GLYPHS The Monthly Newsletter of the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society An Affiliate of the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona Founded in 1916
Vol. 60, No. 11 Tucson, Arizona May 2010
HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS ISSUE President’s Message ...... 2 I Rented a Mule and Found Religion, by Todd A. Pitezel ...... 4 AAHS Grant Recipients for 2010 ...... 6 The Cornerstone ...... 8
Todd Pitezel on “Mula,” rented for 100 pesos per day. Cerro de Moctezuma, Chihuahua, Mexico, May 2002.
Next General Meeting: May 17, 2010
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE UPCOMING AAHS FIELD TRIPS AAHS membership is required to participate in field trips. Prospective his letter will be a quick gestions. Several modification recom- members may attend one AAHS field trip prior to joining. review of just some of mendations have already been made. T May 7, 2010; 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. the activities and discus- Back issues of Glyphs are available ASM Hohokam Tour sions presently being consid- through the website. Join Arizona State Museum curators Paul Fish, Suzy Fish, and Mike Jacobs ered by the AAHS Board and Speaking of Glyphs, you will soon for an inside tour of some of the State Museum’s extensive array of Ho- committees. be asked for your e-mail address, as hokam artifacts. We will visit collections that are normally not open to the A search committee chaired by well as whether you prefer to receive public, including pottery, shell, beads, and other artifacts. The visit will end Stephanie Whittlesey has under- the paper version of Glyphs or receive at the Borderlands Laboratory, followed by an optional lunch. The tour is taken the recruitment and selection your copy online. Similar organiza- strictly limited to 20 people. To register, please contact Katherine Cerino at of a new editor for Kiva to replace tions are now offering their members
POSITION OPEN: ACQUISITIONS EDITOR FOR KIVA AAHS HAPPENINGS he AAHS seeks an acquisitions editor for Kiva, which has been publishing TOPIC OF THE MAY 17 GENERAL MEETING TSouthwest archaeology, anthropology, history, and linguistics since 1935. The acquisitions editor spearheads the publishing process and works with a book review editor, production editor, and the co-publisher, Alta-Mira Press. I Rented a Mule and Found Religion Although the editorship is based in Tucson, Arizona, the acquisitions editor by Todd A. Pitezel is an independent contractor and may reside elsewhere. The acquisitions edi- tor solicits and reviews volunteered manuscripts for publication in four is- uring the Casas Grandes Medio its massive summit installation 400 sues per year and will maintain the journal’s established high standards of period (A.D. 1200–1450), the m above the Casas Grandes river val- D professional quality, working in coordination with the other editors, Publica- places where most people lived were ley. What is of equal interest there is tions Committee, and Board of Directors. The acquisitions editor serves a three- the simplest kind of settlement. Hun- El Pueblito, a settlement sitting on a year term, and compensation is $7,000 annually. Please send a letter of inter- dreds of sites, most being small, mesa 200 m above all of its neigh- est and curriculum vitae by May 15, 2010, to: Stephanie M. Whittlesey, Ph.D., pueblo-like units less than 900 bors in the valleys below. While RPA, Chair, Kiva Acquisitions Editor Search Committee, 2441 N. Grannen m2 in size, dot northwestern everyone else lived in well- Rd., Tucson, Arizona 85745; 520.240.0988;
AAHS GRANT RECIPIENTS FOR 2010 on Chimney Rock Pueblo and to co-author a poster in a session honoring the 75th anniversary of Kiva. The Society awarded $3,300 in research grants, travel grants, and scholarships this year. The recipients of this year’s awards are: SCHOLARSHIPS: Lori B. Love (University of Texas, San Antonio): $300 to support the comple- RESEARCH GRANTS: tion of her M.A. thesis on the petrography and stylistic analysis of ceramics Kathryn Putsavage (University of Colorado, Boulder): $1,000 to conduct GIS from Pueblo Alamo, New Mexico. mapping, in-field ceramic analysis, ground-penetrating radar studies, and preliminary test excavations at the Black Mountain site near Deming, New Mexico.
TRAVEL GRANTS: UPCOMING ARIZONA STATE MUSEUM EVENTS Deanna Grimstead (University of Arizona): $300 to co-organize and attend Tucson, Tula, & Tlaxcala: 4,000 Years of Cultural Interaction the 6th Annual Stanley J. Olsen Memorial Zooarchaeology Conference in Eagle June 3–14, 2010 Lake, California. Discover the roots of American Southwest cultures by exploring and comparing those of central Mexico from the pre-Columbian to the present day. Based in Sophia E. Kelly (Arizona State University): $300 to travel to the Society for Mexico City, your 10-day adventure features expertly guided exploration of the American Archaeology meetings in St. Louis, Missouri, to chair the sympo- cities of Puebla and Tlaxcala, major archaeological sites such as Teotihuacan and sium, “Gendered Labor in Specialized Economies,” in which she will present Tula, cathedrals, open-air markets, palaces, monasteries, and museums—all em- the paper, “Transformations to Gendered Labor Roles with the Rise of a Ho- phasizing the connections between central Mexico and the American Southwest. hokam Specialized Economy.” See
THE CORNERSTONE jority of what I do. In addition to lab to say which population may be rep- manager, I am the NAGPRA coordi- resented and track prehistoric and nator for the museum. NAGPRA is historic migrations. This is also, in a Employee Q&A: Bone Keeper John McClelland the federal law—the acronym means way, critical to the repatriation pro- Alexis Blue, University Communications Native American Graves Protection cess, in that if we have better ways of [reprinted by permission, Lo Que Pasa, University of Arizona] and Repatriation Act—which was being able to identify which popula- passed in November 1990, and it ap- tion the individual belonged to, that he Arizona State Museum is the sion, earning a master’s degree in an- plies to collections of human skeletal helps us to affiliate skeletal remains Tideal place to find Southwestern thropology from George Washington remains and certain types of objects with a modern-day tribe. Usually, we Indian pottery, baskets, tapestries, University in 1994, before complet- of a sensitive nature. This law estab- rely upon archaeological context and and other artifacts. What many ing his doctorate in anthropology at lishes a process for tribes to make the material culture, the pottery and people don’t realize, however, is that the UA in 2003. claims for museums to repatriate the the stonework, and that sort of thing, it’s also home to thousands of de- Lo Que Pasa sat down with collections to them. in order to build this link between the previous—the prehistoric or late ceased individuals, some of whom McClelland, whose research spe- How large is the collection? We historic group that inhabit an ar- lived as long ago as 1200 B.C. cialty is dental anthropology, to hear have skeletal remains representing chaeological site—and a modern- Locked out of sight inside the about his work in the osteology lab about 6,500 individuals. Those are day tribe. Someday, we may be able museum are the skeletal remains of and how he helps reunite modern not complete skeletal remains, how- to say that it’s more likely that this about 6,500 people. Many, discov- American Indian tribes with their ever; in fact, many of them are very individual belonged to this list of ered during archaeological excava- ancestors. fragmentary. tions, belonged to prehistoric Ameri- tribes rather than another by looking can Indians and are awaiting their Name: John McClelland Can researchers access the collec- at variation in size measurements return to their tribes for a proper tion? We have limited research ac- and very detailed sorts of morpho- Position: Lab Manager, Osteology, reburial. cess to the archaeological collections. logical variants. Arizona State Museum We do not, at the moment, allow any John McClelland helps facilitate You have archaeological and ana- access to a collection which is under that process as manager of the Number of years at UA: 11 tomical collections. What’s the dif- claim from an affiliated tribe, and museum’s osteology lab. ference? A lot of our modern-day Favorite part about working at the we’ve invited tribes to consult with McClelland can tell you, with little human bone collection (the anatomi- UA: Being able to devote time to those us further on our policies regarding trouble, if a bone belonged to an ani- cal collection) comes from medical issues that seem most interesting to this research access. We don’t allow mal or a human simply by looking at collections. The medical school some- me. It’s academic freedom—choos- any kind of intrusive or destructive it. But he wasn’t always in the busi- times transfers collections to us when ing your own research. It’s also been handling. Our job is to protect our ness of human remains. From 1979 they’re no longer needed; it’s just a really rewarding to interact with the collections as best we can. Because to 1991, he worked as a commercial bone here, a bone there, that sort of Native American community and to of the repatriation legislation— architect; the last big project he thing. The museum has large (ar- assist them with this repatriation ef- there’s both state and federal laws— worked on was a new facility for the chaeological) collections, mostly fort, which is of great importance. we expect that most of these collec- National Archives in College Park, from projects a long time ago when tions will be repatriated over the next Maryland. Yet it was while he was What are the main responsibilities the Department of Anthropology did several years. in architecture school, learning about of your job? We have a bioarchaeol- field schools, and burial excavation pre-Columbian architecture in ogy lab where we document human What can we learn from these was part of what they did. And also, Mexico and the culture that went with skeletal remains. We have responsi- bones? The primary research ques- because we are the state museum, it, that the archaeology bug bit. bilities to curate the skeletal collec- tion involving prehistoric remains are there have been what we call inad- McClelland eventually decided to tions and to repatriate them upon (related to) health and disease, and go back to school and pursue his pas- request, and that actually is the ma- we’re starting to approach being able (continued on page 10) Page 10 Glyphs: The Monthly Newsletter of ...... The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society Page 11
(continued from page 9) human and animal bones, learning AAHS MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION APPLICATION how to distinguish between the two (A membership subscription makes a great gift for your loved ones!) vertent discoveries. People are out and identifying species and a little All members receive discounts on Society workshops and classes. walking along a riverbed or some- bit of an introduction to how we de- Monthly meetings are held the third Monday of each month except August, and are free and open to the public. Participation in field trips requires membership. thing, and they see some bones erod- termine age and sex from human skel- ing out, and a lot of those have ended etal remains. That class will be work- Categories of Membership up at the museum over the years. ing with our anatomical collection. $50 Kiva members receive 4 issues of Kiva, 12 issues of Glyphs, and all So, if someone finds a bone when What has been the most interesting current benefits they’re out jogging, what’s the pro- discovery of human remains in $40 Glyphs members receive Glyphs $35 Student Kiva members receive both Glyphs and Kiva cedure? We find out what land it’s your time here? I was actually very $75 Contributors receive Glyphs, Kiva, and all current benefits on. If it is on federal land, then the interested in the cemetery excavation $120 Supporters receive Glyphs, Kiva, and all current benefits federal agency is informed and they downtown (which began in 2006). I $300 Sponsors receive Glyphs, Kiva, and all current benefits take care of it. The federal law has was consulting with Statistical Re- $1,000 Lifetime members receive Glyphs, Kiva, and all current benefits very detailed procedures regarding search, Inc., who was in charge of For memberships outside the U.S., please add $20.00. that. If it’s on state land or private the excavations, and that was done For institutional membership, contact AltaMira Press at
Tucson, Arizona RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Permit No. 1161
The objectives of the Arizona Archaeo- logical and Historical Society are to encourage scholarly pursuits in areas of history and anthropology of the southwestern United States and north- ern Mexico; to encourage the preser- vation of archaeological and histori- cal sites; to encourage the scientific and legal gathering of cultural infor- mation and materials; to publish the results of archaeological, historical, and ethnographic investigations; to aid in the functions and programs of the Arizona State Museum, Univer- sity of Arizona; and to provide edu- cational opportunities through lec- tures, field trips, and other activities. See inside back cover for information about the Society’s programs and membership and subscription re- quirements.