Symbols Fall

S I A PUBLICATION OF THE PEABODY MUSEUM AND THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY • 11 DIVINITY AVENUE CAMBRIDGE, MA 02138 RUBIE WATSON STEPS DOWN AS MUSEUM DIRECTOR WILLIAM L. FASH APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF THE PEABODY MUSEUM Rubie Watson, the first William and respect for the museum and its mission Muriel Seabury Howells Director of the and an appreciation for the significant Peabody Museum, stepped down as challenges and opportunities ahead. In director of the museum on December taking on this important new role, Bill 31, 2003 after six years of service. At has stepped down as chairman of the her departure, she leaves the museum a Department of Anthropology. stronger and more dynamic institution than ever before. During her time as director she initiated many new proj- ARTHUR KLEINMAN NAMED ects and changes including a massive CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT documentation and inventory project OF ANTHROPOLOGY of the object collections; the refurbish- ing of several galleries; an active tem- Arthur Kleinman, M.D., Esther and porary exhibit schedule; and increased Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology outreach to Harvard faculty and stu- and Presley Professor of Medical dents and the community. Anthropology at Harvard Medical Rubie will return to her academic School, became Chair of the interests as a field anthropologist. In William L. Fash, Charles P. Bowditch Department of Anthropology on January 2004, she began work on a Professor of Central American and February 1, 2004. The 2003 recipient of research project in China and the Mexican Archaeology and Ethnology, the Franz Boaz Award from the American Midwest and returned to has been appointed the Howells American Anthropological Association, several other projects that she set aside Director of the Peabody Museum for Arthur is widely recognized for his during her years as director. In an initial term of five years. A distin- efforts in significantly advancing med- September 2004, she will return to guished scholar of Mesoamerican civi- ical anthropology as an important field Cambridge as a senior lecturer in the lizations and superb teacher and of study. His research includes interna- Department of Anthropology and as administrator, Bill has been actively tional mental health; cross-cultural curator of comparative ethnology at involved in museum exhibits, research, studies of depression; the experience of the Peabody Museum. and programming for many years. He chronic illness; the anthropology of brings a deep familiarity with and social suffering; and social health policy concerning the overlap of social and health problems including substance Featured in this issue: abuse, violence, and trauma; and eth- Director’s Letter nicity and health. Professor Kleinman’s RUBIE WATSON, Page 2 collaborative work with colleagues in Hieroglyphs and Casts on the Move Hong Kong and China on suicide BARBARA W. FASH, Page 3 among women in China is challenging Interpreting Copán’s Structure 21a and Hieroglyphic Bench SARAH JACKSON, Page 7 continued on p. 14, column 1 DIRECTOR’S LETTER past, the collections continue to be interactions and developing relation- available to Harvard faculty, but they ships are complex, but they have are now open in ways that were not greatly enriched the museum and, I possible ten years ago to new audi- believe, they have been of value to ences including Harvard students, the tribal elders and ordinary tribal mem- international research community, bers who have visited the museum in school children, members of the pub- unprecedented numbers. NAGPRA lic, and indigenous people throughout has opened the museum to new ideas, the world. Images of artifacts and cat- to new challenges, and to new audi- alogue information can now be elec- ences and, in doing so, has reinvigo- tronically beamed to tribal museums rated the museum itself. in the Aleutian Islands, researchers In recent years, the museum has working in London, and school chil- benefited from a renaissance in dren in Cambridge public schools. object-focused research, especially in This is an extraordinary achievement anthropology and history. During the and one that would not have been last six years, one of the joys of work- possible without the skill and deter- ing at the Peabody has been to see old It has been a privilege to serve as mined efforts of a talented staff. collections being rediscovered. director of the Peabody Museum dur- The museum remains committed to Museums like the Peabody are not ing a time of great change in the intellectually driven exhibits, to foster- only places where art and artifacts can museum world. Since the 1960s, the ing anthropological research, and to be enjoyed, but in recent years they Peabody Museum has been trans- the stewardship of its collections. have also become places where new formed into a modern museum where There are challenges ahead—what is ideas are explored. It is especially grat- high standards for the professional the appropriate relationship between ifying to see the enthusiasm with staff, research and outreach programs, the museum and Harvard’s which Harvard undergraduates are and collections’ care have been met. Department of Anthropology, studying the museum’s collections. On January 1, 2004, I returned to my between the museum and the indige- Undergraduates yearn for opportuni- curatorial responsibilities, teaching, nous peoples whose ancestors made ties to do primary—hands-on— and research. The past six years as and used the art and artifacts in the research and the Peabody offers them director have been exciting, challeng- museum’s collections, and what spe- those opportunities in great variety. ing, and very satisfying. Indeed, I am cial role should university museums I look forward to continuing my proud of what has been accomplished play in the twenty-first century? relationship with the Peabody at the Peabody. In 1990, the Native American Museum as Curator of Comparative The bedrock of any museum is its Graves Protection and Repatriation Ethnology and to welcoming the collections, and the Peabody’s hold- Act (NAGPRA) was signed into law. museum’s new director, Professor ings are extraordinary by any meas- NAGPRA has had a profound impact William Fash. Bill Fash brings ure. Because of the dedication of on cultural history museums through- museum experience, intellectual com- many people, these collections are bet- out the United States. With the stead- mitment, and enthusiasm to his role ter housed, better managed, and more fast support of Harvard University, the as director. It will be a great pleasure carefully researched than ever before; museum has been able to meet the to see the Peabody Museum develop and, now all the hard work of cata- challenges of NAGPRA. Never before and expand under his able leadership. loguing, electronic database creation, has the Peabody been involved in so digital imaging, inventory, and many sustained interactions with Rubie Watson research is bearing fruit. As in the Native American communities. These January 23, 2004 2 • Sy mbols H C M Barbara W. Fash Research Associate and Director of the Gordon R. Willey Laboratory for Mesoamerican Studies, Peabody Museum Among the earliest explorations con- and inspired many interpretations, ducted by the Peabody Museum were including once being considered to a series of expeditions to Copán, represent an astronomers’ conference. Honduras, between 1891 and 1895. Juan Galindo first described the mon- During these field seasons, in addition ument, which sits to the west of to archaeological excavations, numer- Structure 16 in the West Court, in ous sculptured monuments and hiero- 1834: “A short distance to the left of glyphic inscriptions were photo- this obelisk [Stela P] is a kind of solid graphed and moulded in paper table, very remarkable, somewhat squeezes or plaster (Figure 1). These raised from the ground, together with were brought back to the museum for other smaller stones. It is 1 yard and reproduction and further investigation 23 inches long, is of the same width, and study (Gordon 1896). The first and is 27 inches thick or high; the attempts at taking impressions of the upper part is divided into 49 squares sculptured monuments at Copán were with characters, having a cornice 4 made by the Englishman Alfred P. inches thick, and surrounding the 4 Maudslay in 1885. In the following faces of the table are 16 human fig- years, Maudslay advised the Peabody ures, seated on cushions or benches, Figure 1: George Byron Gordon and Edward expeditions regarding materials for with legs crossed, and with fans, or Shorkley photographing Altar Q. Expedition mould-making and arranged for his something else which I cannot accu- to Copán, 1891. Photographer unknown. Peabody Museum H7031. skilled workers to assist in the process. rately describe, in their hands” (from As a result of these combined efforts Gordon 1896). throughout the region, the British Altar Q is the single most informa- ment and the historical reconstruction Museum and the Peabody Museum tive stone from Copán and has been of the city’s ruling line. Modern epig- hold the largest cast collections from exceptionally valuable in the decipher- raphers are now able to read most of the Maya area. These casts are today especially valuable because they pre- serve many details now eroded or lost New research on the on the original stone sculptures. Mesoamerican Casts Collection Today in the Peabody’s third-floor gallery, examples of these remarkable Nineteenth-century expeditions to ancient Mesoamerican sites routinely returned casts are still on display, some not with moulds of carved monuments, which were then cast in plaster and used in having moved far from where they exhibits in the United States and Europe to generate interest and inform the public were originally cast in the nineteenth about these remote places. With the increased ease of worldwide travel, and access century. The importance of conserv- to the originals possible, the value of the copies was discounted and the majority ing these valuable nineteenth- were cast aside, forgotten in dusty corners.

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