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Home , Jordan Mounds, Lamoka projectile point, Mounds State Park, Platform mound, Sugar Grove Petroglyphs, Tremper Mound and Works

INTERPRETING MISSISSIPPIAN ART • CONFRONTING A CONUNDRUM • JEFFERSON’S RETREAT american archaeologyFALL 2005 a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy Vol. 9 No. 3 MesaMesa VVerde’serde’s ANCIENTANCIENT WAWATERWORKSTERWORKS $3.95 Archaeological Tours led by noted scholars Invites You to Journey Back in Time

Jordan (14 days) Libya (20 days) Retrace the route of Nabataean traders Tour fabulous classical cities including Leptis with Dr.Joseph A.Greene,Harvard Magna,Sabratha and Cyrene,as well as the Semitic Museum.We’ll explore pre-Islamic World Heritage caravan city Gadames,with ruins and desert castles,and spend a Sri Lanka (18 days) our scholars.The tour ends with a four-day week in and around Petra visiting its Explore one of the first Buddhist adventure viewing amidst tombs and sanctuaries carved out of kingdoms with Prof.Sudharshan the dunes of the Libyan desert. rose-red sandstone. Seneviratne,U.of Peradeniya. Discover magnificent temples and Ancient Capitals palaces,huge stupas and colorful of China (17 days) rituals as we share the roads Study China’s fabled past with Prof. with elephants and walk in Robert Thorp,Washington U., the footsteps of kings. as we journey from Beijing’s Imperial Palace Ethiopia and Eritrea (19 days) and Suzhou’s exquisite Delve into the intriguing history of gardens to Shanghai.We’ll Africa’s oldest empires with Dr. visit ancient shrines,world-class Mattanyah Zohar,Hebrew U.Visit ancient museums,Xian’s terra-cotta Axumite cities,Lalibela’s famous rock-cut warriors and the spectacular churches,Gondar’s medieval castles,and Longman Buddhist grottoes. the museums and early-man sites Optional Yangtze River cruise around Addis Ababa. available.

2005-06 tours include: Cyprus,Crete & Santorini;Sicily & Southern Italy; & Castles of Spain & France;Ancient Rome; Southern Spain; Western Turkey;Bulgaria & Romania;Israel;Egypt;Jordan;Libya:Ancient Cities & Prehistoric Art;Vietnam;Burma In-Depth;Khmer Kingdoms; Thailand & Laos; Bhutan; Sri Lanka; Central Asia; India; Silk Road of China; Guatemala;Mexican Yucatan...and more.

Journey back in time with us – Archaeological Tours. We’ve been taking curious travelers on fascinating historical study tours for the past 30 years. Each tour is led by a noted scholar whose knowledge and enthusiasm brings history to life and adds a memorable perspective to your journey. And every one of our 37 tours features superb itineraries, unsurpassed service and our time-tested commitment to excellence.No wonder two-thirds of our clients choose to travel with us again and again. For more information, please visit www.archaeologicaltrs.com, e-mail [email protected], call 212-986-3054, toll-free 866-740-5130. Or write to Archaeological Tours, 271 Madison Avenue, Suite 904, New York,NY 10016. And see history our way.

archaeological tours LED BY NOTED SCHOLARS superb itineraries, unsurpassed service american a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy Vol. 9 No. 3 fall 2005

COVER 36 MESA VERDE’S PREHISTORIC HYDROLOGISTS BY TAMARA STEWART Cliff dwellings weren’t the only remarkable things the Anasazi made at Mesa Verde.

12 EXAMINING JEFFERSON’S RETREAT BY COLLEEN P. POPSON A long-term investigation of Poplar Forest shows that Thomas Jefferson didn’t merely relax there. NPS

19 THE WORLD IN A WHELK SHELL BY ELAINE ROBBINS The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Conference is providing scholars an unusual opportunity to interpret Mississippian art.

25 INVESTIGATING THE EVOLUTION OF THE PERIPHERAL BY ADELE CONOVER T Research at the Marana site has changed the thinking about where large Hohokam settlements were located. COLBER

31 CONFRONTING A CONUNDRUM C O N N I E BY RACHEL DICKINSON Can technological advances help archaeologists solve a 40-year-old mystery? 2 Lay of the Land

44 new acquisition 3 Letters SAVING A CHICKASAW SITE 5 Events Cedarscape will offer researchers a glimpse of a little-known period. 7 In the News 45 new acquisition Forty-Thousand-Year-Old Footprints LEARNING ABOUT A PREHISTORIC QUARRY in Mexico •Prehistoric Polynesians The Conservancy acquires a quarry used by the Hopewell. in California? • Scientists Study 46 new acquisition A VESTIGE OF DRAMATIC CULTURAL CHANGE 50 Field Notes The Conservancy preserves an important Contact-period site in Maine. 52 Reviews 47 new acquisition 54 Expeditions PREHISTORIC QUARRY YIELDS NEW INFORMATION The Conservancy acquires the King’s Quarry site in eastern . COVER: Researchers work in a 16-foot- deep trench at Morefield in Mesa 48 new acquisition Verde National Park. They have uncovered EXPANDING A MAJOR HOHOKAM PRESERVE evidence that proves the Anasazi were skillful hydrologists. Photograph by Ruth Wright The Conservancy acquires another parcel of the Grewe site. american archaeology 1 Lay of the Land

The Importance of Conservation Archaeology

n the early 1960s, Bill Lipe, then This new research dramatically of SUNY-Binghamton, dug at an illustrates why we need to perma- Iancient site in southern New York. nently preserve archaeological sites. He and his colleagues were per- Because the Castle Gardens site was plexed with what they found—Lam- preserved as part of a highway proj- OORE

oka and Vestal projectile points to- ect, new researchers, armed with P gether, when they should have been new insights and , are

separated by hundreds of years. able to return to the site to address D A R R E N They also found nuts, but were un- the unanswered questions. If the site MARK MICHEL, President able to identify and interpret them. had been completely excavated or Forty years later, archaeologists from destroyed, it would be impossible to ceived “conservation archaeology,” SUNY-Binghamton have returned to apply new science to this old prob- and it is now being successfully ap- the Castle Gardens site with sophisti- lem. This is called “conservation ar- plied at the Castle Gardens site cated new technologies that should chaeology” and it is the fundamental where he undertook some of his ear- help them unravel the mysteries of principle on which The Archaeologi- liest research. the 1960s excavations. Their story is cal Conservancy exists. told in this issue of American Ar- Ironically, the young archaeolo- chaeology (see page 31). gist of the 1960s dig, Bill Lipe, con-

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2 fall • 2005 Letters

A True Subtle Undermining Nightmare I recently received my first issue Editor’s Corner As I read the of American Archaeology and I article “Grav- enjoyed it immensely. But I was Ken Wright is the founder of Wright ing Yard, concerned how the article “The Water Engineers, a firm that was es- Grave Yard” in Oldest Ritual” treated archaeologist tablished in 1961 and has three of- the Summer Joyce Marcus. Marcus had an entire fices in Colorado. The firm’s clients issue, I was both fascinated and horri- paragraph devoted to her. The first include Coors Brewing Company, fied. There is no doubt that the sentence identified her with her Exxon, and the State of Colorado. (re)discovery of the village is incredi- “renowned archaeologist advisor” J. When he’s not dealing with water bly significant. The faunal remains Desmond Clark. The second sentence issues for large, contemporary or- alone could open up a universe of refers to her marriage to Kent Flannery. ganizations, Wright is investigating questions on diet and resource ex- This paragraph associated her with two the water issues of prehistoric cul- ploitation. As a professional cultural prominent male archaeologists—per- tures. He is also president of Wright resources management archaeologist, haps as a way of giving her credibility. Paleohydrological Institute, a non- however, I think the recrimination Marcus is a talented scholar, a caring profit corporation whose client list and blame-throwing that has resulted mentor, and a consummate professional. includes the Anasazi and the Inca. from the project is a true nightmare. I found it unfortunate that her authority Our cover story “Mesa Verde’s There are few archaeologists who had to be subtly undermined by singling Prehistoric Hydrologists” (see p. 36) have not lost sleep over the adequa- her out in such a manner that suggests tells of the work Wright and a team cies of our sampling strategies. her only credentials come from her advi- of paleohydrologists did at Mesa What may be most disturbing, sor or her husband. Verde National Park. It turns out that however, is the lack of blame that the Jane Eva Baxter, Assistant Professor cliff dwellings weren’t the only re- Washington State Department of of Anthropology, DePaul University, markable feats the Anasazi per- Transportation has accepted. Ulti- Chicago, formed. They also constructed four mately, it is the government agency known that they operated that is responsible for the archaeology A Mistaken Date between A.D. 750 and 1180 to har- done on these projects. They choose In the Summer 2005 issue, the article vest their limited supply of water. the contracting firm, set the scope of “Coronado's Campsite Preserved” mis- For years experts questioned work for survey and site testing, ap- takenly reports that “most of Pueblo whether these features were in fact prove the research strategy, review Santiago was excavated in 1957 prior reservoirs, and years of research by the reports, and monitor the progress to the excavation of a gravel pit on the Wright’s team provided the answer. of construction. It is somewhat galling property.” The gravel pit excavation They revealed how resourceful the that the transportation department’s might indeed have been in 1957. How- Anasazi were in building their wa- secretary Doug McDonald would ever, Santiago's excavation was carried terworks systems, two of which blame not just the contractor, but the out under Edgar Lee Hewett's supervi- were placed at the bottom of Port Angeles community and even the sion in 1934. canyons, while the other two were Lower Elwha Klallam tribe for what is Dennis Herrick atop mesas. The four systems have ultimately his agency’s mistake. Rio Rancho, New Mexico been designated Historic Civil En- Douglas C. Wells gineering Landmarks. Wright, who Baton Rouge, We appreciate the correction. Ed. has also worked at Machu Picchu, extols Mesa Verde’s inhabitants for Sending Letters to American Archaeology their ingenuity. What paleohydrol- American Archaeology welcomes your letters. Write to us at 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, ogist wouldn’t want to have a Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517, or send us an e-mail at [email protected]. We reserve the right to edit client like that? and publish letters in the magazine’s Letters department as space permits. Please include your name, address and telephone number with all correspondence, including e-mail messages. american archaeology 3 WELCOME TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVANCY! 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902 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, Vincas Steponaitis, , CHAIRMAN Cecil F. Antone, Arizona • Carol Condie, New Mexico acquires, and preserves the most Janet Creighton, Washington • Janet EtsHokin, Illinois significant archaeological sites in the t Jerry EtsHokin, Illinois • W. James Judge, Colorado . Since its beginning in Jay T. Last, California • Dorinda Oliver, New York 1980, the Conservancy has preserved Rosamond Stanton, Montana • Dee Ann Story, Texas more than 310 sites across the nation, Stewart L. Udall, New Mexico • Gordon Wilson, New Mexico ranging in age from the earliest Conservancy Staff habitation sites in North America to Mark Michel, President • Tione Joseph, Business Manager a 19th-century frontier army post. Lorna Thickett, Membership Director • Sarah Tiberi, Special Projects Director We are building a national system of Shelley Smith, Membership Assistant • Valerie Long, Administrative Assistant archaeological preserves to ensure Yvonne Waters, Administrative Assistant the survival of our irreplaceable Regional Offices and Directors cultural heritage. Jim Walker, Vice President, Southwest Region (505) 266-1540 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902 • Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108 Why Save Archaeological Sites? Tamara Stewart, Projects Coordinator • Steve Koczan, Site-Management Coordinator The ancient people of North America Amy Espinoza-Ar, Field Representative left virtually no written records of their Paul Gardner, Vice President, Midwest Region (614) 267-1100 cultures. Clues that might someday solve 3620 N. High St. #207 • Columbus, Ohio 43214 the mysteries of prehistoric America are Joe Navari, Field Representative still missing, and when a ruin is destroyed by looters, or leveled for a Alan Gruber, Vice President, Southeast Region (770) 975-4344 shopping center, precious information is 5997 Cedar Crest Road • Acworth, Georgia 30101 lost. Jessica Crawford, Delta Field Representative By permanently preserving endangered Gene Hurych, Western Region (916) 399-1193 ruins, we make sure they will be here 1 Shoal Court #67 • Sacramento, California 95831 for future generations to study and enjoy. Andy Stout, Eastern Region, (301) 682-6359 717 N. Market St. • Frederick, Maryland 21701 How We Raise Funds: Funds for the Conservancy come from ® membership dues, individual american archaeology contributions, corporations, and foundations. Gifts and bequests of PUBLISHER: Mark Michel money, land, and securities are fully tax EDITOR: Michael Bawaya (505) 266-9668, [email protected] deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the ASSISTANT EDITOR: Tamara Stewart Internal Revenue Code. Planned giving ART DIRECTOR: Vicki Marie Singer, [email protected] provides donors with substantial tax deductions and a variety of beneficiary Editorial Advisory Board possibilities. For more information, call Scott Anfinson, Minnesota Historic Preservation • Darrell Creel, University of Texas Mark Michel Linda Derry, Alabama Historical Commission • Mark Esarey, State Park at (505) 266-1540. Kristen Gremillion, Ohio State University • Richard Jenkins, California Dept. of Forestry Trinkle Jones, • Sarah Neusius, University of Penn. The Role of the Magazine: Claudine Payne, Archaeological Survey American Archaeology is the only Douglas Perrelli, SUNY-Buffalo • Judyth Reed, Bureau of Land Management popular magazine devoted to Ann Rogers, Oregon State University • Joe Saunders, University of Louisiana-Monroe presenting the rich diversity of Kevin Smith, Middle Tennessee State University archaeology in the Americas. The Art Spiess, Maine Historic Preservation• Ruth Van Dyke, Colorado College purpose of the magazine is to help Robert Wall, Towson State University • Rob Whitlam, Washington State Archaeologist readers appreciate and understand the Richard Woodbury, University of Massachusetts • Don Wyckoff, University of Oklahoma archaeological wonders available to National Advertising Office them, and to raise their awareness of Marcia Ulibarri, Advertising Representative the destruction of our cultural heritage. 5301 Central Ave. NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108; By sharing new discoveries, research, (505) 344-6018; Fax (505) 345-3430; [email protected] and activities in an enjoyable and informative way, we hope we can American Archaeology (ISSN 1093-8400) is published quarterly by The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, make learning about ancient America Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517. Title registered U.S. Pat. and TM Office, © 2005 by TAC. Printed in the United States. Periodicals postage paid Albuquerque, NM, and additional mailing offices. Single copies are $3.95. A one-year mem- as exciting as it is essential. bership to the Conservancy is $25 and includes receipt of American Archaeology. Of the member’s dues, $6 is designated for a one-year magazine subscription. READERS: For new memberships, renewals, or change of address, write to The Archaeo- How to Say Hello: By mail: logical Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517, or call (505) 266-1540. For changes The Archaeological Conservancy, of address, include old and new addresses. Articles are published for educational purposes and do not necessarily reflect the 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, views of the Conservancy, its editorial board, or American Archaeology. Article proposals and artwork should be addressed to the editor. No responsibility assumed for unsolicited material. All articles receive expert review. POSTMASTER: Send address Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517; changes to American Archaeology, The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM by phone: (505) 266-1540; 87108-1517; (505) 266-1540. All rights reserved. American Archaeology does not accept advertising from dealers in archaeological artifacts or antiquities.

4 fall • 2005 Museum exhibits • Tours • Festivals Meetings • Education • Conferences Events

 NEW EXHIBITS  CONFERENCES, Colorado History Museum LECTURES & FESTIVALS Denver, Colo.—In “Colorado TimeScape” Cahokia Mounds Pow Wow some 10,000 years of history unfold on a gi- September 9–11, Cahokia Mounds gantic 3-D model of the state, providing an State Historic Site, Collinsville, Ill. Na- extraordinary perspective of Colorado’s dra- tive Americans from across the coun- matic landscape. A 10-minute multimedia try will dance competitively and so- presentation documents how land and peo- cially. Native American arts, crafts, ple have shaped each other throughout Col- and jewelry will be on display. Free MUSEUM orado’s history, addressing topics as diverse to the public. (618) 346-5160,

F I E L D as the migration patterns of ancient peoples www.cahokiamounds.com to the encroachment of urbanization up the Interstate 70 corridor. (303) 866-3682, Ocmulgee Indian Celebration Field Museum www.coloradohistory.org/exhibits/colorado- September 16–18, Ocmulgee National Chicago, Ill.—The exhibition museum.htm (New long-term exhibit) Monument, Macon, Ga. Hundreds of “Transforming Tradition: from dancers, storytellers, musicians, and Mata Ortiz” presents the work of Los Angeles County Museum of Art artists gather at the monument for a contemporary artists from the small Los Angeles, Calif.—“Lords of Creation: The weekend of sharing culture. All five Mexican town of Mata Ortiz, who Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship” explores cultures representing the five tribes have rediscovered and mastered the the development of divine kings and their of the Southeast come together to elaborate ceramic tradition of their roles in the emergence of complex urban so- share friendship dances. (478) 752- pre-Columbian ancestors. Revived by ciety 2,000 years ago in the Maya region. 8257, www.nps.gov/ocmu Juan Quezada, a Mata Ortiz native, The exhibit presents many objects that have over 400 community members are never been shown in the U.S., including 14th Biennial Jornada Mogollon now involved in pottery production, works from the national museums of Mex- Archaeological Conference producing some of the world’s finest ico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Costa October 14–15, El Paso Museum of contemporary ceramics. Also on view Rica. A series of galleries focuses on such Archaeology, El Paso, Tex. Open to are ceramic vessels from the 14th- themes as the cosmos and the king, royal archaeologists and the public, the and 15th-century portraits, personal instruments of power, the conference provides a forum for the culture that inspired the modern-day origins of hieroglyphic writing, the role of presentation of recent research in the revival of this complex artistic deities as sources of prestige and authority, Jornada Mogollon region of Texas, tradition. (312) 922-9410, relations with distant powers such as New Mexico, and northern Chi- www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits Teotihuacán, and death. (323) 857-6000, huahua. (915) 755-4332, Jack- (Through May 31, 2006) www.lacma.org (September 10 through Jan- [email protected], www.elpa- uary 2, 2006) sotexas. gov/arch_museum

Orlando Museum of Art

T Orlando, Fla.—“Aztec to Zapotec: Selections from the Ancient Americas

AR Collection” includes more than 150 works from the museum’s Art of the O F Americas Collection and represents a time period of more than 3,500 years, from 2000 B.C.to A.D. 1521. The exhibition consists of spectacular ancient U S E U M

M works of gold, silver,jade, ceramic, shell, and wood from more than 30 different cultural groups including the Aztec, Maya, Zapotec, Moche, Nasca, and Inca. RLANDO

O (407) 896-4231, www.OMArt.org (New long-term exhibit) american archaeology 5 Museum of Northern Arizona University of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Ariz.— The Colorado Plateau has a rich heritage of spanning more than 12,000 years. The new exhibit “Stories on Stone” takes a broad Events look at this ancient form of communication, ARIZONA exploring how rock art was made, what it is T H E R N thought to represent, how it is studied today, NOR

and how it can be conserved for the future. O F Images of many of the most beautiful U S E U M

examples remaining today are included in the M exhibit. (928) 774-5213,

63rd Annual Plains Clovis in the Southeast, Anthropological Conference , Time and Space October 19–23, Fantasyland Hotel, Edmon- October 26–29, Columbia Metropoli- ton, Alberta, Canada. Concurrent sessions tan Convention Center, Columbia, S.C. include symposia, contributed papers, and Research at the Topper site in Allen- poster papers, allowing conference atten- dale County, South Carolina, suggests dees to keep current with fieldwork, re- may have arrived in North search, and preservation activities through- America much earlier than previously out the Great Plains. A Thursday evening thought. Planned on the heels of re- reception will be held at the Provincial Mu- cent discoveries at the site, the con- seum of Alberta and field trips to local sites ference focuses on in will take place on Saturday. Contact Mar- the Southeast, with speakers includ- M tina Purdon at (780) 431-2331, www.plain- ing leaders in the field of First Ameri-

santh2005.org can studies. A Thursday evening ban- MUSEU quet will be held at the convention A B B E Midwest Archaeological Conference center, and field trips to the Topper Abbe Museum October 20–23, Dayton Crowne Plaza and the Big Pine Tree Paleo-Indian Bar Harbor, Maine—The exhibition Hotel, Dayton, Ohio. A series of papers, sites will take place Saturday. Contact “Mocotaugan: The Story and Art of the posters, and symposia will be presented Rebecca Barrera at (803) 777-8170, Crooked ” explores how covering a variety of topics concerning [email protected], www.clovisinthe- generations of Native Americans of the the archaeology of the mid-continent. southeast.net/index.html Northeastern Woodlands have www.midwestarchaeology.org developed the crooked knife into a Old Pueblo Archaeological Center work of art, embellishing the handle The Newark Day First Mondays Program with intricate designs that demonstrate October 22, , Newark, Marana, Ariz. Free presentations con- the carver’s skill. Examples of Ohio. A series of events will be held cerning . No beautifully carved crooked from throughout the day in celebration of a once- reservations needed. (520) 798-1201, the Jalbert Collection and objects in-a-generation lunar event recorded by Na- www.oldpueblo.org made with this traditional , tive Americans nearly 2,000 years ago. including a 19th-century birch bark Events will focus on the massive complex of Southeastern Archaeological Conference , snowshoes, lacrosse sticks, ash geometric earthworks and the Hopewell cul- November 2–6, Columbia Marriott, splint , and wooden vessels are ture that built and used them. The entire 50- Columbia, South Carolina. Keynote exhibited to the public for the first acre Octagon Earthworks appear to have speaker Albert Goodyear will discuss time. While the use of the crooked been built to align with the rising of the the early settlement at the knife in the Northeast likely originated moon at the northernmost end of its cycle. Topper site in Allendale County, with Native Americans, its development Visitors are invited to park at the Ohio State South Carolina. The conference fea- represents one of the most long-lived University Newark campus and ride shuttle tures symposia, papers, posters, and examples of cultural exchange between buses to the Newark Octagon for moonrise a student paper competition. Contact Native and European peoples. (207) viewing. Contact Richard Shiels at (740) 366- Keith Stephenson at (803) 725-5216, 288-3519, www.abbemuseum.org 9249, [email protected], www.octagon- [email protected], www.south- (Through December 31) moonrise.org easternarchaeology.org

6 fall • 2005 Forty-Thousand-Year-Old in the Footprints Reported in Central Mexico Some researchers are skeptical of find. NEWS

series of human footprints dis- covered two years ago in the A Valsequillo Basin near the city of Pueblo in central Mexico have been recently dated to at least 40,000 years ago, some 27,000 years older than the earliest accepted date for human occu-

UNIVERSITY pation of the Americas. An interna- tional team of scientists, led by geoar- O O R E S

M chaeologist Silvia Gonzalez of England’s Liverpool John Moores Uni- J O H N versity, has extensively analyzed 269 footprints, both human and animal,

LIVERPOOL found in an abandoned quarry close to the Cerro Toluquilla volcano. Based The footprints were first discovered in 2003 and have been extensively analyzed. on their unique characteristics, the re- Nonetheless, some experts doubt that humans produced them. searchers claim that 60 percent of the footprints, which have been carefully represent several adults and children of Bournemouth, allowing the re- dated using a variety of techniques, as well as species of birds, cats, dogs, searchers to categorize the footprints are human. The discovery could pose and animals with cloven feet, were according to their size and shape. a serious challenge to the traditional exposed in a now hardened layer of This summer the British Natural Envi- view of the peopling of the Americas volcanic ash used locally as building ronment Research Council awarded via the Bering Strait from Siberia to material. Gonzalez and her colleagues the research team a $370,000 grant, Alaska around 13,000 years ago. propose that early colonists walked enabling them to conduct more ex- “New routes of migration that ex- along the shoreline of the ancient tensive investigations to corroborate plain the existence of these much ear- volcanic lake, leaving footprints that their initial findings and to calculate lier sites now need urgent considera- were soon covered by more ash and the height, pace, and stride of the an- tion,” said Gonzalez, who, along with lake sediments. Later climatic varia- cient human group. two other researchers, first discovered tions and the eruption of the Cerro Several Paleo-Indian researchers the footprints in 2003. “Our findings Toluquilla volcano caused lake levels have expressed doubts about the support the theory that these first to rise and fall, exposing the volcanic footprints. “I have serious reserva- colonists may perhaps have arrived by ash layer and fossilized footprints dis- tions about the validity of the foot- water rather than on foot, using the covered by the scientists. prints,” said archaeologist Mike Wa- Pacific coast migration route.” Given the controversial nature of ters, the director of the Center for the A growing number of researchers, the find, the team of scientists took Study of the First Americans at Texas including Gonzalez, also believe the two years to apply new dating tech- A & M University. Waters, who has Americas may have been colonized niques to the fossilized footprints and been to the site three times, said by several waves of migration that the sediments found above and more research needs to be done at occurred over an extended period of below them. The team of scientists the site. He is also dating the ash time rather than in one continuous mapped and scanned the footprints layer, which he thinks is considerably southward migration, as proposed by using laser technology, and repro- older than 40,000 years, and the re- the traditional model. duced them as highly accurate 3-D sults will be available later this year. The ancient footprints, which images and models at the University —Tamara Stewart

american archaeology 7 in the Guatemalan Site Yields NEWS Ancient Maya Tomb Ritual sacrifice sheds light on the power of women.

rchaeologists have discovered the remains of two royal women in a A hilltop temple in the once-powerful city the ancient Maya called Waka’ (now known as El Peru). Inhabited by 500 B.C., Waka’ PROJECT reached its peak between A.D. 400 and 800. Though less famous than its powerful neighbor Tikal, Waka’ was home to thousands of people. The

tomb dates to the Early Classic pe- ARCHAEOLOGICAL

riod, about A.D. 350, according to A K A ' David Freidel of Southern Methodist

University (SMU), co-director of the PERU-W L

Waka’ Archaeological Project. E Archaeologists Michelle Rich and Jennifer Piehl discovered the tomb

while excavating the pyramid. The HOFSTETTER, tomb contained the remains of two

women interred one on top of the PHILLIP other; the woman on the bottom face A Guatemalan excavator operates a pulley over the 20-foot pit that leads into the tomb chamber. down, the other face up. The woman on the bottom was carrying a five- or “mother/father, father/mother ances- del. The sacrifices were likely related six-month-old fetus. The excellent tral being. These women may have to a power struggle between Waka’ condition of the bones and the teeth, been put in a similar category.” In and rival cities. In a hostile takeover coupled with the quality of funerary such enigmatic signs as stingray scenario, enemies usurping power objects such as lidded ceramic ves- spines buried with women and may have killed the Waka’ king’s sels, is evidence the women “were of iconography of women warriors, close family members to quash re- very high status, probably royal,” “you’re getting a series of mixed sig- bellion. Or, if Waka’ triumphed, its said Rich. nals that the Maya were perfectly warriors may have killed the women Stingray spines, traditionally used comfortable with,” he added. from a vanquished royal family. by male warriors in ritual genital Tombs of royal women have Their deaths may have symbolized bloodletting, were found in the been discovered at fewer than a the two young women of Maya myth women’s pelvic areas. “It suggests that dozen other sites in Central America, who helped the sacrificed god somehow they were like men, power- according to Freidel, who has re- resurrect as a young lord. It’s be- ful like men,” said Freidel. Con- searched Maya sites in Guatemala for lieved that Maya kings impersonated versely, “bloodletting from male geni- over 30 years. Last year his crew dis- the Maize god, and the king of talia was associated with giving birth covered another queen’s tomb that Waka’ may have danced as the [and represented] nurturing the gods. was richly stocked with jade and shell Maize god over their tomb. The This kind of ambiguity of gender and artifacts. The two tombs indicate that women’s deaths would have made a sex was important to the Maya,” he the city was wealthy and important. forceful political and spiritual state- explained. Maya cosmology posited a “These women were regarded ment, according to the researchers. divine mixed-gender origin, a as being very powerful,” said Frei- —Elizabeth Wolf

8 fall • 2005 Scientists Finally in the Study Kennewick Man NEWS Researchers spend 10 days examining ancient remains.

fter a nine-year legal battle, a team of scientists ex- amined the 9,400-year-old skeleton known as Ken- A newick Man at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum in July. The scientists did a taphonomic analysis of the skeleton, a study of the processes that modify bone, said Douglas Owsley, head of the 11- member research team and a forensic anthropologist with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. Plastic replicas based on high-resolution, 3-D CT scans were made of the skull and right hipbone. The replicas, which are accurate to within less than a hun- dredth of an inch, allow the scientists to scrutinize both internal and external structural features of the skeleton. The scientists also looked at evidence such as calcium carbonate build-up on the bones, postmortem frac- tures, sediments in the bone cavities, and staining or bleaching on the bones. These clues will help them de- termine whether the individual was intentionally buried and how the bones came to be exposed. “Because the discovery [of Kennewick Man] was accidental, there are still outstanding questions. Did this individual die in a river and was he washed down to this location, or was he deliberately buried? What happened while the skeleton was in the ground and SMITHSONIAN how did it come to be exposed? What was the position NMNH

© of the skeleton in the ground? Where in the strati- graphic column was he buried?” said David Carlson of CLARK Texas A & M University. The taphonomic analysis will CHIP help to answer these questions. “There needs to be a lot of adjustments of previ- (From left) Scientists C. Wayne Smith, Douglas Owsley, and Hugh Berryman ous findings,” said Owsley, referring to earlier research analyze the fracture pattern of the Kennewick Man femur. done by scientists hired by the Department of the Inte- rior. “We will probably adjust the age of this individual. skeleton later this year or early next year. A book is also in And our morphometric analysis will take us much fur- the works, said Carlson, who is helping compile the scien- ther.” The morphometric analysis, which is done to de- tists’ findings. termine the skeleton’s genetic affiliation, involves tak- The Army Corps of Engineers, the legal custodian of ing approximately 80 different measurements of the Kennewick Man, had previously allowed only government- skull. These measurements are then compared to a sponsored study of the remains. Four Pacific Northwest tribes database of hundreds of thousands of human skulls, claimed the remains under the Native American Graves Pro- according to cranial reconstruction specialist David tection and Repatriation Act. But in April 2004 a decision by Hunt, Owsley’s colleague at the Smithsonian. the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the scientists A second team of scientists plans to study the to study the remains. —Elizabeth Wolf

american archaeology 9 in the Evidence Suggests Contact Between Prehistoric NEWS Polynesians and Californians Recent research revives an old, controversial hypothesis.

ew evidence has revived the controversial 19th-century the- ory that prehistoric Polynesian

N Y seafarers made contact with the Chu- OR mash and Gabrielino Indians of south- HIST ern California. In a recently published

American Antiquity article, archaeolo- TURAL gist Terry Jones of Cal Poly San Luis NA O F Obispo and linguist Kathryn Klar of

the University of California at Berke- U S E U M ley use a combination of linguistic M and material evidence to argue for BARBARA

brief contact between these groups A sometime between A.D. 400 and 800. SANT The researchers contend that it was during this contact that Polyne- O F T H E sians introduced the sophisticated technique of plank-sewing to the TESY

Chumash and Gabrielino, the only COUR North American native groups to The Chumash word for plank canoe, like the one seen here, is tomolo’o,a word derived from a make boats using this technique. In Polynesian term. This suggests contact between the two peoples. addition to words referring to the construction method, a unique, dis- Archaeologists have typically con- which is within the contact period tinctively Polynesian two-piece bone sidered the presence of swordfish re- proposed by the researchers. hook used to troll for fish in deep mains in archaeological contexts to “The swordfish headdress shows waters also appears to have been in- suggest the use of sewn-plank , the ceremonial importance of the troduced to the southern California since it is commonly believed that swordfish to the Chumash, but it does groups at this time. previous types of watercraft weren’t not tell us when the plank canoe Klar notes that when technology sufficiently seaworthy for catching came into use,” says Johnson. “We is transferred from one group to an- large, powerful swordfish. A swordfish need to look at archaeological as- other, frequently words that refer to it skull headdress recovered from a Chu- semblages that date before the A.D. in the language of the source culture mash burial was initially dated to 400 to 800 period to see if there are are also transferred. “The linguistic ev- about 2,000 years ago, predating the swordfish remains or remains of other idence for contact are the words in discovery of Hawaii by the Polyne- large fish and be sure we’re dating Chumashan (tomolo’o) and Gabrielino sians and therefore challenging Jones the indicators accurately. While Klar’s (ti’at and tarayna) for boats made of and Klar’s argument, since Hawaii was linguistic approach is innovative and wood, particularly sewn-plank ca- the likely origination point for Polyne- rigorous, it bothers me that we’re bas- noes,” explained Klar. “Each word is sians traveling to California. Realizing ing all this on just three words. The derived from a Polynesian term for the the date was in radiocarbon years archaeological evidence is still weak, construction material or some aspect however, John Johnson, curator of an- because we don’t yet have enough of the adzing or plank-sewing process. thropology at the Santa Barbara Mu- good dates to determine when the Each is atypical in its California lan- seum of Natural History, recently re- plank canoe and curved, compound guage in ways that make them suspect calibrated it to calendar years, putting fishhooks first appeared in prehis- as native words.” the age of the headdress at A.D. 600, tory.” —Tamara Stewart

10 fall • 2005 Stolen Altarpiece in the Returned to Peru Sixteenth-century was on sale for $600,000. NEWS he United States recently returned a stolen 400-year- old altarpiece to the government of Peru. The altar- Tpiece, which is 10 feet tall and weighs about 1,000 pounds, was taken from the town of Challapampa, near Peru’s border with Bolivia, in 2002. The piece was made be- tween 1575 and 1595, and attributed to Pedro de Vargas and Bernardo Bitti, an Italian Jesuit. An anonymous caller in- formed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of- ficials that the altarpiece was being kept at an art gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it was on sale for $600,000. In 1997 the United States and Peruvian governments en- tered into a “Memorandum of Understanding” agreement that addressed the recovery and repatriation of culturally signifi- cant artifacts that have been stolen from Peru and smuggled into the United States. Officials from ICE worked with differ- ent government agencies to begin prosecution of the owner of the gallery. These charges were later dropped due to the defendants’ illness and subsequent death. SCIENCE Many experts view the altar as an excellent example of Spanish colonial art. The work was cut into four pieces dur- NATURAL

OF ing the theft but, according to Dirk Van Tuerenhout, curator of anthropology for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, MUSEUM the piece is in remarkable shape. “Considering the travails it has gone through, it appears to be in very good condition,” HOUSTON Van Tuerenhout said. The altarpiece was displayed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science prior to being returned The massive carved and painted altarpiece was found in a Santa Fe, to Peru. —Sarah Tiberi New Mexico, art gallery. Study Challenges Theory on Four Corners Abandonment Computer simulation shows climatic factors alone can’t explain massive exodus.

recent study using computer president of the School of American “This is the first time we have simulation suggests that the Research, and Robert Reynolds, a been able to ‘experiment’ with past A abandonment of the Four computer scientist with Wayne State human populations,” explained Corners region was not caused en- University, summarized their study Gumerman. “It allows us to ask dif- tirely by the severe drought that oc- in an article in the July 2005 Scien- ferent questions, to experiment with curred in the late 1200s. Other con- tific American. different variables, and to look at tributing factors include the onset of “As the article states, we are past people in more human terms. colder temperatures in the late finding that resource depletion, cli- In all the computer simulations we 1200s, a depleted environment, and mate change, and various social fac- have run, a small population could population migration from other tors such as varying exchange rela- have continued to live in the Four areas that led to an increased de- tionships, all play complicated, Corners region, yet the entire area mand for limited resources. Timothy interacting roles in the population was depopulated. It is the first time Kohler of Washington State Univer- cycles and in the changes in degree this has been quantitatively shown.” sity, George Gumerman, former of aggregation,” says Kohler. —Tamara Stewart

american archaeology 11 Y N RESOURCE, T AR / NSTITUTION I SMITHSONIAN

Y, GALLER RAIT T POR TIONAL NA "I have an excellent house there . . . am comfortably fixed and attended, have a few good neighbors, and pass my time there in a tranquility and retirement much adapted to my age and indolence." –Thomas Jefferson to William Short, November 24, 1821 Examining Jefferson’s Retreat SHOFER L E S

12 fall • 2005 Work at Poplar Forest shows how archaeology can add dimension to even the most well-documented historical sites.

By Colleen P. PPopson HENLEY J A C K Director of Archaeology Barbara Heath and archaeologist Randy Lichtenberger screen for artifacts at site B. american archaeology 13 14 Forest’s On archaeologists that been notes time constantly changingandimprovingtheplantationfromth the an avidreaderandletterwriter his the when hewaswritinginstructionstohisgrandsonregarding clining for W Jefferson bacco the housing pressures riage), place was I Archaeolo alking thegrounds,it’stemptingtoimaginewidowed mer presidentspendinghistwilightyearsherealone,re life house. north a development W Even the here. 90 Jefferson the BlueRidgeMountains,landwaspassedonto Tucked Poplar t he both r that is ith or ecent an and in gists, miles archaeological inherited director divisions The easy wheat—the was today, of the whose all adequate Jefferson inspired y his assisted Forest believ public in tour t octagonal from to seeking he by might books. among with understand e of fairways creeping it of h of this his by Monticello istorical life as in archaeology, and distance left field the Poplar site add the site calm, In father-in-law. . 1773 verdant the program, house behind, challenged school house represents is reality, encroachment to Jefferson in site stunning, to maps, Forest. a why to the on , wasanactiveparticipantin students, place (a he after rolling feel of and however all now history one good a Thomas Barbara designed, his wor letters, once sides, Ever far his by to grounds Most simple, uncov might king in hills r read three removed the final etirement of of its , planted r and er a Jefferson, estless, Jefferson Heath, development— looking importantly, memoirs, Poplar wealth 17th evidence meditating golf wonder and domestic visit and days with course year to from calming. in with I he retreat. by Forest. Poplar out of of found study. chose while complex. 1823, what , a was and car his has the J to- on on effer to it e - - - sonian stand gaping slaves records and,especiallyinthecaseoflivesmany authors. in facttheyreflectmomentstimeandthebiasesofthei records givetheillusionofwholenessandaccuracy,when f team offieldschoolstudentsandgivingalecturetour there lear r scape to ing workedherefor14years,Heathismorethanqualified chaeology Historic LandscapeInstitute.Publicinterpretationofthear- torical Forest, the the A school studentsareworking on twoJefferson-periodsites, Cur historic namental have tion or ecords building and fill ned students main m On thedayIvisited,Heathwasbusydirectingafresh buried re been and, how the andate to who B, documents the holes map. not ntly at than what Archaeology house space that r site where ole. the of nonprofit used resided to beneath in , from B. Site Poplar of a were Jefferson plantation be Heath, The The the of in lot to the possible, A completely archaeolo the at 2001. the build and story corporation consists identified of or Forest a Corporation the house. has ganization thick M places,” had worked Neither was of up onticello-University her gists site. to been the is planted of a layer guided used restore are during an terrace a “W staf plantation’s also at says a Jefferson-period used site that essential ttempting e Poplar for during of have f, and endeavors by the is testing owns fill Heath, within here and Jefferson’s portrayed the built. house to that more Forest, Jefferson’s component learn past. records.” the to southeast the the “but of appears fall verify and to site. w h hat to core Vi istorical occupa- on Poplar under • f we’ve r ield fill took land- ginia Hav- time 2005 The any the or- of of to in r -

J A C K HENLEY COUR T ESY T H O M A S JEFFERSON'S P O P L A R FOREST J A C K HENLEY american pravity.” exclusively here, explains broken a that from t slaves, men m B, its site such quartersites.“Ibelievewehaveanearly19th-century building of ing ter found at s bacco, practice at working,” three site indicatesthatfenceswere constructedtosurroundth Polar Forest.Theconfiguration ofpostholesattheQuarter private scape house basement east worked quarters, 600 decades, r Forest chaeology individuals livedatPoplarForest,anomissionthatonlyar dens. Whatrecordsfailtoaddressiswhereandhowthese attention identity people est, found tion. han ooms onal an mystery. [slave] w primary they w site, features that both It Although Although thearchaeologistshavefoundsomeinterest Of From hat acres at hat side w Jefferson’s In which but are structures features tasks. lar many is itself, has ho that its the ceramics area provide wheat, despite in establishing their the the was is ar materials we ge w a quarter archaeologists Heath. B on before it the of says height, 1993 chaeology penned otherwise created and can as ut “W and connected r p purpose as two once evealed probably quantities and archaeological he aradox fields the artifacts and T find that a the e excavations then occupied ools questions a r around remedy. “moral Heath. emains have have derived to perimeter quarter cor quarter a slave r and m his artifacts, sites “W and extended numerous etreat; main the in thousands that prism aking 1998, and Poplar the indicate n,

e equal” was.” that to places confined belief thousands during some that excavated glass on is r think with community the of “W and haven’t esidents and . date. w serviced of house, have sites, needed remain not So during it the through the ords up the brick, e tell what house. of Forest was similar political the of the have we’re from sense r owned hemp, w land t that slaves Jefferson’s a esearch archaeology the Over hat property.” very two of surveyed stories one, here “all building and been the running the also mortar the service used about of acres Jefferson’s income. - the two living , t th which the trying was here slave that of to nearly artifacts aptly limiting e sites were people de and found a main of at what personal slave for , were - sites mor working lived clothing almost quarter were and time individual But that quarter of Poplar to to represent named some Records working leisure team two house e the figure we associated look that circumstances. A are they window planted ownership was at at slaves and , plantation,” have Poplar the focused space living are items, plantation sites, for 52 the have designed and out and indicate lives, remains around ming planta- typical slaves found Quar- living in glass, wha with they per- For- gar also and and and to its of of e a - - - - t often of tant only ear of and facts their sonal ter indicateadesireforprivacyandthatslavesownedper them, dates (T A (Upper pearlw op) slav these stone n Tw The discoveryoflocksandlockpartsaroundthequar to buckles e to are money homes such u and items worked lik o a sing 1789, the sides ely plate craft items abov pipes “In used as people of is of the and to e) when indicate not some one buttons, a value extra Ceramic it confir money buy and Spanish bo as pipes of described wl “but a living three not items f portant ifeveryone’swearingthesam w pipe charm. hours that ms ound clothes that fragments ays signed are half-real on something glass to in pierced documentary at they at d buttons not personal the a s you ebris the or moke, in the slave. beads, f to ound and from wanted otherwise coins fields. wing raised historic think Quarter show suggest is that at site of f but Ador these ound ador frivolous,” site a ser Substantial crops B to that evidence gilt simple documents. the vice match were at B. nment nment site. available keep p The Poplar clothes chain rooms. eople world spending or this The coin, also becomes secure. chickens was says was F that fragmented orest. quantities fragment, w were that presence to hich are m impor Heath, a slave aking them. your they Arti way not de- im- to e s - - - - 15 16 l mains differ of consistent—ceramics, toolsforusearoundthehome,item quarter window were contrast, on to his memoranda:logcabinsthattakethreeworkerssixdays construction they clues give should isn’t note-taking, D that This dating from og espite build. personal either composite walls an The people mentioned them r about m epresent on original of to expect ade sites. g sites Archaeologists clay Jefferson’s a Quarter end and lass, no Je key view letter-writing, ador to sites expressed w falls fferson’ If atercolor identity.” of that A to inside last: a v sites characteristic, of in ery nment, and one find significant A Poplar in Jefferson’s site would and lar time. . little line A structure B of at ge identity and F sp provides r orest's slave B. l eveal like found og w and In have of quantities ith ro The B chimneys i that which beads mprovement records. ornamental quarter served lif mapmaking, however the and w been evidence in artifacts hat ic way, a a debris daub and w m and Jefferson system of spread only sites as odel it . for grounds b The buttons. from can fragments, f rick, of ound of fireproofing. as at in meticulous the for that two buildings provide along Quarter Poplar slave housing is the describes mortar locations based at w sought chimneys The hat sites t he interior cabins, the Forest on , some site’s sites two one t and that inf hat ar re In of to in ormation e s - Poplar ologists t identified been the in anyofJefferson’snotesissurprising,becauseitfallswithin categories, theabsenceofadescriptionsiteAinparticular mean necessarilythatsitesAandBfallintooneofthesetwo walk landscape did. here. e Heath, plants, ical task ofusingthesedocumentscombinedwitharchaeolog tions to marily documented he nough. from create retreat well-documented investigation “If “It The excav a among of The through focus fences Forest’s has “saying we to this level We ations the in house. to find corporation been are r area. for the gardens reflect historical r eally and of and etreat, the slave instructions that going the same said detail The to historical The other same need archaeologists Jefferson’s figure there’s 10-acre in quarters or Jefferson that archaeologists trees to documents. in namental Federal hopes features level to documents. the do Poplar out and sent know a fenced r documents and estoration of planting choices exactly left eventually America,” plants Jefferson from landscape detail Forest in The as outbuildings very Although core r are ecent well imag Monticello what that so in area is detailed char area begs e w that the says had one as wa years. of to ork,” Jefferson shrubs, s ged is we this that surrounding ground. adapted r visitors the established of Heath. estore fall r are eally explain possibly with descrip area the on archae- doesn’t • rarely trees, once how 2005 best can Pri- not has the the s - -

WAT E R C O L O R BY L . D I A N E J OHNSON COUR TESY T H O M A S JEFFERSON'S P O P L A R FOREST american sonry earthen the vestigated kitchen, ate tulip ter greetsvisitorsinthefrontofhouse,asdofivegreat being architectural house tal trees. for the northlawn.Asunkenlawn,orbowlinggreen,extends presents improve. nor dotheyreflectJefferson’sconstantneedtochangeand they that’s ments tailed crew, thishasmeantyearsofextensiveexcavationandde derstand A can one thing tosaywethinktherewasagardenhere,butifsome- series landscape the wing, some know The T says, Excav don’t poplars—the oday, privies. the analysis of (the r may two estored, laundry, m ev ar a ations r “As what ‘Okay, lar enly way 200 emains in ounds chaeology what much show excavated there earthen gely r the eveal features soon placed around A in feet of it you’re 2002 carriage was is I late smokehouse, based fuller what and, always is artifacts want of r as planting what flanked

from emnants little mounds v planted, 1980s erified the dirt an it’s are putting beyond picture actually on to tur visible was,” Jefferson’s main the in east holes from put the the and intact. and naround on the on of existence what south and of define excavations, it back.” wing house, those, this says plant early a happened evidence either either records, back what grove The storage it lawn the with side, Heath. intentions 1990s. of of looked r in,’ For two side emains. although inner was side m the that service it’s ain was a of you room—were in or road Heath in and is octagonal of boxwood happening.” Restoration by “Archaeology the assumed once like. now house, back the used the need and outer The were, two or the r and the ground, house.) ooms— namen It’s nearing shaded edg to of to docu- major holes lar now cen- es ma- cre- one that un- but her the ge of of - - - that J effer once son's Paris man culture tion isasdelightfultomethecultureofearth,andno they ify tecture—particularly 1811, jade while printed platesattesttoJefferson’sinterestinthefinerthings, nese helped , completion. r Heath chitect whomostinspiredhisdesigns—butalsoofgardens. sions ogists weresuccessfulinfinding plantingholeswithdimen road andthemulberrieswere conductedin2002.Archaeol them the cumference, that arenolongervisibleisacircularroad,540yardsincir ecord, held and 540-ya house. We While mostofthelandscapearchaeology servestover Among reveals were I porcelain gave to he that the a am r

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COUR TESY T H O M A S JEFFERSON'S P O P L A R FOREST J O H N B I G E L O W TAY L O R / SMITHSONIAN CAT. # 1 2 5 ritual Mississippian One ofhundredssuchimagesthatappearonartifactsfoundat standing Southeastern firm theirinterpretations, andtheoraltraditions thatwouldhave I face ages now Their long-lost the was duced as past. conference, workshop who rattle By and Mississippian secrets deciphering scholars A The Shell Whelk american the underworld group Elaine closely Now W Since made markings. believed n t wears either sideofavertical“fork at hold wo For with settings? hat around a interpretations the Southeastern iconography scene of ar heavily language, a more a called they does them. the chaeology connected Mississippian an piece group devoted the beliefs, Robbins sites to of A same engraved One below elaborate are Rulers . it than imagery D of the reflect As ornamented is . of mean? throughout of 1200 working holds ancient mysterious the Southeastern the .

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E L A I N E ROBBIN S E L A I N E ROBBINS MICHAEL J . M C CAR THY here because the time depth was too great. I said, ‘We have to do Mississippian first.’” So in 1993 he invited a group of well- known Mississippian scholars to the first SECC Conference. Since then, group members have met every year, using each other’s varied expert- ise to shed light on interpretations. “What’s new about this effort is the breadth of perspectives that are brought to bear,” says archaeologist Vin- cas Steponaitis, a member of the group. “You’ve got archaeologists who know the material, art historians who are trained in art history, you have folklorists who know the stories, and you have Indian people with traditional knowledge. So getting all those people in the same room has been very important. And number two has been getting all those people in the same room in a workshop-type format, where you can focus on a problem for several days running. It’s very different from a setting where you come to a conference, give a paper, and go home.” Doing Gods’ Work In a classroom at Texas State University in June, 1 6 1 - 1 6 6 )

. the SECC scholars roll up their sleeves and set to PP

2 , work. They sit at tables spread with books and

N O . laptops filled with Mississippian imagery. They 4 , tape butcher paper on the walls. Over the next

V O L . three days, it will be covered with scrawled symbols and signs, cutout photos of artifacts, 1 8 9 1 , even a “map” of the Southeastern conception of Scene 1 Scene 2 APRIL ( the Milky Way. Their goal this year is to study the body of imagery and start to identify a Southeastern “pantheon” of gods and supernatural figures. Just as German scholar Paul Schellhas identified ANTHROPOLOGIST a Mayan pantheon, giving deities neutral labels A, B, C, etc., these scholars believe a pantheon A M E R I C A N

/ will provide a useful base for their interpreta- tions. “Schellhas identified 21 Mayan gods,” ex-

H O L M E S plains Reilly. “His work became a major building

H . block for looking at Mayan iconography.” Simi- larly, if they can search the corpus of SECC art I L L I A M Scene 3 W for supernatural figures they can identify, they can use those building blocks to help decipher other imagery. The scholars interpret images by isolating specific characters and motifs, a technique It’s a difficult task, whether you’re dealing called structural analysis. The top image is a cluttered line drawing of a scene on the with Mesoamerican or Southeastern gods. “The front of the Thruston Tablet, a piece of stone with etchings on both sides that was found better known gods,” wrote Ptolemy Tompkins in in Tennessee. The scholars think that the Mississippians sometimes superimposed new his book on Mesoamerican spirituality, This Tree drawings over older drawings in their art, as appears to be the case here. In the middle Grows Out of Hell, “have…the maddening ten- and bottom images, the scholars used the software program Photoshop to eliminate dency to shift constantly into one another. Like certain characters from the tablet so that they can focus on others. This process characters in a huge, disorganized costume enables the scholars to better identify sequential events (identified as scenes in the drama, these deities were forever lending their bottom image) and the attributes of the characters, which helps them determine the trappings and characteristics to each other, and- meanings of those scenes and attributes.

american archaeology 21 22 J O H N B E G E L O W TAY L O R / T H E U NIVERSITY O F A R K A N S A S M U S E U M COLLECTIONS does on who’s cent an birdlike throw danger place work. has Reilly. f spiritual name images twins.” and bound captive,chunkeyplayer complex, “OK, look with ound atmosphere Mississippian a The Undaunted, “I his that for each not let’s forked for where Some an it “I’ve would The on of of .” figure beings. colleagues scholars out future mean m expert He crested being spiritual m change effigy oves scholars 90 ake got tail people there. scribbles, like is percent c truth,” scholars Below taken Steponaitis snakes and onducive a us doing r on joke ock bird vessels. of beings list to a believe Let’s are the who can costume bit and to art, do of adds complex, that, of “great might on uncertain to artifacts . task,” w further talk interact doesn’t them s or to bounce omething contend hat the “Frogs, bounds he Reilly. that creative r , severedhead.”Steponaitis be efuted serpent a came says ceremonial bout lists brain. don’t, .” these raptor supported of have as and ideas An “But up with.” Reilly. images turtles, Etowah. to a it by w thinking. but complex, For idea new, to think a , whether a images ith off when nd an moth/mothman, forked the it’s example, “Any complexes snakes,” about scholars archaeologist each by s hunchbacks, multisyllabic w ee “Consensus blackboard. that you ithout an “This r bird-man these tail?” idea, epresent if other 10 w expert it finish hat have who says per- w is just the ar to in ill e a a figures motif A good ologies and thereisconsensusofthegroup,ifeveryone’smethod- several Spiro, content Brown, tion changes that and Hightower (fromEtowah,Geor what Sun, cept which patter might appear analysis Much Recent some in mouth.” ars ing imageswithrelatedthemesandstyles,theSECCschol recurring W members forked they studytheaforementionedmalefiguresseparatedby always Craig-style edgemouth other can on Another has characters of of that chance ns we other of represent. Oklahoma), , theycanbegintosuggestthemesthatthesescenes the is serpent Mississippian appear duality, begin work and “One techniques scenes, through r just appear and the They r sides egional shell characters called have egional vertical group’s radiocarbon a success of variations face cup of to through of on Interpretations grab noticed staff, who with their perhaps identified being the make (left) One the the time.” t he styles off components Hemphill motif. faces. bag cup. borrowed and staff inhabit progress a and distinctive of Southeaster style r on theory on ecent clear this identifications. These For that the of of a the motifs. either is in the dates, drawing Now periods—including them things, scenes and replaced example, group Native two patter T the (from in advances is right has wins from side that individuals that some agree, face that By and the as n SECC been and n in has track.” gia)—are derived from Moundville, American Ceremonial of arranging “T-Bar” isolates they art of they’ve emer group by r markings, which by egional For the scenes, see been a then is history in corpus. twisted hav serpent analyzing represent ges. to example, Children two using it e theorized discer and the these as you’ve its break stories. incised and Craig The takes, T-Bar fall to “T something Alabama), identifica Complex, vapors so structural -bar” staff, Explains “W ned identify analyz figures figures • artistic a group of dow edge- when (from got con 2005 that and and but the the or n a a - - - -

PLATE 309 FROM PHILIP PHILLIPS AND JAMES A. BROWN, PRE-COLUMBIAN SHELL ENGRAVINGS FROM THE CRAIG MOUND AT SPIRO, OK, PAPERBACK EDITION PART 2. PEABODY MUSEUM PRESS. © 1984 BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE. J O H N B E G E L O W TAY L O R / T H E UNIVERSITY O F A R K A N S A S M U S E U M COLLECTIONS american And notes thatthesimilaritiesarestriking.“W west, Siouan liefs. their us from thematerialstowhichtheyarebeingapplied,affords through course, you’re dealingwiththesamebeliefsystem,”saysReilly.Of shared tures our widespread method work. Geor Rockies ing, scholars mented to we’re thing world thanwe’vehadbefore inarchaeology,whereevery- Lankford. piecemeal invariousplaces,”continueKnight,Brown,and ancestors ple inMexicoandGuatemalabelievetodaywhattheir there And nois). the ClassicBradenstyledevelopedatCahokiasite(Illi tifiable r Mesoamerican shorter in great, T ing and of by ethnographerscenturieslatershedlightontheimagery Classic the breakthrough, from by egions eotihuacan this historic a the ethnographers Star imagery best Immersion Since storiesrecordedlaterbyethnographersarefrag These T In the they’re styles, ge certain others, interpretation. across wo was has is seeing “For believe when By Nevertheless, prehistoric perhaps Braden by past. North they than among Lankford and to of allows down time, and collected ar window are North mapping “This led no chaeology believed. language scholars A the m instance,” they the wrong confidence you ztec of mythic discer the like and the much altered ythic “ careful connection but American Our these they archaeology the to Atlantic, as Southeaster us them—believe in Easter American fact, the Path compare leap in have texts,” Caddoans even the this into art? also texts n the to of ” scholars about identity,” lar bridge

came similarities ar Southeaster most groups.” for many scholars W plus from about r gue “judicious Native “mother ger n of r Reilly little econstitute the ell, mythology equired says across For made ms plains from are that w Souls, m between this, blocks, important—and from the story that it rite m configurations ythology regional they n across their from toward valley, not have how with and ative thinks rigorous Brown, art. American the he to a sense space. and style.” too.” K the and n have a they for cycles convincing very night, were conclude original use Can says. fragments people Gulf Ar and other tur .” they Olmec to of what a time woodlands this the comparative they variations chaeology differences that, ned that proved few s “Essentially came dozens far “some of use the they’re ome completely in to James “That’s exegesis use interpretive Indian little gap these e’re findingmajor can. Nevertheless, r the to particular from r the relatively art of for emoved stories of centuries eaches controversial— that degree from them r that ar is SECC m, a these ecords r by of groups—the “People comparative Great lar . Brown, egion. of Indian gument to rich not a

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close to g front od s mak interpret in the masks examination the and e Craig the characterization back in pipe this Mound, the views figure sugg shape of this ests in of as Spiro, of the figure a that of human representation “He-Who-W famous Oklahoma. it rev w heads. eals as seated made that ear T esting s-Human- of at his or the ear 23 24 religious specific and through and lation stellation, Plains group symbols tified tinctive featureofthenightskyisiden- Americans of due Mississippian on souls “When Orionhitsthehorizon,th path lief There’s tion, the Press ney of This the hand-and-eye for thescholars’interpretationsofSECCimagery.T i aitis. to The do pearing common from literature ofNorthAmerica.Itisrecorded tually Miami, ries, many Osage, Cheyenne, designation Pawnee, figure—a similarities west the Andes,asfarnorthSiberia,and dentified the the g many e with the stone constellation middle eneral ye to As In t out historic scalp hat Brown they as t of Folklorist t in as universal shells, he cosmolo and of he from system in of who the another Milky Lankford Omaha, an Califor pendant Delaware, this the death. 31 from the souls.” shape hoops t norther images the the Chickasaw, the (perhaps O he call prominent the it portal realm the period. almost between of of jibwa, times, extends practiced gical still spring, cross [portal] and ‘Path pottery, as Huron, Southeastern W shape M Iconography of the dead motif, North an used it. nia.” w hand That ay link in ilky as the Geor a inf This n Quapaw, Explains of h writes and Orion. It on others open University f ave is the ormation r by of universal ound to Fox, Siouans pendant according epresentation is by the “In , pendant all) in to circle. have at the of for Southeastern W Moundville identification America, ge and Souls,’ start the its figure a constella early and ay that order at Native least Iroquois, palm. dead.” a in the constel- Ceremonial Sauk, “There’s example, of falcon-like Lankford have ancient Moundville, Each that copper appear h palm. is Studies to the Reilly also Saponi, Creek, and, Vo in worldview ethnographic con- the be as that and to of the is of l leap It the to American car noted ume jour inhabitants that Menomini - - a s Nativ Powhatan, far these get T Native is , e strikingly refection ries pottery, Complex: a exas Stepon plates—with had appears of in which in - one is has and south Oglala, e dis- , I bird-man Alabama. two symbols , Americans vir- striking to of impor of of similar the - the sto , shows as Moundville. ap- the the on car hand - tant ries most an ake the eye in of Mor people ning 2004-05 Star A ustin. ELAINE throughout than But , may Brown. “They’re nolongerinscrutableimages,”says a worldviews ofthepeoplewhomadethem. Her issue power life. deity beliefs ROBBINS you t agery, here’s appears l be ong ar sites. of images ticle which In connect think. unknowable His-Ears. American ful “What He-Who-W who If thisconnectionisvalid,itgoes Mor the the way, b about three “Life as a toward is ilobed ample, Mor Hochunk images—and lot to a ” ning process, on having from thePawneetoOsage are but E appears One traditions Under freelance that aster we’re Ar like scriptions distinctive more him death attached r chaeology the t espond It’s not as he Nosed . The explaining Star to of Seig n ears-Human-Heads-in- are face, b t artifacts in the a to he a Brown The ilobed only artifacts it trying mythic woodlands. t to small “a ning Starisdescribed in editor and Those stylized, hem fans.” these Hochunk. tions aretur an call e” and name the sheds the r f long . P eveals it ound appeared t God bow of second he closely or ath leading In to of arrow the t found on complete that’s ypes and ear nament is it to ear loose the oral arrow, attributes The many cycle, that one braid Mor a light describes Maskette.” of Southeaster a big continuity ador drawn writer the say t in long-nosed or he headdress. himself l fall or of in ong knowabl Souls carved ning traditions in third naments, w seems B episode, ter in on t ned into scholars nament. the In he is ned and is, r ith irdma feather depicts for cosmic based “ egalia. • tribes, which sense. p Long- mina burial b these Winter lace, w they 2005 cor- raid oral Star is im- de- the ex- the the ith by as as of to in in n n e a a -

DAV I D D Y E / UNIVERSITY O F ALABAMA MUSEUMS Investigating the Evolution of the Peripheral Hohokam Experts once thought that major Hohokam settlements were only found near large rivers. But years of research at the Marana Mound site has changed that thinking. By Adele Conover

University of Arizona field school students excavate a burned room in a Marana residential compound. Evidence from a collapsed wall indicates that this room had a floor-to-ceiling height of over nine feet.

n a sunny March day, Paul Fish tramps the mile one. Within a few decades after this transition the Ho- east from Interstate 10 through groves of hokam abandoned this site. Why they left and where they paloverde, creosote, and spiky cholla in the went remains a mystery. Sonoran Desert, roughly 30 miles north of Tuc- Paul Fish and his wife, Suzanne, both archaeologists son, Arizona. To the west lies the fast-growing at the University of Arizona, have been excavating the townO of Marana. Fish is headed for the Marana Mound, a one-square-mile Marana Mound site for the past four years pristine Hohokam site that provides a rare picture of the in collaboration with James Bayman of the University of early Hohokam Classic period just at the time when the Hawaii. The Fishes are experts at finding Hohokam evi- HEISEY people were undergoing a major transition from a simpler, dence. On the way to the Marana site, Paul Fish, pointing

ADRIEL more inclusive society to a more complex, hierarchical to a line of cobbles, notes, “These stones indicate a wall american archaeology 25 used to strengthen the adobe. They eroded in a line when They also replaced pithouses with rectangular, above- it melted.” Their grad students say that the Fishes can ground adobe rooms. Groups of these rooms, enclosed by point to a place, say “dig,” and after excavating a few walls, formed residential compounds. The platform inches the outline of a structure emerges. mounds and their associated public buildings, were also The Fishes have studied the Hohokam occupation of surrounded by walls. The Marana Mound site was settled the northern Tucson Basin for more than 20 years. In at this time of transition. 1980, a developer donated a ballcourt site to University of The Fishes’ research focuses on how these changes Arizona Foundation. The Fishes, who were involved in ne- manifested themselves in the Marana region. Was there in- gotiations, investigated the site and found a more signifi- creasing competition for status, valued goods, and leader- cant occupation than expected. This was the start of their ship among the residents and, if so, what were the eco- lengthy research of this region’s peripheral Hohokam. (Ar- nomic, political, and social consequences? They’ve chaeologists identify the Phoenix basin as the “core” of the analyzed settlement patterns, architecture, agricultural pro- Hohokam world and all other areas as the “periphery.”) duction, and artifacts in search of the answers. With the help of their students, the Fishes conducted a The origins of the Marana community were traced to six-year survey over a 900-square-mile area of the northern two prior communities located in the best agricultural land Tucson Basin. They discovered numerous Hohokam settle- in the area—a small ballcourt community that depended ments throughout the basin, including the large Marana on surface runoff for farming on the upper slopes of the Mound site, which they began mapping in 1984. It was in basin near the Tortolita Mountains, and another small ball- the center of a cluster of 30 to 40 related settlements that court community near the Santa Cruz River, set against the the Fishes identified. These settlement clusters are called Tucson Mountains. In their survey, the Fishes found evi- communities. The survey also revealed that around A.D. dence that the unused land between the two communities 1150 the settlement patterns were starting to change. In the was settled, and the two communities in effect merged Marana community, new arrivals bolstered a population and evolved into Marana. that became more centralized. “We figured that out by tal- “One of the interesting things about the Marana Mound lying residential space in sites throughout the whole com- site is that it was situated out away from any surface water munity, which rose from two million square meters prior to at all—it’s six miles from the Santa Cruz River and quite a A.D. 1150 to six million square meters after,” distance from the Tortolita Mountains which says Paul Fish. “Immigration to this com- provide runoff,” Paul Fish says. Most Ho- munity probably was from other parts of hokam archaeologists assumed that settle- the Tucson Basin.” ments in this area would be small and Prior to this time, the Hohokam lived unimpressive. “This is one of our major in desert farming communities consist- discoveries, that these people living far ing of multiple settlements featur- from large rivers like the Gila and ing pithouses. In the larger the Salt were still able to communities the pithouses grow the same crops as were arranged around the people in the open plazas. They dug Phoenix Basin. He COLLECTIONS massive adds that in order to

canals in the have a permanent OGRAPHY Phoenix Basin— population at the PHOT some as long as 20 Marana Mound site miles—that diverted “they did build a M U S E U M

water from major six-mile-long canal T E A

rivers like the Gila which ended there— ST and the Salt. Their irri- more for potable water

gation system was the than irrigation.” ARIZONA most extensive in prehis- The Marana commu- , toric North America, and it nity, which contained nearly enabled them to raise crops for 40 residential sites and covered WEAKLEY centuries. They also built ballcourts, 56 square miles, could be compared to A N N E L L E

just as the Mesoamericans did. J By A.D. 1200, new architectural patterns seen This large reconstructed Tanque Verde red-on-brown jar is one of 28 throughout the entire Hohokam region indicated a transi- decorated and undecorated jars found in a residential storage room. The tion to the Classic Period. They replaced ballcourts with Hohokam intentionally broke all of the jars into small pieces when the earthen platform mounds crowned by adobe structures. room was closed.

26 fall • 2005 PA MELA KEY american smaller the 700 conservative the field, enclosed small cluded seat, asitsplatfor a settlement residential An present-day ar platfor M The changein architecture frompithousevillages with tist’ to arana housing apartment s 1,200 about than depiction ar compounds 30 chaeology m in M to the estimate mound people. the county. 35 ound up 40 of average complexes. compounds, m moundservedthepublic.Thesitein c within the to r ommunity, ooms

population Marana and five of The The the 20 r associated in settlement esidential extended Marana walled Mound, to an These could which 40 area would the persons Mound are compound compound. compounds only families. public the be were sho public have called wn size per site, in comparable buildings the and of been B compound, the containing the ased background. a

ritual typically football county lar about building on gest was to a - in the walls—was tractor often centralized prehistoric buttressed ferences. Marana’s platfor was lar p days ounds mound ge publicplazasandballcourtstowalled-incompounds Building a to coincided sign estimated settlement of hand far of earth. public by a ming the major the excavate m moundwasanotherindication.Inothe nine-feet-high and with that r transition T architecture—like ectangular societies the he undertaking. sharpening it larg compound would and er Marana worldwide to transport mound—an have a vertical social community more A w local r all platfor equired and the exclusive the adobe surrounding .T landscape wo appearance economic earthen three m of 1,500 mounds— the r etaining society. million 35 man- mass con- dif- the of r 27 T COLBER C O N N I E

University of Arizona graduate student Ryan Howell instructs field school students who are excavating in the Marana Mound compound courtyard.

mound and the two buildings at its base was about three shell jewelry, and decorated pottery. The Fishes found evi- feet thick. Yet another wall enclosed four buildings on the dence of who made these luxury objects both for the people mound’s flat, plastered top. at the mound site and for trade when they excavated some The Fishes want to know what prompted the building 26 houses in the approximately 35 walled compounds. of the mound. The remains of two earlier rooms incorpo- “We found lots of tools related to craft manufacture— rated into the mound’s earthen mass indicate that the kits for making cotton cloth, shell jewelry, pottery, agave Marana Mound site had been settled before the mound fiber products, “ Paul Fish says. “Different rooms had dif- was constructed. “When they did build the mound—who ferent kinds of toolkits. It was characteristic of every decided? Who was in charge?” Suzanne Fish asks rhetori- house. There was even an emery board-like tool for filing cally. “Did the group living in one residential compound shell that was still covered with powder from the piece build it in a competitive effort to become preeminent they were working with. I think quite possibly at this time among other compound groups, calling on their relations people are becoming identified with the crafts as artisans.” and allies for help? Or did everyone at the mound site, or They also discovered carved and incised shell frogs or the entire community, take part? If so, who took the lead?” toads along with a wide variety of other shell objects. The “We believe that this mound emerged as a principal shells, which came from 22 species of crustaceans, were place of community ritual and that it represented an op- imported from the Pacific Coast and the Gulf of California. portunity for leaders to develop and gain importance,” During their excavations the Fishes discovered that says Paul Fish. “Obviously not all the 700 to 1,200 people the Hohokam frequently refurbished old houses or built who lived in the site could fit into the mound compound new houses on top of old ones. They burned the roof, re- to witness ceremonies. As a result, fewer people were in- plastered the interior walls, covered the floor with fill dirt, volved in rituals. It’s quite a difference from when the ball- and repaved it, leaving tools, crafts, and other useful ob- courts without surrounding walls were the major focus of jects where they lay. In one case there were five houses the community. These were indications of an earlier, more built on top of each other. According to Paul Fish, burning all-inclusive Hohokam society.” Erecting the mound may and rebuilding may have been part of a renewal or mor- have had something to do with “visual prominence or to tuary ritual to commemorate someone who died. Or per- aggrandize an event or person,” says Paul Fish. haps it was a form of competition, says Suzanne Fish, “The population of the Marana Mound site was differ- “Like keeping up with the Joneses.” entiated in some ways from people living in the other sites They logged ponderosa pine and Douglas and white in the community.” The elite status of its residents was con- fir from the Catalina Mountains and dragged them 30 miles firmed by findings of high-value exotic goods like obsidian, to the site, where they used them both as posts and beams.

28 fall • 2005 C O N N I E COLBER T american highly far they agricultural speculates, water used and agave thantheyneeded,andtheroastedwasstored could the harvestedagaveheartsinfields.Theroasted slopes, j as natural habitatinsmallpilesofrock.Therocksfunctioned cor agricultural ing roasted agaveheartissugaryandnutritious.Andbygrow materials foradobewerealsoelaborate.“W says ous distance vated pottery miles were Many The The ust med a n inhabitants shell it pits The They north later mulch may Suzanne can’t to also away. when of than then the significant. beads with lar produce found where ar carrying Fishes the traded. have imported. found chaeology ge grow. M of for production the is be That the impor and product,” earth arana lar amounts t that Fish. he in stored. the they two grown other also ge mound ted crafts, They r Fibers means the a oasting mound, to the fro “W plants. Hohokam stones

w 30-pound Radiocarbon “W mixed discover strengthen hole gs fields crops e sugar The says planted it of are e on says site extracted documented that shells traced on agave, among p “The drier used were caliche, its Hohokam was showed Suzanne Paul the someone such ed was from r m t ock,” it hat the the their fields land anaged that for Hohokam occupied. j 1,000 a ust the Fish. a from dates a hundreds find were adobe imported basis lar lintels Gulf that the notes origin where Fish. s that with had itting produced ge agave feet Agave of that and to Marana used they for scale, Calif of walls.” e foundnumer Another it to Paul and grew, the to increase lower crops marine t they was the here alcohol travel ornia from leaves quarries were needs to rock doorsteps Fish. Paul resident far styles and a and shell think process such than intact,” nearby reason a major piles, more culti wer their produced long pro- F The less ar the ish six its as of tifacts is e s - - - an f ound similarity were foundedbetweenroughly yielded Marana. during have idents he wondersif,centuriesago,ambitiousleadersortheres- duction. lieved are servedbycontemporaryNativeAmericanswhobe But dates fromthesitewereconsistentwiththisinterpretation. Fishes only chitectural on years that master chronologiesthatcorrespondtocalendaryearsand of grow in1955.Buttryingtodeter if of and precisedatingtechniquethereis,”saysJeffreyS.Dean pinpoint datestothecalendaryear produce ar ray a the wood in this The Fishesaretryingtodeter To Known tree a identify of been finished wanted ll old of University wanted, to bracelets,

hundreds of evidence, which solve a On T felled competing be t is of aken rash inhabited ring t styles, f hese more orm as descendants ritual long their to this rings, so each and mounds these in host from dendrochronology, of for of complicated. they and sequences the 2005 in styles and pendants, problem, Arizona’s ms thousands all compounds year for such an dramatic Fishes radiocarbon stag tur social of approximately has found archaeological suggested of of ned events. es and d of ating their the 50 r of theorized Tr occasions, esearchers beads. to manufacture of A o mine thedateofasample ee-Ring rings, variation Hohokam. . changes mine theamountoftime tree-ring utside at D . “Itisthemostaccurate lifetimes. ceramic lack . and the 1200 and1300.Based that tree-ring that a the mound Laboratory. c that archaeomagnetic at site alcoholic century. ompound the in have dating. sherds, took the Consequently, tree Consequently precision the hundreds the site. compounds dating site compiled began place width site and The drinks could Tr w had can alls ees the the ar- of of to at - 29 30 community Located deter similarities ofthesequences.Forexample,researcherscan of tree This chronologies can of over thisperiodaresodistinctivethat,whenthesequence to 322 next. an moisture aerial derive rings. mine The archaeological at B . photo C the ev ., accordingtoDean,andthetree-ringsequences master ents This that base calendar a graph differ w tree as of a variation sho the f seventy-year-old chronology ound absorbs ws mound, from sample dates in the the r wo esults one this excav from rk for is

done in room compared geographic ation the from the year T 20 occupation inv P ucson on aul is tree estig year sample areas believ the Southwest and the to ated Basin s. summit was Suzanne ed adjacent year to of varying the to f r based the it, or egion felled hav . and Hohokam more T researchers nor F goes e to he ish in been thern the amount than the hav on m in to room. back aster the e compound A the the . D locus . of of ence. find evidenceofwhatPaulFishcallsan“attenuated”pres- Marana Mound,therewastheassumptionthattheywould W theory ments titlfish.htm they 1244. It’sassumedthetreeswereusedasbeamssoonafter have the that 800 Basin, To ADELE County, found 800. points quire that theagavefar historic ritual Marana

hen learn proposed by Most This of and Dean’s were visit CONOVER disproved and But at in they toward more about discer the Mound. community preservation where Marana this the is preserve Hohokam cut. M master about the began laboratory W arana ning the arid is dates. eb The complexity.” Though the a Fishes site: Paul business that Mound freelance length larg ming the area chronology their and site the e www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/fish/ and bond archaeologists room assumption. similarities was dated final would area these is other meetings. of Suzanne investigation writer houses located, in the through “agricultural specializationthat the as field charred dates in communities be occupation, center open spanning T Fi A ucson, to sh’ of serie season small recently He don’t between s its which is research space. s assumed ponderosa Arizona. ov of of says, ring er and larg prove the from at 900 passed they it e sequence in M unimpressive. A in for hopes Hohokam square . arana. D the that this A fall .1 the fall . example, pine D T 229 .7 a ucson feet. pits Fishes’ • r within settle to egion major 30 Pima with 2005 logs and fo ac- r to at -

HENR YW A L L A C E , DESER T ARCHAEOLOGY D A R L E N E LIZARRAGA / ARIZONA STAT E M USEUM Confronting A Conundrum Employing sophisticated technology, researchers return to a site hoping to solve a 40-year-old mystery.

By Rachel Dickinson Photos by David Tuttle

(From left) Field school students Richard Kelaher III and Diane Wallman examine the floor of an excavation unit. Archaeologist Laurie Miroff crouches over the unit as she points at a possible feature.

american archaeology 31 A narrow-stemmed Lamoka point is seen in the upper left corner. The other points, which are side- and corner-notched, are Vestal. Archaeologists are searching for functional and/or social explanations as to why these two point types were found together at the site.

32 fall • 2005 ere’s a point. I think it’s Lamoka,” said one of the field school students who was leaning over a half-excavated unit. “That’s the third one for that unit,” said Laurie Miroff, project director of the summer archaeology field school run by the StateH University of New York at Binghamton. We walked over to take a closer look. “Map it in,” she told the stu- dents, who were thrilled with their find. On a hotter-than-Hades day, Miroff, a recent Ph.D., showed me around the Castle Gardens excavation site near Vestal, in south-central New York just above the Pennsylva- nia border. The New York State Department of Transporta- tion (DOT) owns the property, which is a long narrow strip of land bordered by an expressway along one side and by the Susquehanna River on the other, which is about a quar- ter mile wide and makes a lazy bend at this point. In the early 1960s when the DOT was planning the Southern Tier Expressway, amateur archaeologists con- tacted Binghamton University and said they might want to take a look at an ancient site in this area. Archaeologists Bill Lipe from Binghamton, and Bob Funk from the New York State Museum walked the site, which was a plowed field at the time, and they picked up a number of points embedded in the dirt. They excavated several units in 1965, and uncovered a black-stained layer of earth that they called a . Within this layer, they discovered a number of Lamoka points, which date to the Late Archaic, a time when seasonally nomadic hunters and gatherers populated the region. Their excavations also yielded a pre- viously unidentified smaller, notched point. This point was named Vestal, after the township in which it was found. Funk found several other sites in the Susquehanna Valley that had Vestal points, and he dated some of them to 1800 or 1900 B.C. Lamoka points are older, dating to ap- Field school student Jenny Zimmerman excavates the black layer of soil. proximately 2500 B.C. Lipe and Funk were puzzled by their A number of Lamoka points were found here during the 1965 excavation. find at Castle Gardens because the two point types were found together, whereas at other sites they were separated the Late Archaic, or if it appeared to be contemporaneous by time and space—the younger Vestal always found with Lamoka. If the dates indicated no difference between above the older Lamoka points. Vestal and Lamoka, there would then be the challenge of Binghamton conducted a field school at Castle Gardens explaining the unusual association of the two point types. in 2003, hoping, with the help of analytical tools far more One possible explanation was that they were designed dif- sophisticated than those of Lipe and Funk, to solve this 40- ferently in order to serve different purposes. For instance, year-old conundrum. Nina Versaggi, director of the Public one point could have been used to fish, while the Archaeology Facility, a research center at Binghamton, and other was used for hunting. If the evidence suggests this, Miroff (once Versaggi’s graduate student) co-direct this in- it then raises the question of whether or not the two vestigation. Their research questions, which pick up where points were produced by one culture. If, on the other Lipe and Funk left off, concern accurately dating the site, hand, it seems that two contemporaneous cultures did in- understanding what the site was used for, and interpreting deed produce these points, that would raise questions the possible cultural diversity suggested by the different concerning the groups’ interactions at Castle Gardens. point types. Versaggi worked closely with Funk, who died During the first season the crew located the area de- in 2002. He was glad that the site would be reinvestigated. scribed as a midden by Funk, and confirmed his assess- When they began to excavate in 2003, Versaggi and ment of the stratigraphy. “We became interested in what Miroff focused on several issues. They wanted to obtain a was happening at that original site,” said Miroff. There’s large sample of radiometric dates from the site in order to some evidence to suggest that this may have been a fish- determine if Vestal was a distinct temporal phase within processing site. Excavations revealed several notched stone american archaeology 33 be,” added Jeremy Wilson, a Ph.D. student at Binghamton, who is the field assistant for the summer. The organic soils and the features from excavations contained hundreds of nut fragments. “Lipe and Funk knew there were nuts in the area but techniques, such as soil flotation, were not well developed in the 1960s,” said Miroff. Today, researchers can run soil samples through a flotation machine back in the lab to systematically collect plant and animal remains from features. Dirt from a fea- ture is placed into a basin of swirling water. The heavy objects, such as small flakes and pieces of pottery, sink to the bottom and are collected in a screen. The lighter ma- terials, such as seeds and nutshells, float to the top and are collected in a finer mesh screen. “Then we send the samples to our paleobotanist who examines the light frac- tion and identifies the botanicals as best she can,” ex- plained Miroff. “Sometimes she can tell the genus and species, other times just the genus.” What surprised the researchers was not the number but the wide variety of nuts. Although hazelnut made up the vast majority of samples, acorn, hickory, beechnut, butternut, and bitternut were also present. This suggests that Castle Gardens could have been a seasonal gathering place where different groups availed themselves of abun- dant nuts and fish. While I was at one of the units, a student pulled a three-inch rounded cobble out of the pit to show to Miroff. “Oh yes, I think it’s definitely a stone that could have been used for nut production,” she said. “Look at the

Students Rob Quiggle and Stacey Tchorzynski fill out tags and unit-level forms during excavation. The tags identify the archaeological data, and the forms record where the data was found in the excavation unit.

weights used to anchor fishing nets in swift-moving waters. The nets would have caught plenty of fish for eating and preservation. As the river is very narrow at the site, it’s also possible that a stone or wooden weir could have been built to catch fish. The waste resulting from cleaning and preserving the fish would have leeched into the soil, which would explain the black layer Funk identified as a midden. If they can obtain the necessary funding, the re- searchers will have some of the recovered lithics analyzed under a high-powered microscope for signs of fish polishes, a high gloss that builds up on the edge of a from repetitive activities, such as removing the scales from fish and cutting fillets. They also hope to use Instrumental Neu- ron Activation Analysis to determine if the soil contains high levels of mercury, which could indicate fish processing. A group of students stood over their unit waiting for Miroff. “We think we found a feature,” they said excitedly. Miroff looked and pointed out the dark stain on the floor of the unit. “Well, this could be a feature, but it could also This polished slate artifact was used as a counter-weight on a spear be an animal burrow or even a tree root,” she said. “There thrower, or atlatl. Though atlatls were used during the late Archaic period, are an endless number of possibilities to what this could it’s unusual to find evidence of them.

34 fall • 2005 Students Meghan DeVito and Jenny Zimmer examine fire-cracked rock and rough stone artifacts that may have been used for processing nuts. The researchers were surprised by the wide variety of nuts they found at the site. pit in the middle of one of the long sides—that would for spearing fish whereas the smooth, thin Lamoka points have been where you put the nut to steady it for cracking. would not. But it could also be the bottom stone to use during stone “Maybe a group was exploiting fish runs at this narrow tool production.” spot in the Susquehanna by setting up weirs,” she said. Nutshell and other organic remains are important for “The abundant net weights support this. People were also radiometric dating of a site. Lipe and Funk obtained a sin- clearly exploiting nut resources. Maybe two groups were gle date of approximately 2140 B.C. for the base of a mid- coming together to exploit the food resources and the two den where both Lamoka and Vestal points were found. In points represent cultural affiliation. We need to analyze the 2003, three nutshell samples were dated using accelerator points in detail, comparing this site to others. Vestal is mass spectrometry (AMS), a newer dating technique. In much more geographically restricted than Lamoka, which AMS, individual C-14 atoms are counted, rather than rely- has wide distribution up through the Finger Lakes region. ing on standard radiocarbon dating where the rate at Is there a reason for these different territories?” which C-14 disintegrates is calculated. AMS can date a Miroff explained that there’s no right or wrong inter- sample as small as a single kernel of grain and the results pretation here. “We are trying to interpret the site by pick- are much more accurate than those from standard radio- ing up where Funk left off. In 30 or 40 years someone can carbon dating. The nutshells found in 2003 date from be- come back and reinterpret the site in a different way tween 2630 to 2140 B.C., which would place them within based on new data and new theories.” the Lamoka period but outside of the accepted Vestal pe- It’s hot and hazy down by the river. We scramble riod. Yet, both Lamoka and Vestal points were found with down a bank and stand on a small beach of river cobbles. the nutshells during Lipe and Funk’s excavations as well There’s evidence of a recent fire on the beach—half as those by current researchers. charred pieces of wood—and it’s a pretty site as the water “Funk dated Vestals at 1800 to 1900 B.C. and Lamoka slowly moves past. And as you look to the opposite shore, at 2500 B.C. at other sites where they were stratigraphi- there isn’t a house or barn in sight. The sound of cars cally separated,” said Miroff. “At Castle Gardens, they’re whizzing by on the expressway is the only thing that puts not. Why?” The region’s cultural history could be much us in the 21st century and not in the Late Archaic. more complex than archaeologists imagined, not to men- tion that “Vestal has not been well researched at all,” RACHEL DICKINSON’s article “On the Trail of the Iroquois” appeared in the Miroff added. “Maybe the notched Vestal would be good Summer 2005 issue of American Archaeology. american archaeology 35 Mesa Verde s Prehistoric Hydrologists Recent research reveals the extraordinary engineering of the Anasazi. By Tamara Stewart COBB HILL C H A R L O T T E

36 fall • 2005 ncient mysteries are not easily solved. Theories dling at Mesa Verde, a field known as paleohydrology, is may be debated for years, but chances to prove providing a clearer picture of the ingenuity and complex- them are limited. Recently a multidisciplinary ity of the Anasazi of the Four Corners region. team made up primarily of volunteer profession- Since the discovery of Mesa Verde’s magnificent cliff A als finally resolved the debate regarding four dwellings in the late 1800s and the creation of Mesa Verde enigmatic structures at in south- National Park in 1906, researchers and the interested pub- west Colorado. The team showed that the two tall canyon- lic have focused on these well preserved, multi-storied bottom mounds and two mesa-top depressions, all clearly sandstone structures built between A.D. 1190 and the late aligned from east to west, were reservoirs built to capture 1280s. Mesa Verde was settled centuries earlier, however; and store runoff, providing domestic water for the prehis- its inhabitants farmed the fertile canyon bottoms and mesa toric inhabitants from as early as A.D. 750 until 1180. This tops and built pithouse habitations as early as A.D. 550. By first comprehensive study of ancient water use and han-

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Saving a Chickasaw Site Glass beads and stone arrow points are a few

Cedarscape will offer researchers of the artifacts that CRAWFORD a glimpse of a little-known period. have been found at

the Cedarscape site. J E S S I C A he Chickasaw Indian homeland lies on a series of high ridges in Tnortheast Mississippi in and around the city of Tupelo. From the latter half of the 1600s until their re- moval in the 1830s, the Chickasaw played a pivotal role in the politics and warfare of colonization. The Chickasaw were located at the western

edge of English trade routes and in be- BEASLEY tween French trade routes in Illinois B E T T S and Louisiana. The English recognized

the potential this location held for dis- L O T T I E

rupting French trade, and they began A N D

courting the Chickasaw as allies and R A Y

trading partners in the late 1600s. J O H N The Chickasaw incurred great Sitting on a high ridge above Coonewah Creek, the village at the Cedarscape site (shown in trees) losses during attacks from French and occupied a strong defensive position that once included a historically documented fort. Indian forces, as well as the subse- quent turmoil of the American Revo- have become casualties of the city of 18th to early-19th-century Chickasaw lution and the heartbreak of removal. Tupelo’s growth. The Conservancy’s period, when families who had been They remain an important and pow- recent acquisition, Cedarscape, is one concentrated in villages for half a erful nation whose motto is “The un- of the few sites to escape destruction. century or more, began to spread out conquered and unconquerable.” Cedarscape is located on a farm pur- across the landscape. “Cedarscape Unfortunately, many historical chased in 1964 by John Ray and Lot- has escaped the encompassing Tu- Chickasaw villages in Mississippi tie Betts Beasley. It is believed to pelo development only through the have been the site of the village of good graces of the conscientious Tchitchatala, which, according to a Beasleys.” said Lieb. 1734 French source, has one of the Today the site is mostly trees few historically documented Chicka- and grass. The occasional Chickasaw saw forts. It was inhabited until 1735 pottery sherds, glass beads, and other and reoccupied after 1772. The European trade goods found on the Beasleys worked hard to protect their surface are the only indications of archaeological treasure from looters Cedarscape’s past. In order to ensure and soil erosion. “Cedarscape can the site’s preservation, the Beasley re- provide information on the critical cently sold 30 acres and donated an 1700–1735 period during which the additional five acres of the site to the Chickasaws came to terrorize and Conservancy. Chickasaw Nation Gov- dominate their region,” said Brad ernor Bill Anoatubby played an im- Lieb, an archaeologist with the Cobb portant role in the acquisition by se- Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi curing the nation’s support. Because State University. of the foresight of the Beasleys and Lieb also believes the reoccupa- Governor Anoatubby, future genera- tion component at Cedarscape may tions will learn about the Chickasaw. shed light on the little known late- —Jessica Crawford

44 fall • 2005 new acquisition Learning About a Prehistoric Quarry The Conservancy acquires a quarry used by the Hopewell.

s the archetypal Moundbuilders culture, the Ohio Hopewell have Before sprawl from the town of long fascinated the public with their immense geometric earthworks Portsmouth obliterated most of the surface A and exquisitely crafted artifacts. Among the most captivating of features from the quarry, prehistoric mining these artifacts are animal effigy smoking pipes. Excavations of Hopewell was well evidenced by numerous large quarry sites in Ohio have revealed two large caches of animal effigy pipes. The pits scattered across the ridge top. Since Emer- first was at Mound City in Chillicothe, Ohio, where Squier and Davis in son’s studies strongly suggest that Feurt Hill their pioneering study of Midwestern mounds unearthed about 200 frag- was not an important stone source for the mented and intentionally burned pipes. Today these pipes are housed Hopewell, it seems most likely that the quarry at the British Museum in London. The second famous cache of was in use primarily during the later Fort An- Hopewell pipes comes from Tremper Mound near Portsmouth, Ohio. cient period. Early 20th-century excavations at Here, in 1915, William Mills unearthed about 140 pipes that are now at the Feurt Village site at the base of Feurt Hill the Ohio Historical Society Museum in Columbus, Ohio. recovered about 150 smoking pipes reportedly of Ohio pipestone. However, mineralogical analysis of these pipes connecting them to the Feurt Hill quarry remains to be done. A few small pits remain in the two-acre portion of the site donated to the Conservancy, but the principal research potential of the site probably lies in the preservation of the under- lying deposits of Ohio pipestone. As geological techniques for tracing minerals back to their source locations become cheaper and more readily available, archaeologists will undoubt- edly employ them more frequently to answer questions of prehistoric artifact production and SOCIETY distribution. By preserving in situ the sources of stone used by Native Americans, the Con-

HISTORICAL servancy will be in a position to facilitate these

O H I O future investigations. —Paul Gardner This bobcat effigy pipe was recovered from Tremper Mound. The Hopewell created the pipe some time between A.D. 100 and 200. This object is held in the Ohio Historical Society’s archaeology collection.

The Feurt Hill Quarry, the source of Ohio pipestone mined by pre- historic Native Americans, is located little more than a mile from Trem- per Mound, so it has long been assumed to be the source of the stone used by the Hopewell to produce their distinctive pipes. The last re- maining undeveloped portion of the Feurt Hill pipestone quarry was donated to the Conservancy. However, a recent examination of the Tremper Mound pipes by ar- chaeologist Thomas Emerson and his colleagues at the University of Illi- nois has indicated that only a few of the Tremper pipes derive from Feurt Hill; the majority of them were made of Sterling pipestone from northern Illinois. Emerson used a portable infrared mineral analyzer to reach this conclusion. He has also concluded that the Mound City pipes are predominately made of material other than Ohio pipestone.

american archaeology 45 new acquisition A VESTIGE OF DRAMATIC CULTURAL CHANGE The Conservancy preserves an important Contact-period site in Maine.

ld Point Mission, located along the Kennebec River Oin southern Maine, is a well-documented site that contains evidence of Native American life during this period of cultural change. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries this area of Maine was part

of the border between French Acadia COMMISSION O N

and New England, and French colo- I

nial administrators used Jesuit mis- VAT sionaries as intermediaries with the RESER Native groups in the region. P

Around 1698, the Old Point Mis- O R I C

sion, also known as the Norridgewock HIST Mission, was established on the east

bank of the Kennebec River by Father M A I N E Sebastian Rasle. Early descriptions of The portion of the Old Point Mission site that runs along the Kennebec River is used for recreation. the site indicate that the Mission set- tlement consisted of a palisaded com- bined force of English and Massa- MPI’s mill is powered by a hy- pound of about 3/4 of an acre, with a chusetts Native allies on August 18, droelectric dam that is licensed by church and schoolhouse built in Euro- 1724. The troops returned to Boston the Federal Energy Regulatory Com- pean style, and 12 . with 27 scalps, including that of Fa- mission (FERC), which is responsible According to Arthur Spiess, sen- ther Rasle.” for making sure its licensees do not ior archaeologist with the Maine His- Fieldwork conducted primarily damage archaeological sites. FERC, toric Preservation Commission, “After by the University of Maine at Farm- MPI, and other interested parties intermittent warfare, destruction, and ington Archaeological Research Cen- such as local conservation organiza- rebuilding, the Old Point Mission ter has shown that this area had tions, wanted to protect the archaeo- was eventually wiped out by a com- been settled for at least 6,000 years, logical sites. and a major agricultural village lo- Consequently, as part of the reli- cated on the west side of the river censing process, the MPI property was established circa A.D. 1400. was donated to the Conservancy in The Old Point Mission site, in- April, and the Conservancy then do- cluding a portion of the area con- nated a permanent archaeological taining the palisaded enclosure, is conservation easement on the prop- owned in part by the Archdiocese of erty to the Maine Historic Preserva- Boston and is also the location of a tion Commission. Maine law states granite memorial to Father Rasle. that any site on private property that The remainder of the site, and an ad- is listed on the National Historic Reg- jacent prehistoric site, was previously ister and has a conservation easement owned by Madison Paper Industries is protected against unauthorized ex- (MPI). This parcel, which runs along cavation. The Conservancy will trans- the river for about a half-mile, has fer ownership of the remaining prop- been used for recreation by local erty to the nearby town of Madison residents for decades. for recreational use. —Andy Stout

46 fall • 2005 new acquisition Prehistoric Jasper Quarry Yields New Information The Conservancy acquires the King’s Quarry site in eastern Pennsylvania.

he King’s Quarry site, located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, is believed to be one of the last N T undisturbed jasper quarries in the Mid Atlantic region. Recent research at the

OMMISSIO site conducted by the Pennsylvania His- C torical and Museum Commission’s Bu-

USEUM reau for Historic Preservation’s Com- M monwealth Archaeology Program (CAP) A N D has produced the first radiocarbon dates for a jasper quarry in this region ORICAL and provided new insight into prehis- HIST toric mining techniques. ANIA V King’s Quarry was recorded by Henry Mercer in the 1890s. It’s one of

PENNSYL 10 quarry sites associated with the Hardyston jasper formation in eastern These points were recovered from the site. The 3,000-year-old point on the left is made of opaque Pennsylvania. Mercer found these sites yellow jasper. The 3,800-year-old point on the right is made of gray chalcedony. to be littered with layers of jasper flakes and and pockmarked with prehistoric quarry pits. amount of the typical opaque brown, yellowish brown, Mercer’s excavations demonstrated that some of these pits and yellow jasper, some of the material found at the site were 30 feet deep. His publications introduced these sites includes other vivid colors as well as varying textures and into the archaeological literature and represented the only lusters,” said CAP supervisor Douglas McLearen. “In addi- major work on the quarries for nearly a century. tion, many of the jasper specimens recovered from the site In the 1980s archaeological investigations surrounding are banded in two or more distinctive colors. The material the quarries and associated lithic workshop sites led to the also varies from opaque examples with a dull luster to establishment of the Hardyston Jasper Prehistoric Archaeo- translucent examples with shiny, glassy, or waxy luster.” logical District. Unfortunately, when work began to map The King’s Quarry site was brought to the attention of the jasper quarries in 1994, only six of the ten originally The Archaeological Conservancy by one of our members identified by Mercer remained. who was concerned that the site would be destroyed by a The CAP work at the King’s Quarry site uncovered planned housing development. The developer, Maplewood evidence of quarry use from the Paleo-Indian to the Late Estates, Inc., generously donated the site. Woodland periods and produced Middle —Andy Stout radiocarbon dates ranging from A.D. 60 to 600. The dates were obtained from a feature found next to a quarry pit. The pit itself was over 24 feet deep, and at least 80 feet in diameter. The research conducted by CAP also revealed new information on mining techniques, showing that the quarry pits found on the surface of the site are actually areas that had been backfilled in earlier times and then re- mined by Late Woodland people. The variation of the lithic material found at King’s Quarry also surprised researchers and appears to be far greater than the varieties found at other nearby related jasper sources. “While King’s Quarry contains a significant

american archaeology 47 new acquisition Expanding a Major Hohokam Preserve The Conservancy acquires another parcel of the Grewe site. COUNTY A N G E L E S L O S O F M U S E U M H I S T O R Y N A T U R A L

Researchers with the Van Bergen–Los Angeles County Museum expedition map a pithouse at the Grewe site. Their work,which was done in the 1930s, was the first professional excavation of a Preclassic Hohokam village.

he Conservancy recently houses, hornos, burials, canals, a added 15 acres to the highly possible reservoir, and one of the T significant Grewe Archaeo- largest ballcourts ever built by the logical Preserve in the rapidly devel- Hohokam. Testing of the addition oping Town of Coolidge in south- determined that it also contains nu- central Arizona, building on years of merous intact prehistoric features, in- efforts to protect the site. The Grewe cluding pithouses, roasting ovens, site is a large Preclassic (A.D. 700- , and a possible ballcourt. 1100) Hohokam village considered The Grewe site figures promi- ancestral to Casa Grande Ruins Na- nently in the oral traditions of nu- tional Monument, located less than a merous Native American groups, in- hundred feet west. At its height, the cluding the Tohono O’odham, the Grewe site was an enormous settle- Hopi, the Gila River, the Ak-Chin, ment, with more than 1,000 inhabi- and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa In- tants and a high density of pit- dian tribes, all of whom consider the

48 fall • 2005 new acquisition

site a sacred, ancestral place. Additionally, certain architec- tural features and exotic artifacts such as pyrite mosaic and shell jewelry demonstrate a likely connection with prehistoric Mesoamerican cultures to the south. During the 1930s, Arthur Woodward of the Van Bergen-Los Angeles County Museum Expedition con- ducted excavations at Grewe, the first professional excava- tions undertaken at a Preclassic Hohokam village. The richness of the cultural materials Woodward recovered from the site is matched in Hohokam archaeology only by the finding at the famous Snaketown site, which required far more extensive excavations. Despite the early 20th-century excavations at Grewe, researchers who have conducted subsequent studies at the site determined that features and structures remain undis- turbed beneath the plow zone within the addition. Be- tween 1995 and 1997, Northland Research, Inc. conducted excavations at portions of Grewe, Casa Grande, and Hor- vath, a nearby early Classic Hohokam site. The work at

COUNTY Grewe revealed hundreds of pithouses and thousands of other well-preserved features and remains in a three-acre

A N G E L E S section.

L O S The Coolidge area has been the focus of intense de-

O F velopment over the past five years. This is especially the case in the area immediately surrounding the Grewe site,

M U S E U M where cotton fields are giving way to commercial and res- idential developments. The Grewe addition is located H I S T O R Y within an industrial and residential zone and therefore faced immediate threats from commercial development N A T U R A L and continued cultivation. A 1998 Arizona Heritage Fund Grant administered by Birds and snakes were carved on bone and shell artifacts found at the Arizona State Parks was awarded to the Conservancy for Grewe site. Several elaborate bone hairpins are shown here. the acquisition and preservation of the initial 30-acre par- cel containing a portion of the Grewe site. In 2004, the significance to Snaketown, has tremendous potential to Conservancy was awarded another Heritage Fund Grant, contribute to public and professional knowledge of Ho- resulting in the purchase of the 15-acre addition to the hokam development in the region. Together Grewe, Casa preserve. The Conservancy was able to purchase this par- Grande, and Horvath form the Grewe–Casa Grande settle- cel in a bargain-sale-to-charity transaction with landowner ment complex, considered to have been one of the major Carl Winters, a partner in Coolidge Gateway L.P. Wal-Mart prehistoric population centers in the southern Arizona re- donated an additional 13 acres of the site to the Conser- gion for about 700 years. The Grewe site has been listed vancy in 2000, and two adjacent acres were donated by on the National Register of Historic Places and a long-term the Faul family. The Fauls have also created a bequest of management plan has been created for the preserve, an additional 30 acres containing a portion of the site for which is open to qualified professionals for research, to future preservation, which will increase the entire pre- the public for scheduled tours, and to Native American serve to 90 acres. groups for traditional and religious purposes. The Grewe site, which has been compared in size and —Tamara Stewart

american archaeology 49 CONSERV ANCY FieldNotes

Research at Winterville Mounds SOUTHEAST—For the first time since 1967, archaeologists are conducting research at the Winterville Mounds site, near Greenville in west-central Mississippi. Winterville Moundsis a state historic site and is on the Na- tional Register of Historic Places. In June, under the direction of archaeol- ogist Ed Jackson, the University of Southern Mississippi began a five- year research project at the site, which is owned and administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. This large site was used from approximately A.D. 1000 to 1450. Twelve of the original 23 mounds remain, including a 55- N VA foot, flat-topped mound. Winterville functioned as the SULLI

center of one of the earliest Missis- J O H N sippian chiefdoms in the region. The Students from the University of Southern Mississippi screen dirt in search of artifacts. mounds represented the center of re- ligion and politics and they served as that only the elite resided at Winter- Additional excavation should sites of elite residences, sacred struc- ville. Additionally, according to the clarify the occupational chronology tures, and ceremonies. The Indians 1960s interpretation of the archaeo- of the site, as well as to shed new who used the mounds may have had logical evidence, a fire during the light on the rise, and persistence, of a civilization similar to that of the late 1300s consumed many of the the Winterville chiefdom. The re- Natchez Indians, a Mississippi tribe public structures on the mounds. The searchers hope to determine if indi- documented by French explorers and site continued to be used afterwards, vidual mounds had residential, cere- settlers in the early 1700s. The Indi- but no more mounds were built or monial, or mortuary functions as well ans’ society was divided into upper maintained. Subsequently, the gen- as how the area surrounding the and lower ranks, with a person’s so- eral population declined at Winter- mounds was used. The 2005 excava- cial rank determined by heredity. ville as it increased at settlements tion indicates that there were resi- The elite had sufficient political con- and mound sites 50 miles to the dential structures in areas away from trol to organize the labor required to south, in the lower Yazoo River the mounds, suggesting that non-elite build the mounds. basin. The site is believed to have neighborhoods were a part of the Prior investigations suggested been abandoned by 1450. site’s makeup.

50 fall • 2005 Katherine Wells Receives Prestigious the Conservancy by Wells in 2000. glyph Project received the Youth En- ARARA Conservation and Wells has been working dili- vironmental Hope Award from the gently to protect rock art images on New Mexico Environmental Law Preservation Award her land and that of her neighbors. Center. In 2004, Wells successfully SOUTHWEST—Katherine Wells of In 1993 she helped create Vecinos nominated Mesa Prieta as one of Velarde, New Mexico, was given the del Rio, a non-profit, grass roots or- New Mexico’s Most Endangered American Rock Art Research Associ- ganization dedicated to educating Places to the New Mexico Heritage ation’s Conservation and Preserva- landowners and the public about the Preservation Alliance. tion Award last May for her efforts importance of preserving these time- to preserve and protect the rock art less images. Volunteers, youth teams Work Continues at Galisteo Pueblo of Mesa Prieta (Black Mesa) north of from San Juan Pueblo, and members SOUTHWEST—The Conservancy, the San Juan Pueblo in New Mexico. of the New Mexico Archaeological Office of Archaeological Studies at The Mesa contains the Wells Petro- Society Field School have recorded the Museum of New Mexico, and a glyph Preserve, a magnificent collec- 9,000 of the estimated 20,000 images group of volunteers have completed tion of 6,000 images pro- on the mesa over the past 13 years. the mapping and erosion analysis at tected by an easement donated to In 2003, the Vecinos del Rio Petro- Galisteo Pueblo in New Mexico. The project provided new infor- mation about this 1,580-surface-room pueblo located in north-central New Mexico. Archaeologist H. Wolcott Toll, stated that “one of the most no- table discoveries was finding and mapping, for the first time, the loca- tion and layout of the Spanish Colo- nial period mission and convento at Galisteo Pueblo.” Toll added that “volunteer Richard Huelster used his expert computer mapping skills to combine high quality aerial photo- graphs and topographic mapping data provided by Santa Fe County with the remarkably accurate map prepared by N. C. Nelson in 1914. This resulted in the production of a really detailed map of this huge ar- chaeological site.” The map also pro- vides baseline data for monitoring the condition of the site in the future. Steve Koczan, site-management coordinator for the Conservancy, said the team also identified where erosion HUELSTER is occurring, and offered recommen- dations to help stabilize the pueblo.

R I C H A R D The project was funded by a The upper portion of this aerial photograph of Galisteo Pueblo includes rectangular roomblocks grant from the New Mexico Historic with archaeological features that were originally mapped in 1914 by archaeologist N. C. Nelson. Preservation Division, as well as by Nelson’s map was superimposed on the photograph. the Conservancy and the museum.

american archaeology 51 Reviews

In Search of Maya Sea Traders By Heather McKillop (Texas A & M University Press, 2005; 248 pgs., illus., $45 cloth, $20 paper; www.tamu.edu/upress)

In 1502 on his fourth and final voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus en- countered a huge cargo canoe off the southeastern coast of the Yucatán. It was loaded down with cotton and cacao, as well as ex- otic materials like obsidian and copper. This was the first encounter between Gifts of the Great River: Arkansas Effigy Pottery Europeans and Maya sea traders, sailors that oper- from the Edwin Curtiss Collection ated an extensive sea- By John H. House going trade network in (Peabody Museum Press, 2005; 108 pgs., illus., the Caribbean that also $22 paper; www.hup.harvard.edu) moved salt, coral, and other goods around The St. Francis River of northeastern Arkansas meanders slowly the Maya homeland and beyond. between the great on the east and Crowley’s Heather McKillop is the William Haug Professor Ridge to the west. Part of the Mississippi Delta, it was among of Archaeology at Louisiana State University, and she has spent the last parts of the South to be tamed and settled. Five hun- much of her professional career seeking evidence of the elu- dred years earlier the thrived in the re- sive Maya sea traders. Working along the coast of southern Be- source-rich swamps and cypress forests of the delta, building lize, McKillop has excavated trade centers on the cays (pro- great mounds and producing wonderful works of art. nounced keys) and in the shallow bays to learn about the lives In 1879–80, Edwin Curtiss came to this wilderness to dig of the traders. at seven mound sites and collect artifacts for the Peabody This volume is not a scholarly tract, although McKillop is a Museum at Harvard University.Today, archaeologists consider first-rate scholar. Instead, it is a personal narrative of a field ar- his work to be the first scientific excavations in the state. His chaeologist making new discoveries and dealing with a strange extensive notes and artifacts are preserved at the museum. and sometimes hostile environment. With sea levels rising, water John House, an archaeologist with the Arkansas Archaeological now inundates many of the sites, making excavations difficult. Survey and noted Mississippian scholar, has produced this For all of us who see archaeology as a great adventure, splendid little book that describes the Curtiss expedition and this is a fabulous story of green vine snakes and falling co- the collections it produced. It is richly illustrated with 45 color conuts and leaky boats and short supplies. Most of all it is a photos of Curtiss’s pottery collection, some of his sketch maps, story of the people who do this kind of work—professional ar- and photos of the sites. Sadly, many of the sites in the region chaeologists and their students, Earthwatch volunteers who pay have been destroyed by modern agriculture and looting, but good money to dig in the mud of a tiny island, and of the na- Gifts of the Great River preserves the story of the first expedition tive Maya who still make their living from the sea. They all to one of America’s richest archaeological districts. enjoy the senses of adventure and accomplishment gleaned from serious research on a long lost way of life.

52 fall • 2005 Reviews

Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City By Kelly J. Dixon (University of Nevada Press, 2005; 219 pgs., illus., $35 cloth; www.nvbooks.nevada.edu)

In the last half of the 19th century, Virginia City, Nevada, was over- run with some 200,000 diverse people who came in search of the vast deposits of gold and silver of the fabled Comstock Lode. In the Holly- wood version of the West in general and boomtowns in Native American Voices of Identity, Art, & Culture: particular, the sa- loon was a wild place for hard- Objects of Everlasting Esteem living men and loose women. The real story is Edited by Lucy Fowler Williams, William Wierzbowski, much more complex as archaeologist Kelly J. Dixon shows and Robert W. Preucel us in this captivating study of four very different saloons. (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Piper’s Old Corner Bar was a fancy German-owned Anthropology, 2005; 220 pgs., illus., $50 cloth; establishment that catered to the city’s elite. The Boston www.museum.upenn.edu/publications) Saloon was an African-American business. The Hibernia Brewery and Costello’s Saloon and Shooting Gallery In the foreword to this highly original volume, Richard Leventhal, the were Irish owned and located in a disreputable part of director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and town. Taken together, they illustrate the diverse nature Anthropology, explains that the museum is not just a repository of arti- of Virginia City’s surging population. facts and other items. “The Museum, instead, is a place of people and Kelly excavated at Piper’s and the Boston Saloon in ideas about human societies and cultures, a place of living, active ob- the late 1990s and early 2000s while working for the jects. It is a place where the living present can connect to the living Comstock Archaeology Center. The Irish salons were in- past.”To carry out this mission, museum staff members have gotten vestigated by Donald Hardesty between 1993 and 1995. 78 Native Americans to discuss one object each in the museum’s All four excavations yielded remarkable assemblages of collection that has connections to their culture. artifacts that, along with written history, tell a story of life In so doing, the authors connect the past with the present in an on the Nevada frontier. It’s not a tale of vice and vio- impressive fashion. For example, George Horse Capture discusses an lence, but one of people amusing themselves with dice exquisite beaded shirt of the Gros Ventre dating to about 1900. Dextra and cards while enjoying a drink and a smoke. Quotskuyva, a famous Hopi potter, interprets two Sityaki bowls made in Boomtown Saloons illustrates how historical archaeol- the 15th century. Most of America’s best known tribes are represented, ogy is evolving into a scholarly discipline that can expand and the reader gets a new perspective on 78 amazing works of art. upon written history. Today, Virginia City is a living ghost Beautifully illustrated and produced, this volume is a real contri- town that attracts tourists seeking the Old West. This de- bution to museum management as well as a delight to read and behold. lightful study gives us a better picture of life in a Nevada boomtown than we have ever had before. —Mark Michel american archaeology 53 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVANCY

The Wondrous World of the Maya MAYA OF PAL ENQUE AND YUCATÁN When: January 12–22, 2006 Where: Southern Mexico How Much: $2,495 ($295 single supplement)

From A.D. 300 to 1200, the Maya flourished in the Yu- catán Peninsula of Mexico. Their splendid cities, which still tower over the rain forest, testify to the sophistica-

tion of the mysterious people who built them. Our tour SINGER

will visit some of the most spectacular of these cities. A R I E We’ll explore the Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal, one M of the largest of the Maya cities. At Kabah, we’ll see the VICKI stone mosaic of masks that adorns the Palace of the Chichén Itzá, in southern Mexico, was occupied until the 13th century. Masks. At Chichén Itzá, a magnificent city founded in the 5th century and occupied until the 13th century, we’ll see the largest ballcourt in as well as El Caracol, a two-tiered as- tronomical observatory dating from the 10th century. Located deep in the rain forest is the city of Palenque, where we’ll spend a day touring many architectural wonders. Inside the Temple of the Inscriptions is the tomb of Pacal the Great, who ruled Palenque from A.D. 615 to 683. Accompanying us on our tour will be Cornell Univer- sity’s John Henderson, one of the nation’s leading scholars of the Maya.

More of the Maya GUA TEMALA HIGHLANDS AND COPÁN When: March 9–19, 2006 Where: Guatemala and Honduras How Much: $2,495 ($340 single supplement)

Rain forests, snow-capped volcanoes, and magnificent lakes make up the landscape of the ancient Maya. Our tour delves into the world of

the Maya—from Guatemala City to the Honduran rain forest where CONSERVANCY we’ll visit Copán, considered the crown jewel of the southern Maya cities. We’ll also visit Iximché, the capital city of the Cakchiquel Maya from the late 1400s until the early 1500s. Other destinations include the market town of Chichicastenango and the colonial city of Antigua. ARCHAEOLOGICAL Jeff Blomster, a noted Maya archaeologist at George Washington Uni- T H E versity, will accompany us on our tour. This stele depicts 18 Rabbit, one of Copán’s greatest rulers.

54 fall • 2005 D A V I D NOBLE A L A N GRUBER american you this the MississippiRiversouthtoNatchez, Beginning APRIL M PEOPLES in Sojourns the along theMississippiRiver mound-builder culturesthatflourished more offers than Civil ISSISSIPPI U arrival week-long from the 5,000 W an about 2006 ar ar PCOMING exciting chaeology ancient of in years battlefields, OF South the Memphis the THE j VALLEY our Europeans. of opportunity earthen rich ney, history. and and covers which Va m following

ounds complex lley until The to mor takes lear trip to n e Mound S PRING A at the Winter ville site in Mississippi The rock ing portunity tovisitremotearchaeologicalsites,includ- ney downtheY addition scribed cluding Join Y River A tacular J UNE 2006 AMP Y ampa Fremont Spectacular us shelters. A 2006 scenery for is by Riv Whirlpool to RIVER the Tr er a the the offer downriver culture fifth-larg ip of ampa andGreenriversoffersanop- beautiful s explorer breathtaking Dinosaur est Canyon, r ock mound adventure scenery, T art John in scener National panels Nor which OUR th W y. through America. esley this and Monument, w 70-mile as Powell. prehistori the first S spec- jour- de- in- In c 55 Patrons of Preservation The Archaeological Conservancy would like to thank the following individuals, foundations, and corporations for their generous support during the period of May 2005 through July 2005. Their generosity, along with the generosity of the Conservancy’s other members, makes our work possible.

Life Member Gifts of $1,000 or more John Ray and Lottye Beasley, Mississippi Betty J. Annis, New Mexico Dr. Wayne G. Bramstedt, Ph.D., California Dorothy Beatty, California Carol Condie, New Mexico Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Boeckman, Texas Donna Cosulich, Arizona Annie Laurie Burke, Kansas Helen S. Darby, California Lawrence A. Conrad, Illinois Hester A. Davis, Arkansas Charles Fleischmann, Ohio Mary F. Ericksen, Virginia Frederick L. Freeman, New Mexico Dr. and Mrs. J.L. Foght, Illinois Sherry D. Kerstetter, Pennsylvania Mr. and Mrs. R.M. Hart, Colorado Ellen Kohler, Pennsylvania David Klaus, Mississippi William Lannin, Illinois David and Sue Knop, California Mary L. Lewis, Colorado Jay and Debbie Last, California Middle Cumberland Archaeological Society, Edwin and Margaret Lial, California Tennessee Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Loughridge, Florida Roger B. Perkins, New Mexico Helen Metzner, Michigan Richard Pirner, Connecticut Harlan Scott, Delaware Cynthia R. Rink, Washington Rosamond Stanton, Montana Diana L. Schwartz, California Melvin and Giulia Simpson, New Yo rk Foundation/Corporate Conrad and Marcella Stahly, New Mexico Gifts of $5,000 - $10,000 Judith A. Sweisford, Pennsylvania Texas Historical Commission, Texas Catherine Symchych, Wyoming Foundation/Corporate Anasazi Circle Gifts of $2,000 or more Gifts of $10,000 - $50,000 Anonymous E. Ritter & Company, Arkansas Pete and Christine Adolph, New Mexico Bobbie Alexander, Louisiana Foundation/Corporate Rosemary Armbruster, Gifts of $250,000 - $500,000 Betty Banks, Washington Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma

Three years ago, the Conservancy established a TO MAKE Living leadership society, the Living Spirit Circle, to recognize the A DONATION growing number of members who were interested in OR BECOME making a legacy gift to support archaeological A MEMBER Spirit preservation. Living Spirit Circle members have included CONTACT: the Conservancy in their will or estate plans, or by making Circle a life-income gift such as a charitable gift annuity. The Archaeological The Archaeological Conservancy This elite group has grown to over 80 members who are essential to the Conservancy’s success in identifying and preserving America’s most endangered archaeological resources. Conservancy Planned giving may provide significant tax benefits to you and your heirs, and it allows 5301 Central Ave. NE, you to specify how your assets will be distributed after your lifetime. This can be done by simply adding an amendment including the Conservancy as a beneficiary to your existing will. Suite 902 It can stand as a lasting memorial to you or a loved one. Albuquerque, NM 87108 The preservation of America’s archaeological resources depends on the continued (505) 266-1540 support and generosity of our members. By joining the Conservancy’s Living Spirit Circle today, you can ensure our nation’s cultural heritage for years to come. www.americanarchaeology.org

56 fall • 2005 BOOKS

Coyote Press P.O. Box 3377 Salinas, CA 93912 Specializing in Archaeology, Rock Art, , Ethnography, Linguistics, Native American Studies and anything closely related. We stock thousands of new books and reprints, used and rare books, and the back issues of many journals. Browse or shop online at our newly redesigned e-commerce website:

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Show Pride in America’s Archaeological Resources! Archaeological Conservancy T-shirt: 100% cotton $12, plus $1.75 S&H circle size: S M L XL XXL

To order, send your check to: The Archaeological Conservancy 5301 Central Ave. NE, Suite 902 Albuquerque, NM 87108

NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE ZIP MAKE YOUR MARK IN TIME. Some Conservancy members think the only way to help save archaeological sites is through membership dues. While dues are a constant lifeline, PARKIN ARCHEOLOGICAL there are many ways you can support the Conservancy s work, both today STATE PARK and well into the future. And by sup- PARKIN, ARKANSAS porting the Conservancy, you not only Began as a Conservancy Preserve in 1985 safeguard our past for your children and grandchildren, you also may save some money.

PLACE STOCK IN THE CONSERVANCY. Evaluate your investments. Some members choose to make a difference by donating stock. Such gifts offer a charitable deduction for the full value instead of paying capital gains tax.

GIVEACHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY. Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to make a gift of cash and securities today that lets you receive extensive tax benefits as well as an income for as long as you live.

LEAVE A LASTING LEGACY. Many people consider protecting our cultural heritage by remembering the Conservancy in their will. While pro- viding us with a dependable source of income, bequests may qualify you for an estate tax deduction.

Whatever kind of gift you give, you can be sure we’ll use it to preserve places like Parkin Archeological TIERNY State Park and our

S P E N C E R other 310 sites across the United States.

The Archaeological Conservancy Yes, I’m interested in making a planned-giving donation to The Archaeological Conservancy and saving money on my taxes. Please send more information on: Attn: Planned Giving 5301 Central Avenue NE Gifts of stock Bequests Charitable gift annuities Suite 902 Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517 Name: Or call: Street Address: (505) 266-1540 City: State: Zip: Phone: ( ) -