National Museum of Natural History Bulletin for Teachers

Vol. 14 No. 2 Spring 1992 V ;,J i995 WHO GOT TO AMERICA FIRSTS ^VERY OLD QUESTION

As most of us are now very aware, 1992 is debate surrounds hypothetical later arrivals the 500th anniversary of Christopher in the New World, especially during the last Columbus' famous voyage to the "New 3000 years, and purportedly mainly from World." The assertion that Columbus locations to the east across the Atlantic. A "discovered" America when his trio of ships smaller of proponents look to trans- made a landfall in the Bahamas has been Pacific connections during this same period questioned, however, by a number of of time. What sort of evidence and how we concerned individuals. Native Americans evaluate it is the subject of concern for are understandably disturbed that their many anthropological scholars today. As priority of being the "first" Americans is our review will indicate, these are not new somehow challenged. Most scholars now questions, nor are they ones that can be insist that the first human settlers of this settled for "all time"—the same ones keep continent were indeed the ancestors of the reappearing over the centuries. contemporary Indian tribes. Their first migration (from Asia via the Bering Strait The century following Columbus' well- area) probably occurred more than 15,000 documented voyages, none of which actually years ago, with several more waves of reached North America, was one of ques- migrants arriving some thousands of years tioning too. Had Columbus reached Asia or later. the West Indies? Who were these inhabitants that met him as he stepped ashore? We still But if that is the widely-held explanation, refer to them as "Indians" because of the what is all the argument about? Most of the mistaken view that the islands, and later the

AT TH)S RATE IT'LL PRDBABC/ TAKE THEM 50O YEARS TO SORT IT 0OT- Page 2 Anthro Notes

mainland, were part of the Asian continent, populations spread across the globe. We can not a "New World" at all. Magellan's clearly tie all basic Native American origins circumnavigation of the world in the 1520s back to Asia, although we may quibble would establish the as about exactly at what time and with which a separate land mass, but then the question Asian groups they are genetically most arose as to the origin of the inhabitants. closely linked.

Here speculations ran wild. By the end of Second, we consider the cultures of the the century (1590) a Spanish church scholar, Native Americans, especially those aspects Joseph de Acosta, would publish a of culture that will allow a long look back marvelously well-constructed answer: the in time. In this case, linguistics, the study inhabitants of the New World came from of , is an important information Asia across a land bridge, arriving as source. Native American languages represent hunters, then developing agriculture and enormous diversity, much more so than in later high such as he had seen comparable areas in the Old World, where in Peru and . He specifically diversity has decreased over time. This discounted possible trans-Atlantic pattern of diversity suggests both internal connections to the Lost Tribes of Israel or diversification and repeated migrations the mythical sunken continent of Atlantis. from North Asia. According to one scholar, the degree of linguistic diversity in the New Modern scholars would agree with this World points to a history of "tens of Acosta scenario, but just about a decade millenia." later another Spanish cleric, Gregorio Garcia, wrote a two-volume work that Third, when we look at the artifactual would open the gates of migration to the content of New World cultures, we conclude Lost Tribes, to refugees from Atlantis, to that most of these myriad artifacts, covering Carthaginians from North Africa, and many thousands of years, are definitely of New more. He refused to be partial to any on his World origin, although certain aspects of long list, but they were almost all Trans- some material cultures do show north Asian Atlanteans, bringing seeds of connections, especially in the Paleo-Indian with them. Thus in 1607 the battle was period, 7-10,000 years ago. joined: the New World native cultures were either derived from land-based Asian Finally, we turn to a rather different migrants (Acosta) or transplanted from the category, that of the plants and animals Old World by trans-Atlantic seafarers associated with New World cultures. Here (Garcia). The argument has lasted until too just a few specific Asian connections today. exist: dogs are clearly long-time associates of humankind and quite surely accompanied METHODS OF INQUIRY some of the very first Americans from Siberia. Plants are quite another matter, The origin of the earth's inhabitants is a and here we are discussing agricultural central question in anthropology. The items only. All the major food plants, such answer is also one that requires careful as corn, potatoes, and beans, are derived evaluation of all the information available with the help of human intervention from to us each time the question is asked. native American domesticated plants. Only Acosta and Garcia were limited in the facts a few questionable items await further they had at hand, although both had lived study concerning a possible outside origin; in several parts of the New World before these are the bottle gourd and cotton. The addressing the problem—no armchair sweet potato, another enigma, seems to have scholars here. But what kind of evidence do gone from South America to Polynesia, just anthropologists bring to bear on such to confuse the issue. questions today? With those basics in place, we can enter the First, we look at the people themselves: what fray of evaluating other sources of evidence do they look like, whom do they resemble? for trans-oceanic connections with one Simple questions in the 1600s: outward certain understanding: if an hypothesis is appearances were all they had. Now in bolstered by strong emotional concerns, Biological Anthropology, we turn to almost everything can and will be believable sophisticated analysis of genetics and DNA to some supporters. Recognizing that each to try to see way back in time as human of us has a personal bias that influences our Page 3 Anthro Notes

own view of the world does not make us American Indians, not that of Trans- immune to its force, but at least we can Atlantean invaders. make a conscious attempt to make our evaluations as bias-free as possible. VIKINGS IN AMERICA

MOUNDBUILDERS However, there was much more than just mounds and Native Americans to argue Archaeological evidence to answer the about. By 1891 a volume entitled "America question of "Who Got Here First?" would Not Discovered by Columbus" by Rasmus B. necessarily have to await the development Anderson would contain a lengthy of the discipline of archaeology in North bibliography with some 350 sources on the America. Thomas Jefferson is very often topic. It listed claims of America's cited as the "father" of American discovery by Chinese, Arabs, Welsh, archaeology, and he certainly attempted one Venetians, Portuguese, and Poles. However, of the first archaeological explanations of the majority of these references supported the question when he wrote in his famous the notion of Vikings as the ones who got "Notes on Virginia" (1787) about an Indian here first in the race across the Atlantic. Mound that he had excavated some years This hypothesis came into being more than before. However, his strongest evidence to 150 years ago, and really had only the support his belief in an Asian origin (via literary evidence from the Norse Sagas to the Bering Strait) of the Native Americans support the idea. was from his study of Indian languages. He cited the diversity of these languages as Not that it was not a worthwhile idea. Few proof that they had been here a long time. doubted that Vikings in North America could or did happen. There just was no Other scholars joined Jefferson in this well archaeological evidence to prove it. Again thought-out view. Yet, in the early frauds came to the rescue; if you can't nineteenth century the westward expansion discover the data you need, just of settlement into the Ohio Valley produced manufacture it! Thus was born the fake a great deal more archaeological evidence Kensington Rune Stone in the 1890s and from Indian Mounds. As interpreted by the "salting" of the Beardmore site in some new voices, the accumulating data Canada with real Norse artifacts to be used supported the supposition that these mounds to support a pre-Columbian Norse presence and the rather elaborate artifacts found in in North America. But good archaeology by them were made by the exotic "Mound- Helge Ingstad would finally come to the builders," purportedly an advanced and fore in 1960 with the right answer: Norse extinct culture not connected to Native ruins at L'Anse Aux Meadows on the Peoples. The hypothesis spawned some very northern tip of NewFoundland, complete popular books, such as those by Josiah Priest with sod huts and artifacts such as a brass (1833), that were fanciful in their pin, a soapstone spindle whorl and iron interpretations and careless in their nails, all dated to about AD 1000. Was it the evaluation of the data. home of Leif Erickson? Archaeologists are not sure, but we know that the Vikings The voice of reason came from Samuel certainly made it to the New World long Haven in a Smithsonian- sponsored volume before Columbus. (1856) that supported the Bering Strait hypothesis and called some of the wilder OTHER SOURCES OF NEW WORLD notions "Vagaries." We now know that much INFLUENCES of the Moundbuilder hypothesis was based on fraudulent documents, such as the Grave With an affirmative reply to the Viking Creek and Davenport inscriptions, which presence, one might think that much else tried to give support for literate Trans- might logically follow. What about Chinese Atlantean cultures making inroads on the voyagers in junks across the Pacific, Lost prehistory of the Ohio and Mississippi Tribes from Israel still looking for a Valleys. It just wasn't so, and again thanks homeland, Phoenicians from the to the Smithsonian's major research project Mediterranean, Celts from Ireland or Wales, of Mound Exploration under John W. or West Africans in Mexico? Well, all of the Powell, the Moundbuilder Myth was laid to above and more have been suggested by rest by 1900. The mounds, the earthworks, various writers in the twentieth century and the artifacts were the handiwork of alone. Some of the best known authors Page 4 Anthro Notes

among recent long-range diffusionists are other figurative pieces of that are Harold Gladwin, Barry Fell, and Ivan Van thought to depict foreign visitors or to Sertima. resemble the artistic work of non-New World cultures such as the colossal Olmec First, let us consider whether or not such head discussed in Professor Grove's article voyages were possible during the last 3000 in this issue. years. The answer is a very strong yes. The maritime exploits of the Polynesians during The inscriptions in a wide variety of this period are well-known and documented purported Old World scripts have been by excellent archaeology in the Pacific. found from one coast to the other, in the They colonized the entire eastern Pacific Rocky Mountains to the suburbs of Tucson, area. Much earlier (50,000 years ago) Arizona, from the Maine coast to the Great migrants from Southeast Asia made their Basin of Nevada and Utah. Many of the way to the great island continent of New inscriptions contain mixed texts with Guinea/Australia; part of that trek quite symbols of different times and origins. probably included water crossings. These finds also share another unusual characteristic; none have produced any Some of the proposed trans-Atlantic nearby artifacts or associated living areas. crossings were supposedly made by cultures They stand alone as sentinels of the past known to have had maritime skills. Indeed with no archaeological context— a very the fact that Atlantic crossings (especially strange situation. Who left them? How did in summer) in small boats, even in solo the ancient voyagers travel so far without attempts, have been successfully made is leaving a single trace other than these well-known. The Pacific, too, has been inscriptions? Why did they do it? conquered in recent times, but with a fair Unanswered questions and important to number of casualties, although the latter consider. One set of inscriptions with fact is not as well advertised. So we may accompanying artifacts are the Michigan accept that it can and could have been done Relics or Soper Frauds manufactured by with the maritime expertise available from James A. Scotford between 1890 and 1920. 1000 B.C. on, although the modern successes Although debunked for decades, these have benefitted from navigational and pseudo-cuneiform messages are still being safety aids not available to all would-be deciphered today. travelers in earlier times. The study of stone and ceramic But what is the basic evidence for this to prove foreign connections has flourished multitutde of ocean-crossings to the New in , the area of high culture in World that some chroniclers now insist took Central America. Here these works of art place in the past? There is certainly no are thought to demonstrate bearded biological evidence that can be used to voyagers from abroad, and in the case of the support any such trips. One would have to great stone heads from Vera Cruz, Mexico admit that additions to the New World gene (some are eight to ten feet in diameter), they pool by these shiploads of mariners might are thought to confirm trans-Atlantic travel be hard to detect; modern studies of from Africa to Mesoamerica and the Olmec prehistoric human skeletal remains in the at approximately 700 B.C. This African New World have not shown any identifiable origins hypothesis has been supported for evidence, either, to support the presence of several decades by Prof. such overseas visitors. of Rutgers University, and is, in my opinion, based on a mixture of ethnic pride Save for the Norse finds discussed above, no and personal bias. The facial features of important archaeological discoveries have these heads in particular were thought to been made, if one means intrusive sites with represent Africans, however, they are also buildings, artifacts, and trash heaps similar to the features of many Native attributable to such voyagers. The evidence Americans from the Olmec area. Any that has been used to support these hyper- resemblance between the peoples of West diffusionist claims falls into two major Africa and Mesoamerica is more likely due categories: 1) inscriptions found either on to common adaptation to tropical conditions cliffs, on rocks, or artifacts, or on crude than a closely shared ancestry. stone structures where no other pertinent artifacts are found (ex. Dighton Rock in (continued on p. 13) Massachusetts), and 2) stone sculptures and Page 5 Anthro Notes

TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHING looking at it through the eyes of the ETHNOGRAPHIC INTERVIEWING members themselves. Instead of going to the field with predefined problems, hypotheses and questions as many social Interviewing has been taught Ethnographic scientists do, ethnographers try to elicit an as a regular semester-long course at understanding of what is going on from the College for the past 22 years. Macalester actors themselves. They try to avoid is designed to enable students The course projecting their own cultural categories or little anthropological background with or no interpretations onto the world of their successfully elicit to "enter the field" and informants. They play the part of students; of American cultural data from members an cultural informants become teachers. microculture. Although the course stresses standard interviewing as a field technique, Ethnographic Interviewing uses a focused part of and participant observation can be ethnographic approach called ethno-science the ethnographic process. The purpose of to involve students in a series of clearly the course is to enhance student defined learning steps. These steps require understanding of what culture is and how students first to identify a microculture, it functions for members of a group, as well then choose a cultural informant, conduct as to acquaint students with a valuable a series of interviews, ask three kinds of field Classes are largely qualitative method. ethnographic questions, record and analyze solving, rather than devoted to problem ethnographic data, discover cultural themes, lecturing or discussions of reading. and finally write an ethnographic report. Although each student investigates a CULTURE AND ETHNOGRAPHY different microculture, teaching the ethnographic method one step at a time When students begin the ethnographic means that all students will encounter at interviewing course, I give them a detailed least some of the same fieldwork problems syllabus describing course goals and a at the same time. What follows is a sequence of research tasks. The first task discussion of these steps. is for students to read about the concept of culture and its place in ethnographic CHOOSING A MICROCULTURE research. I use a so-called "cognitive" definition of culture (one that culture sees To conduct ethnography, students must find as a form of knowledge) for this course a particular culture to study; choosing a because I think it gives a clearer idea of culture depends on the ability to spot what students should look for they when culture-bearing groups. Since Macalester interview. I define culture as the learned courses only last for three and one-half knowledge that members of a group use to months, I ask my students to study the generate behavior and interpret experience. culture of smaller groups called This definition stresses culture is that microcultures because they are more knowledge, not behavior or material goods. It argues that culture is learned and not inherited genetically. It says culture is shared by members of a group; it is not knowledge unique to an individual. Although culture is knowledge, not behavior, it is intimately tied to action. The definition asserts that group members use culture to generate behavior because culture provides a framework of rules to guide appropriate activity. Similarly, culture permits members of groups to interpret their surroundings and the actions of others. It provides the categories, rules, and plans by which group members conduct their lives.

Ethnography is the task of discovering and describing a culture. Ethnographers try to IDENTIFVIN6 A MICROCULTURE/ learn about the behavior of a group by lUyiHMl- Anthro Notes

manageable for the amount of time. they will find it easier to spot unfamiliar Cultures come in different sizes, and some cultural elements. Finally, I urge students are found inside others. For example, to stay away from microcultures they are citizens of the United States share a already a part of because it is often national culture, the cultural knowledge difficult for them to switch roles from that sets them off as Americans. Americans group member to outside interviewer. may also be part of a major ethnic subgroup, such as African Americans or Most of my students choose a microculture Mexican Americans. We often call these and then look for an informant. An subcultures. There are, however, many informant is someone who belongs to a other, smaller groups found inside the larger particular culture and willingly teaches the ones that members participate in only part anthropologist about that culture. of the time. I call these microcultures and Informants can make or break the research make them the focus of the ethnography experience. It is wise to find an informant course because they are common, interesting who is verbal, available, knowledgeable and easy to access. Occupational groups, about his or her microculture, and interested such as a group of bank tellers, can be in being interviewed. called microcultures. So can recreational groups, such as a local chapter of a I usually limit students to a single motorcycle riding association; educational informant each semester because they lack groups, such as the third graders at a nearby the time to establish rapport with more than school; kinship groups, such as nuclear or one. Students recruit informants from the extended families; or political action groups, community surrounding the college or may such as a local chapter of the Sierra Club. even find other students or family members Macalester students have studied the to interview. Often they approach an cultures of hairdressers, bouncers, midwives, informant "cold turkey." For example, last real estate agents, buckskinners (people who semester a student who wished to know come together to create life as it was in the about tattooist culture simply went into the 1840s frontier), emergency room doctors, tattoo parlor and asked the tattooist if she homeless shelter residents, sound would be willing to engage in a series of technicians, musicians, airline pilots, camp interviews. Many students find informants counselors, zoo keepers, car salesmen, by enlisting the aid of a go-between. One custodians, and hundreds more. student found a zoo keeper through a friend who knew one. Still other students approach I warn students to keep several things in research by thinking of someone who would mind as they choose microcultures because make a good informant, then asking that some are easier to study than others. It is person what microculture they know about. easier to study enduring, clearly structured microcultures because informants recall ETHICS AND BEGINNING THE STUDY them more clearly. It is wise to avoid microcultures associated with public When students begin their ethnography, they relations or ideologies such as religion, have to be open about what they intend to because informants will give a "party line" do, and they have to recognize their own rather than good "inside cultural" ethical responsibilities. I require students information. Since informants remember to tell informants that they are Macalester better what they are doing at the moment, students doing a research project in an it is easier to study currently operating anthropology class. I also have them read microcultures. Since the ethnoscience the statement on ethics published by the interviewing method depends on discovering American Anthropological Association. I the inside of informants, it is stress the importance of protecting the better to study social microcultures, which informant at all costs. This often means promote regular conversation, and ones covering the real identity of people and characterized by the use of English. It is places and refraining from inquiry into harder to study "up" than "down" when you damaging subjects. Finally, I will not do ethnography; bank presidents are more permit students to study illegal guarded than bank tellers. Artistic cultures microcultures, although many find them are difficult to interview because so much interesting. The risks to the students of the culture of art and music is tacit and themselves are much too great. "felt." I also suggest that students look at microcultures they know little about because Page 7 Anthro Notes

RESEARCH STEPS grand tour question. "Could you describe what brokers do when they call clients?" The interviewing process is divided into would be a minitour question. So would, three steps: discovering folk categories, "Could you describe the cage for me?" eliciting taxonomic structure, and finding Informants then go into more detail about attributional meaning [see "Doing these things, using additional and often Ethnography at Macalester College" in the more precise folk terms. Winter 1992 issue of Anthro.Notes]. These steps relate to the central thesis of Story questions and native language ethnoscience that a significant part of questions are also kinds of descriptive people's culture is coded in language. If you questions. "Has anything unusual happened can learn the words people use, place closely to you or other brokers recently?" would be related words in taxonomies and determine an example of a story question. Stories their meaning, you can gather a great deal often yield a wealth of folk terms. Native about a culture quickly and systematically. language questions are used to check Let's look at these steps one at a time. whether or not a particular word is really a folk term, one used by members of the Discovering categories. I teach my students culture. "If you were talking to another that human cultural knowledge is stored in broker, would you refer to that place as the thousands of mental categories. For cage?" would be an example of such a example, grass is the name for a category of question. plant growing in front of my house. Although each little plant is slightly I have students tape record interviews and different, I and my neighbors can transcribe them completely, so they don't efficiently talk about the plants by miss folk terms. After they have completed categorizing them as a single kind of thing. their first interview, I have them make an We call the words used to name categories overhead transparency of the first page of folk terms. their interview and show it to the class. They discuss with their classmates how their The first step in the interviewing process is interview went and ask for help with to discover folk terms. To do this, students problems. This gives students a feel for ask a kind of ethnographic question. different interviewing and informant styles, Descriptive questions are any questions and a sense of involvement in each other's designed to get informants talking about work. their cultural worlds using their own folk terms. Since ethnographers try to elicit the Discovering Taxonomic Order. The next step informant's viewpoint, descriptive questions in the research process is to discover try not to lead. To elicit folk terms, the taxonomic structure for folk terms. The best strategy is to ask about what people do, task derives from the fact that some folk not what they think or what their opinions categories classify other categories by a are. single relationship. We call the larger categories domains. For example, at the The most general descriptive question and brokerage office, the domain "broker" is a one which students ask first is the grand cover term for "big hitters," "rookies," tour question. This asks about an "brokers" (average brokers), and the informant's average day or about the layout "manager." Together these terms form a of a particular place. For example, when small taxonomy, which is a hierarchical asked what he did from the time he arrived chart based on the inclusion of some terms at work until he left, a stock broker by others and on the notion that terms on described arriving at the "office," stopping any level contrast with each other. One by the "cage" to pick up his mail, reading his student, Sharon Saydah, recently elicited the "writes" and "confirms," "posting his books," a taxonomy of kinds of customers from a reading the "Journal," and "calling clients." car salesman. Customers or buyers could be All these are folk terms for stock broker divided into 14 categories including mom categories. and pop (empty nestors), engineer (pipe smokers), parents with high school grad, Once the initial grand tour is completed, guys wearing Raiders jackets (gang student ethnographers ask minitour members), outstaters (weekenders), brochure questions, which are questions about some collectors, and first time buyers. To create of the folk terms they learned from the taxonomies, students must look for domain Page 8 Anthro Notes

cover terms. Plural nouns often give clues taxonomy, then ask attribute questions as the term customers indicates above and about them to elicit dimensions of contrast. the relationship "kinds of" implies. I also Questions might ask informants the have my students look for taxonomies built difference between two terms, or to take on other relationships in addition to "kinds three terms and point out which two are of"; for example, "ways to" do things, "steps most alike and how they differ from the in" doing things, or "parts of" things. third. Another good attribute question asks informants which categories are best and To fill out taxonomies, I have students use why. The "why" question should yield sets taxonomic or structural questions. If they of important attributes. already have discovered a domain and a relationship, they can ask descending When they are done, students display their structural questions. For example, once she attributes and original contrast set in discovered the term "customers," Sharon paradigms, which are charts designed for Saydah asked "What kinds of customers are this purpose. A paradigm of the contrast there?" which is a typical descending set, "kinds of securities," elicited from a structural question. If students discover a stock broker, would look like this. list of things that all appear to be related in the same way, they can ask an ascending Paradigm of Kinds of Securities structural question to discover the domain that ties them together, such as "What do all Kinds of Safety Return Capital Insured these terms have in common?" Securities Gain

After a second and third interview, using a bonds high medium sometimes no mixture of descriptive and structural stocks lower low yes no questions, I have students construct a CDs v.high medium no yes taxonomy to show to the class. Since it is easy to include information in a taxonomy In this paradigm, the original contrast set is that does not belong, discussion about the three kinds of securities (bonds, stocks, taxonomic problems can take substantial and CDs); the dimensions of contrast are time. "safety," "return," "capital gain," and "insurance"; the actual attributes for each Discovering Attributional Meaning. So far, all kind of security (high, low, medium, etc.) that students may know about some of the are listed in the chart. terms they have collected is what they sound like and how they relate to other terms in THE PAPER a taxonomy. The final interview step involves discovering more about what terms Once students have completed the various mean by finding out the important research steps, I ask them to continue attributes that relate to them and that help interviewing, using all the kinds of distinguish between the terms. For ethnographic questions as they apply. They example, one student found from a touring continue to record interviews and build motorcycle club member that a 1991 their data base. Toward the end of the Interstate is a kind of Honda Gold Wing semester, I have each student look for the motorcycle (its place in a taxonomy) that problems or adaptive challenges that his or has an opposed six cylinder engine, is water her particular culture seems designed to cooled and shaft driven, is very smooth, is handle. For example, the railroad very heavy, has a comfortable seat, has a switchman culture studied by one student radio but no cruise control or CB, is very seemed largely organized to manage the reliable, handles well, and has large luggage problem of managing time and relations to capacity. All of these are important an uncaring employer. Stock broker culture attributes that give the Interstate meaning seemed to adapt brokers to the need to buy in the culture of touring club members. and sell stock for valued clients in an uncertain market better suited to long-term I tell my students that it is easier to elicit holding. Again, I ask students to make lists detailed attributes of terms if you have of "cultural problems" and share these with informants compare and contrast a set of closely related categories, and this is where (continued on p.14) taxonomies come in. I have my students take a "contrast set" of categories from a Page 9 Anthro Notes

UPDATING OLMEC periods. Within that span of more than 2000 years, Mesoamerica witnessed the change PREHISTORY from simple agrarian societies to state-level, urbanized population aggregates. Much of the evolution and spread of cultural The hot and humid lowland tropical forests complexity during the Early and Middle of Mexico's southern Gulf coast seem an Formative traditionally has been credited to unlikely environment to nurture early steps the , commonly regarded as the to civilization. However, from about 1150 dominant and influential cultural force of to 500 BC that region's riverine floodplains their age. and adjacent low uplands were the domain of the Olmecs, whose magnificent stone monuments and ancient ruins lay hidden for centuries beneath jungle vegetation. Eight years of research, initiated in 1938 by Smithsonian archaeologist , uncovered fabulous Olmec stone carvings, objects, and mound architecture. Coming from a region commonly thought inhospitable and marginal, the finds perplexed scholars. More perplexing was the great antiquity Stirling assigned to his discoveries. The sophistication of the Olmecs seemed out of place in both time and space. While their apparent precocity soon led scholars to perceive them as Mesoamerica's first civilization and "mother culture" to all of its later civilizations, the origins of their Olmec scholarship was initiated with complexity, and of the Olmecs themselves, Matthew Stirling's pioneering research in seemed puzzling. southern and states. Particularly significant were his 1942 and Today, a half century later, access roads 1943 excavations at . Drawn to crisscross much of the area, and most of the the site by the presence of Olmec colossal tropical forest vegetation has been removed stone heads, thrones ("altars"), and stellate, for cattle ranching, sugarcane production, Stirling and his associate Philip Drucker and petroleum exploitation. In this new focused their investigations on a large plaza light, and with a greater understanding of immediately to the north of the site's tall early agricultural societies throughout (32.3 m) earthen pyramid. Their finds were Mesoamerica, scholars are reevaluating and astounding. Excavating along the plaza's clarifying many of the traditional centerline, they uncovered colored clay interpretations regarding the Olmecs. While floors, caches of polished celts, these ancient people were unquestionably jade a carved stone sarcophagus in the form of an precocious and the creators of many Olmec supernatural creature ("tigre") and a sophisticated works of art, their rise and large "log" tomb built of columnar . fall, religion, interactions with other peoples, Burial paraphernalia—jade jewelry and and legacy to subsequent civilizations are figurines— lay on the floor. understood quite differently today than tomb Excavations previously imagined. beneath a nearby revealed an immense (27 m) EARLY RESEARCH AND PERCEPTIONS serpentine mosaic pavement. The multitude of stone objects was extraordinary for a locale bereft of stone resources. The foundations of Mesoamerica's great civilizations were laid during the Formative Whereas scholars now realize that those (or Preclassic) period. Primarily on the magnificent discoveries date to the basis of marked extra-regional changes in culmination of Olmec complexity (about 700 certain common ceramic and figurine types, to 500 BC), they were uncovered at a time archaeologists have subdivided the Formative when little else was known of the Olmecs, into Early (2000 to 900 BC), Middle (900 to and dating was uncertain. The finds 500 BC), and Late (500 BC to AD 100) Page 10 Anthro Notes

became an archetype for defining the Complicating such research is the fact that Olmecs and for drawing comparisons with all four are large, multi-component sites, other early Mesoamerican societies, who with centuries of significant post-Olmec consequently appear less sophisticated. That settlement and mound-building. Post-Olmec perception strongly influenced archaeo- deposits frequently obscure all Olmec logical interpretations throughout remains, and visible site size and mound Mesoamerica for decades thereafter. configuration cannot be assumed to follow Olmec period patterns. That, together with THE OLMECS the lack of detailed chronologies, makes it currently impossible to generate The magnificent stone monuments found at comparative assessments of the relative size Olmec sites make their society recognizably and power of individual centers at unique among Mesoamerica's early particular moments in the course of Olmec agriculturalists. Particularly striking are prehistory. colossal heads, three-dimensional portraits in stone of various Olmec rulers. The Among the architectural features at both La motifs incorporated into many of their head Venta and San Lorenzo are parallel earthen coverings seem idiosyncratic to those mound arrangements that excavators suggest individuals, i.e., they may represent simple were courts for the rubber-ball game. In the "naming" devices. Identified rulership is, in such games have great antiquity, fact, perhaps the most important aspect of particularly among societies in the tropics, all forms of Olmec monuments. Those the source of . Rubber was rulers are shown seated in the frontal niches produced on the Gulf coast in pre-Hispanic of the great Olmec table-top thrones, seated times, and it is not surprising that the and standing in three-dimensional statues, Olmecs also participated in such games. and in bas-relief on large stelae. Amazingly, several rubber balls were recently discovered together with other Olmec monuments are clustered in and Olmec objects (including more than two around four large sites. Two of them, La dozen carved wooden heads), preserved in Venta and San Lorenzo, are adjacent to the mud of an ancient spring at the site of major rivers and flood plains. To the west, El Manati, near San Lorenzo. in contrast, Laguna de los Cerros and are on upland plains extending Although four major centers can be outward from the Tuxtla Mountains. Their identified, the remaining political hierarchy abundant monuments led to the discovery of within the Olmec domain is poorly each of the four sites and are one of several understood. The farmers, the majority of reasons leading archaeologists to believe the Olmec population, probably would have that those sites were the major regional lived in villages and hamlets lacking Olmec political-religious centers. monumental art and public mound architecture. Those settlements are far more Today's archaeological knowledge of the difficult to discover in a region of dense Olmecs comes almost exclusively from grasses, sugarcane, and centuries of alluvial excavations of limited areas of La Venta deposits. Thus, the current understanding and San Lorenzo. Both are riverine sites, of the Olmecs is biased toward large centers, constructed above the flood plains on low monumental art, and impressive ritual hilltops which the Olmecs leveled and offerings. Beyond the knowledge that the remodeled over time. Originally thought of achievements at the centers were supported as vacant ceremonial complexes supporting by a population subsisting primarily on only a small priestly population, recent slash and burn agriculture, little more research projects at those sites have actively can said of general lifeways or subsistence sought and located abundant household practice. remains, and the sites are better viewed as the remains of thriving communities. ORIGIN OF THE OLMECS However, despite the work of various research projects, the actual nature of the When archaeologists renewed excavations at four major centers themselves and the La Venta in 1955 and still found no clear layout and organization of their public local antecedents to that site's sophisticated mound architecture are poorly understood. material culture, they nonetheless Page 11 Anthro Notes

recognized that the missing precursors might customarily been attributed to non-Olmec be found elsewhere on the site or within the invaders or to internal Gulf coast Olmec domain. However, others perceived revolutions. The iconoclasm is often said to the "absence" differently and looked to have occurred twice during the Olmecs' distant areas of Mesoamerica where Olmec- prehistory once ca. 900 BC and again ca. like artifacts had been found, hypothesizing 500 BC—coincident with the end of the origins there [or overseas: see this issue's Early and Middle Formative periods. lead article]. Because the Olmec territory had barely been explored, such pronounce- However, the monument destruction follows ments were unquestionably premature. The a very regular pattern over many centuries Olmec's antecedents became much clearer and across great distances and seems to have two decades ago, when excavations at San been a relatively continuous rather than Lorenzo uncovered a lengthy stratigraphic sporadic act. It seems more probable today record which included more than four that monument breakage was carried out by centuries of pre-Olmec occupation showing the Olmecs themselves for symbolic, sacred, an in situ evolution into the basic complex or ritual purposes. Many monuments are of ceramics and stone art that archaeologists associated with specific rulers and some identify as Olmec. Comparably early evidence indicates that a ruler's monuments materials have recently been recovered from may have been destroyed at his death. Two sites on ancient river levees near La Venta. of the colossal stone heads at San Lorenzo were recently found to have been resculpted Linguists now suggest that the Gulf coast out of large rectangular Olmec thrones ancestors to the Olmecs were speakers of a which implies that some throne mutilation proto-Mixe-Zoquean language and, may actually have been a functional, therefore, linguistically related to requisite step in converting them into contemporaneous peoples of the Pacific colossal portrait heads. coast of , Mexico. Such a probable relationship is also supported by strong EXTERNAL RELATIONS similarities between the early of San Lorenzo and of coastal Chiapas at ca. 1500 Many of the Early Formative ceramics and BC. Because scholars once thought the Middle Formative objects labeled Olmecs had spoken a Mayan language, it is as Olmec in museums, archaeological interesting to note that about 700 BC some collections and books, were actually found Maya-like "influences" do appear in Gulf at sites far distant from the Gulf coast. coast pottery. It is not implausible, Such artifacts are similar in form and therefore, that the Olmecs' language iconographic motifs to those used by the underwent some "Mayanization." Olmecs, and for decades they have been MONUMENTS, WARFARE, AND REVOLUTIONS SOLVING THE MNSTTEfMES OF THE OLMEC Although warfare and disputes between Olmec centers or with neighboring societies undoubtedly occurred, such events are not currently evident in the archaeological record. The one data set that has customarily been interpreted as reflecting such violence— monument mutilation—has in all probability been misunderstood. The Olmecs' magnificent stone monumental art is nearly always found purposely damaged and mutilated. Heads and arms are missing from statues of rulers, faces have been ground away from bas-relief carvings and massive fragments have been knocked off table-top thrones. Only the colossal portrait .SO THE. TRAVtLUM6 SALESIMW SA)b TO THC " heads survived relatively unscathed. The HORT»Cl>L-N;R\STS t>AU6HTER... mutilation of the monuments has Page 12 Anthro Notes

interpreted as representing influences or supernatural animals which are represented trade from the Olmecs. Implicit in those both as semi-naturalistic creatures and as interpretations is the belief that the Olmecs highly abstracted motifs. They apparently originated and dispersed those motifs and represent the two major aspects of the objects. Some scholars are now questioning Earth's surface upon which humans live: the traditional interpretation. They point land and water. Land seems to have been out that the artifacts in question are not conceptualized as a crocodilian floating in uncommon and always constitute an integral the primordial sea, and the motifs part of local assemblages. This perspective predominant in pottery depict that treats the objects as locally created crocodilian or caiman-like Earth/earthly manifestations of a common Mesoamerican fertility supernatural. It is most commonly symbolic substratum which each society, rendered as a stylized abstraction consisting including the Olmecs, used and modified only of its head in right profile (eye, flame- somewhat differently. It does not presume like supra-orbital plate, and upper a priori that the motifs and artifacts are in mandible) and one foot or paw. The any way associated with the Olmecs, nor supernatural's upper mandible was used does it necessarily credit the Olmecs with alone as a common symbol for the Earth's influencing societal evolution across surface. The carved stone sarcophagus, Mesoamerica. The newer non-traditional which Stirling unearthed at La Venta, perspective can be called multi-regional as represents one of the finest portrayals of opposed to the long-standing Gulf coast- this saurian. centric view. Whichever position one takes, current archaeological data and dating The second supernatural is associated with methods lack the precision to resolve the water, appropriately characterized by a issue. fishlike body. Interestingly, it often has two sharklike features, a black U-shaped RELIGION AND COSMOLOGY eye and a large protruding front tooth. Because it is normally executed as a highly The Olmecs' religion included cosmological abstracted motif, it was only recently beliefs common to many Formative period identified. Actual sharks' teeth found in societies and can be partially reconstructed ritual context at La Venta, together with from consistent patterns in the iconography some iconographic evidence, suggests that found on Early Formative pottery and this supernatural may have been related to Middle Formative greenstone objects. The ritual bloodletting. cosmos incorporated two basic realms: the world of humans--the Earth's surface—and The cosmology, rendered in material form an extra-dimensional otherworld, a realm and used to graphically sanctify various with both celestial and underworld aspects groups or activities within society, evolved that was the abode of supernatural forces. concurrently with social complexity. By 900 Peoples across Mesoamerica believed that BC it began to reflect a transformation certain geographic features of their underway in Mesoamerican societies, the landscape were sacred, particularly emergence of more powerful elite groups. mountains, caves, clefts in the Earth's A third supernatural animal, the serpent, surface, and bodies of water. Such features became important at that time, but only in were thresholds to the otherworld and its the artistic media controlled by those elite supernatural forces. Sacred landmarks were groups. The serpent was a symbol closely also symbolically replicated and associated with rulership. incorporated into the building programs of the ceremonial centers. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OLMECS?

Early identifications of feline features and The end of the Olmecs may seem puzzling, in the art of the Olmecs but only because the archaeological seemed logical when first proposed, but stratigraphic record for that period on the were incorrect and thus led to decades of Gulf coast, ca. 500 to 300 BC, is almost non- misunderstanding of the complex existent. Their demise, however, may have iconography. The most recent research been nothing more than evolutionary. suggests that the motifs on Early Formative pottery primarily depict two very un-f eline (continued on p. 14, col. 2) "

Page 13 Anthro Notes

("Who Got to America First?" cont'd from years. Instead, it was small bands of Native P.4) Americans who first "discovered" the New World via the Bering Strait many thousands The hypothesis that important cultural of years earlier. At present, although transfer from West Africa to Mesoamerica certainly not an impossible hypothesis, there occurred was first put forward by Prof. Leo is no credible evidence so far discovered Wiener of Harvard University in several that links any of the oft-cited Trans- books published between 1920 and 1926. A Atlanteans with any archaeological professor of Slavic languages, Wiener discoveries in North America. As far as is thought that he had discovered important now known, the Native Americans were the linkages based on "sound-a-like" masters of their own fate. They produced resemblances between the languages of the their myriad diverse cultures throughout the two areas. He also found what he New World independent of foreign considered to be other important intervention. comparative resemblances in materials as varied as women's hair styles and tobacco FOR FURTHER READING: pipes. Fagan, Brian M Ancient North America: The Wiener's researches were the impetus for Archaeology of a Continent. New York: Prof. Van Sertima's own involvement with Thames and Hudson, 1991. this topic, and they now form an important bit of data for Afro-centrist historical Radner, Daisie and Michael Radner. Science arguments. Unfortunately current and Unreason. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, archaeological research in Mesoamerica fails 1982. to support any of the claims of Wiener and Van Sertima for direct connections between Williams, Stephen. Fantastic Archaeology: the two areas. Where were the African The Wild Side of North American landfalls in Mesoamerica, and why are there Prehistory. Philadelphia: University of no African cultural artifacts observable in Pennsylvania Press, 1991. the well-excavated sites of the Olmec of the Mexican coast? [Furthermore, the new Stephen Williams chronology for the development of Olmec Peabody Museum culture places its beginnings considerably Harvard University before 700 BC (see 's article).]

[Editor's Note: More detailed discussions of the Kensington Rune Stone, Viking discovery of America, and Barry Fell theories are available from the Anthropology Outreach and Public Information Office, NHB MRC 112, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560.]

"RETHINKING COLUMBUS"

1 WELL , I OOMT THIMK ITS $0 DAH6 WW VTEI?IOL>S Rethinking Columbus, a special edition of Rethinking Schools, consists of essays and resources for teaching about the Quincen- tenary. Published in collaboration with the Network of Educators on Central America, this issue provides teachers and students Until we have solid archaeological evidence with a Native perspective. Write: to support other hypotheses, it can be said Rethinking Schools, 1001 E. Keefe Ave., quite clearly that, No, Columbus was not the Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212; or call (414) first to find America, nor were the Vikings, 964-9646. although they beat Christopher by about 500 Page 14 Anthro Notes

("Ethnographic Interviewing" cont'd from "Unpublished Macalester College Paper, p. 8) 1991.

the class. I also ask students to look for cultural themes, the general propositions or David W. McCurdy core values that seem to tie different parts Department of Anthropology of an informant's cultural knowledge Macalester College together. St. Paul, Minnesota

The final product of student research is an ethnographic paper organized around some * * * * general observations about a micro-culture, but a paper that also contains ample cultural illustrations in the form of descriptions, ("Updating Olmec Prehistory" cont'd from taxonomies, paradigms, and informant P. 12) quotes. If the paper is successful, the reader ought to be able to see the world, including Viewing the archaeological record is akin its challenges and solutions, through the to viewing an incomplete photographic the informant like the eyes of and people record of someone's life. In one snapshot informant. I feci the course is successful if you may see a teenager, and in the next an after students have taken it they walk into adult who looks somewhat like the teenager new situations and ask themselves, "I but the transition is missing. When did the wonder what the inside rules are around teenager end and the adult begin? The here? What am I supposed to do and say Olmecs are known and identified by a series and why?" of specific pottery types, figurines, and monuments. It is not unlikely that over Recently I visited a local restaurant where several centuries those "defining" I found one of my ex-students waiting on characteristics were gradually replaced by tables. She came over and quietly spoke to new material features and social symbols, me. "You are sitting in section six. This the Olmecs simply evolving out of their section has the most 'customers' during Olmecness. The next glimpse of Gulf coast 'evening rush,' is good if you want to make prehistory shows us Tres Zapotes again, 'high tips,' is too far from the kitchen for which continued to be occupied and which comfort, and requires you to walk around maintained a modified monument tradition, an awkward corner to reach it." Only a as one descendant of the Olmecs. Even the student who is also an ethnographer would Classic period Maya appear to carry an say a thing like that! Olmec legacy in their cultural baggage, particularly in their basic cosmos, use of ADDITIONAL READINGS: monumental art to communicate political cosmology, and use of certain symbols of Spradley, James P. and David W. McCurdy, royal power in art and hieroglyphs. The Cultural Experience: Research in Complex Society. Chicago: SRA 1972. [A longer version of this article can be Reissued by Waveland Press, 1988. This found in National Geographic Research and book contains four chapters for students Exploration, vol 8, no. 2, pp. 148-165, 1992.] describing how to do ethnographic research as well as 12 papers by FOR FURTHER READING Macalester undergraduates, which serve as examples. Benson, Elizabeth, ed. The Olmec and Their Neighbors. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Spradley, James P., The Ethnographic Oaks, 1981. Interview, New York: Holt 1979. A more detailed, step-by-step set of instructions Coe, Michael D. America's First Civilization: for doing ethnography based on teaching Discovering the Olmec. New York: experiences at Macalester College. American Heritage Publishing Co., 1968.

Reference cited: Coe, Michael D., and Diehl, Richard A. In the Land of the Olmec, vol. 1, The Sharon Saydah, "Closing the Deal: Archaeology of San Lorenzo . Ethnography of Car Salespeople. Austin: University of Press, 1980. Anthro Notes

Grove, David C. : Excavations Sharer, Robert J., and Grove, David C, eds. on the Olmec Frontier. London: Thames Regional Perspectives on the Olmec. and Hudson, 1984. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Rust, W. F., and Sharer, R. J. "Olmec Settlement Data from La Venta, Tabasco, David C. Grove Mexico." Science 242:102-104, 1988. Department of Anthropology University of Illinois

Elementary Level TEACHING MATERIALS FOR "SEEDS Science Weekly offers 16 issues devoted to OF CHANGE" the five seeds of change: corn, potato, disease, the horse, and sugar. Each issue is Helpful teaching materials are available in written for seven learning levels of conjunction with "Seeds of Change," The increasing difficulty so that teachers can Smithsonian Institution Exhibition select the level most appropriate for their commemorating the Quincentennial of students. Each issue contains appealing Columbus's voyages. A panel version of the color graphics, puzzles, a lab, vocabulary, a exhibit, organized by SITES (Smithsonian problem, a challenge, and writing for Institution Traveling Exhibition Service) science exercises. To order, write: and the American Library Association Subscription Department, P.O. Box 70154, (ALA), will travel to approximately 60 sites Washington, DC 20088-0154, or call (301) around the country. For information, write: 680-8804. Cost: more than 20, $3.95 per year. American Library Association, 50 East Huron St., Chicago, IL 6061 1; for the SITES Middle School locations, write: SITES, 1100 Jefferson Dr., Seeds of Change: The Story of Cultural S.W., Washington, DC 20560. In addition, a Exchange after 1492 by Sharryl Davis poster show of "Seeds of Change," produced Hawke and James E. Davis, Addison-Wesley by SITES and USIA (US. Information Publishing Co., 1992, 96 pp. Agency), will be circulated in English, Spanish, and French to over 170 locations This excellent booklet, based on the exhibit throughout the world. For information on and recent research by scholars at the the U.S. distribution of the poster show, Smithsonian, tells how each "seed" radically write to: Esther Mackintosh, Vice-President, changed both the Old and New Worlds. The Federation of State Humanities Councils, text contains an inviting layout, script, and 1012 14th St., N.W., Suite 1007, Washington, color pictures and drawings. To order, write: DC 20005, or call (202) 393-5400. Addison-Wesley, Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867. Cost: $10.36. Teacher's Guide: $5.40. The Columbus voyages and following expeditions began a period of cultural and High School scientific exchanges that dramatically Seeds of Change: Readings on Cultural changed the entire world. Five "seeds" were Exchange after 1492, Joint Project of the planted in that series of exchanges. Infec- National Museum of Natural History, tious diseases, the horse, and sugar were all Smithsonian Institution and The National introduced by the Europeans to the Council for the Social Studies, Addison- Americans; corn and the potato were taken Wesley Publishing Co., 1993, 126 pp. from the Americas to Europe and beyond. Seeds of Change: A Quincentennial Based again on the "Seeds of Change" Commemoration, edited by Herman J. Viola exhibit, this booklet contains four to five and Carolyn Margolis, consists of an informative, engaging articles about each illustrated collection of scholarly essays. seed written by archaeologists, anthropo- To order, write: Smithsonian Institution logists, and historians. To order, see above Press, Dept. 900, Blue Ridge Summit, PA address. Cost: $10.36 each. Teacher's Guide: 17294, or call 1-800-782-4612. $5.40.

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Alison S. Brooks, JoAnne Lanouette , editors; Robert L. Humphrey, artist. Illustrations, Robert L. Humphrey copyright 1992.