Southwestern Archaeology, Inc. (SWA) " Got CALICHE ? " Newsletter Archaeology, Anthropology, and History of the Greater Southwest! Wednesday July 10, 2002 Reply to ***************************************** ANTHROPOLOGISTS Lionel Tiger (Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers) quoted in an article titled "The Caveman Diet" (Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2002, p A18): "The gift of this controversy is to attend to a new form of environmentalism -- not what's outside of us and smells fine but what gets put inside of us which we are evolutionarily equipped to digest to make us healthy not fat and hungry. We have to understand ourselves as citizents of the paleolithic, and eat and exercise appropriately." Editor's Note: Citizens of the paleolithic, we are residents of a post-pleistocene, holocene agricultural revolution. Like Hotel California, you can check out any time you'd like, but you can never leave. www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/visitors/review.html?in_review_id=635675&in_review_text_id=606396 Foster, a Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton, has been a bit troubled of late. He's just published a book, "Design and Crime," which pinpoints that we live in a world that's just so much design. The result is that we're inhabiting an increasingly smooth, glossy and superficial culture. And it's a culture looking for a subject. In Foster's words, design is the "package" that "all but replaces the product". http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0207.mcdonnell.html Wilson's "The Marriage Problem" probes anthropological reports, sociological studies, and historical accounts for the causes and effects of the breakdown in marriage, and suggests possible remedies. Wilson reminds us that other cultures have used polygamy as a remedy for excess supply of women but acknowledges that this won't fly in Western cultures. ARCHAEOLOGISTS www.swanet.org/zarchives/misc/value_of_a_degree.pdf The GC editor engages in a conversation about management, and sociobiology. Substitute the name of your degree (the advice is the same). For another take on the subject, see the link found at . Despite the MA degree in archaeology, RPA is the long-term trend . Archaeologists tend to over-invest in hegemonic signals that have little relationship with long-term research goals or daily management responsibilities. It all has to do with proxies that signal "fitness." From: Gary M. Brown (via nmac-l) Folks, Let's get out our maps. Would we really prefer to bring timbers from Largo or Bancos Canyon (as far as Durango from Aztec)? Most people familiar with the area know of many microenvironments in rincons, etc. that support normally high-altitude trees, as Ron says, in "small scattered stands," but the issue here is construction of hefty roofs on 500 large Chacoan rooms. Perhaps Ditch Canyon ("only" 13 air miles away and across one river) is the answer, but assuming large-scale harvests in premium forest locales not much over twice this distance is neither unreasonable nor surprising to those familiar with Chacoan logistics. It's also no surprise to NMAC that how people perceive archaeology and archaeologists is every bit as important to our field as doing good science. Yet, here we are quibbling about details when there is little question that roof construction at Aztec (early 1100s component, at least) involved an enormous effort, what I would not hesitate to classify as "nonlocal procurement" if I were looking at flaked stone materials (i.e., at least a day's walk). Ironically, the journal article behind the newspaper write-up had nothing to do with sourcing. The point that aspen, unlike cottonwoods available down by the river, involved transport over considerable distances, was made to help casual readers appreciate the difference between these two Populus taxa in terms of past behavior. But the study discussed here was aimed merely as distinguishing aspen from cottonwood based on ancient wood samples. The press release picked up by NMAC-L came about when the Aztec superintendent, having heard of the results and aware of the expense, suggested maybe this would be good press. I made a similar "mistake" and forwarded yesterday's NMAC-L dialogue resulting from the publicity to folks at the Monument, believing like a stuffy scientist that they should have the full picture. Now the bubble is burst and the "story" from the rangers is beginnining to sound like "we don't really know, the archaeologists can never agree." So again the Park Service learns that maybe the best story is whatever sounds good, is uncontroversial, or is politically correct. The follow-up research on trace elements, etc. is barely beginning, but the small sample described in the original article has increased 10-fold (with similar results on a sample exceeding 500). JAS would be an excellent venue for the scientific debate. The newspaper is just a good place to touch the surface and let the public know what we're doing. Gary Brown Editor's Note: Gary, archaeologists CAN never agree, and nmac-l and SWA-GC ARE good places for debate. www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nation/0,1299,DRMN_16,00.html nandotimes.com/healthscience/v-text/story/460583p-3686832c.html Archaeologists are scrambling to learn the effects of the largest wildfire in state history on more than 1,300 archaeological sites in eastern Arizona. www.asiasource.org/arts/nancydupree.cfm An internationally recognized expert on the history, art, and archaeology of Afghanistan, Nancy Hatch Dupree has dedicated a lifetime to documenting and preserving Afghanistan's cultural heritage. AMERICAN INDIANS indiancountry.com/?1026154841 The practice of Indian spirituality requires undisturbed access to culturally significant sites and their resources. Such spirituality is irrevocably tied to specific places, which derive their power and sacredness from their natural undisturbed state. Editor's Note: There is debate that the landscape was not "pristine" when Europeans arrived in the New World. American Indians modified lanscapes with fire and other tools, built earthen mounds, and utilized resources. Is "undisturbed state" a question of scale, or politics? What do you think? www.journalnow.com/wsj/news/MGBYKZRTD3D.html In the hustle and bustle of modern life, it can be easy to forget about the past. The continuing drought has brought a reminder about the Native American cultures that lived here before. Because of the lack of rainfall, stone weirs built by Native Americans to trap fish are now visible in the low water. TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=29346 In 1985, 10 campesino women from Tixtla, Guerrero, founded a cooperative to preserve the ancient occupation of producing traditional kitchenware. They use designs based on those created by the pre-Hispanic cultures of the region. Although electric ovens, blenders and many other convenient kitchen devices were introduced in the 1950s, the Tixtla cooperative's ceramic objects continue to be valued both for their practical and nostalgic value. From: Terry Hall http://www.nature.nps.gov/pubs/yir/yir2001.html NPS announced the release today of Natural Resource Year in Review 2001. The report features nearly 80 informative and analytical articles, and insights into resource preservation and stewardship strategies in the National Park System. www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel The National Register of Historic Places online travel itinerary "Santa Clara County: California's Historic Silicon Valley" highlights 28 historic places that convey the story of Santa Clara County's unique setting, development and history. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2078000/2078444.stm A CD gives Ugandan women farmers practical advice on how to collaborate with friends and neighbours to get more out of their small holdings. Initially the husbands of many of the women farmers would not allow their wives to go to the telecentre, but success had changed their attitudes. The men now realise that the women are not just gossiping or going out to look for other men. http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/June/20-1930-opinion%20parties.txt Things are happening faster; the Internet allows scientists to share findings and compare notes much more quickly than they used to. Projects that used to take decades can now take only months. Editor's Note: SWA's GC picked up a Farmington newspaper article (originally provided by NPS), Dave Phillips then posted SWA's blurb to the nmac list, and now, , researchers have much to discuss [note: Gary Brown e-mailed as we were formatting the newsletter; see his note above]. Things do happen much more quickly than they used to... ;> ***************************************** Contact the Newsletter Editor: archaeologist@rocketmail.com (e-mail) www.swanet.org (url) 602.882.8025 (cell phone) 603.457.7957 (digital fax) Post letter mail and other media to: Southwestern Archaeology, Inc., P.O. Box 61203 Phoenix AZ, USA 85082-1203. SWA invites you to redistribute SWA's "Got CALICHE?" Newsletter. We also request your timely news articles, organizational activities and events, technical and scientific writings, and opinion pieces, to be shared with our digital community. SWA's daily newsletter deals with quotidian issues such as commerce, administration, time and space, material culture, and anthropology. Our electronic potlatch and digital totemic increase rites focus and multiply historic preservation activities in the Greater Southwest. SWA's newsletters are "txt" format only, contain no attachments, and are virus free. 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