-culture rock art panels and prehistoric rock shelters. David Grant Noble, noted photographer and author Anasazi Circle Gifts of of Ancient Ruins of the Southwest, will guide the tour. $5,000 or more Anonymous (1) June Stack, Pennsylvania An Extraordinary Gift Richard Woodbury, Massachusetts This space is generally devoted to an extraordinary gift from one of our members—a bequest, a charitable gift annuity, a dona- Foundation/Corporate Gifts tion of stock, or other major contribution. In this issue, we wanted of $1,000–$4,999 to recognize an extraordinary gift of another kind: Archaeological Resource Management Corporation, California We received a letter from Susan Stephenson of California that Roger and Frances Kennedy Fund at the perfectly summed up the reasons why, even in these difficult times, Santa Fe Community Foundation, New Mexico support for archaeology still has its place. We have reprinted it here. —Martha Mulvany Foundation/Corporate Gifts September 29, 2001 of $5,000–$34,999 Dear Mr. Michel and TAC Staff: Philip R. Jonsson Foundation, Texas Thank you for your dedicated work. We need the past to guide The Clayton Fund, Texas us into the future. The early peoples of America dealt with many of the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, Maine same problems we do: water, population pressure, climate change. They have things to tell us. Your work keeps that dialog open. Foundation/Corporate Gifts The flood of aid for the September 11 tragedy is both laudable and inspiring. Unfortunately, as floods have the potential to do, it could of $35,000–$74,999 sweep away many things, such as other valuable non-profit efforts. The Steele-Reese Foundation, Kentucky I choose to honor America by preserving our joint heritage. Sincerely, Foundation/Corporate Gifts Susan M. Stephenson of $75,000–$149,999 The Ford Foundation, New York TO MAKE A DONATION OR BECOME A MEMBER CONTACT: Foundation/Corporate Gifts The Archaeological Conservancy of $150,000 or more Anonymous (1) 5301 Central Avenue NE, • Suite 402 Albuquerque, NM 87108 Bequests (505) 266-1540 www.americanarchaeology.org Estate of Hildegard E. Pang, Indiana

american archaeology 47 Reviews

Ruins and Rivals: The Making of Southwest Archaeological Archaeology Perspectives on the By James E. Snead American Civil War (University of Arizona Press, 2001; 290 pgs., Edited by Clarence R. Geier illus., $35 cloth; 800-426-3797) and Stephen R. Potter (University Press of Florida, 2001; 432 pgs., illus., As the 19th century $55 cloth; 800-226-3822) came to a close, Victo- rian America found a Archaeology has finally taken up the American new fascination with Civil War, and in a big way. Studies of the physical the West, and in par- evidence of the war bring new information and new ticular the ancient insights to perhaps the most written-about event in ruins of the South- the history of mankind. Historical archaeology is a west and the native relatively new discipline in the United States; it’s a peoples descended multi-discipline field that seeks to combine history, from them. Eastern anthropology, and archaeology in order to under- centers of wealth Tikal: An Illustrated stand the past. So what can this new approach tell were building huge History of the Ancient us about a conflict that has produced tens of thou- new museums and were in need of spectacu- Maya Capital sands of volumes? Plenty, it turns out. lar collections to fill them. In the Southwest, By John Montgomery Editors Geier and Potter have assembled 18 es- new institutions were being formed to capture (Hippocrene Book, 2001; says for this volume, dividing them into three basic the local heritage and protect it from outsiders. 294 pgs., illus., $15 areas of study. “Tactics and the Conduct of Battle” And a market was developing for ancient South- paper; 718-454-2366) explores the fighting. Making abundant use of new western artifacts, attracting relic collectors of technology, modern archaeologists are able to recre- myriad stripes. Art historian John ate the course of battles by the physical remains of These three forces were bound to come in Montgomery has war. From the siege of Atlanta to bloody Antietam, conflict as the emerging science of archaeology produced a very archaeology gives us new dimensions of great battles. sought to understand the ancient cultures of the readable history “The Home Front and Military Life” explores Southwest. Snead shows how competition for of the great Maya military support institutions like prisons and hospi- status and prestige shaped modern Southwestern city of Tikal in the tals. An examination of domestic life includes the lives archaeology. The Eastern “museum men” were Petén rainforest of slaves and whites from the North and South, and initially the allies of the early relic hunters, more of Guatemala. tells us of the travails of civilians in the path of war. concerned with trophies from Chaco Canyon, Drawing on pub- Four chapters discuss the new methods and Mesa Verde, and Bandelier than knowledge. But lished sources, techniques of Civil War archaeology. Integrated before long, some of those Easterners were be- he has assembled technology is now able to plot the course of battles. coming Southwestern professional archaeologists. valuable information High-tech metal detectors locate spent ordnance, It was a time and place where legends in on the economy which is plotted by satellite locating devises. All this archaeology were made: Frederick Ward Putnam and politics as well data is then churned by a computer to produce pic- of the Peabody in Boston; Nels Nelson of the as the architecture, tures of the battles. Most battles are fought in a fog American Museum in New York; Edgar Lee He- rulers, and people of confusion. Too often the confusion is reflected in witt of Santa Fe; Frederick Hyde; and, of course, of this great city. the first-hand accounts. But the physical evidence Richard Weatherill, the cowboy who discovered of battle tells a different story, one devoid of panic Mesa Verde. Ruins and Rivals captures the flavor and emotion. It’s an exciting new tool for scholars of digs and discoveries, scholars and scoundrels. of America’s greatest conflict. —Mark Michel

48 winter • 2001-02 BOOKS

Coyote Press P.O. Box 3377 Salinas, CA 93912 Specializing in Archaeology, History, Prehistory, Ethnography, Linguistics, Rock Art, and Native American A BOOK BY DENNIS L. SILUK Studies of Western North America. "The Last Trumpet and the Woodbridge Demon" We stock thousands of books and re- (visions of end time events) prints, including used and rare books. If it is in print we generally can get it. Retail Price: $8.00 • Our Price: $7.20 Custom rare book searches. You Save: $0.80 (10%) • Readers Advantage: $6.84 Visit our massive on-line catalogue: http://www.coyotepress.com. Free 50 This book will be available 12/09/01 or sooner page catalogue available. Format: Paperback ISBN: 0805956212 (831) 422-4912 Publisher: Dorrance Pub., Co. Inc. • www.dorrancepublishing.com E-mail: [email protected] Preorder now and we will ship it when it arrives: Barnes&Noble.com Visa MasterCard