AA Sum08 Front End.Indd

SEARCHING FOR AN AZTEC KING • SUMMER TRAVEL SPECIAL • REDEFINING THE ADENA americanamerican archaeologyarchaeologySUMMER 2008 a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy Vol. 12 No. 2 Maintaining Ancient Ruins $3.95

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 1 5/13/08 9:04:25 PM AA Sum08 Front end.indd 2 5/13/08 9:04:43 PM american archaeologysummer 2008 a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy Vol. 12 No. 2

COVER FEATURE 27 SAVING RUINS FROM RUIN BY ANDREW LAWLER How do you keep ancient Southwest ruins intact? The National Park Service has been working to ﬁ nd the answer.

12 IN SEARCH OF AN AZTEC KING BY JOHANNA TUCKMAN Archaeologists may be on the verge of uncovering a rare royal tomb in Mexico City. ROBERT JENSEN, MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK VERDE NATIONAL JENSEN, MESA ROBERT

20 REDEFINING THE ADENA BY PAULA NEELY Recent research is changing archaeologists’ deﬁ nition of this remarkable prehistoric culture.

34 A DRIVING FORCE IN ARCHAEOLOGY BY BLAKE EDGAR The legendary Jimmy Grifﬁ n made his many contributions outside of the trenches.

38 EXPLORING THE ANCIENT SOUTHWEST BY TIM VANDERPOOL

JOHANNA TUCKMAN JOHANNA A tour of this region’s archaeological treasures makes for an unforgettable summer trip.

2 Lay of the Land 47 new acquisition 3 Letters PRESERVING A MAJOR COMMUNITY The Puzzle House Archaeological Community 5 Events could yield insights into prehistoric life in the 7 In the News Mesa Verde region. Oldest Biological Evidence of New World Humans? • Earliest Mesoamerican Cremations • Ancient Whaling COVER: Conservators Frank Matero (left) and 50 Field Notes Amila Ferron work in Kiva E at Long House in southwest Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park. 52 Reviews Photograph by Robert Jensen, Mesa Verde 54 Expeditions National Park.

american archaeology 1

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 1 5/13/08 9:05:10 PM Lay of the Land

Keep Ruins Accessible

hen archaeologists excavate we examine the issues of public site a site in a national or other stabilization and the new ideas the Wtype of park, they must National Park Service and others are decide whether to leave it open for the using to deal with deteriorating ruins. general public to enjoy or to ﬁ ll it in So far there is no clear answer. It’s trial Mark Michel, President

to preserve the remaining archaeology. and error methodology that takes years DARREN POORE Backfi lling, as we call fi lling in old exca- to determine the success or failure of vations, is believed to be the most effec- each new technique. Something might of the nation’s archaeological sites are tive way to preserve standing walls and look promising in the short term, but open for the public to experience and other fragile features. But it also takes fail miserably after a number of years. enjoy. They do an invaluable service of away the opportunity for the public to And it’s expensive. educating the public and building sup- see and appreciate the ruins. But all of this work to stabilize port for archaeological preservation. Since the fi rst archaeological ruins for the general public is well Finding ways to stabilize the ruins so parks opened some 100 years ago, worth it, and the government agencies they can remain accessible is a small archaeologists and park managers have need to set aside funds to keep the price to pay to get the American public struggled with this dilemma. In this sites open. Too often park managers involved in our past. issue of American Archaeology (see go for the cheap and easy solution— “Saving Ruins From Ruin,” page 27), backfi lling ruins. Only a small fraction

2 summer • 2008

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 2 5/13/08 9:05:24 PM Letters

CONTACT AND CONFLICT s DOCUMENTATION PROBLEMS s Wc[h_YWdWhY^W[ebe]o MOUNDS OF THE SOUTHEAST Wc[h_YWdWhY^W[ebe]oa quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy Berkeley’s NAGPRA Process Vol. 12 No. 1 The Beginnings As the former archaeologist associ- of Agriculture ated with the NAGPRA Unit at the Editor’s Corner Hearst Museum of Anthropology, I was dismayed to read the one-sided News he archaeologist’s lexicon does article “UC Berkeley Reorganizes NAG- not include the word “certain.” PRA Process” in your Spring issue. TThe evidence on which inter- While approximately 40 percent pretations and hypotheses are based of the remains housed at the Hearst are is usually fragmentary, and the latest from the traditional territories of non- discovery can quickly render long-held federally recognized tribes, the current $3.95 assumptions false. For example, take the Adena, one NAGPRA law allows for the repatriation AA Sprg 08 front end.indd 1 of the more accomplished cultures 2/13/08 7:16:24 PM of remains to non-federally recognized of the Woodland period. Our feature tribes. UC Berkeley refuses to do this. C. Judson King, interim director of “Redefi ning the Adena” (see page 20) Another problem is the incomplete the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of explains how archaeologists’ concep- nature of the inventories fi led by UC Anthropology, replies: tion of these prehistoric people was Berkeley to the federal government. In Mr. Hall is incorrect in a number of his based on data from burial mound exca- a 2000 report to the vice-chancellor, it assertions. We check contentions of vations in the 1930s and ‘40s. According to this data, the Adena was noted that 48 percent of the inven- non-conforming inventory or incor- were an early mound-building people tories fi led had only a partial archival rect categorizations and are certainly who were capable of constructing review and an incomplete examination willing to make changes, if warranted. impressive earthworks because they of the associated artifacts. While it was We are also open to the possibility of were also advanced in other areas such believed that these inventories were requesting repatriation of remains to as sociopolitical organization and agri- only done for areas that were in the tribes that are not federally recognized. culture. It’s been said that the noted territory of non-federally recognized We continue to make special archaeologist William Webb, who was tribes, closer examination reveals this efforts to dialog with tribal leaders. involved in a number of these excavations and played a pivotal role in defi n- was not always the case. The Hearst Chancellor Robert Birgeneau has had a ing the Adena, claimed they were the Museum is reluctant to fi le corrected series of meetings with tribal stakehold- fi rst people to accomplish a variety inventories, particularly when it would ers, including the group with which Mr. of amazing feats ranging from mound- change the remains from culturally Hall has been associated. building to pottery-making to smoking. unidentifi able to culturally affi liated. Our goal is to make repatriation It’s thought that Webb, in some Due to UC Berkeley’s system, it’s user-friendly. Repatriation informa- instances, was given to hyperbole, but often a major undertaking for a tribe tion is posted on our Web site and most of his interpretations of the Adena held sway for decades. It wasn’t until to fi le a claim to change the culturally we are digitizing records to facilitate the 1980s that a number of archaeolo- unidentifi ed status of human remains. research. We also recently appointed gists who weren’t focusing on burial This is a serious issue and many Native a tribal outreach coordinator and a mounds began to uncover evidence American tribes are concerned about it. new repatriation coordinator, both of that contradicted some of Webb’s Mark Hall, Ph.D. whom are natives and interface regu- most fundamental assumptions. This El Cerrito, California larly with tribes. evidence had led to new defi nitions of these people. Because of the new evidence, some archaeologists, ironi- Sending Letters to American Archaeology cally, are certain that the name “Adena” is obsolete. American Archaeology welcomes your letters. Write to us at 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517, or send us e-mail at [email protected]. We reserve the right to edit 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

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 3 5/13/08 9:05:48 PM Welcome to The Archaeological Conservancy! 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902 Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517 • (505) 266-1540 he Archaeological Conservancy www.americanarchaeology.org is the only national nonprofit Board of Directors organization that identifies, Gordon Wilson, New Mexico CHAIRMAN acquires, and preserves the Cecil F. Antone, Arizona • Carol Condie, New Mexico most significant archaeological Donald Craib, Virginia • Janet Creighton, Washington • Janet EtsHokin, Illinois sites in the United States. Jerry EtsHokin, Illinois • Jerry Golden, Colorado • W. James Judge, Colorado t Since its beginning in 1980, Jay T. Last, California • Dorinda Oliver, New York the Conservancy has preserved more Rosamond Stanton, Montana • Vincas Steponaitis, North Carolina than 360 sites across the nation, Dee Ann Story, Texas • Stewart L. Udall, 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 Wolf, Membership Director • Sarah Tiberi, Special Projects Director We are building a national system of Shelley Smith, Membership Assistant • Melissa Montoya, Administrative Assistant archaeological preserves to ensure Caitlin Lanigan, Administrative Assistant • Patrick Leach, Administrative Assistant the survival of our irreplaceable cultural heritage. Regional Offices and Directors Jim Walker, Vice President, Southwest Region (505) 266-1540 Why Save Archaeological Sites? 5301 Central Avenue NE, #902 • Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108 The ancient people of North America Tamara Stewart, Projects Coordinator • Steve Koczan, 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. #307 • Columbus, Ohio 43214 the mysteries of prehistoric America Josh McConaughy, Field Representative are still missing, and when a ruin is destroyed by looters, or leveled for a Jessica Crawford, Southeast Region (662) 326-6465 shopping center, precious information 315 Locust St. • P.O. Box 270 • Marks, Mississippi 38646 is lost. By permanently preserving George Lowry, Field Representative endangered ruins, we make sure they Gene Hurych, Western Region (916) 424-6240 will be here for future generations to 6130 Freeport Blvd., #100H • Sacramento, California 95822 study and enjoy. Julie L. Clark, Field Representative How We Raise Funds: Andy Stout, Eastern Region (301) 682-6359 Funds for the Conservancy come 8 E. 2nd. St. #200 • Frederick, Maryland 21701 from membership dues, individual Sonja Ingram, Field Representative contributions, corporations, and foundations. Gifts and bequests of money, land, and securities are fully tax american archaeology® deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Publisher: Mark Michel Internal Revenue Code. Planned giving editor: Michael Bawaya (505) 266-9668, [email protected] provides donors with substantial tax Assistant editor: Tamara Stewart deductions and a variety of beneficiary ART Director: Vicki Marie Singer, [email protected] possibilities. For more information, call Mark Michel at (505) 266-1540. Editorial Advisory Board David Anderson, University of Tennessee • Jan Biella, New Mexico Deputy SHPO The Role of the Magazine: Dennis Blanton, Fernbank Museum of Natural History • Todd Bostwick, Phoenix City Archaeologist American Archaeology is the only Sarah Campbell, Western Washington University • Pam Edwards-Lieb, Mississippi Chief Archaeologist popular magazine devoted to presenting the rich diversity of archaeology in Bill Engelbrecht, Buffalo State College • Charles Ewen, East Carolina University the Americas. The purpose of the Gayle Fritz, Washington University • Barbara Heath, University of Tennessee magazine is to help readers appreciate Robert Hoard, Kansas State Archaeologist • Robert Jeske, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and understand the archaeological Barbara Little, University of Maryland • Peggy McGuckian, Bureau of Land Management wonders available to them, and to raise Patricia Mercado-Allinger, Texas State Archaeologist • Rick Minor, Heritage Research Associates their awareness of the destruction of Mark Schurr, University of Notre Dame • Fern Swensen, North Dakota Deputy SHPO our cultural heritage. By sharing new David Whitley, W & S Consultants • Richard Woodbury, University of Massachusetts discoveries, research, and activities in an enjoyable and informative way, we hope National Advertising Office we can make learning about ancient Marcia Ulibarri, Advertising Representative America as exciting as it is essential. 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108; (505) 344-6018, [email protected] By mail: How to Say Hello: American Archaeology (issn 1093-8400) is published quarterly by The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, The Archaeological Conservancy, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517. Title registered U.S. Pat. and TM Office, © 2008 by TAC. Printed in the United States. Periodicals postage paid 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM, and additional mailing offices. Single copies are $3.95. A one-year membership to the Conservancy is $25 and includes receipt Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517; of American Archaeology. Of the member’s dues, $6 is designated for a one-year magazine subscription. READERS: For new memberships, renewals, by phone: (505) 266-1540; or change of address, write to The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517, or call (505) by e-mail: [email protected]; 266-1540. For changes of address, include old and new addresses. Articles are published for educational purposes and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conservancy, its editorial board, or American Archaeology. Article proposals and artwork should be addressed to the editor. or visit our Web site: No responsibility assumed for unsolicited material. All articles receive expert review. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to American Archae- www.americanarchaeology.org ology, The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517; (505) 266-1540. All rights reserved. American Archaeology does not accept advertising from dealers in archaeological artifacts or antiquities.

4 summer • 2008

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 4 5/18/08 11:33:39 AM Museum exhibits • Tours • Festivals Meetings • Education • Conferences Events

■ NEW EXHIBITS Hemisphere. (202) 707-5000, www.loc. Dickson Mounds Museum gov/exhibits (Ongoing exhibit) Lewistown, Ill.—“Refl ections on Three Worlds” reveals the world of Missis- ■ CONFERENCES, sippian people whose 800-year-old LECTURES & FESTIVALS sites surround the museum today. Mid-South Archaeological Conference The exhibit depicts the complex life June 6–8, Arkansas State University and culture of these people through Museum, Jonesboro, Ark. This year’s detailed archaeological evidence and theme, “Middle Mississippian in the features a spectacular multimedia event Mid-South,” will be explored through that takes one through a kaleidoscope paper presentations, posters, and of sights, sounds, symbols, music, and exhibits. A reception will be held the voices of the three worlds of Missis- fi rst evening, and fi eld trips to sites in sippian belief. (309) 547-3721, www. northern Arkansas will take place on museum.state.il.us/ismsites/dickson the fi nal day. The conference is spon- (Long-term exhibit) sored by the Arkansas Archeological Survey and the Central Mississippian Library of Congress MUSEUM OF NORTHERN ARIZONA MUSEUM OF NORTHERN Valley Archeological Society. Contact Washington, D.C.—Spotlighting a recent Julie Morrow at [email protected]. bequest of 3,000 rare objects, the exhibit Museum of Northern Arizona “Exploring the Early Americas” exam- Miami Valley Council for Native Americans Flagstaff, Ariz.—The new exhibit by ines indigenous cultures, encounters 20th Annual Keeping the Tradition Flagstaff adventure photographer between Native Americans and Euro- Pow Wow Dawn Kish, “Grand Archaeology: New peans, and the changes caused by the June 28–29, SunWatch Indian Village, Excavations Along the Colorado River,” meeting of these two worlds. The exhibit Dayton, Ohio. Join the annual celebra- documents recent archaeological contains hundreds of early American tion and enjoy traditional food, dancing, research in Grand Canyon National artifacts and paintings, along with rare and singing. The pow wow provides Park conducted by the museum. Begun in 2005 and continuing through 2011, European books and two extraordinary an opportunity for Native Americans this collaborative project provides a maps by Martin Waldseemüller created to celebrate and refl ect upon their unique opportunity to study sites along in 1507 and 1516, which depict a world rich inheritance. (937) 268-8199, the Colorado River corridor before they enlarged by the presence of the Western www.sunwatch.org are destroyed by erosion and tourism. (928) 774-5213, www.musnaz.org, (Through July 13)

Canadian Museum of Civilization Gatineau, Québec—Co-organized by the National Museum of American History and the Virginia Historical Society, the traveling exhibition “Jamestown, Québec, Santa Fe: Three North American Beginnings” tells the story of dramatic twists of fate, strategic alliances, and violent conﬂ ict between mighty English, Spanish, and French empires and the native peoples of North America. Artifacts include rare surviving native and European artifacts, maps, documents, and ceremonial objects from museums and royal collections on both sides of the Atlantic. (819) 776-7000, www.civilization.ca, (Through September 7). The exhibit will then travel to the Albuquerque Museum, where it will be on display from Oct. 25, 2008,

CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION through March 29, 2009. american archaeology 5

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 5 5/13/08 9:06:10 PM Events

20th Annual Native American Festival and northern Mexico known in early and Basketmakers’ Market Spanish times as the Gran Chichimeca. July 5, College of the Atlantic, Bar Har- Some of the festival’s numerous events bor, Maine. This annual festival cele- include a parade celebrating the brates Maine Native American cultures region’s diverse cultures, a bi-national with a variety of programs, demonstra- painting competition, an evening tions, and arts and crafts available for gathering of poets, children’s work- purchase. Activities will also include shops, theater, storytelling, rock con-

storytelling, music, dancing, and native certs, and a gathering of Indians from PARK ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND PUEBLO GRANDE MUSEUM foods. The market is Maine’s largest various parts of the Gran Chichimeca. gathering of Native American basket- 011-52-636-694-1333, Emanuel Estrada Pueblo Grande Museum makers and artisans. (207) 288-3519, Jion (636) 694-1091, www.festival- and Archaeological Park www.abbemuseum.org nuevapaquime.com Phoenix, Ariz.—The exhibition “Beneath the Runways: Uncovering the Past 75th Annual Hopi Festival Cahokia Mounds Archaeology Day at Sky Harbor Airport” explores the of Arts and Culture August 2, Cahokia Mounds State His- archaeology beneath one of the United July 5–6, Museum of Northern Arizona, toric Site, Collinsville, Ill. Demonstra- States’ largest airports. The excavations Flagstaff, Ariz. Visitors gain insight from tions of ancient crafts, storytelling, arti- and artifacts from Dutch Canal Ruin Hopi carvers, painters, jewelers, potters, fact washing and processing, and tours and Pueblo Salado, two pre-Columbian quilters, and basket and textile weav- of excavations. Food and refreshments Hohokam settlements, give new insights ers as more than 55 booths brim with will also be served. (618) 346-5160, into the canal building and agricultural fi ne arts and crafts against a backdrop www.cahokiamounds.com skills of these people, who sustained a of cultural presentations, storytelling, vibrant lifestyle in a challenging desert environment. (602) 495-0901, www. music, and dancing. Taste traditional Pecos Conference 2008 pueblogrande.org, (Through October 12) Hopi bread or piki baked in outside August 7–10, Flagstaff, Ariz. This ovens. Walk the museum’s nature year’s annual gathering of Southwest trail with a Hopi medicine woman. archaeologists features fi eld reports, (928) 774-5213, www.musnaz.org seminars, workshops, and posters presenting the results of the latest 8th Annual Festival Nueva Paquimé research in the region. The Tommy July 18–27, Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Dukes Blues Band will perform, and Mexico. Celebrate the cultural diversity there will also be a fi lm festival and and achievements of a broad geograph- fi eld trips to local sites. www.swanet. ical area of the American Southwest org/2008_pecos_conference Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.—“Storied Walls: Murals of the Americas” explores ancient murals from North, Central, and South America, including the spectacular wall paintings of the ancestral Hopi village kivas of Awatovi in Arizona, Maya murals of San Bartolo and Bonampak in Guatemala and Mexico, and Moche murals of the architectural complexes of northern Peru. While murals may serve as simple decoration, they are often highly symbolic, making visible a group’s religious, political, and cultural beliefs, histories, and values. The exhibit uses photographs, drawings, models, and fragments of original murals to examine their meanings and social uses, the history of their discoveries and investigations, and preservation and restoration efforts.

(617) 496-1027, www.peabody.harvard.edu (New long-term exhibit) AND ETHNOLOGY ARCHAEOLOGY MUSEUM OF PEABODY

6 summer • 2008

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 6 5/13/08 9:06:22 PM In the NEWS Fourteen-Thousand-Year-Old Coprolites Contain Human DNA Discovery may be the oldest biological evidence of humans in the New World.

uman coprolites discovered during excavations at the Pais- Hley 5 Mile Point Caves in south- central Oregon have been radiocarbon dated to 14,300 years ago, approximately 1,000 years before the Clovis people, the ﬁ rst generally accepted culture to inhabit the Americas, are believed to have entered the New World. Of the 14 coprolites (dried feces) recovered, six have tested positive for ancient human DNA. “If our data are correct, people were present in Oregon before the Ice Free Corridor opened between interior Alaska and the lower 48 United States,” said archaeologist Dennis Jenkins of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon in Eugene, one of

NORTHERN GREAT BASIN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON FIELD SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY ARCHAEOLOGICAL BASIN GREAT NORTHERN the researchers who investigated the site. Rather than the traditional view Researchers record their fi ndings at the Paisley 5 Mile Point Caves site. that fi rst Americans entered the New World via the Bering Strait, these new forms of data indicate these are human effects, a condition whereby old carbon fi ndings suggest it is more likely that coprolites or coprolites containing recirculates through the food chain, people came down the coast by boat human remains,” said Jenkins. “The pre- resulting in dates that may be hundreds or that they were south of the corri- ponderance of evidence supports the or thousands of years too old. dor before the Last Glacial Maximum interpretation that people were at the He suggested that items extracted closed the route. caves 14,300 years ago.” from the coprolites be dated separately Additional analysis by the Univer- But Gary Haynes, an archaeologist to determine if they are contemporane- sity of Sweden (Uppsala) and the Max at the University of Nevada at Reno, ous with each other. “I’d also like to see Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, expressed concerns about the possible documented proof that the hairs identi- confi rmed the six coprolites contained contamination of the coprolites that fi ed in the site as being human really human DNA, and their genetic signatures contain human and canid DNA. “This are indisputably human, and that they match those of Native American groups. suggests to me that at least some of the occurred within the coprolite, not stick- Three of the six also yielded canid DNA. coprolites may not be human,” he said. ing to the surfaces,” he said. Haynes and The coprolites were also analyzed for “It may never be possible to eliminate others have also questioned the dearth protein residues, two of which tested the possibility of contamination in of artifacts found in the caves, which positive for human proteins and pro- such previously disturbed sediments.” Jenkins attributes to low population duced fragments of human hairs. Haynes also said the radiocarbon dates and short occupation. “Thus, three entirely independent may be in error due to carbon reservoir —Tamara Stewart american archaeology 7

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 7 5/18/08 11:34:13 AM In the NEWS Whaling Older than Previously Thought American-Russian research team finds 3,000-year-old whaling site.

vidence discovered by an Amer- ican-Russian research team on ERussia’s Chukotka Peninsula, in the Bering Strait near Alaska, indicates that people were hunting whales there at least 3,000 years ago, 1,000 years earlier than was previously thought. The researchers found carved images on a walrus ivory along with hunting and butchering tools and whale and walrus remains. Radiocarbon dating of wood samples associated with the ivory indicates it is about 3,000 years old. UN’EN’EN EXCAVATION TEAM UN’EN’EN EXCAVATION Ivory carving has been an important folk art for people of the Arctic This drawing depicts the walrus ivory carving recovered beneath the roof of the since prehistoric times. Many elements semi-subterranean house at Un’en’en. Samples of wood in direct contact with of whaling are depicted by the images the ivory have been dated to 3,000 years ago. etched in the ivory the researchers recovered. There’s a scene of warfare, College, the University of Alaska South- whale might well react violently, and a of whale hunting, of men dragging east, the Kunstkamera Museum in St. fl ip of the tail could crush the boat.” something large to shore, and of men Petersburg, and the Institute for Heri- “This kind of hunt takes coordina- shooting arrows at a bear. “Along this tage in Moscow. tion and leadership,” Odess explained. coastline, hunting and fi shing are the Describing a typical whale hunt, “It can’t work with consensus. Some- only possible ways to sustain life,” said Odess said that when the villagers one must be in charge, and that’s sig- Daniel Odess, curator of archaeology spotted a whale, they would launch a nifi cant. The same sort of hierarchical at the University of Alaska Museum of boat with fi ve or six hunters. Because decisions needed for whaling are also the North. “Yet, as important as whal- it is hazardous to deal with a full-grown needed to be effective in war.” ing is, we have known little about how, whale, most likely they would try to The 2007 fi eldwork was the fi rst where, and when it began.” take juvenile Bowhead or Grey whales, joint Russian-American archaeological The site, known as Un’en’en, was which are relatively docile. “They project in Chukotka. Odess regards discovered in 2005 and appears to would close in,” Odess said, “then time the collaboration as signifi cant. “If you be related to the Old Whaling culture it so that as the whale came to the sur- think of the prehistory of the Bering complex. The only other known Old face to breathe, they could paddle right Strait as a book,” he said, “then half of Whaling site is on Cape Krusenstern, in up to it, almost on top. Then the tricky the pages are in Alaska and half in Rus- northwestern Alaska. Odess spent three part begins. The harpooner in the bow sia. To understand the whole, you have weeks at Un’en’en last summer along strikes the whale, while those who pad- to read both halves of the book.” with colleagues from Richard Stockton dle have to move the boat backwards. A —Steven McFadden 8 summer • 2008

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 8 5/13/08 9:06:50 PM In the NEWS Earliest Mesoamerican Cremations Discovered Burials reveal emergence of Mixtec complexity. COPYRIGHT 2008 PNAS COPYRIGHT These two images from the Codex Nuttall, a Mixtec text, show cremation of elite members of society.

rchaeologists working at a Mix- of the remains of two individuals were large number of dog bones, which sug- tec site in southern Mexico have found by the archaeologist in 2004 gests ritual feasting. It’s believed that Adiscovered the earliest known and subsequently underwent analysis the leaders ate dog, he said, but not the cremations in Mesoamerica. The site, that was recently completed. One set commoners. located in the ancient village of Tayata of remains is thought to have been a The Tayata cremations refl ect the in the state of Oaxaca along Mexico’s female between 18 and 25 years old. ancient Mixtec’s worldview concern- southern Pacifi c coast, yielded evidence The sex of the other individual, who ing death, according to Andrew Bal- of elite funerary practices that took place they believe was between 15 and kansky of Southern Illinois University, over 3,000 years ago. The cremation of 25 years old, could not be identifi ed the project’s other co-director. He said elites later became more widespread because so little of the remains were ancestor rituals were very important throughout Mesoamerica, according to preserved. The archaeologists found for the Mixtec, as well as for later Meso- native and Spanish accounts. the corpses at Tayata were placed into american societies. The Mixtec were one of the major the graves and then burned. Balkansky said the Tayata discov- pre-Columbian civilizations of Meso- Evidence from the site suggests eries reveal a period when rank, or america, and Tayata was among the larg- that a class of leaders emerged among hereditary inequality, was manifested est villages of the early Preclassic period, the Mixtecs as early as 1100 B.C. “A num- in early Mesoamerican villages. “High- which dated from approximately 1200 ber of things from Tayata show ranked ranked ancestors were considered to to 900 B.C.“The Mixtec area is one society,” Duncan said, “including cranial be closer to the spirit world than other place where civilization emerged,” said modifi cation, jade ear spools, access people,” Balkansky said. “This was true William Duncan, an archaeologist at St. to deer meat, and seated or kneeling in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica and for John Fisher College in Rochester, New in burial.” The burials were associated many other societies around the world. York, who co-directed the excavation. with a house and middens containing This is an important ideological change “These burials sites represent impor- deer, dog, and fi sh remains, pottery and necessary for the development of later, tant evidence of that emergence.” shell ornament production, and obsid- more complex societies.” Despite being cremated, portions ian. The archaeologists also found a —Steven McFadden american archaeology 9

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 9 5/13/08 9:06:58 PM In the NEWS Civil War–Era Cemetery Exhumed by Feds Exhumations were prompted by grave looting at southern New Mexico cemetery.

rchaeologists with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and Four A Corners Research, Inc., a contract archaeology fi rm, exhumed 67 skeletons from the Civil War–era Fort Craig Cemetery south of Socorro, New Mexico, following reports of widespread looting there. The skeletons, consisting of 39 males, two females, and 26 infants and children, were exhumed in 2007. In November of 2004 a historian visited the BOR’s Albuquerque offi ce looking for archaeological reports. The historian “volunteered information that he had a friend who possessed the mum- mifi ed remains of a ‘buffalo soldier,’” said Jeffrey Hanson, an archaeologist with the BOR, which owns the unmarked cemetery. “He further stated that his

friend was dying and he was encourag- BUREAU OF RECLAMATION ing him to give up the remains.” Archaeologists excavate graves at Fort Craig Cemetery. The historian said the remains came from Fort Craig. Hanson and “We know for sure he looted at Fort MO was to loot intact cultural deposits archaeologist Mark Hungerford went Conrad and Fort Thorn near Hatch, not in any danger.” out and inspected the cemetery, notic- New Mexico,” said Hanson. “Accord- The BOR has joined New Mexico ing several old looting holes. They ing to documents seized during the State Parks, which manages some of returned the following January with warranted search, it also appears that their lands, in a site watch program that another archaeologist who said he’d he had been digging at Fort Bliss and enlists volunteers to routinely monitor been aware of the looting for about Fort Wingate. He had also been digging sites and report evidence of vandalism. a year and that the looter, a Vietnam and metal detecting at a historic Span- They have also initiated a site condi- veteran and history buff named Dee ish encampment outside Albuquerque tion assessment program in which BOR Brecheisen of Peralta, New Mexico, had and had a vast collection of whole pots archaeologists periodically visit some died the previous December. Between that came from Native American sites.” of their more vulnerable sites to record August and October of 2007, the BOR It has been implied that Brecheisen any changes in their condition. excavated the remainder of the site’s looted with family and friends, but no Fort Craig was acquired by the unprotected human remains to prevent evidence implicating anyone else has Conservancy and subsequently donated further damage, noting that at least 20 come to light. to the Bureau of Land Management. It of the graves had been looted. “Why did he do it?” Hanson said. is open to the public and accessible Thousands of potsherds and “There is some testimony from friends from I-25 between Socorro and Truth Civil War–era artifacts, and over 30 that Dee was angry at the federal gov- Or Consequennces. See www.blm.gov/ metates were found during a search ernment for, in his mind, not protecting nm/st/en/prog/recreation/socorro/ of Brecheisen’s house after his death. sites. But this makes no sense, since his fort_craig.html. —Tamara Stewart 10 summer • 2008

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 10 5/13/08 9:07:10 PM In the NEWS

Civil War–Era Cemetery Defenseless Duck Survived Human Exhumed by Feds Hunters for Thousands of Years Exhumations were prompted by grave looting at southern New Mexico cemetery. The long existence of the ﬂ ightless fowl questions overkill theory.

n analysis of the remains from 14 ancient middens along the A Pacifi c Coast has revealed that it took thousands of years for humans to cause the extinction of the Chendytes lawi, a fl ightless sea duck. The researchers said their fi ndings argue against the so-called overkill theory, the notion that the fi rst Americans hunted 35 species of large animals, often referred to as megafauna, into extinction. These animals included the wooly mammoth, mastodon, and saber-tooth cat. The results of the study were origi- nally published in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Acad- emy of Sciences. “What I came away with from this study is how long it would take to wipe out a species,” said archaeologist Terry Jones of California Polytechnic State University, the study’s lead author. The case of the Chendytes is particularly telling, Jones believes, STANTON F. FINK. F. STANTON because it was literally a sitting duck, a defenseless creature that was hunted by An artist’s representation of the Chendytes lawi swimming among ancient fi sh. It took humans and, it’s assumed, dogs, which more than 8,000 years for humans to hunt this defenseless duck into extinction. humans may have domesticated. Evidence from a midden at Daisy middens were mixed with those of the overkill theory. Cave on San Miguel Island, one of the other birds, fi sh, and shellfi sh. “What Stuart Fiedel, an archaeologist Channel Islands off the coast of South- we did that nobody else did before is with Louis Berger Group, Inc., is unper- ern California, indicates that humans we dated the bones directly” in fi ve of suaded by Jones’ argument. Fiedel, who were hunting Chendytes there as far the 14 middens, said Jones. Prior to this has written papers about the megafau- back as 11,000 year ago. (It’s believed study it was assumed the Chendytes nal extinction, believes it was caused that humans had boats at least 13,000 went extinct about 3,800 years ago. by a “sudden impact” event in the form years ago along the Pacifi c Coast.) The Jones, who once believed in the of either overhunting or disease. “Why youngest Chendytes remains date to overkill theory, said there is scant (the Chendytes) survived is more than approximately 2,500 years ago, leading archaeological evidence to support it. a little mysterious,” he acknowledged, Jones and his colleagues to conclude “Most of the species that went extinct but he added that a handful of other the duck somehow managed to perse- have not been found at archaeological animals also survived this event, such vere for more than 8,000 years. sites,” he said. Jones thinks “the major- as the mule deer and black bear. The Chendytes remains in the ity” of archaeologists have abandoned —Michael Bawaya american archaeology 11

AA Sum08 Front end.indd 11 5/13/08 9:07:21 PM In Search of an Aztec King In the heart of Mexico City archaeologists are following a trail of evidence that could lead them to a rare royal tomb. By Johanna Tuckman

or an architectural summary of the drama of Mexican history you could do a lot worse than stand on the base of the Templo Mayor (Great Temple) pyramid at the heart of the capital. This battered memorial to the FAztecs stands defiantly in the shadow of the huge Cath- olic cathedral constructed by the Spanish Colonialists who crushed their empire in 1521. To one side stretches the huge National Palace, built on the site of the palaces of the Aztec kings and their Spanish Colonial successors, where Mexi- This is one of the many serpent can presidents concentrated all branches of governmental heads that once decorated the power after independence three centuries later. One of the biggest squares in the world, the Zocalo, evokes images of Templo Mayor pyramid. The Aztecs the countless coups and the revolution that followed. And called their pyramid Huey Teocalli in the distance, obscured by the haze and smog, you can (Great Temple) and Coatepec (Hill of see the high-rise business and apartment buildings occupied by today’s elites, reminding us who calls the shots in the Serpents). Coatepec, according to modern world. Aztec mythology, is the place where This tableau is so replete with symbols of power you are unlikely to notice a portacabin behind a barrier at the foot the sun god Huitzilopochtli killed his

Johanna Tuckman Johanna of the pyramid, where a small excavation is in progress. Here lunarlunar sistersister Coyolxauhqui.Coyolxauhqui. 12 summer • 2008

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1 Aztec P12-19.indd 13 5/13/08 9:11:22 PM Leonardo López Luján Ximena Chávez cleans the Tlaltecuhtli monolith and takes samples that will be analyzed for traces of blood that suggest sacrificial offerings.

a team of some 15 workers is searching for the tomb of the block,” says Ximena Chávez, one of the supervisors. “You can great Aztec ruler King Ahuîtzotl—as formidable a ruler as this then come back with a clear head and keep digging.” land has ever produced. “The [Aztec] king was the represen- Sixteenth-century accounts of the Aztec empire by tative of the sun on earth,” says Leonardo López Luján, the Diego Durán, a Dominican friar, and Fernando Alvarado director of the Templo Mayor Project that has been excavat- Tezozómoc, a grandchild of Aztec nobility, told of how the ing the pyramid and its environs for the past 30 years. bodies of monarchs were wrapped in bundles of cloth and “Everything we are finding leads us to the conclusion burnt on great funeral pyres below the Templo Mayor. They that the first [Aztec] royal tomb ever found is probably below describe the subsequent burials nearby, accompanied by us,” he says. “The historical sources tell us that this is where sacrificial victims and incredibly rich offerings to the gods. the [Aztec] lords were buried. The archaeology says that there are cavities there; the geophysical evidence says the same.” But archaeological evidence to corroborate these accounts The son of one of Mexico’s foremost scholars of Meso- did not emerge until two structurally unstable houses on american culture, López Luján joined the Templo Mayor the site were slated for demolition. One was leveled in 1995 excavations as a young man when, he says, he had “hair and and a subsequent excavation revealed many items thought 40 pounds less weight.” He tends to qualify his enthusiasm to be offerings to the gods, as well as part of the lower with warnings against overconfidence, insisting that archae- steps of the pyramid, which was razed by the Spanish, who ologists are vulnerable to self-delusion when the possibility built their own city on top of that of the defeated Aztecs. of a spectacular find appears to be at hand. The second house was leveled in 2006, allowing for more It all makes for an intense atmosphere at the site, despite extensive digging, although there was still no suggestion of López Luján’s easy manner and understated authority. The a royal tomb until a monolith was accidentally discovered crew—a mixture of veterans of the project, rising stars of in October of 2006. the national archaeology scene, and students—works in “It was without doubt one of the most important dis- silence for much of the time. Focused on the immediate coveries in the old center of Mexico City,” López Luján says tasks of cleaning, registering, photographing, drawing, and of the beautifully carved 12-ton volcanic stone that is the then removing every item, however minor, the excitement of biggest of three huge monoliths so far discovered in ruins being on the verge of a major discovery is repressed. “When- of the old Aztec capital. It was also the first piece of physical ever you get too thrilled, it’s best to take a walk around the evidence suggesting the presence of a royal tomb. 14 summer • 2008

1 Aztec P12-19.indd 14 5/13/08 9:11:32 PM A relief of the deity Tlaltechutli completely covers the in a cabin on the site for restoration. It is also being tested upper face of the monolith. In the Aztecs’ complex pan- for the presence of iron and albumin, which would indicate theon, Tlaltechutli at times was portrayed as the start of the sacrificial offerings of blood in accordance with common life-death cycle: the source of life for all living things, even Aztec ritual practice. The strongest physical evidence for the sun. On other occasions she represented the end of the a tomb comes from remote sensing results that revealed cycle, devouring the dead as well as the very light of the day. anomalies below the monolith suggesting at least one, and Here she crouches down with human skulls carved on her perhaps three, chambers. Moving the monolith has allowed knees and elbows, banners in her hair that represent death the archaeologists to excavate this area to determine if one and sacrifice, and a stream of blood flowing into a lipless or more tombs lie below. mouth. “This is the goddess of the earth in terrifying form By mid-February the team was uncovering flat stones at with her mouth open so she can eat the sun every night,” the edge of this area that they surmised could be the roof of says López Luján. “It is a logical hypothesis that a royal tomb a chamber. The fill also contains at least three stone boxes might have a funeral stone like this.” of offerings that at the time of writing had yet to be opened. The monolith also contains a date carved between the López Luján, author of an award-winning book about Aztec claws of the goddess’ right foot. Composed of a rabbit with offerings, describes them as “scaled-down models of the cos- two dots on one side and 10 dots on the other, the date in mos.” Typically they involved a layer of sand, shells, coral, jade, the Aztec calendar could represent the year Ten Rabbit, when and other objects associated with the aquatic underworld, King Ahuitzotl died. It could also be read as Twelve Rabbit, followed by a second level containing terrestrial symbols which was a year of a solar eclipse. If this were not confus- such as crocodile skins and jaguar skeletons, and topped by ing enough, the glyph could also be read as Two Rabbit, a third of birds and other things associated with the sky. which is the name of a god who eclipsed the sun. Though the format is basic, the variety of the offerings There is a hole in the center of the monolith that splits is enormous. Fifteen thousand objects, including 350 differ- it into four huge pieces. The stone was found in a layer of ent species of animals, have been found in the 145 offerings construction associated with Ahuitzotl’s reign from 1486 to the archaeologists have recovered so far. “This demonstrates 1502 and was covered over by work done by his succes- the power of the empire,” says López Luján, alluding to sor, Moctezuma II. This all but rules out the possibility that the richness and variety of these objects brought from the the Tlaltechutli was smashed by marauding conquistadors far reaches of the Aztec kingdom. “The way each object is who, having conquered the Aztecs, sought to obliterate placed tells you something about the messages being sent their culture. to the gods.” The monolith was removed last November and placed The archaeologists are also excavating a square stone- Johanna Tuckman Johanna Leonardo López Luján excavates while lying on scaffolding placed over the area that was exposed by the removal of the monolith. The archaeologists use the scaffolding because they don’t want to walk on what could be the roof of Ahuítzotl’s tomb. american archaeology 15

1 Aztec P12-19.indd 15 5/13/08 9:11:41 PM framed hole, discovered just to the west of where the Tlaltechutli monolith lay, that is assumed to have been an entranceway for people who performed ceremonies in the tomb. The entranceway is filled with mud, which has hindered the excavation. The archaeologists uncovered an offering near the top of the hole that included sharp- Aztec ened pieces of bone used for self-sacrificial bloodletting, copal incense bars, agave leaves, and greenstone beads on top of an undisturbed seal of lime and sand. “This is something completely new for us. We have never excavated a context like this,” says López Luján. “But it is very similar to funerary structures excavated in other Meso- Rulers american civilizations.”

The need to turn to other cultures for clues is not usually necessary in Aztec archaeol- Acamapichtli ogy, where the wealth of documentation informs interpretations of archaeological 1375–1395 findings. This documentation includes the Aztec’s own pictorial accounts of their origins in a mythical place called Aztlån and years of nomadism that ended in the Huitzílihuitl mid-13th century when they arrived in a lake-filled mountain valley in what is now 1396–1417 central Mexico. The tribe moved around the general area for a few more decades until Acamapichtli’s son they founded their capital, called Tenochtitlan, on a small island on the west side of Lake Texcoco in 1325. Chimalpopoca An alliance with two neighboring tribes fostered peace and stability at home 1417–1427 while Aztec warriors were dispatched to conquer and exact tribute from the peoples Acamapichtli’s son beyond the valley. The Imperial Period, usually dated from the ascension of Moctezuma I in 1440, marked the spread of the empire along the Gulf Coast. It reached its apogee Itzcóatl under Ahuítzotl towards the end of the century. The eighth and most powerful of all 1427–1440 Aztec rulers, Ahuítzotl nearly doubled the lands under Aztec dominance, particularly Huitzilihuitl’s son on the Pacific coast and south as far as what is now northern Guatemala. Empire building abroad brought unprecedented wealth at home. “The Imperial Moctezuma Ilhuicamina Period in Tenochtitlan was like New York in the 1940 and ’50s. Like Paris at the end 1440–1469 of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th,” says López Luján. “Artists came from Huitzilihuitl’s son everywhere and there was a sudden jump in the quality of the architecture and in particular of the sculpture.” By the time Hernán Cortés arrived in the valley in 1519, Axayácatl Tenochtitlan was a fabulously rich and ostentatious city, home to 200,000 people and 1469–1481 built on artificial extensions of the original island into the lake. The conquistadors Son of Chimalpopoca’s son compared it to the great cities they had seen in Europe and Asia. and Moctezuma Ilhuicamina’s But the Aztecs were destined to be remembered by the world not for their engi- daughter neering prowess or artistic splendor, let alone for their accomplished astronomical calculations or the lyrical poetry of their flowery Nahuatl language. Instead, they Tízoc became famous for their brutality. There is no doubt that war, death, and sacrifice were 1481–1486 central to their society. The Aztecs believed that the gods required offerings of blood Axayácatl’s brother or the world, even time itself, would come to an end. But López Luján insists historical accounts of temples running with the blood of tens of thousands of sacrificed war Ahuítzotl captives were grossly exaggerated in order to justify the Spanish victory and Catholic 1486–1502 evangelization. Tízoc’s brother “In the Templo Mayor we have found the skeletons of children and adults, men and women who were sacrificed. We have found evidence of human blood all over Moctezuma Xocoyotzin the place. We have found over a thousand sacrificial knives, as well as sacrificial stones 1502–1520 where victims were laid down,” he says. “But in 30 years of this excavation we have Axayacatl’s son found 127 victims. Compared to other ancient cultures all over the world, that is not very much.” Cuitláhuac As well as rewriting history, the conquistadors set about dismantling Teno- 1520 chtitlan. Within a few years it was buried under the capital of New Spain, and Axayacatl’s son soon even the precise location of the Templo Mayor became a matter of specu- lation. It was rediscovered when a building was demolished in 1913 revealing Cuauhtémoc part of the pyramid’s stairway and a carved serpent’s head. For various reasons, 1520–1521 excavations didn’t begin until 1978, after electrical workers accidentally discov- Ahuitzotl’s son ered a circular monolith carved with the dismembered goddess of the moon, Coyolxauhqui, giving birth to the Templo Mayor Project. 16 summer • 2008

1 Aztec P12-19.indd 16 5/13/08 9:11:51 PM Leonardo López Luján Immediately beneath the modern capital are the ruins of the ancient one. The steps of the Templo Mayor are seen in the left foreground. To the right of the steps is the Tlaltecuhtli monolith. The cathedral is seen in the upper right of the photo and the National Palace is to the upper left. american archaeology 17

1 Aztec P12-19.indd 17 5/13/08 9:12:05 PM Matos headed the next two seasons as well, delving into the earliest stages of the Templo Mayor, which had at least seven major renovations ordered by different monarchs. A disciple of Matos, López Luján took over in 1991, directing excavations that focused on the so-called “house of the eagles.” Chief among the finds there were two extraordinary life-sized ceramic sculptures of the god of death. The excavations from 2004 to 2005 focused on the base of the pyramid, during which time archaeologists made the rare discovery of the skeleton of a child sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. It was much more common for the Aztecs to sacrifice children to the rain god, Tlaloc. López Luján himself excavated an offering to Tlaloc containing 43 children in 1980.

This season the archaeologists are making a three-dimensional map to replace the existing site plan that dates to1982, and they’re also creating a digital record of excavated murals. But the search for Ahuitzotl’s tomb has inevitably grabbed most of the attention, and tested the patience of many due to its pain- fully slow progress. “The fundamental problem for this excavation is the water table is so high,” says López Luján, who now relies on three pumps working around the clock to keep the site dry for excavation. How to deal with the city’s high water table has always been a problem for its inhabitants. Ahuitzotl died from injuries

sustained in a flood he provoked with the construction of an Leonardo López Luján A worker produces a three-dimensional laser scan of the monolith. aqueduct. Things got much worse when the Spaniards decided to expand their colonial city by draining the lake. From then on The excavations from 1978 to 1982, headed by urban engineers have constantly devised new ways of channel- Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, were “undoubtedly the most ing the water from heavy rains out of the mountain-ringed city. important,” López Luján says of the effort to uncover the If not for the pumps, the water rises nearly to the top of the pyramid and surrounding buildings. “There were 600 entranceway beside the monolith. Due to mechanical difficul- workers involved and the place was like an ants’ nest.” ties the pumps have not always worked at full capacity. “Water, hector montaño matus montaño hector This model shows the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan. At the top center of the model is the Templo Mayor. Two chapels are perched at the top of the temple. The chapel on the right is dedicated to the sun god Huitzilopochtli; the chapel on the left, to the rain god Tlaloc. The archaeologists are excavating at the foot of the pyramid. 18 summer • 2008

1 Aztec P12-19.indd 18 5/13/08 9:12:17 PM Leonardo López Luján The problem posed by the high water table is evident in this photograph of an excavated offering pit. Among the objects uncovered by the archaeologists are numerous sacrificial knives as well as golden eagle bones, copper bells, and various other items.

water, water,” says Chávez as she stares into the hole at the hostage by the Spaniards and killed outside the city, therefore liquid hindering her work. “There are times like today that López Luján rules out finding his body at Templo Mayor. are really exasperating.” But Chávez adds that while water is The search for riches was at the heart of the Spanish the “enemy” of progress, it is the “friend” of any artifacts they conquest, and once Cortés controlled Tenochtitlan, it inten- might find because these bog-like conditions can preserve sified. Not satisfied with the gold they found, the Spanish fragile items such as organic matter. tortured Cuauhtémoc—his feet were dipped in oil and then In their accounts, Friar Diego Durán and Fernando Alva- set alight—to obtain information about other hidden rado Tezozómoc mentioned not only the funeral and burial treasures, but he maintained there were none. of Ahuítzotl, but also those of his two brothers who ruled There is also the question of what, and who, the Aztec directly before him: Axayácatl from 1469 to 1481, and then kings took with them to their graves. The historical sources Tízoc from 1481 to 1486. This, together with a Mesoameri- describe not only a wealth of offerings from around the can tradition of royal family crypts, suggests to López Luján empire, but also women, musicians, dwarfs, and servants that all three brothers could be in the chamber. sacrificed and interred with their lords. It is even possible, he believes, that Ahuítzotl’s succes- “I think everybody here has a mix of feelings. Scientifi- sors could be there too. Moctezuma Xocoyotzin was killed cally speaking, this would be something spectacular,” says during the initial Spanish sojourn in Tenochtitlan, while they López Luján. “But the other side of the coin is the responsi- were there as his guests. By that time relations between the bility. You only excavate something like this once, and I think conquistadors and their hosts had become so tense Cortés we are all getting a little nervous thinking about that.” and his men tried to flee the city one night in secret and, hav- He and his crew may be nervous but, despite the evi- ing been discovered, managed to escape after a bloody battle. dence suggesting they are on the verge of a major discovery, The Spanish finally conquered Tenochtitlan after a siege they are not overconfident. López Luján predicts they may that relied heavily on the help of indigenous enemies of the uncover a royal tomb, “rich offerings,” or nothing. “All these Aztecs. Cuitláhuac, Moctezuma’s replacement, died within 80 possibilities are real.” days of taking the throne, a victim of the smallpox epidemic resulting from Spanish contact that was ravaging the city. His JOHANNA TUCKMAN is a freelance correspondent who has been based in successor, Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec monarch, was taken Mexico City since 2000. american archaeology 19

1 Aztec P12-19.indd 19 5/18/08 11:37:07 AM 2Adena p20-26 C.indd20 20 WELLER & ASSOCIATES, INC.

the Adena Redefining summer •2008 5/13/08 9:14:56 PM round 1000 B.C., long after the glaciers had receded and the conifer forests of North The Adena were among the most America had been replaced with hickory, wal- notable cultures of the Woodland nut, and other deciduous trees, people in what is now the eastern half of the United States period. For decades archaeologists Abecame less nomadic, staying longer at seasonal camps defi ned these people based on to gather increasingly abundant local food resources. As they became more settled, they constructed simple shel- evidence from excavations conducted ters and made clay pottery to store and cook the food they gathered. They planted gardens to supplement their in the 1930s and ’40s. More recent hunting and gathering, and many groups buried their research is questioning those dead in large mounds made of carefully selected soils, accompanied by increasingly complex rituals. Archaeolo- long-held assumptions. gists generally refer to the time when these traits were dominant as the Woodland period. By Paula Neely During this period a culture known as the Adena (ca. 500 B.C. to 50 A.D.) emerged. The term derives from a burial mound site found on an estate named Adena in Chillicothe, Ohio. Because of their impressive conical burial mounds, the Adena were “the hallmark Early Woodland culture of the Midwestern U.S., particularly Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia,” according to Paul Gardner, the Midwest regional director for The Archaeological Conservancy. Mounds have also been found in Illinois, Indiana, New York, Delaware, and Ver- mont. The culture was also notable for its trade network, through which they obtained copper from the Great Lakes region, shells from the Gulf of Mexico, and mica from West Virginia. The majority of the Adena burial mound excavations in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia were conducted by amateur archaeologists in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and by Works Progress Administration (WPA) archaeologists in the 1930s and ’40s, most notably William Webb. For decades the defi nition of the Adena culture was based on the interpretation of the data from these excavations. Webb thought the Adena engaged in complex burial rituals and that they constructed earthworks around mounds and villages. According to Berle Clay, a principal investigator for Cultural Resource Analysts in Kentucky and an Adena scholar, Webb speculated that, in order to build these structures, the Adena were politically organized under a powerful leader or chief, and that a relatively large number of people resided in villages near the mounds. Therefore Webb assumed that they had developed advanced agricultural practices that enabled them to live in one place most of the year. He also concluded that they had a complex social hierarchy because he thought people who were buried in mounds were mostly males of high status, such as shamans or White papers cover the postmolds of this circular structure, one of chiefs, and that commoners were cremated and buried the oldest known in Ohio, dating to approximately 830 B.C. It was in the village. once thought that the Adena emerged roughly 300 years later, “Webb said the Adena were the fi rst sedentary but the discovery of Adena-style pottery in association with the people in the Eastern United States with ‘developed agri- structure is an example of the type of evidence that is prompting archaeologists to reconsider their conclusions about this culture. cultural husbandry’—the fi rst pottery makers, smokers, mound builders, constructors of earthworks, builders of american archaeology 21

2 Adena p20-26 C.indd 21 5/13/08 9:15:12 PM torical Society O hio H i s torical A . Walton/ Su s an

An artist’s depiction of an Adena gathering at a ceremonial earthwork in the Hocking River Valley in southeastern Ohio.

wooden houses, and the first architects of ceremonial struc- of the Adena to the extent that some archaeologists claim tures,” according to James B. Griffin, a University of Michigan the term itself has become obsolete. Although Webb’s list of archaeologist (see “A Driving Force in Archaeology,” p. 34) traits is a valuable source of information, most archaeologists who collaborated with Webb. agree that these traits vary so much from site to site that they Webb’s long list of Adena firsts has since been dismissed fail to clearly define the culture. “It’s too nonspecific,” said by modern scholars as exaggeration; nonetheless, he is Clay, a long-time advocate of redefining Adena. “The term is a respected for his pioneering fieldwork and is perhaps best millstone around our necks.” known for his comprehensive list of traits used to define the Many Adena traits also overlap with those of the Adena. Analyzing archaeological evidence from 173 mound Hopewell. “You can make a site whatever you want,” said sites, he listed 218 traits, documenting characteristics of N’omi Greber, curator of archaeology at the Cleveland Natu- everything from earthworks to burials to artifacts. ral History Museum, referring to the similarities. As a result, Earthworks, including mounds, sacred circles, and walls many archaeologists have replaced the term Adena with bordering village sites, are the most visible traits. Sacred Early Woodland to categorize these sites, or they use the circles are usually small circular earthworks enclosed by former term only with a local or regional reference, such as ditches that were probably used for rituals. Some surround Scioto Valley-Adena. mounds. According to Webb, these structures “pointing to an According to Clay, another problem is that Webb’s extensive Adena community usually are found in the vicinity definition of the Adena is based primarily on evidence from of a fairly large stream, often located on its high bank or on ritual sites and burial mounds, with limited evidence from hill crests overlooking the valley.” domestic sites. “Webb assumed that the burial mound was like a family cemetery and occurred where the families lived, but he couldn’t always find a village near the mound,” A New Interpretation he said. Although Webb found evidence of structures under Research over the last several decades, much of which has not and near mounds that he thought were dwellings, Clay said focused on burial mounds, has challenged Webb’s definition they were probably mortuaries or ritual spaces, based on 22 summer • 2008

2 Adena p20-26 C.indd 22 5/13/08 9:15:24 PM the lack of evidence of associated cooking fires, sub-floor Their work has uncovered numerous domestic sites, the evi- storage pits, or trash middens. dence from which is providing a more complete, clearer pic- In addition, recent skeletal analysis using modern tech- ture of how and where people lived during this time. “You niques has shown that the number of males and females bur- need both mounds and habitation sites to know more about ied in mounds is about equal, contradicting Webb’s assump- their domestic life and how ritual played a role in their daily tion that people who were buried in mounds were mostly lives,” said Elliot Abrams, an archaeologist at Ohio University males of high status and that the society had a complex who has worked at Adena sites. social hierarchy. “It’s a bunch of baloney,” Clay said. Contrary to Webb’s view of extensive communities near Based on these reassessments and new evidence from earthworks, Clay said fieldwork during the past 20 years has habitation sites unearthed in recent years, Clay describes consistently revealed habitation sites that had no connection the Adena as an egalitarian, hunting-gathering and horticul- with mounds and ritual areas. For example, Craig Keener, with tural society that lived in small, relatively autonomous, and Professional Archaeological Services Team in Plain City, Ohio, dispersed social groups who moved about seasonally. Small has been excavating several Early Woodland sites in Ohio that allied groups may have used mounds and ritual sites commu- were once small residential campsites used seasonally by a nally, gathering periodically for burials, weddings, and other few families or a group of people for hunting and gathering rituals, but there is no evidence that they lived near ritual food. Evidence at the sites indicates they were probably used sites in sedentary, agriculturally based, politically organized between 1000 b.c. and a.d. 100, a period that extends before villages, as Webb suggested. and beyond the Adena. Keener found evidence of temporary shelters such as lean-tos, remains from hickory nuts, and small pits for heating. He also discovered early evidence of horticul- Investigating ture in the form of chenopodium (goosefoot) and maygrass seeds, and tool manufacturing areas. Different Areas Near Columbus, Ryan Weller, with Weller and Associates Much of the recent research has been done by cultural Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, recently discovered evidence of a resource management archaeologists who are doing miti- double-walled circular dwelling dated to 100 b.c., an oval gation work in advance of construction projects that are house dated to a.d. 20, and a rectangular house dated to a.d. located in areas where there are no known burial mounds. 320 at the same site. The information will contribute to a ity of Kentuc k y U niver s ity A nthropology, William S. Webb M u s eum of This photograph of Biggs Mound in Kentucky was taken in 1939, prior to being excavated by William Webb. This site is an example of a sacred circle surrounding a mound. At least one cremation was discovered in the mound. american archaeology 23

2 Adena p20-26 C.indd 23 5/13/08 9:15:35 PM chronology that he’s piecing together to show where dwelling structures were clustered and how they changed over time before, during, and after the Adena. At another site, Weller discovered the remains of a circular house that dates to about 830 B.C., making it one of the oldest known structures in Ohio. Located along the Scioto River, the circular post structure is about 20 feet in diameter with two center posts that may have supported a thatched roof. Among the artifacts found in and near the postholes were Adena-style pottery. “Twenty years ago,” Weller said, “Adena was dated from about 500 B.C. to 1 A.D. More frequently we’re fi nding sites like this that challenge the previous temporal parameters.” He suggested that there may be a “pre- mound Adena” culture or the dates tradi- tionally used to defi ne Adena may need to be changed. This Adena sandstone tablet features stylized Archaeologists have also discov- human faces on the heads of stylized birds. ered that pottery was used earlier This tablet is one of only 14 known engraved than previously thought. For example, tablets made by the Adena. Weller discovered the remains of a vessel that dates to about 1200 B.C.—one of the earliest pots discovered in Ohio. “It’s well made, so it’s clearly not the fi rst one they attempted,” he said. Keener has unearthed pieces of a vessel at one of the upland campsites that dates from 780 to 390 B.C. About a quarter of the vessel has been pieced together, making it one of the more complete reconstructed specimens of Leimbach Thick pottery, an Early Woodland ceramic type associated with northern Ohio. He said the Early Woodland people could have used pottery

This unusual human- effi gy pipe was recovered from the The Adena were Adena Mound in succeeded by the Ohio in 1901. The male Hopewell, a people fi gure is standing upright who produced even and wearing a patterned more impressive loincloth, ear spools, artifacts, such and a feather bustle. as this effi gy of a hawk claw cut from sheet mica. OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY OHIO HISTORICAL 24 summer • 2008

2 Adena p20-26 C.indd 24 5/13/08 9:16:07 PM Adena Mound-Building Practices dena mounds were generally formed in stages begin- imbued with ideology,” he said. ning with the clearing of ground and the preparation Some individuals were buried with a few personal Aof a clay surface where the body, skeleton, or cre- possessions such as copper bracelets and rings, crescent mated remains of an important person were placed. Soil “feather” shapes cut from sheets of mica that adorned was dumped over the grave until a mound was formed. headdresses, stone hoes and other tools, and pipes made Some time later, basket loads of dirt were deposited over of clay or stone. A few were buried with skulls from other the initial burial forming a larger mound. individuals. These skulls could have been trophies or the As other people died, they were buried in a similar remains of ancestors. Several engraved stone tablets with manner. Some were buried in log tombs, bark covered remnants of red ochre paint embedded in their designs graves, or mortuary structures that were burned along were also discovered near burials and may have been used with the remains and then covered with dirt. Sometimes for tattooing. the deceased were kept in a mortuary until the flesh was Since William Webb concluded his work in the 1950s, gone and the group was ready to bury them. Bundles of very few Adena mounds have been excavated. Archaeolo- bones have been found in some burials. As the cycle was gists have shied away from them because there is a wealth repeated, the mound grew larger and larger. Grave Creek of evidence that can be reassessed using modern tech- Mound in West Virginia , the largest extant Adena mound in niques, and because of political sensitivities about excavat- the U.S., is 62 feet high and 240 feet in diameter. But there ing burials and efforts to preserve intact mounds. “These are also Adena mounds that are only one to two feet tall. are cemeteries. Digging them casually isn’t done,” said Occasionally, the bones or bodies of people buried Paul Gardner. We know what’s inside them as a general in the mounds were sprinkled or painted with red or yel- rule, and we need to wait until we have questions that can’t low powdered ochre, the meaning of which is unknown. be answered by the evidence that we currently have.” The At some sites, different colored soils were used in the Archaeological Conservancy owns about a dozen sites with construction of the mounds as well as on the inside and large, conical mounds in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. outside of circular earthworks surrounding the mounds. Though it’s not certain that most of them are from the According to archaeologist Elliot Abrams, it’s thought that Adena or Hopewell periods, Stackhouse Mound in Ohio and the color on the exterior of the earthwork is associated with the Bogie Circles in Kentucky feature a mound surrounded one level of the world, while the interior color relates to a by a circular wall and ditch: the classic pattern of an Adena different sacred space. “These are religious structures, Sacred Circle.—Paula Neely

Adena mounds come in all sizes. Grave Creek Mound in West Virginia is the largest still standing. It is 62 feet high and 240 feet in diameter. ulture an d H istory. Keller, WV Di v ision of C ulture Michael american archaeology 25

2 Adena p20-26 C.indd 25 5/13/08 9:16:18 PM ity of Kentuc k y U niver s ity A nthropology, William S. Webb M u s eum of The Crigler Mound in Kentucky is seen in this 1941 photograph. Webb concluded the circular pattern was a house, though it also could have been a structure where rituals were performed. Whatever its purpose, it could no longer be used once the mound was built over it.

for boiling hickory nuts to open the shells to get to the meat, more extensive trade networks. Hopewell sites also cover and for producing nut oil. a broader geographic range than Adena, stretching south Over the past 15 years, Abrams has also conducted exca- and east to Mississippi and Florida, and north and west to vations that are providing a better sense of the increasing Wisconsin and Kansas City, Kansas. But the two people had permanence of domestic sites and how people seasonally many similarities, and because of that some archaeologists used the landscape for hunting, gathering, and tool manu- think the Adena culture should be called “early Hopewell,” facturing. Based on a limited sample, he said sites typically and that the difference is, in part, a matter of scale, though housed 15 to 20 people. This summer, his field school is dig- that scale is “enormous,” according to Abrams. ging a residential site dated between 1000 b.c. and a.d. 200 Although some scholars hypothesize that the Adena on a terrace below a small ridge-top mound in Ohio that’s were conquered by the Hopewell or driven out, it’s generally also providing new information about the evolution of hor- accepted that the Hopewell culture grew out of the Adena, ticulture. “We’re learning how they moved from collecting but that it happened differently at different locations. “People wild seeds to planting to tending.” shared customs, but how they celebrated looks different in He said seed collecting had increased to the point of each place,” Greber said. gardening by the Early Woodland period, and they’ve found Clay thinks that any redefinition of the Adena should evidence that people during this time were growing plants acknowledge their regionally distinct cultures and varia- such as chenopodium, marshelder, erect knotweed, and tions through time. As for dropping the term Adena, he maygrass. However, contrary to Webb’s hypothesis, there’s doesn’t think archaeologists in Ohio would agree, since no evidence of formal agriculture involving large fields that the eponymous site is located there and the term is widely would sustain a sedentary year-round lifestyle. used. “The best thing,” he said, “may be just to talk about The Adena were succeeded by the Hopewell, a more them as mound builders.” flamboyant culture (50b .c. to 400 a.d.) known for their burial mounds surrounded by elaborate geometrically shaped earth- PAULA NEELY is a writer from Richmond, Virginia, whose work has appeared works. They also had greater political and social organization, in nationalgeographic.com, DIG magazine, and newspapers throughout the more complex funereal customs, better crafted artifacts, and U.S., Canada, and Europe. 26 summer • 2008

2 Adena p20-26 C.indd 26 5/13/08 9:16:34 PM Saving Ruins From Ruin

An archaeologist pulls a remote-sensing machine over the ground at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in southern Arizona. Much of Casa Grande, which receives as many as 1,000 visitors a day, is unexcavated, and the heavy foot traffic can damage buried ruins by eroding the dirt that protects them. Not knowing where all the buried ruins are, the archaeologists are using remote sensing to locate them so they can take measures to keep them protected. The National Park Service is taking a new approach to maintaining ancient ruins in the Southwest. By Andrew Lawler

hen Jesse Walter Fewkes arrived at Mesa Verde So the esteemed Smithsonian Institution ethnologist and in Colorado a century ago, he found many of archaeologist carefully set about halting the deterioration its famous cliff dwellings filled with debris, so that future visitors could see the way the inhabitants al Park Service Park n al Natio Wrifled by looters, and in danger of collapse. lived eight centuries earlier. To do so, he used the most american archaeology 27

3 Stabilization p27-33.indd 27 5/13/08 9:18:20 PM ark S ervice P N ational Scaffolding and a conveyor system are used to transport soil into a hopper inside rooms in Pueblo del Arroyo in Chaco Canyon. The soil is used to backfill the fragile rooms to preserve them. Two preservation specialists monitor the process.

modern of materials, including Portland cement, which was developed a half-century earlier in Britain. The novel effort took years, but it “gave a permanence and intelligibility to the Mesa Verde that is appreciated by the thousands who visit them yearly,” enthused a 1932 biography. Stabilizing ruins for the public benefit was a novel and progressive approach at a time when even famous colonial buildings like Mount Vernon were left to decay. Though Fewkes approach “fell out of favor” by the 1920s, according to Jake Barrow, a National Park Service (NPS) architectural conservator, the NPS continued to stabilize hundreds of ruins across the Southwest, often using invasive techniques. What the NPS did not realize was that its methods frequently weakened rather than strengthened the ancient ruins. For example, the dense cement channeled water into the ancient sandstone and earth mortars it was designed to protect and preserve, and over the decades the rains quietly ate away at the soft stone, often leaving the appearance of a stable structure even as a wall was being hollowed out. A recent string of wet winters at Mesa Verde has exposed the error of Fewkes’ ways. “Archaeologists thought they were doing the right thing,” says Julie Bell, archaeology field director at the national park. “But they just created a different problem.” Bell is part of a small group of preservationists who

are turning to innovative solutions to the age-old problem SERVICE PARK NATIONAL A preservation crew stabilizes a 900-year-old kiva at Aztec Ruins of maintaining adobe and soft-stone structures. For ancient National Monument in northwest New Mexico. peoples—and among millions of people across the globe 28 summer • 2008

3 Stabilization p27-33.indd 28 5/13/08 9:18:31 PM today—mud brick homes had the advantage of being made ruins. Four years later, Vanishing Treasures was implemented of easily accessible materials. The downside is they required to remedy the problem. The program’s goals are to document constant maintenance. Given the thousands of ruins scat- the rate of deterioration; repair structures in imminent danger tered across the arid Southwest, many of which are on and, in the process, develop new techniques and materials federal lands, the NPS decided that Portland cement offered toward that end; and train a new generation of craftsmen to a way to avoid constant, expensive maintenance work. succeed those who are near retirement. It was also intended “They were looking for the least amount of cyclical mainte- to repair the deteriorating structures, both prehistoric and nance,” says John Schroeder, archaeologist at Montezuma and historic, in 10 years, and in doing so cause “the least amount Tuzigoot National Monuments. Schroeder notes that Portland of impact to the original materials,” according to Virginia cement maintains its integrity for about 20 to 25 years. Salazar-Halfmoon, who manages the program. Over the last 10 years, the NPS and other agencies that Vanishing Treasures has spent approximately $1 mil- serve as custodians of these ruins have taken a different lion annually to achieve these goals, Salazar-Halfmoon says. approach. They are experimenting with innovative combina- That money has funded, among other things, 60 new NPS tions of traditional and high-tech methods to ensure that the employees such as architectural conservators, historical mud brick and sandstone ruins that dot the region are pre- architects, and structural engineers. This has allowed Bell and served for at least another century. “The approach is more her colleagues “to be more proactive,” she says. They’re doing science-based now,” says Duane Hubbard, chief of resources more documentation, for example, to assess and, if necessary, at Tonto National Monument in central Arizona, which has stabilize structures before their condition becomes critical. cliff dwellings dating to the mid 1300s to early 1400s. The program’s money has also been used to contract with universities to provide NPS with expertise it lacks. Exactly one century after Fewkes began his work at The Vanishing Treasures Program has Mesa Verde, a team funded by Vanishing Treasures and led provided much of the money for the NPS’ new approach. by Frank Matero, a professor of architecture and conserva- The idea for this program took shape in 1994, when a num- tor at the University of Pennsylvania, will test an alternative ber of park managers called attention to the deteriorating method to stabilize a wall at Far View House this summer. r k Pa Ve r de N ational Jensen, Mesa t Robe r

Conservator Frank Matero injects gelatin into a wall of Kiva E at Long House in Mesa Verde National Park to reattach the decorative plaster. Natural gelatin is one of the innovative methods Matero is using to restore ruins. american archaeology 29

3 Stabilization p27-33.indd 29 5/13/08 9:18:41 PM Matero, who has been working at Mesa Verde since 1995, will remove Portland cement from a three-foot section of the top of a wall and replace it with a cap of geo-fabric and native grasses. The new approach, called “soft-capping,” is uncom- mon, says Matero, who has used the method in Turkey, but has not yet tried it in the American Southwest. “It’s a total reversal of thinking,” says Matero, who adds that “this is an effective, low maintenance way to control Tr aine r

water penetration into walls and fluctuations in tempera- vation ture and moisture that can damage the ruins.” (The walls can deteriorate from penetrating moisture, salts, frost, and changes in temperature that cause them to expand and contract.) The technique appears to have worked well on , Ruins P r ese similar stone walls at the site of Gordion in Turkey. While the grasses’ shallow roots don’t damage the wall cavity, they N ea l Lynn Bernard Natseway and Lyle Balenquah of the Hopi tribe stabilize a deteriorating wall at Wupatki National Monument in Arizona. can absorb water that otherwise would penetrate the structure. Matero’s team will bury sensors just below the grass to measure temperature and moisture in the test area for a year. If the results show this method diminishes temperature A Conflict Between fluctuations, then Bell says she’s prepared to expand the soft- Responsibilities and Beliefs capping practice around the park. Stabilizing centuries-old ruins requires highly skilled craftspeople as well as innovative approaches, “The biggest problem is undoing damage and some of the craftspeople working on National Park from previous repairs,” says Matero. That typically means Service (NPS) stabilization crews are Native Ameri- replacing Portland cement. This pervasive material was first cans. “The Navajos in this area have a really strong patented in 1824 by a British bricklayer who found that, by preservation ethic,” says Dabney Ford, chief of cultural mixing various minerals with limestone and clay, he could resource management at Chaco Canyon in northwest create an extraordinarily hard substance with the look of New Mexico by the Navajo Reservation. She notes that stone quarried from the Isle of Portland in Dorset. Found in they also have “a deep knowledge” of the materials most cement, mortar, stucco, and grout, it sets in hours and that were used to build the ancient structures. hardens into a stone-like density in a few weeks. Though the Navajos and other Native Americans are well qualified to fulfill their responsibilities as NPS By contrast, the original inhabitants of these cliff dwell- employees to preserve these cultural treasures for the ings used soil, ash, and water to make the mortar that held public, their traditional beliefs often conflict with their together the soft sandstone that makes up much of the build- job duties. They have “mixed feelings” about their work ings at Mesa Verde. Researchers are now returning to the old because they believe the spirits of their ancestors dwell techniques, but with a modern twist. By closely examining in the ruins, says Gary Brown, who directs stabilization the native soil, experts can add amendments to earthen work at Aztec Ruins National Monument. mortars in order to make them more durable yet compatible “I think at times it becomes a conflict,” says with the existing masonry systems. At Mesa Verde, for exam- David Yubeta, a preservation specialist at Tumacåcori ple, maintenance crews mix a small amount of a styrene/ National Historical Park in southern Arizona. Yubeta, acrylic copolymer called Rhoplex into the organic mortar. who has been “keeping things standing” for 25 years, At Chaco Canyon and other sites, a different material is used, has an Apache mother and Hispanic father. “My depending on the soil type. “You have to study the reactions mother feels that nothing should be preserved,” he in different soils,” says Bell. says, explaining that many Native Americans believe At Aztec Ruins National Monument, archaeologist Gary in the circle of life theory, which posits that everything Brown must cope with water coming not just from the sky, should be allowed to expire at the end of its natural but from the ground. An unlined irrigation canal used in the life cycle. area for agriculture has sent water toward the ruins, which Yubeta believes that Native Americans succeed at were stabilized as early as the 1910s and as late as the 1970s masking their feelings when preserving ancient ruins, with Portland cement. “We thought it would solve the prob- while still managing to take pride in their work. “I don’t lem, and then we’d be done and could lay off the preserva- think you do crappy work because you don’t believe in tion crew,” says Brown, whose position was created because it,” he says. As for himself, he says, “I love my work.” of Vanishing Treasures’ funds. “But it actually did the reverse, But he also admits reconciling these competing beliefs creating very significant damage.” Water crept around the is a struggle that he has to “work through.” hard material and ate away at the sandstone walls. 30 summer • 2008

3 Stabilization p27-33.indd 30 5/13/08 9:18:50 PM r k Pa Ve r de N ational Jensen, Mesa t Robe r Frank Matero (upper right) and his team begin the process of reattaching delaminating plasters and mural paintings inside Kiva E.

Brown mixes a bonding agent called Daraweld—about symbolic traditions of those times. one measuring cup’s worth in an entire cement mixer—with In recent decades, synthetic polymers typically were earthen mortar. “It provides more strength, but allows the used for conservation of original plasters. But many Native walls to breathe,” he adds. “It makes quite a difference.” The Americans are uncomfortable with the use of synthetics on sandstone at Aztec is softer than that at Mesa Verde, and the structures they consider to be the ancient homes of their walls are twice as thick, making the structures even more vul- ancestors. This has forced conservators like Matero to search nerable to water. Portland cement is still used, though spar- for alternative solutions that are effective and culturally ingly. Any grasses, Brown says, likely would send down roots appropriate. One of these alternative solutions is natural into the wall cap, which could do more harm than good. But gelatin, which has been used for centuries as an adhesive he’s hoping to begin experiments with a new acrylic cap and amendment. The technique has been carefully studied to that covers the walls while providing more protection from ensure it won’t cause future conservators any nightmares. temperature and humidity variations. For example, in Kiva E at Long House at Mesa Verde, a unique polychrome geometric design with zoomorphic figures remains in fragments on the wall. But only half the But there’s more to the ruins than mud surface of the kiva, which was restored in the late 1950s, brick or sandstone blocks. Plastered surfaces, common in is original. Matero and his team carefully surveyed the places like Mesa Verde, pose particular challenges. “It can be wall, noting a world of hurt—blisters, cracks, detachments, a life’s work to reattach, clean, and present” the painted plas- delaminations, flaking, and loss of finish. The team also ter that provides important archaeological and ethnological pored through the field notes and photographs of the data on the peoples who once lived here, notes Matero, who researchers that had worked in the kiva in generations past, has been documenting, analyzing, and treating the plaster to assess the deterioration since the 1930s. finishes at Mesa Verde for over 10 years. He will begin work Matero began work at the kiva in the early 1990s, at the park’s Spruce Tree House this summer. By analyzing readhering plaster layers to the wall and reattaching loose plaster samples, he can determine the composition and mul- fragments using Japanese tissue and a variety of synthetic tiple painting schemes for the interior and exterior spaces, adhesives. But the plaster surface continued to detach, and which help him establish the architectural, aesthetic, and the finishes had to be treated at least five times between american archaeology 31

3 Stabilization p27-33.indd 31 5/13/08 9:19:00 PM 1994 and1998 alone. structures, though it also is controversial because backfilled When Matero and his crew returned to the kiva in 2006 ruins are no longer accessible to the public or researchers. to complete the conservation of the entire space, they reat- But NPS personnel insist they use it sparingly and in such tached the painted designs with syringe injections of gela- a way that it doesn’t interfere with tourism. “We’ve care- tin, glycerine, and water where the plaster was flaking and fully avoided backfilling areas that are part of a visitor’s detaching. This was no simple procedure, since the tempera- experience,” says Brown. He notes that at West Ruin, there ture of the solution is critical to the success of the work, the are more than 400 rooms, one-fourth of which have been solution-filled syringes were kept in a warm thermos bottle reburied. The backfilled areas, however, are typically not until ready for use. seen by the public. Each part of the wall required different kinds of treat- “It sounds simple, but it is very complex,” Brown says ment; the portions covered in thick soot could easily be of backfilling. Drainage systems must be built to ensure that stained if water was used, so the team used cyclododecane, water doesn’t eat away at structures under the earth, since a chemical that can change from a solid to a gas. The con- walls trap moisture. And filling one room while leaving an servators concocted a special grout of sand, water, natural adjacent one open puts pressure on walls; therefore, bracing hydraulic lime, and ceramic microballons (small hollow structures are needed. spheres developed by the aerospace industry) mixed to the At Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, where consistency of a milkshake and then injected into the cavi- pre-Colonial and Colonial structures mingle, backfilling is ties where the original plasters and mortar had deteriorated. seen as an effective way to preserve and even enhance the Some particularly fragile areas were reburied. experience of tourists. At Gran Quivira, a prehistoric pueblo, NPS administrators plan to bury rooms at the center starting next year. Visitors could then stand at the top of the mound Reburying—also called backfilling— and see the outlines of the walls and open rooms on the increasingly is used as a way to preserve decaying edges, providing a better view of the old town. “There still NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PARK NATIONAL

An NPS team documents the condition of a site in Cow Canyon in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, along the border of Utah and Arizona. 32 summer • 2008

3 Stabilization p27-33.indd 32 5/13/08 9:19:09 PM NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PARK NATIONAL Archaeologist Jim Hampson stabilizes a wall at Square Tower House that was damaged by a rock fall.

will be a lot of open rooms, and a good interpretive story needs. “It was a very ambitious initiative,” she says, but the and a good experience,” says Glenn Fulfer, the park chief. “We lack of money has prevented the program from achieving don’t want to cover everything up, but there are a lot of all of its goals. rooms visitors don’t see anyway.” But Matero and others are confident that new tech- Unlike Portland cement, the new materials and methods niques will not only help conserve the structures, but also won’t do away with frequent maintenance. “There’s no silver prove to be cost effective. Using advanced digital modeling bullet here,” adds Fulfer. He and other NPS managers say they to map and analyze conditions, he and his team can better are reconciled to the fact that every five or six years mortar understand past failures and predict future problems, and will need to be replaced. There are no quick fixes. Last year in doing so identify critical maintenance issues. Water flow- alone, Schroeder notes, $140,000 was spent on documenting ing through underground channels threatens to erode the and stabilizing the ruins at Tuzigoot. ancient retaining walls of cliff dwellings at Tonto, so Hubbard Frank McManamon, chief archaeologist for the NPS, will employ ground-penetrating radar to search for fissures says the organization is wedded to the idea of using “tech- in the bedrock through which the water may be flowing. nology that’s not going to cause harm.” But more frequent Once he’s identified how the water is reaching the retaining maintenance, though better from the perspective of con- walls, Hubbard can then determine what, if anything, can be servation, requires substantial funding. Most parks must done to prevent further erosion. compete for grants to conduct innovative, let alone routine, Brown is optimistic. Five years ago, his park could not conservation work on ruins. The Vanishing Treasures Pro- keep pace with the deterioration. But thanks to new meth- gram provides some of that money, but McManamon cau- ods and a little bit of funding—about 20 percent of the tions that the program, while energetic and focused, isn’t park’s budget goes to conservation—his staff is winning the able to provide as much funding as is needed. For now, he battle with time. “We’ve turned the corner,” he says. That’s sees little prospect of a big increase in funding to preserve good news for the visitors Fewkes envisioned for genera- the Southwest’s decaying ruins. Bell, for one, has felt the tions to come. pinch. “We’re not able to do as much as we were five or six years ago,” she says. ANDREW LAWLER writes for Science, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Salazar-Halfmoon acknowledges the program’s finan- and other publications. His article “What Ancient Bones Reveal” appeared in cial resources, though substantial, do not meet the current the Fall 2006 issue of American Archaeology. american archaeology 33

3 Stabilization p27-33.indd 33 5/13/08 9:19:19 PM LEGENDS OF ARCHAEOLOGY A Driving Force in Archaeology Jimmy Griffin made an indelible mark as a scholar, teacher, and museum director.

By Blake Edgar

ot all archaeologists make their marks by digging up artifacts. Although he participated in excavations during the course of a four-decade career that spanned the growth and maturation of American archaeology, James Bennett Griffin wasn’t really a “dirt archae- Griffin poses next to a mural at Teotihuacán near Mexico Nologist.” Instead, he became an authority on the archaeology City. Being a man who reveled in scholarly skirmishes, Griffin of the Eastern Woodlands by virtue of a sharp intellect, an vigorously argued against the hypothesis, advanced by some of his colleagues, that Midwestern mound-building and encyclopedic memory, and an uncanny sense for people and Mesoamerican pyramid-building cultures were connected. processes that would push research in exciting directions. A champion of both multidisciplinary research and sci- Griffin started in the business school at the University of Chi- entific approaches to archaeology, Griffin “knew more about cago in 1923 but switched to social sciences in his junior year the material culture of Eastern North America than anyone and discovered anthropology. After a brief, unstimulating stint who’s ever lived,” says Bruce Smith, director of archaeobiol- with Standard Oil Company, Griffin returned to the University ogy at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of of Chicago for a master’s degree and studied with such dis- Natural History. Griffin’s hefty 1952 edited volume Archeol- tinguished anthropologists as linguist Edward Sapir, ethnogra- ogy of Eastern United States became the standard reference, pher Robert Redfield, and archaeologist Fay-Cooper Cole. nicknamed “the green bible” for the color of its cover. Smith As a graduate student, Griffin had his first exposure to field had his initiation to North American archaeology in Griffin’s archaeology and to the Hopewell culture that would figure undergraduate class at the University of Michigan, and he fol- prominently in his academic achievements. He participated lowed Griffin both in studying pre-Columbian peoples in the in excavations of two Illinois sites—Parker Heights Mound in Eastern states and in receiving the rare honor for an archae- 1929 and Morton Mound the following year. Griffin then initi- ologist of election to the National Academy of Sciences. ated his own excavation in the Upper Susquehanna Valley of Born in Kansas on January 12, 1905, James Griffin was the Pennsylvania but had to abandon it when the Depression hit son of a railroad equipment supplier who moved the family in 1932. He continued working for his doctorate at Chicago to Denver and Oak Park, Illinois, during Jimmy’s childhood. until a three-year research opportunity arose at the University

34 summer • 2008

4 Legends p34-37.indd 34 5/13/08 10:35:04 PM A nthropology the University of Michigan M u se um the University of Michigan to become a Fellow in Aboriginal Ceramics at the Archaeologists from around the East arrived at academic Museum of Anthropology. In 1927 the museum’s first director, meetings with boxes of potsherds for Griffin to examine. “He Carl Guthe, had established the Ceramic Repository for the was legendary for sharing his knowledge with people,” says Eastern United States, a comparative collection of potsherds University of Michigan professor emeritus Richard Ford. Grif- and other data from throughout the region. fin likewise learned from these encounters and his frequent Arriving in Ann Arbor at age 28 in 1933, Griffin took on site visits. Says Speth, “He became a clearinghouse of informa- the task of curating and expanding this collection, which he tion concerning virtually everything east of the Mississippi.” thought vital to reconstructing the histories and relationships Like someone skillfully reconstructing a pot from a scatter of of the Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian peoples. “He drove angular sherds, Griffin accumulated myriad facts and assem- all over the place, visiting site after site after site,” says Univer- bled them into broad, coherent patterns of prehistory. sity of Michigan archaeologist John Speth. Griffin conversed By the mid-1930s, Griffin’s career was clearly on the rise. with professors, students, and amateurs alike and coaxed con- He had already been one of 31 signers of a constitution cre- tributions to the ceramic collection. Wherever he went, Grif- ating the Society for American Archaeology in 1934. He com- fin took copious notes and photographs, enriching the reposi- pleted his Ph.D. in 1936 (the first doctorate in anthropology tory with index cards recording his handwritten and typed awarded at Michigan) and became assistant museum cura- details about the artifacts and their archaeological context. tor there the following year, when he also co-founded the

american archaeology 35

4 Legends p34-37.indd 35 5/13/08 10:35:28 PM Southeastern Archaeological Conference. Griffin was already Museum of Anthropology, a position he would hold until 1975. deeply immersed in research that would culminate 10 years As director, “he was what we might call a benevolent despot,” later in the first of several papers reviewing and synthesizing says Ford, who succeeded Griffin in the post. “He made all the the cultural prehistory of eastern North America. (His fourth decisions himself.” But the record shows that Griffin made and final synthesis, “Eastern North American Archaeology: lots of smart decisions during his 30-year tenure. A Summary,” published in the prominent journal Science in A case in point: when future Nobel laureate Willard Libby 1967, hugely influenced scholars and students and remains developed his method for radiocarbon dating at the Univer- largely accurate today.) sity of Chicago, he recognized the potential of natural decay Never one to shy from an academic argument, the in radioactive carbon-14 to construct a precise chronology opinionated Griffin relished opportunities to challenge his for the archaeological record. In 1948, Libby and colleagues colleagues’ archaeological interpretations. In the preface to first tested the technique on a piece of acacia wood from Cultural Change and Continuity, one of two honorary fest- the step pyramid of Zoser in Saqqara, Egypt. They obtained schrifts to Griffin, Charles Cleland memorably describes Grif- an age of 4,650 years and in March 1949 published this first- fin’s behavior in such situations: “One cannot help noticing ever radiocarbon date in Science. his presence at scholarly meetings, where he perches in the Some archaeologists were skeptical that counting car- front row like a certain avian raptor, pencil poised, eyebrows bon atoms would yield a reliable clock for human prehistory, flickering, receiving the nervous glances of the speaker. He but not Griffin. With the help of physics professor H. Richard prompts, amends, suggests, and challenges, and in so doing, Crane, Griffin established the world’s second radiocarbon provides the quality control for much of American archaeol- laboratory at the University of Michigan in 1950, and he was ogy.” As Smith puts it, “He was always looking for the relative the first to apply the novel technique exclusively to archaeo- strength of the supporting arguments.” logical problems. Griffin proceeded to test the timing and One recurring idea that attracted Griffin’s ire was the sequence of Eastern Woodland culture groups that he had attempt by some colleagues to draw cultural connections indirectly inferred from close observation of ceramics and between Midwestern mound-builder cultures and pyramid- other artifacts. For the most part, radiocarbon dates con- building peoples of prehistoric Mesoamerica. Griffin stead- firmed his instincts. Crane ran the Michigan radiocarbon lab, fastly maintained that Hopewell culture (ca. 100 b.c. to a.d. which yielded some 2,500 dates until it shut down in 1970. 500), which flourished over much of eastern North America, About a decade after spearheading radiocarbon dat- and the preceding Adena culture (ca. 500 b.c. to 50 a.d. ) ing at Michigan, Griffin pursued another technological developed from indigenous roots in America rather than collaboration with chemistry colleague Adon Gordus. The having emerged from Mexico. technique of neutron activation analysis (NAA) had recently Griffin also took issue with archaeologist Stuart Struev- er’s elaboration of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere (HIS), a concept that portrayed Hopewellian societies as highly organized and coordinated centers for trade and distribution. Although Griffin recognized that Hopewell groups shared ideas and traded goods, he viewed them as independent cultures with different regional characteristics that interacted in a less organized fashion. He was known to refer to the acro- nym HIS with a derisive hissing sound and coined the coun- ter-concept of HERS, for Hopewell Extraction of Resources System, to rebut the idea of elaborate exchange networks. Intensive trade just didn’t fit the evidence, as Griffin saw it. Griffin’s tendency to critique others’ ideas stemmed from his own keen interest to know when and why certain cultural fluorescences, such as Adena and Hopewell,

occurred in the major river valleys of Ohio, Illinois, and other A nthropology areas, and how they fit within the archaeological record of the entire Eastern Woodlands. Toward that goal, Griffin sought to gather as much data as possible from any promising source or opportunity. Says Vincas Steponaitis, director of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina, “He saw what needed to be done and got others working on it.” In this 1955 photo, Griffin uses a movie camera to document Griffin succeeded Guthe in 1946 as director of Michigan’s a cleared floor at the Poverty Point site in Louisiana. the University of Michigan M u se um the University

36 summer • 2008

4 Legends p34-37.indd 36 5/13/08 10:35:40 PM been developed, and Griffin believed it could prove useful to archaeologists. Some Hopewell sites in Ohio and elsewhere in the Midwest contain caches of obsidian within human burial mounds. As obsidian does not occur naturally in the eastern United States, Griffin and colleagues sought by using NAA to detect a specific chemical signature for the volcanic glass that would trace it back to its source. It turned out that the Hopewell obsidian artifacts made a chemical match with quarries in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park. The technique also showed that Hopewell people obtained copper and silver from the Great Lakes region and galena (lead ore) from closer to home. Others at Michigan later employed NAA to study obsidian exchange in the Near East and Mesoamerica. Perhaps Griffin’s most enduring contribution to archaeology came during the 1960s, when he had an opportunity to expand his staff at the museum. Within three years, Griffin A nthropology doubled the number of museum curators and built a program of international, high-caliber archaeological research. He looked to his old academic stomping grounds of Chi- cago to recruit Robert Whallon, Jr. and Kent Flannery, who conducted important excavations in Europe, the Near East, and Mesoamerica. In 1967, former Michigan undergraduate and future Macarthur Fellow Henry Wright returned to do research and build collections from the Near East and

the University of M ichigan Mu se u m the University Africa. Jeffrey Parsons, who earned his doctorate at Michigan and worked in the Valley of Mexico and then the Andes in Peru, also joined the staff. In 1966 Griffin achieved his goal Known for his expertise in North American material culture, of hiring a biological anthropologist when C. Loring Brace Griffin examines a ceramic vessel in this 1980 photograph. arrived, and three years later archaeobotanist Richard Ford was hired. The research of these young scholars helped Grif- looks back in admiration on Griffin’s success in the dual roles fin pursue his interest in exploring evolution and ecology in of productive scholar and effective leader. One of Griffin’s last international archaeological contexts. students, Steponaitis recalls that Griffin gruffly encouraged “He picked them right out of the ‘minor leagues,’” says Ste- him to “start thinking about it” when the academic position ponaitis. “He had a real knack for seeing the potential of peo- that he has held for two decades became available. ple and of techniques.” As an administrator himself, Steponaitis By the time Griffin retired in 1975, he had simultane- ously served as museum director, curator of archaeology, and professor and chair of anthropology. He had also built what was widely regarded as the top archaeological training program at any U.S. university. His legacy lives in the continuing contributions of the curators Griffin groomed and the dozens of graduate students he mentored. In the years prior to his death in 1997 at age 92, Griffin continued pursuing research from within the nation’s biggest museum, the Smithsonian Institution, working alongside former student Bruce Smith. Although he spent less time in the trenches than many archaeologists, Griffin knew the impor- tance of a comprehensive and well-curated museum, which provided much data for his own research, and he never lost sight of, as he put it, “the continuing value of collections for future generations…to our understanding of the past.” Griffin rests in his car at the Vernon Paul site in northeastern Arkansas in 1940. The bags next to BLAKE EDGAR is a contributing editor to Archaeology magazine and an the car are filled with potsherds he recovered.

stephen williams acquisitions editor for University of California Press.

american archaeology 37

4 Legends p34-37.indd 37 5/13/08 10:35:57 PM Summer Travel Special

Exploring the Ancient Southwest By Tim Vanderpool

Paquimé (also known as Casas Grandes), located in northern Mexico, was a major prehistoric settlement. SHARP w. JAY 38 summer • 2008

5 Travel p38-46.indd 38 5/13/08 9:21:41 PM f there are any themes to man’s millennia-long presence Smithsonian-affiliated repository on University Boulevard at in the Southwest, they must include ingenuity, determi- Park Avenue is the Southwest’s oldest and largest anthropol- nation, and imagination. From New Mexico’s Gila Cliff ogy museum. First, learn about disparate Native American Dwellings, to Arizona’s Spanish missions and Hohokam cultures in the sweeping exhibit “Paths of Life: American villages, to northern Mexico’s magnificent ancient Indians of the Southwest.” The display includes more than settlementI Paquimé, this region’s archaeological treasures 250 intriguing artifacts, from famed Hopi katsina dolls and reveal the marvelously creative ways people adapted to Apache war shields to a sixth-century abalone and turquoise a tough, unforgiving place. Exploring this amazing legacy necklace. leads you through some of North America’s most dramatic Then explore “Set in Stone,” a shimmering exhibit trac- backdrops, from saguaro-filled bluffs to fir-dotted highlands, ing the Southwest trade routes of gems and minerals dating from exquisite museum exhibits to the brawny ramparts of back to antiquity. It includes the intricate “Stones and Bones” crumbled cities. display, with birds delicately carved from porous antlers and Start your journey downtown at the Presidio San various animals fashioned from mineralized coal or jet. Finish Augustín de Tucson, where you can glimpse the remnants with the museum’s new “Wall of Pots,” featuring 150 vessels of the Spanish incursion. This city park on the southwest in a floor-to-ceiling glass case. Highlights include gorgeous corner of Washington Street and Church Avenue includes a Hopi sikyatki polychrome pots denoting a tradition of craft full-scale reconstruction of corner walls and a tower of the and iconography. fort established in 1775 by Hugo O’Conor, a Spanish officer Then stroll across the street to the Arizona Historical of Irish descent. Docents re-enact scenes of Spanish Colonial Society Museum, where the “Rio Nuevo, Rio Viejo” exhibit life on the northern frontier of New Spain. illustrates Tucson’s 4,000-year history with recently discov- From there head to the Arizona State Museum on ered artifacts, historic photos, and interactive computer the University of Arizona campus. Founded in 1893, this animations. Other exhibits depict Spanish, Mexican, and tate Museu m S tate A rizona Jannelle Weakly, courtesy courtesy Jannelle Weakly,

Arizona State Museum’s “Arnold and Doris Roland Wall of Pots” contains about 150 vessels from a variety of Southwest Indian cultures. american archaeology 39

5 Travel p38-46.indd 39 5/13/08 9:21:53 PM c Preservation for H istori T rust

T u c son Presidio Members of the Tucson Presidio Trust for Historic Preservation re-enact the drills of Spanish soldiers.

Territorial period life in the Southwest, and an examination Park S tate Catalina at R omero uin of the heady role copper has played in this mining state. This cleared area along the Romero Ruin Interpretative Trail was Vista Del Rio Cultural Resources Park, which preserves once a Hohokam ballcourt used for games and ceremonies. the remains of a fair-sized Hohokam village, is your next destination. Beneath the surface lie 12 trash pits and at least 15 3/4-mile trail passes dwelling foundations and a five-foot wall pithouses, with interpretative signs marking their locations. that surrounded the village. It also runs along the remnants of The Tucson valley is one of North America’s longest con- Hohokam ballcourts, pithouses, and middens. Ramparts also tinuously inhabited areas. Early farmers cultivated its river- mark the home of 19th-century rancher Francisco Romero. banks by 2100 b.c., and constructed the earliest known canals To better understand the natural world of these early in North America by 1500 b.c. You can learn more about the dwellers, visit Saguaro National Park, which borders Tucson area’s prehistory at several spots across town, including the on the east and west sides. The west unit is particularly rich Hardy Site at Fort Lowell Park, on the northeast corner of in archaeology; follow Scenic Loop Bajada Drive to Signal Craycroft Road and Glenn Street. The ruins were partially Hill, where a half-mile round-trip hike leads to a tumble of excavated in the mid-1970s and later backfilled for protec- boulders etched with brilliant petroglyphs, ranging from tion. Today you can see outlines of prehistoric Hohokam sunbursts and spiral shapes to animals carved into the rock. pithouses, providing a sense of the site’s arrangement. The A short drive down Kinney Road will bring you to the U.S. Army also established an outpost here in 1873. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. This museum, which also Fort Lowell Museum, nestled inside the delightfully creaky features a zoo and botanical garden, is ranked among the reconstructed officers’ quarters, has displays covering both world’s top natural history institutions. See wildlife ranging periods. from Mexican gray wolves to mountain lions to humming- From there head to the Romero Ruin Interpretive Trail birds. Archaeology buffs will enjoy the full-scale re-creation in Catalina State Park, just north of Tucson on AZ-77. This of a Hohokam cave shrine. Julian Wash Natural and Cultural Resources Park is your next destination. Drive south to Ajo Way, then east to 12th Avenue and south to 39th Street. Look for a small parking lot, with the address 2960 S. 12th Avenue. Julian Wash was the site of a large Hohokam settlement that was occupied between vern lam p lot

The San Xavier del Baca Mission church, which is undergoing Chu c k Penson restoration, in the oldest European building in Arizona. A Titan II missile rests in the launch silo at the Titan Missile Museum. 40 summer • 2008

5 Travel p38-46.indd 40 5/13/08 9:22:07 PM Society Mu s eu m Society al Hi s toric Arizo na This painting depicting Hohokam life is part of the “Rio Nuevo, Rio Viejo” exhibit at the Arizona Historical Society Museum.

a.d. 750 and 1200. Several other cultures also inhabited the in 1783, and work was finished 14 years later on a building site at other times. now considered one of the finest examples of Spanish Colo- The Spanish introduced Catholicism, and its early influ- nial architecture in the United States. Like other Southwest ence lingers in majestic structures such as the San Xavier mission churches, San Xavier blends elements of the Old and del Bac Mission, which rises from the desert on the Tohono New Worlds: the towers and dome reflect Spanish and Moor- O’odham Indian Reservation 10 miles south of Tucson, off ish influences, while some of the building materials reflect the Exit 92. Nicknamed “White Dove of the Desert,” San Xavier O’odham. But the mission is no museum; the Tohono O’odham has been inspiring demonstrations of faith for more than still worship among its carved pillars and painted cherubs. 300 years. It’s considered the greatest architectural legacy A few minutes south of San Xavier, you’ll fast-forward of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, a determined Jesuit padre several centuries at the Titan Missile Museum, a National His- who transformed this portion of the Southwest three centu- toric Landmark. This darkly fascinating outpost is home to ries ago, establishing a chain of 25 missions reaching from the last Titan missile, part of a Cold War arsenal once ringing northern Mexico into southern Arizona. Tucson and designed to hurl Armageddon at 15,000 miles Kino founded a mission in the Tohono O’odham village per hour. Today, international accords keep the missile silo’s of Bac in 1692 and began building a church in 1700. But he roof cemented half-open, making the disabled warhead vis- didn’t live to see it completed beyond a foundation. His Fran- ible to passing satellites. Below, the 103-foot weapon rises ciscan successors began construction of the present church like a gleaming leviathan, completely visible through a glass Jeff AxeL / NPS AxeL Jeff The Franciscans began building the San José de Tumacácori church around 1800. They intended it to match the frontier baroque glory of its celebrated neighbor to the north, Mission San Xavier del Bac. american archaeology 41

5 Travel p38-46.indd 41 5/13/08 9:22:18 PM evolution graphics

IF YOU GO: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Tombstone 2021 North Kinney Road Chamber of Commerce Presidio San Augustín de Tucson (520) 883-1380 (888) 457-3929 Corner of Washington and Church streets www.desertmuseum.org (520) 884-4214 www.cityoftombstone.com/ www.tucsonpresidiotrust.org/ Julian Wash Natural and Cultural Resources Park Bisbee 2960 S. 12th Avenue Greater Bisbee Chamber of Commerce Arizona State Museum-University of Arizona (520) 837-8034 1013 E. University Boulevard (520) 432-5421 (520) 621-6302 San Xavier del Bac Mission www.bisbeearizona.com/content/ www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/ 1950 W. San Xavier Road, San Xavier District, Tohono O’odham Nation Amerind Foundation Arizona Historical Society (520) 294-2624 2100 N. Amerind Road, Dragoon, Arizona 949 East 2nd Street www.sanxaviermission.org (520) 586-3666 (520) 628-5774 www.amerind.org/ www.arizonahistoricalsociety.org Titan Missile Museum 1580 W. Duval Mine Road Western New Mexico University Museum Vista Del Rio Cultural Resources Park Sahuarita, Arizona 1000 West College Avenue 7575 Desert Arbors Street (520) 625-7736 (520) 791-5930 www.titanmissilemuseum.org Silver City, New Mexico www.tucsonaz.gov/parksandrec/parkmap.php#map (505) 538-6386 Tubac Presidio State Historic Park www.nmculturaltreasures.org/cgi-bin/ Hardy Site/Fort Lowell Park 45 miles south of Tucson on I-19 instview.cgi?_recordnum=WNM 2900 N. Craycroft Road (520) 398-2252 (520) 885-3832 www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/parkhtml/tubac.html Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument www.arizonahistoricalsociety.org North of Silver City, New Mexico Tumacácori National Historical Park (575) 536-9461 Romero Interpretive Trail/ Catalina State Park 1891 East Frontage Road, Tumacácori, Arizona www.nps.gov/gicl (520) 628-5798 (520) 398-2341 www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/parkhtml/catalina.html www.nps.gov/tuma Deming Luna Mimbres Museum Saguaro National Park Kartchner Caverns State Park 301 South Silver 2700 N. Kinney Road Benson, Arizona Deming, New Mexico (520) 733-5158 (520) 586-2283 (505) 546-2382 www.nps.gov/sagu/ www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/parkhtml/kartchner.html www.deminglunamimbresmuseum.com 42 summer • 2008

5 Travel p38-46.indd 42 5/18/08 11:49:35 AM A re-enactor describes foods of the 1700s to visitors at Tubac Presidio State Historical Park.

canopy and from viewing balconies. Another jaunt down I-19 takes you back to the rustic past at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park. Established as a Spanish garrison in 1752 and intermittently abandoned due to Indian attacks, the presidio portrays periods ranging from the pre-Columbian to early Arizona territorial days. In the museum you’ll find trappings from the original fort, such as an 18th-century lance and a stunning three-foot-high statue a rk s of Father Kino. te P a You can also explore a subterranean display of the St archaeological remains of the 1752 commandant’s quarters,

Arizon a excavated by University of Arizona archaeologists in 1974. Then enjoy tours, led by Pancho Villa State Park park guides, through The Columbus, New Mexico Archaeological Conser- Kartchner Caverns features a variety of speleothems. These (575) 531-2711 vancy’s Barrio de Tubac formations generally consist of layers of calcite deposited by water. www.emnRoadstate.nm.us/prd/ PanchoVilla.htm preserve. This site is a crucial part of an early settlement that peaked in 1767 when it was inhabited by more MEXICO INFORMATION than 500 Spanish colonists. Spencer MacCallum’s Web site Next, take the I-19 frontage road four miles south to Kino’s first Arizona mission. is a very good resource Established on the site of an O’odham village he visited in 1691, the rustic adobe now for border crossing and travel information: anchors the Tumacácori National Historical Park. Unlike restored San Xavier, which is http://www.mataortizcalendar.com/ still an active church, the towering walls of San José de Tumacácori remain in a state of traveling%20to%20the%20village.html arrested decay beneath a burnt adobe bell tower. Begun around 1800, the mission church The Pink Store was finally abandoned—still unfinished—in 1848. Avenida 5 de Mayo 113 Weathered columns frame the arched doorway, leading up to a small cross perched Palomas, Chihuahua, Mexico at the top of the façade. Inside, the beauty of the nave and altar survives in simple, rough Tours: $55 day; $85 overnight, adobe. Exit through the sacristy and stroll through the cemetery chapel. Beyond are plus $65 lodging in Mata Ortiz humble graves topped by piles of stones and squat, sun-beaten crosses. (505) 531-7243 Now trace your route back up I-19 to Tucson, turning east onto I-10. For a taste of www.thepinkstoremexico.com the truly primordial, leave the interstate at Exit 302 in Benson, driving south on AZ-90 for Paquimé nine miles to Kartchner Caverns State Park. Within this well-preserved cave you can see Casas Grandes, Mexico incredible, 50-foot-high columns and delicate, 20-foot “soda straws.” (Various Web sites offer information Return to Benson and drive east through town to AZ-80. Continue south through pic- about Paquimé.) turesque countryside to Tombstone. Immortalized in old westerns as “the town too tough to die,” Tombstone boasts plenty of touristy shops and loads of kitsch. But you’ll also find Mata Ortiz some classic frontier architecture, such as Schieffelin Hall, on the corner of Fourth and Chihuahua, Mexico Fremont streets. Dating from 1881, the stately two-story adobe regularly drew top-shelf (Various Web sites offer information about the village.) touring theater groups. Also, be sure to visit the original Cochise County Courthouse, circa 1882. Now a state park, this resplendent neoclassical Victorian landmark harbors fascinating souvenirs from the woolly frontier and an old courtroom where the O.K. Corral’s american archaeology 43

5 Travel p38-46.indd 43 5/13/08 9:23:28 PM to Exit 318. One mile south, tucked in boulder-strewn Texas Canyon, you’ll come to the Amerind Foundation. This pleas- antly secluded museum was founded in 1937 by amateur archaeologist William Fulton, who was determined to boost appreciation for native cultures. Amerind has since assembled one of the finest artifact collections in North America, with a focus on pottery from Paquimé. Don’t miss the large gallery of figurative creations made of materials ranging from ivory

and stone to clay and wood. Howell/ E isele C ollection/ A nt h ony WN M U Museu m The Western New Mexico University Museum boasts a large Return to I-10 once more, continuing east to New collection of Mimbres artifacts. Mexico. At Lordsburg, take NM-90 north to Silver City. Time

gunfighters faced justice. Continue south on US-80 to Bisbee, a beautifully preserved onetime boomtown. As a major mining hub in the early 20th century, Bisbee was home to Wobblies, prostitutes, and the Lavender Pit Mine. By 1900, the so-called “Queen of the Copper Camps” was producing three million pounds of ore each month. Today, the Lavender Pit is quiet and Bisbee is a charming community of artists, shopkeepers, and won- derfully restored homes and storefronts nestled in the Mule Mountains. Two of the town’s highlights are the excellent Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum on the southern end of downtown and the Queen Mine Tour, on which retired min-

ers take visitors underground in the original ore cars. Museu m Bis b ee Mining & Historical Then retrace your route back to I-10, and continue east Tourists ride genuine ore cars while taking the Queen Mine Tour. ji m walker The amazing Gila Cliff Dwellings were built about 1270 and abandoned shortly thereafter. 44 summer • 2008

5 Travel p38-46.indd 44 5/18/08 11:58:32 AM like a small amphitheater, with graduated benches carved into the stone. Yet another may have been used for food stor-

Howell/ age: thin, prehistoric corncobs are scattered across its floor. Standing among these primeval dwellings, with their sweeping vista of southwest New Mexico, it’s also easy to picture the pueblos and kivas and furrowed-brow artisans of the Mimbres people. To archaeologists, Mimbres culture is known largely for its evolving architecture—elaborate

E i s ele C ollection/Ant h on y WN M U Mu s eu m pithouses, grand kivas, sprawling pueblos—and for unusual burials with bowls covering faces of the dead. These black- on-white painted bowls typically had “kill holes” deliberately struck into them.

JAY w. SHARP w. JAY By a.d. 1000, Mimbreños had transitioned from pit- Horse-drawn wagons still make their way down the streets of houses to masonry pueblos. With the blossoming Classic Tombstone, “the town too tough to die.” Period, the Mimbres River connected an entire network of substantial communities. Pueblos could shelter up to 400 permitting, make a stop at the Western New Mexico Univer- people, and the great kivas of earlier periods gave way to sity Museum, home to the large Eisele Collection of Mimbres smaller lineage kivas or shrines, with family cemeteries fill- Pottery and Artifacts. This display includes 700 whole and ing the earth below. Their culture was in decline by 1180. partial pots gathered from Mimbres settlements dating from But it remains a point of contention among archaeologists a.d. 200 to 1150. about just what happened to Mimbres descendants. On one Driving two hours north from Silver City on NM-15 side are those who believe they remained here and simply brings you to the dramatic ruins of another early people known as the Mogollon. This national scenic byway climbs ever higher until it reaches the remote Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. In turn, a one-mile-loop foot trail brings you to these vertigo-inducing cliff dwellings, tucked under the lip of a broad overhang. Archaeologists believe the site consisted of about 40 rooms, built around a.d. 1270 and abandoned by 1300. Short-lived or not, it’s easy to see why this verdant spot in Cliff Dweller Canyon—within a stone’s throw of the West Fork Gila River—would be a natural choice for the Mogollon people. The dwellings, perched 180 feet above the canyon floor,

JAY w. SHARP w. JAY become visible after about 10 minutes on the trail. From below, they seem bathed in mystery and shadow. Countless The Deming Luna Mimbres Museum features impressive ceramics. questions about this site bedevil archaeologists. For example, what purpose was behind the variously shaped rooms? While faded into a less distinctive culture. On the other side are one appears to be a communal cooking area, another seems those who think they abandoned their valley, melding into other cultures such as Casas Grandes in northern Mexico. From Silver City, drive south on US-180. If you’re so inclined, stop at Deming, founded as a railroad junction in 1881. Much of this town’s history is nicely recounted in the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum, on the corner of Silver and Hemlock streets. Filling a former National Guard Armory, the cheery assemblage features a photograph gallery of local

r to folks, period toys, and an especially nice collection of Mim- bres pottery, gathered over the decades by area ranchers. Be sure to check out the old Customs Office, across the street a ge E duc to the west. Drive another 35 miles south of Deming on Highway 11 and you come to the town of Columbus, on the Mexican

B r enne , He it border. Get a sense of relatively recent history at the Pancho Villa State Park, on the west side of the road. The park spreads a S y lvi The U.S. Customs House at Pancho Villa State Park was built across the onetime site of Camp Furlong, where 18 soldiers at the beginning of the 20th century. were killed in 1916 during a raid by Mexican revolutionary american archaeology 45

5 Travel p38-46.indd 45 5/13/08 9:23:53 PM Pancho Villa. Not coincidentally, this was also the launch- ing point for General John “Black Jack” Pershing’s 500-mile pursuit of Villa across Mexico. Military machinery from that period is on display, including one full-size replica of a Cur- tiss JN-3 “Jenny” airplane used by the 1st Aero Squadron. You can also explore the former U.S. Customs House, circa 1902, and a pair of adobes remaining from Camp Furlong. Then continue south across the border, parking in a small lot just to your right. Obtain a traveler’s visa in the small gray building on the west side of the port; a passport is required and sometimes a driver’s license. Visas are free for short visits. If driving, you’ll also need your driver’s license, car registration, and a credit card with the same name as the registration. A $32 fee is required to register your car. Save time by bringing photocopies of the license and registration. Both Mexican documents must be returned upon your departure to the United States. Then reward yourself with lunch across the street in the Pink Store. This colorful outpost offers great Mexican food—the carne tacos are superb—along with fine regional crafts such as Talavera pottery. By calling in advance, you can also book tours through the store for Casas Grandes and the pottery village of Mata Ortiz. Give yourself three hours to drive from Palomas to

Casas Grandes. About 15 miles south of Palomas, you’ll hit www.armstronggallery.net a T-intersection. Turn right and stay on this road until you The artisans at Mata Ortiz fashion remarkable pottery. reach Nuevo Casas Grandes, then the adjacent community of old Casas Grandes. This will be your base for exploring both remnants of a once-vibrant trading community. Paquimé the Paquimé ruins and the pottery village of Mata Ortiz. reached its zenith from the 11th through the 14th centuries. In “old” Casas Grandes, you might stay at the Pueblo Although it’s only partially excavated, this UNESCO World Viejo Courtyards. You’ll not only enjoy nicely renovated his- Heritage site evokes a powerful sense of that ancient time. toric rooms but also tap into a wealth of area knowledge Sprawling across 88 acres, the exposed ruins are believed with owners Spencer and Emalie MacCallum. In the 1970s, to have sheltered more than 2,000 people. A leisurely explo- Spencer, an anthropologist, “discovered” Juan Quezada’s ration takes you past earthen corridors that wind into one Paquimé-influenced pottery in the nearby village of Mata another, creating a complex architectural web and suggest- Ortiz. Today, that hamlet boasts no fewer than 500 skilled ing the breadth of this vanished society. Learn more in the pottery artisans. world-class Paquimé Museum, with its finely detailed diora- The MacCallums’ inn is also a convenient, 10-minute mas and exhibits featuring musical instruments, sculptures, walk from the Paquimé Archaeological Zone, where an inter- and fetishes retrieved from tombs. pretative trail takes you past the Byzantine walls and other To see a modern version of ancient Casas Grandes pottery, travel about 16 miles south to Mata Ortiz. Today, the dusty village, lying at the feet of the Sierra Madre Mountains, has gained a worldwide reputation for its elegant creations, ranging from shimmering eggshell-thin designs to thicker Casas Grandes motifs. Some are deep crimson, with strik- ing black swirls; others are completely black, their radiant finishes overlaid with precise geometric designs. Most are shown in the homes of friendly Mata Ortiz families. Examine more fine pots in Juan Quezada’s and other galleries on the main street. All said, it’s a perfectly graceful way to end your Southwestern journey—a trip covering centuries of ingenuity and vision in this ruggedly dynamic land. w. S H AR P w.

TIM VANDERPOOL is a Tucson freelance writer who covers natural history, J AY A keyhole doorway at Paquimé. Only a small fraction of the site’s archaeology, and politics. His article “What Became of the Mimbres?” rooms have been excavated. appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of American Archaeology. 46 summer • 2008

5 Travel p38-46.indd 46 5/13/08 9:24:04 PM new acquisition Preserving a Major Community The Puzzle House Archaeological Community could yield insights into prehistoric life in the Mesa Verde region.

t can be hard to imagine that what are now mounds of sandstone Irubble amidst plowed fi elds were once thriving prehistoric settlements. But these ruins are in fact what remain of the Puzzle House Archaeological Community. The Conservancy holds an option to purchase 154 acres containing the well-preserved ruins of this extensive community in southwest Colorado, which dates from A.D. 650 to 1250. There are several major pueblos, fi eld houses, and other associated activity areas, and three to fi ve prehistoric road segments connecting these outlying settlements with Lowry Pueblo’s monumental Great Kiva and Great House. Lowry Pueblo, a National Historic Landmark within the Bureau of Land Management’s Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, is considered by researchers to be one of the most signifi cant archaeological resources in the Southwest. The community’s three main pueblos are known as Puzzle House, E-shaped Pueblo, and Hilltop. Between 1992 and 1997, archaeologist James Judge and students from Fort Lewis College conducted excavations at the Puzzle House site. Judge’s work demonstrated that Puzzle House is a complex, multi-component site that was part of a larger community associated with Lowry Pueblo. “The proposed 154-acre preserve is adjacent to Lowry Pueblo, in my STEVE KOCZAN opinion one of the key archaeological The remnants of a masonry architectural unit in the Puzzle House Archaeological Community. american archaeology 47

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 47 5/13/08 9:26:01 PM new acquisition

areas in the Southwest, and was an integral part of the Lowry community during its full 600-year history,” said Judge. “Test excavations at Puzzle House revealed the presence of a pit structure dating to the A.D. 600s, the only such structure excavated in the Lowry area. Further testing revealed a deeply buried kiva associated with the Chacoan occupation of the Lowry community and another, superimposed kiva con- temporaneous with the early Pueblo III period sites in the area. Thus the Puzzle The Puzzle House site yielded a pair of unusual Mesa Verde black-on-white handled jars. House site itself exhibits a chronology that spans the entire occupational his- 13th centuries. Such transformations episode of Puebloan life in the Mesa tory of the Lowry community.” refl ect a gradual increase in population Verde region just before the rapid emi- Puzzle House underwent a series of levels, a shift from dispersed to aggre- gration of people out of the area by the dramatic changes during its 600 years gated settlements, and a change from end of the century. of occupation. The initial residential household autonomy to community “An equally important component pit structure was followed by the con- control of land and resources. of the preserve is an active spring struction of a small pueblo, which was During the late A.D. 1000s through located between Puzzle House and subsequently converted into a home- the 1200s, Lowry Pueblo appears to Lowry Pueblo,” Judge added. “This stead during the early A.D.1100s, and have served as a religious and political spring probably served as the primary then fi nally used as a fi eld house before center for the area’s inhabitants, many domestic water source for both sites, being abandoned in the early A.D. 1200s. of whom likely lived at the Puzzle as well as other residential sites in the A network of 45- to 60-foot-wide roads House community and were closely area, and it clearly enhances the inter- radiating from the multiple entrances allied, at least for a time, with the large pretive prospects of the acquisition to the Great Kiva and Great House at Anasazi centers of Chaco Canyon and the need for its preservation.” Lowry Pueblo was also constructed and and Aztec Ruins, in what is now New Large tracts of farmland are being several of these subtle features have Mexico. Further research at the Puzzle divided and sold for residential devel- been identifi ed in the Puzzle House House community can help us better opment in this area, but the current community. These changes parallel understand the early development and landowners, Judy and Roy Crow, have those seen in the larger Lowry commu- later operation of the larger cultural taken great care to protect the prop- nity, and have the potential to provide and social system of which Lowry erty, consequently these sites remain important insights into the social, eco- Pueblo was the center. Additionally, some of the best preserved in the Mesa nomic, and ritual transformations that the community’s occupation into the Verde region. characterize settlements of the Mesa 13th century gives it the potential to While the Puzzle House site itself Verde region between the seventh and reveal information about the last major is listed on the Colorado State Register of Cultural Properties, the remainder of the property is not; therefore, the Conservancy is nominating the Puzzle House Archaeological Community to the State Register in order to seek a Colorado Historical Fund grant to help fi nance the property’s acquisition and preservation. Following the purchase of the property, portions of its fence will be repaired, local volunteer site stewards will patrol the preserve, and a management committee will draft

a long-term plan to address security, GAVIOLI LISA These are two of the 84 projectile points recovered from the Puzzle House site. access, erosion control, and other 48 summer • 2008

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 48 5/13/08 9:26:11 PM new acquisition LISA GAVIOLI LISA These gaming pieces, shown from various sides, suggest that life at Puzzle House wasn’t all about work.

issues. Educational displays will be pro- BLM,” said archaeologist William Lipe of College will conduct a fi eld school at duced and exhibited at local venues. Washington State University. the Pigg site, another pueblo in the Puz- “This is a rare opportunity to pre- Lowry Pueblo and its associated zle House community that is owned by serve a large group of Ancestral Pueblo great kiva, which comprise one of the the college. sites that are related to Lowry Pueblo, largest prehistoric settlements in the “This project in particular will which is a National Historic Landmark American Southwest, have been exca- constitute another important step in and is also managed as a visitor attrac- vated, stabilized, and are open to the protecting one more segment of the tion and public education site by the public. The Puzzle House Archaeologi- greater Lowry community, a subject cal Community’s proximity about which I am personally very pas- to Lowry provides signifi - sionate, given my ongoing work at the cant interpretive, research, Pigg site, which is yet another impor- and educational possibilities; tant component of the Lowry Commu- and there is great potential nity,” said Fort Lewis College archaeolo- for data from Puzzle House gist Charles Riggs, who will direct the to inform existing educa- fi eld school. tional exhibits and other The Conservancy will work closely programs at Lowry, as well as with local archaeologists, Native Ameri- the nearby Anasazi Heritage cans, and Fort Lewis College on matters Center in Dolores and Fort of site management and interpretive Lewis College in Durango. and educational opportunities. This summer Fort Lewis —Tamara Stewart american archaeology 49

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 49 5/13/08 9:26:25 PM CONSERVANCY Field Notes

Volunteers Map Fort Salem Earthwork MIDWEST—Some of the earliest archaeology in the New World focused on the prehistoric mounds and earthworks of the region, and the archaeologists working here generated a considerable antiquarian literature, much of it useful today. When preserving a site, it’s fascinating to learn which pioneering archaeologists have preceded us there. Our 300th preserve, the Fort Salem Earthwork, is a case in point. Located about 40 miles east of Cincinnati, it was one of the sites reported by John Patterson MacLean (1847–1939). MacLean was a Universalist minister, a notable historian particularly of the Shaker religious movement, an avid antiquarian whose popular publications championed the idea of a lost race of prehistoric mound builders, and one of the founders of the Ohio Historical Society. Recent research at the Fort Salem Earthwork has demonstrated, however, that his prominent role in Ohio scholarship not- withstanding, MacLean was no cartographer. When examining MacLean’s map in his 1883 report of the earthwork, it became apparent that the dimensions in the map and the text did not match. When, in the summer HARDLINES DESIGN COMPANY

The buff colored lines of John Patterson MacLean’s 1883 map have been superimposed on a three-dimensional rendering of the Fort Salem Earthwork by the Hardlines Design Company.

of 2007, Charissa Durst, president of Hardlines Design Com- pany, expressed an interest in having her Columbus-based MARK MICHEL archaeologists do some pro bono work for the Conservancy, Midwest regional director Paul Gardner presents the Conservancy’s it was obvious where they were needed. Hardlines archaeolo- Golden Trowel Award for the year’s outstanding volunteer to Bill Bear. gists Andy Sewell, Steve Martin, Michael Krakovsky, Patrick M. Bear cleared Fort Salem of brush, seeded it with grass, and built a Bennett, and Terry L. Glaze produced the ﬁ rst accurate map parking lot on land he owns next to the site to facilitate public access. of the earthwork. Having taken about 4,500 measurements 50 summer • 2008

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 50 5/13/08 9:26:37 PM with a total station, the archaeologists determined that the earthwork is an irregular elliptical enclosure about 800 feet by 430 feet that encloses about eight acres, rather than a circle about 450 feet in diameter enclosing four and one-half acres, as MacLean reported. The recent mapping project did find that the one prominent measurement displayed on MacLean’s map, the distance of 288 feet between the mounds and the eastern wall of the enclosure, is reasonably accurate. It is tempting to suggest that this was the only actual measurement MacLean took, and that his other data resulted from eyeballing the earthwork. Jessica C rawford Jessica

Although it is obscured by crops in this photograph, Caney Bayou Mound Soil Studies in Progress is approximately six feet high.

at the Conservancy’s Caney Bayou mound began closer to survived. They are located along Bayou 6400 b.c., it would mean that it is older Macon, which was a major waterway Caney Bayou Mound than most Archaic mounds and could hundreds of years ago that connected SOUTHEAST—Louisiana Division of possibly be the oldest mound. many local archaeological sites. Archaeology researchers recently began In the last two years the Conser- conducting a series of soil core tests at vancy acquired the largest remaining the Conservancy’s Caney Bayou Mound The Conservancy Obtains mound, Mound A, which is approxi- in northeastern Louisiana. Caney Bayou mately 20 feet tall, and Mound K, a low Mound is one of several Archaic period Insley’s Mound N rectangular flat-topped mound which (ca. 3700–2000 b.c.) mounds in Louisi- stands about 10 feet tall. Both of these ana, and it’s hoped that the cores will SOUTHEAST—The Conservancy re- mounds date to the Coles Creek period. provide data for a more precise date for cently acquired a third tract at the The most recent acquisition is Mound its construction. Insley site in northeastern Louisiana. N, which is approximately seven feet The cores will allow the archaeolo- Occupied during the Poverty Point tall and is located on a tract adjacent to gists to examine the different layers of period (ca. 1700–1200 b.c.), and then Mound A. Although no radiocarbon date soil that were used to build the mound. the Coles Creek period (a.d. 700–1200), has been obtained from Mound N, it is They might also contain material that Insley is a large site that, according to likely that it, too, was built by the Coles could yield radiocarbon dates. Recent some reports, once had as many as 13 Creek culture. With the acquisition of studies of the surface on which the mounds. Insley is located in an area Mound N, the Conservancy is closer to mound was built suggest that the age devoted to agriculture, and most of the its goal of preserving the remains of of that surface is somewhere between mounds were destroyed by years of one of the Southeast’s most important 6400 and 3500 b.c. If construction of plowing. Despite this, four mounds have archaeological sites. american archaeology 51

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 51 5/18/08 12:03:33 PM Reviews

The Chaco Experience: Landscape and Ideology in the Center Place By Ruth M. Van Dyke (School for Advanced Research Press, 2007; 314 pgs., illus., $35 paper; www.sarpress.sarweb.org)

Since its rediscovery in the 19th century, archaeologists and others have struggled to make sense of this complex of 12 great apartment-like buildings and associated structures located in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico in the seeming middle of nowhere. Generation after generation has hypothesized about how the buildings came to be Florida’s People in such a desolate place. According to Ruth Van Dyke, after 150 years of inquiry we still have more questions than answers. During the Last Ice Age Van Dyke is an outstanding member of a new generation By Barbara A. Purdy of Chaco scholars that are employing innovative interpreta- (University Press of Florida, 2008; 136 pgs., tions based on recent knowledge to help us understand this illus., $30 cloth; www.upf.com) perplexing phenomena. In The Chaco Experience Van Dyke examines Chaco culture from the point of view of landscape, It’s hard to imagine the Ice Age in Florida, but spatial experience, sociopolitical complexity, and ideology. It even though the glaciers did not reach that is where it is because Chaco Canyon was the center of the far south, their impact was terrifi c. Since so ancient Puebloan world. much water was tied up in ice, the worldwide Drawing heavily on the views of modern Pueblo Indians, the sea levels dropped some 300 feet, greatly likely descendants of some of the Chacoans, the author rejects expanding dry land along the Florida peninsula. The vegetation was desert or dry savan- some of the new, more creative interpretations of Chaco organi- nah, and megafauna, including mammoths, zation and seems to conclude that the center was a product of roamed the land. the periphery. She believes that Pueblo people from many places Barbara Purdy, a distinguished archaeolo- began to gather in Chaco Canyon to carry out periodic agricul- gist at the University of Florida, has produced tural rituals as early as the ninth century, and “gatherings gradu- the fi rst synthesis of Paleo-Indian archaeology ally increased in size as more communities began to participate.” in the state. It makes a strong argument for Only near the end in the 12th century did the canyon take on pre-Clovis habitation some 14,000 years ago. its majestic qualities. It was the ideal place at the center of the Individual sites are analyzed, and a hundred Puebloan universe to conduct their most important rituals. years of archaeological investigations are Her interpretation of the Chacoan worldview is deduced critically reported. The ongoing and sometimes ferocious debate about the fi rst Americans is from archaeology, ethnography, and phenomenology. It is con- aired with tact and balance. Early artifacts are cerned with the themes of sacred geography, visibility, move- well portrayed and sites are described in detail. ment, memory, and cosmology. Van Dyke analyzes the meanings Richly illustrated and written for the public, this and experience of moving through this landscape to illuminate study is an essential reference for people who Chacoan beliefs and social relationships. The Chaco Experience are interested in the fi rst Americans. is an original and provocative study of one of ancient America’s great enigmas. 52 summer • 2008

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 52 5/13/08 9:26:58 PM Reviews

SunWatch: Fort Ancient Development in the Mississippian World By Robert A. Cook (University of Alabama Press, 2008; 216 pgs., illus., $50 cloth, $29 paper; www.uapress.ua.edu)

The Fort Ancient people were the last prehistoric culture to inhabit the Middle Ohio Valley (ca. A.D. 1000–1650). They were named after the Fort Ancient site that was in fact built by a culture, the Hopewell, that preceded them by at least 500 years. The fi rst farmers of the Ohio Valley, the Fort Ancient people Historic Native Peoples of Texas lived in sturdy wooden houses in palisaded villages, but By William C. Foster only a handful has been scientifi cally excavated. Foremost (University of Texas Press, 2008; 376 pgs., illus., among these is SunWatch Indian Village, a public facility $60 cloth, $25 paper; www.utexaspress.com) of the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton, which When the Spanish arrived in present-day Texas some 500 was intensely excavated in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s and years ago, there were several hundred Native tribes living partially reconstructed for the general public. in, hunting in, or trading across today’s Texas. Using the This volume focuses on the development of this cul- accounts of Spanish and French explorers, missionaries, ture and its relationship with the wider Mississippian cul- and settlers as well as the extensive archaeological record, ture. It draws heavily on the years of research at SunWatch award-winning historian William C. Foster has crafted an because it is the best-studied Fort Ancient site. The issue outstanding history of Texas Indians in the early historic is how are Fort Ancient societies similar to Mississippian period circa 1528 to 1722. Dividing the state into geographic study areas, Foster and how do they differ. Is Fort Ancient a culture that devel- describes the native people through a chronological nar- oped independently, or is it a subset of the larger agrarian rative of their interactions with Europeans and with other societies of the time? Because they lack clear evidence Indians. From the mound-building Caddo in the northeast of hierarchical social structure and extensive trade, most to the 65 tribes in the Trans-Pecos southwestern corner of scholars have minimized the relationship between the the state, Foster paints a rich history of varied cultures. two cultures. In between are the people of the Great Plains who lived off the buffalo culture that was greatly enhanced by the Cook examines the development of Fort Ancient vil- Spanish introduction of horses. lage social structure and fi nds it strikingly similar to the This overview of the historic tribes reveals groups that Mississippian’s. He carefully examines the human remains, were much more cosmopolitan than previously believed. the material goods, and village layout and compares that Texas was a central link for religion, architecture, and tech- data to the better-known Mississippian evidence. By plac- nology connecting the southern woodlands to the desert ing the emphasis on the similarities rather than the dif- Southwest cultures and the Pacifi c. Historic Native Peoples of Texas is an outstanding contribution to the literature of ferences, Cook brings new insight into the connection the early historic period of Native Americans. between the two, while providing a model for future —Mark Michel research. SunWatch Indian Village is open to the public daily except Mondays. See www.sunwatch.org

american archaeology 53

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 53 5/13/08 9:27:10 PM THE ArchAeological Conservancy

The Mound Builders’ Legacy Ohio Mound Builders When: September 13–17, 2008 How Much: $945 per person ($225 single supplement)

Massive mounds and earthworks, some nearly 70 feet tall and others covering hundreds of acres, are the legacy of the Hopewell and Adena cultures that dominated the eastern United States from 800 b.c. to a.d. 400. Archaeologists have found exotic mica objects, copper ornaments, burials, and the remains of wooden structures and stone at many of the mound sites. The significance of the mounds, many of which have animal and geometric forms, is still a subject of great study. Our tour begins in Columbus, Ohio, with a visit to the Hopewell collections at the Ohio Historical Center. From the Newark Earthworks, a magnificent Hopewell Mound complex that once covered more than seven miles, the tour heads to Chillicothe and Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, now a flourishing center of Hopewell research. You’ll also visit Serpent Mound, a massive effigy mound that stretches more than 1,400 feet. Throughout the tour, expert archaeolo- and davis squier gists give their insights into the world of mound builders. Serpent Mound is seen in the center of this historical map.

Best of the Southwest Exploring the Land of the Anasazi When: September 20–30, 2008 How Much: $2,495 per person ($480 single supplement)

The American Southwest is home to some of the best-preserved evidence of prehistoric civilizations in the New World. The magnificent ruins of Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde are but two vivid remind- ers of the complex cultures that dominated the region between the 10th and 14th centuries. The Archaeological Conservancy’s Best of the Southwest tour includes these two settlements as well as other prehistoric sites and modern pueblos where ancient traditions persist. In New Mexico, you’ll visit remarkable sites such as the cliff dwellings at Bandelier National Monu- ment; the “Sky City” of Acoma, a pueblo flourishing atop a high mesa just as it did 600 years ago; and

San Ildefonso Pueblo, which is famous for its pottery. mark michel The Conservancy’s Best of the Southwest tour features spectacular Several nights will be spent in Santa Fe, providing an archaeology such as these cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park. opportunity to enjoy the city’s museums and shops. 54 summer • 2008

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 54 5/13/08 9:27:19 PM From Mississippian Mounds to Removal Native Peoples of Alabama A labama When: September 29–October 3, 2008 How Much: $895 per person ($225 single supplement)

Alabama is a place of natural beauty, a state where great rivers and great cultures

nthropology, University of University A nthropology, meet. Here, the natural environment was integral to the daily lives of the Native Americans who celebrated it in their spiri- tual practices. By the 1800s, Alabama’s Department of Department plentiful game, timberlands, water, and fertile soils lured waves of settlers seeking Moundville was a large Mississippian village dating from a new life. Powerful Mississippian chiefs, approximately a.d. 1000 to 1450. Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, Creek leaders such as William Weatherford, Confederate Dr. Martin Luther King all accomplished great things here. Come with us as we President Jefferson Davis, General Andrew follow in the footsteps of naturalist William Bartram to explore the beauty and Jackson, George Washington Carver, and history of Alabama, from its ancient earthen mounds to Creek War battlefields. The Wonders of Oaxaca Oaxaca When: October 24–November 3, 2008 How Much: $2,395 per person ($350 single supplement)

Join us in Oaxaca, Mexico, during one of the most unusual festivals anywhere—the Day of the Dead. On this day, people prepare home altars and cemeteries to welcome the dead, who are believed to return to enjoy the food and drink they indulged in while alive. The Day of the Dead is a day of

jim walker celebrations. Visitors explore the magnificent ruins at Monte Albán, You’ll visit Oaxaca’s museums and mar- a city built by the Zapotec and Mixtec. kets. Our tour also explores the Mixtecan and Zapotecan archaeological sites in the region, including Mitla, Monte Albán, San For more information about our tours, visit our Web site José Mogote, and Dainzú. You’ll also visit www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/tour.html several crafts villages featuring weaving, pottery, carved animals, and other local art. american archaeology 55

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 55 5/18/08 12:03:02 PM Patrons of Preservation The Archaeological Conservancy would like to thank the following individuals, foundations, and corporations for their generous support during the period of February through April 2008. Their generosity, along with the generosity of the Conservancy’s other members, makes our work possible.

Life Member Gifts of $1,000 or more Anasazi Circle Robert G. Arrowsmith, Connecticut Gifts of $2,000 or more Paula Atkeson, Washington, D.C. Carol M. Baker, Texas Thomas C. Babcock, New York James and Audrey Benedict, Colorado Thomas D. Barrow, Texas Donald and Susan Craib, Virginia Clifton Beck, Maryland Jay and Debbie Last, California Barbara L. Brown, Washington Jim R. Margard, Washington Helen S. Darby, California Joy Robinson, California Joseph P. Hussey, California Gordon and Judy Wilson, New Mexico Derwood K. Koenig, Indiana John C. Mather, Maryland Charles R. McKibbin, Indiana William F. Pickard, Missouri Foundation/Corporate Gifts Jane M. Quinette, Colorado The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Florida Paul C. Rissman, New Jersey Roy A. Hunt Foundation, Pennsylvania Melvin and Giulia Simpson, New York Wrightson Besch Foundation, New Jersey Sharon L. Turner, Washington Maryland Department of Planning, Maryland Heuionalani Wyeth, Hawaii

Gifts of Distinction

The Anasazi Circle is an elite group of members who contribute $2,000 or more annually to The Archaeological Conservancy’s ongoing efforts to permanently preserve America’s cultural treasures. Since its inception in 1993, participation in the Anasazi Circle has increased by over 267 percent. Anasazi Circle member support is essential to the Conservancy’s ability to continually expand its archaeological preservation goals. It is crucial to preserve information regarding our nation’s past so we can better understand it. Cultural evidence is often destroyed before proper analysis can be done and the knowledge is lost forever. The Conservancy uses donations to act quickly and protect a site to prevent signiﬁ cant information from being destroyed. Beneﬁ ts of Anasazi Circle membership include discounts on tours, recognition in American Archaeology, a leading archaeology magazine, and an invitation to an exclusive seminar weekend. This year’s Anasazi Circle Weekend will explore the archaeology of the lower Mississippi Valley in October. By sending in your donation of $2,000 or more today, you can ensure your invitation to the Conservancy’s 2008 Anasazi Circle.

56 summer • 2008

AA Sum 08 back end.indd 56 5/13/08 9:27:37 PM AA Sum 08 back end.indd 57 5/18/08 12:02:29 PM AA Sum 08 back end.indd 58 5/13/08 9:28:11 PM