The Moki Messenger

NEWSLETTER OF THE SAN JUAN BASIN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Chapter of Colorado Archaeological Society

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October, 2010

What’s Inside

Nearby Activities of Interest...2

Trips………...………………..2

Exhibits……………….……...3

Far Away Meetings………......3

PAAC Upcoming Classes…....3

The Editor’s Corner...………..4

Volunteer Opportunities….......5

Archeology News in the SW....6

PAAC Training Projects……..9

Archeology News from Afar…9

Dr. Renee Barlow To Speak on Range Creek Current Pit House Excavations At the October SJBAS Meeting to be held at 7:00 p.m., October 14, at the Center for SW Studies, Lyceum. Dr. Barlow will be bringing us up to date on the Range Creek Pit House excava-tions. Dr. Baker is curator of Archaeology at the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum. She has been an adjunct Professor at Weber State University; Research Curator of Anthropology at Utah Museum of Natural History; and Assistant Prof of Anthropology at Salt Lake Community Col-lege (SLCC). She received both her Ph.D. and M.A. at the University of Utah. Dr. Barlow was awarded a National Geographic Society Grant for Range Creek and also has a National Science Foundation grant from the University of Arizona Lab of Tree-Ring Research. She supervised sur-veys and conducted research in Range Creek from 2002 through 2010, excavated from 2008-2010, and ran field schools for the University of Utah and SLCC for the first three years of the project. At Range Creek, she is recording Archaic-age Barrier Canyon style rock art, lithic scatters and quarries, and other sites of the San Rafael Swell and is continuing the project that was started in 2008. She is investigating the relationship between local Archaic/Barrier Canyon sites and the Fremont of the San Rafael area, the use of local lithic sources for making stone tools, and how use of the landscape changed over time. Most of the sites investigated appear to date from about 5000 to 3000 years ago and are likely associated with the same Archaic hunter-gatherers who made the galleries of hematite figures at the more famous sites such as Buckhorn Wash, Head of Sinbad, and Horseshoe Canyon. Sites include Fremont villages overlooking the Muddy River or Ivie Creek. Some have been vandalized or previously excavated. Dr. Baker is documenting relationships to other sites. Sites are large scatters of lithic arti-facts that were reused by Archaic hunters throughout the last 5000 years or earlier, and may have also been used by later Fremont farmers and Ute hunters. One site appears to be a processing site for seeds, and probably represents the activities of women out harvesting, winnowing and pre-paring wild grains such as Indian rice-grass along a small water channel on the edge of the reef. Dr. Barlow's interests include Archaeology, Origins of Agriculture, Tarahumara, Paleothnobotany and Tree-Ring Research.

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HISATSINOM CHAPTER Meetings are the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m., at the Cortez Cultural Center, 25 North Market Street. Call Marcie Regan, 564-4211, for information or Diane McBride, 560-1643. On Oc-tober 7, Linda Farnsworth, Archaeologist for Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, will give an update of the archaeology plan. In November Jerry Fetterman will discuss the McLean Basin Survey. January 2001. Paul Reed will provide updated information on Chaco's Northern Prodigies. Colorado Archeological Society The Alice Hamilton Scholarship Committee is actively looking for an appropriate item for the annual raffle to be held at the 2010 CAS Annual Meeting. In past years, paintings, pottery, jewelry, etc. have been donated, usually with a Southwest and/or Colorado theme, but the raffle item does not need to be a physical object -- it could be a few days at a resort, a timeshare, or cabin, valued at or about $500 minimum. If you have any items, contact Kris Holien, AHSC member, 970-586-8982. FOUR CORNERS LECTURE SERIES Dramatic Shifts in Landscape Use Associated with Ancestral Pueblo Depopulation of the Mesa Verde Region, Kristin Kuckelman, October 7, 7:00 p.m., Crow Canyon; Learning from Looking: Revisiting Peirce Lewis and the Four Corners Landscape, Pete McCormick, October 7, 7:00 p.m., FLC; The Archaeology of Range Creek, Renee Barlow, October 15, 7:00 p.m., Cortez Culture Center.

SJBAS Cedar Mesa and Hovenweep Area, Oct. 8-10, 3-day, 2-night car camping trip to many settlement sites in the Cedar Mesa area with emphasis on shape and location of towers. Most can be seen with short walks from the car. Significant time at Hovenweep N.M. Limit of 20. Leaders: Richard Robinson, robinson@frontier.net and Bob Danielson, 385-1058; The Winslow, AZ Area, Oct. 21-24, 4-day, 3-night motel trip to visit archaeological sites and petro-glyph panels of significance to the Hopi people. High-clearance 4WD vehicles may be needed. Carpool options available. Leaders: Jim Mueller and Rhonda Raffo, 259-8870, rhondaand-jim@msn.com.

Friends of Archaeology ("FOA"), Museum of NM Foundation, Office of Archaeological Studies October 8-10, Coronado Contact Sites and Zuni Field Trip; October 30-31, Conflict in Modern Times - Trinity Site, with Alamogordo option. See http://www.museumfoundation.org/foa.html for more details.

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Bowers Museum of Cultural Arts, Santa Ana, CA. (Summary Am Arch, Spring 2010)

New exhibit "California Legacies" Missions and Ranchos (1768-1848)," 714-567-3600, www.bowers.org. (Through December 31). Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ. (Summary, Am Arch, Spring 2010)

Traveling exhibit "Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection," Artistic history of Canadian Inuits. 602-252-8848, www.heard.org. (Through January 20, 2011). Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. (Summ, Am Arch, Sum 2010)

New exhibit "Spying on the Past: Declassified Satellite Images and Archaeology" demonstrates how archaeologists recognize visible signs in these images and draw conclusions about the ancient world. Through December. San Diego Museum of Man. (Summary Am Arch, Sum 1010)

"Gods & Gold: Ancient Treasures from Mexico to Peru," featuring the Museum's collections of Mexi-can, Central American, and South American archaeological objects. Through December 6. Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures, Aurora University, Aurora, IL. (Summary Am

Arch, Summer 2010)

Award-winning exhibit "Native Peoples of Illinois: There's No Place Like Home." Historical informa-tion on the early inhabitants of Illinois, recently expanded to include displays devoted to understand-ing the lifeways of the Woodland tribes in Illinois, including a full-scale wigwam and campsite. Long-term exhibit. Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson. (Summary, Am Arch, Summer 1010)

The remains of the Columbian mammoth, still with Clovis spearheads, excavated in 1951, are fea-tured in "Ice Age Arizona: Preserving the Naco Mammoth." A 3-by-3-foot block provides the best evidence for the interaction of people with mammoths. First evidence of Clovis people uncovered in Arizona. Through October 15.

Colorado Archeological Society annual meeting in Gunnison; October 1-3; 16th Mogollon Archaeology Conference, NM State Univ., Las Cruces, NM, Corbett Center Audi-torium; Contact Lonnie Chidemas, 1828 Imperial Ridge, Las Cruces, NM 88011; 68th Plains Anthropological Conference, Bismark, ND; October 6-9; 32nd Great Basin Anthropological Conference, Layton, UT, October 2-3.

October 29-31, "Prehistoric Ceramics Description & Analysis”, SW Cen-ter at FLC, register by contacting Elaine Viner at 970-382-2594, or J_e_viner@frontier.net, 220 Val-ley View Circle Durango, CO 81031. A check made out for $12.00, payable to Colorado Historical Society, must be received, prior to class time to secure enrollment. "Perishable Materials Class" in Cortez, Nov. 12-15, (Fr. 6-9 p.m., Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-5, Mon. 6-9 p.m.), Calvin Denton Room, Empire Electric. Contact Terry Woodrow at 970-382-3099 or twood-row@ptsl.com. Cost is $12. Black will discuss recognition of perishables, cultural usage and altera-tion, and preservation, including artwork, basketry, sandals, leather, skins, fur and wood. All fall PAAC classes are listed at www.coloradohistory-oahp.org/programareas/paac.

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THE EDITORS’ CORNER Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit: The Origin of Creativity and Belief, by David S. Whitley, Prometheus Books, 2009; Summarized by Terry Dwyer in the CAS Denver

Chapter September 2010 Newsletter.

Whitley presents a case for shamanistic influences in the creation of rock art -- the great Paleolithic cave paintings of Western Europe -- and the possible origins of religion, art and the modern human mind based on the integration of cave and rock art from the mind, heart, and soul of those who created it. Whitley hypothesizes that cave paintings are among the earliest visible evidence of not only artistic creativity but also religious practice. If correct, the art of shamans extends tens of thousands of years into our past with a world wide distribution. Whitley begins with these questions: "Where do art, belief, and creativity come from? When did they first appear? Why did they develop?" The answers involve both archaeology and interpretation/speculation. Whitley integrates research from a broad range of disciplines -- art history, theory, and criti-cism as well as ethnography, neuropsychology, evolutional psychology, and chronometry and reli-gious philosophy -- to understand Paleolithic cave art and to rock art in general. He describes cave art from Western Europe, not only Altimira, Lascaux, Volp, and Chauvet, but also open air sites, such as the Coa Valley in northern Portugal, sites in South Africa and from the Cosos Range in the Western U.S. He discusses the history of dating rock art and establishing the antiquity of cave paintings, describing the debates about methods of dating rock art. He but favors 30,000+ years for some of the great cave art. This is important in making the link between historic rock art and ethno-graphic accounts, such as those found in southern Africa, Australia, and the western U.S., with Pa-leolithic art. Ethnography seems to indicate that much historic rock art reflects shamanism, with the argu-ment centered upon neuropsychology. The role shamans play in a society and the nature of the shamanic experience are important. Shamanism is found in hunter-gather groups, with the shaman as the focus of their religious practice. Shamans are not part of an organized priestly class, but are individuals who have a direct interaction with the supernatural realm in altered states of conscious-ness (ASC's) or trances. Through trances a shaman enters the supernatural world and becomes a participant therein. The neuropsychological model of trance has associations with activity in various parts of the brain that can be monitored. In the "Salon of the Bulls" at Lascaux, animals are painted on the cave walls to make use of the contour of the cave which tapers to a funnel. Whitley suggests that this may portray the "mystical flight" the artist-shaman experienced as he/she entered the spirit world. In making the connection between rock art and shamans, Whitley also discusses the sha-man's state of mind and its links to creative genius. Primary ethnographic accounts demonstrate that shamans were mentally ill and, in many instances, borderline antisocial, including schizo-phrenic. This condition tends to run in families: a sign of their calling as well as giving them the abil-ity to have insights unavailable to the general population. Just as importantly for rock art, their men-tal condition may have been the key to artistic creativity, enabling them to produce the great cave

paintings which just "appeared," without an artifactual record of a gradual progress from more primitive art to the cave paintings. They are great art even by today's standards and must have been produced by people with great talent. One element of religion is the belief in spirits and deities. Whitley agrees with evolutionary psychology that we all are "hard wired" for religion; religious belief is sourced in survival techniques that cannot be entirely dis-missed as irrational and superstitious. He discusses the neuropsychological

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Cortez Cultural Center. Call Deb Avery (970) 565-1151; deb.avery@cortezculturalcenter.org; (or visit www.cortezculturalcenter.org; Chimney Rock Interpretive Association ("CRIA"). Email Helen Richardson, 1218HL1944@century.net or go to www.chimneyrockco.org; Colorado Historical Society ("CHS"). Contact Kevin Black at Kevin.Black@chs.state.co.us; Center of Southwest Studies. Gallery sitting hours are M-F, 1-4 p.m., Sat. 12-4 p.m. Contact Julie Tapley-Booth at 247-7456 to volunteer; Mesa Verde -- Visit www.mesaverdevolunteers.org, email Cheryl and Chuck Carson, volunteer co-ordinators, at cccarson@aol.com, or phone at 259-2699; Aztec Ruins National Monument -- Call Tracy Bodnar, 505-334-6174, ext. 232, or tracy_bodnar@nps.gov.

elements of acts of religion, such as mystical states and meditation and compares and contrasts them with other mental activity. How do these mental states relate to cave art? Cave paintings are usually in dark zones, difficult to access and provide a place where it is easy to lose one's emotional and physical equilibrium in darkness and may symbolically or actually represent the depths of the spirit world encountered. The shamanistic orientation of rock art received a major boost in 1988 with the work done by David Lewis-Williams of South Africa. "Red Ryder and the Adventure at Chimney Rock, for the Young at Heart" (Whitman 1946, Racine, Wis). (Summary, Pagosa Sun, August 12, 2010)

The story is based on a wealthy female writer from New York, who travels to Colorado to gather information for her novels -- and to avoid an unwanted suitor, Phil Bruce, who follows her. Bruce links up with Red Ryder's long time adversary Ace Hanlon and Ace's dimwitted partner in crime. They concoct a scheme to extort money from Doris' wealthy father. While riding with Red Ryder, Doris drifts out of Red's sight and is captured by the three schemers, who by means of a "secret trail" and a system or ropes and pulleys, hoist Doris to the top of Chimney Rock. The ransom is to be delivered to Chim-ney Rock. As directed by a ransom note, Red delivers the cash to the base of Chimney Rock, only to have Ace's partner knock him un-conscious and then hoist him to the top of the rock. Ace pulls the inevitable double cross on the unsuspecting Bruce, leaving the three of them on top to await slow death. The money now needed be split only two ways. How do the hero and heroine get off Chimney Rock? Little Beaver, of course, with the aid of his trusty bow and arrow and some imaginative artistic license. Red and Doris magnanimously send Bruce packing. Ace tries to extort more money from Doris' wealthy farmer, but Red retrieves the ransom money from the shocked Ace, telling him he flew off the rock like a bird.

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Newly-found Inscriptions Depicting Christian Crosses and Letters Etched in Stone Discov-ered North of Sandia Mountains -- Possibly Work of Spanish Expedition that Visited New Mexico in the 1580s. (Summary, Daily Times, June 23, 2010) Albuquerque historian and author Mike Smith found the etchings while exploring a rocky, desert area east of the Rio Grande. New Mexico's state historian, Rick Hendricks, will examine the inscriptions. If they turn out to be what is claimed, it would be a really exciting find, predating New Mexico's oldest known Spanish inscriptions which were made around 1605 during one of Juan de Onate's expeditions at a site that is now El Morro National Monument. The style of the inscriptions, as well as their weathering, suggest the crav-ings were made by Spaniards who visited New Mexico four decades after Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explored the region in the 1540s. The lettering appears to spell the name "Santa Maria." Smith believes the inscription was made by Juan de Santa Maria, who was one of three Franciscan priests who participated in a small expedition to New Mexico in 1581 and 1582. Juan de Santa Maria was one of about 30 men who jour-neyed across New Mexico as part of the Chamuscado-Rodriguez expedition, named for Francisco Sanchez, known as "El Chamuscado," a red-bearded Spanish soldier, and Fray Agustin Rodriguez, a Franciscan priest, who started north from what is now Durango, Mexico, in 1581 on a mission to convert Pueblo Indians to Chris-tianity. The expedition included about ten soldiers, three priests and a party of Indians who probably num-bered fewer than 20. The priests all were killed but others survived. The expedition was among several small parties that ventured into NM in the decades after Coronado traveled from 1540 to 1542 searching for the fa-bled Seven Cities of Gold. Coronado's expedition left no known inscriptions.

Navajo Sacred Sites Deserve Discussion. (Summary, Editorial, Daily Times, July 27, 2010) The Navajo Human Rights Commission hosted a series of public forums on the protection of Navajo sacred sites. The Navajo Nation is examining the threats to these sites to develop an action plan to combat them. The first challenge for the Tribe is deciding what is and what isn't a sacred site. The Commission explained that there are individual sites, such as burial plots, and collective sites, which reflect the entire Diné culture. Among the sacred sites in need of protection are the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstff, AZ; Mount Taylor in northwest NM and Shiprock. The Nation and NM have considered making Shiprock a state, tribal or even a national park. The Nation's own people and visiting non-tribal members alike scar the sacred rock by littering its base, before rock climbing was banned. Shiprock remains sacred to the Navajo people. Other threats to various sites include pollution and construction development. The Navajos' steps to protect sacred sites are steps to protect heritage and culture. Any measures taken should be fair and just for all involved. Visit www.nnhrc.navajo.org.

Don Stoddard Works to Preserve Historic Railroad Tower, Trestle in Bondad. (Summary, Durango Herald,

July 28, 2010)

A tower and railroad trestle sit on Stoddard's 13 landlocked acres at Bondad, accessible by canoe or kayak. One contiguous landowner refuses to grant access and the other requires written access permission. Stoddard's land -- 100 feet wide and slightly more than a mile long -- fronts the Animas and Florida rivers. Stoddard's campaign, which has cost him years of effort and thousands of dollars, involves a Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad branch line that ran from Chama, NM, through Durango to Farmington starting in the early 1920s. Three years after the line outlived its usefulness in 1968, anything that wasn't removed by the railroad had been cannibalized, with the only property escaping treasure hunters, the water tower that Stoddard nominated for the La Plata County Historic Register. Also on the property are a trestle, pump station and powder magazines, but two more heavy winters and they won't make it. The typical D&RG water tower, built of wooden staves ringed with steel bands, is round with a conical, wood-shingle roof and is about 25 feet tall, is similar to one in Chama, which has a capacity of 50,000 gallons. The steel bands have broken and fallen, the wood is disintegrating and a tower ladder is losing its grip. Technical and financial support are available to landowners through the State Historical Fund, which generates $33 million a year, with most spent on the Front Range. Construction of the Durango-to-Farmington section of the railroad was a pre-emptive move against an incursion by the Santa Fe Railroad into the coal fields of northern NM and Southwest Colorado -- a move that never materialized. The Durango-Farmington line was dubbed the "Red Apple Flyer" after one of its early car-

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gos. The line later profited from the oil boom of the 1950s that saw heavy equipment moved by rail. When the line was abandoned, the railroad removed the tracks and offered the 13 land-locked acres with the water tower to neighboring landowners for $1,300. When there were no takers, the land was sold and went through several owners before Stoddard's father bought the land to preserve a piece of history. Stoddard has spent six years buying up liens on the prop-erty. With La Plata County commissioners' recognition of the tower's historic value, Stoddard will pursue a similar listing on the state historic register. Upon application, a staff report would go to a review board, and a favorable recommendation there would send it to the state historical society board for consideration. State recognition would lend power of persuasion -- but no legal weight -- to Stoddard's effort to gain access for tower repairs. A La Plata County Planning Department report said the water tank is eligible for national his-toric recognition because of its association with the D&RG, the dominant railroad in Southwest Colorado. The tank played an important role in keeping trains rolling.

NM Gov. Bill Richardson Stirred up Historical Hornet's Nest with Talk of Pardoning Billy the Kid. (Summary, Daily Times, July 31, 2010 and August 22, 2010)

Gov. Richardson is considering a pardon for the Kid, to make good on an alleged promise by Gen. Wallace to provide some form of clemency for the Kid in exchange for his testimony about killings during the Lincoln County War. A descendant of territorial governor, Gen. Lew Wallace, who once met with the Kid but never granted him clemency 130 years ago, sees no solid historical foundation for Gov. Richardson to offer a posthumous pardon. He does not believe Gen. Wallace ever intended to pardon William H. Bonney. The historical record surrounding the supposedly promised pardon is ambiguous. Descendants of Sheriff Pat Garrett -- the lawman who shot and killed the Kid on July 14, 1881 -- met with Richardson in Au-gust to oppose a pardon, calling it an insult to recognize such a violent outlaw and would represent "an inex-cusable defamation of Garrett." The Kid was a ranch hand and gunslinger in the bloody feud between fac-tions vying to dominate the dry goods business and cattle trading in southern New Mexico. Garrett shot Billy the Kid down on July 14, 1881. Garrett tracked him after the outlaw escaped from the Lincoln County jail in a famous gun battle that left two deputies dead. The Kid was later convicted of killing a sheriff during one of many gun battles between the opposing sides. Before Richardson would issue any pardon, he would start a formal inquiry and solicit comments from historians and others. Wallace went to New Mexico in 1878 to help bring an end to the violence of the Lincoln County War. After arriving, he offered general amnesty to those involved in the bloodbath unless they already were under indictment. That excluded the Kid, who faced murder charges, including for killing a Lincoln County sheriff. A tantalizing part of the pardon question is a clandestine meeting that Wallace had with the Kid in Lincoln in March 1879. Letters written by the Kid leave no doubt the Kid wanted Wallace to at least grant him immunity from prosecution if he agreed to testify about killings he had witnessed. The letters suggest the Kid was look-ing for a way out of a life of crime. Wallace, in arranging the meeting, responded to the Kid: "I have authority to exempt you from prosecution if you will testify to what you say you know." The Kid delivered on his testi-mony. But Wallace never granted any form of clemency, even after the Kid was later convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. As the Kid awaited his execution in 1881 -- and as Wallace prepared to leave New Mex-ico to become ambassador to Turkey -- he was asked about the prospects of sparing the Kid's life. Wallace replied, "I can't see how a fellow like him should expect any clemency from me."

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Receives $108,554 Grant from Colorado Historical [Society] Fund, a Program of History Colorado: "A More Inclusive History for Colorado". (Summary, Cortez Journal,

August 17, 2010) The program supports components of two ongoing Crow Canyon (CC) initiatives: the Pueblo Farming Project and the American Indian Student Education Project. Crow Canyon plans to incorporate educational products from both projects in the center's curriculum, make them available to Pueblo schools, and post them on the Crow Canyon website. The Pueblo Farming Project is a collaborative effort between Crow Canyon staff and traditional Pueblo farmers to better understand the farming practices Pueblo Indians in the Four Cor-ners area might have used in ancient times. Crow Canyon staff and Pueblo farmers have been planting and

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harvesting experimental gardens at CC's campus for several years. This year, a professional filmmaker is capturing those activities on film, and the State Historical Fund grant will support the educational film, as well as new Crow Canyon lesson plans on corn. In addition, the grant supports Pueblo Farming Project researchers as they initiate a corn genetics study that will focus on finding genetic markers associated with the different strains of Pueblo corn. If re-searchers discover genetic markers, they will be able to trace human migrations using genetically distinctive corn. The study will also aid Pueblo farmers in their efforts to protect intellectual property rights associated with their traditional corn strains. The grant also supports a component of the American Indian Student Education Project that involves the creation of three sets of lesson plans focusing on migration from the Mesa Verde area in the A.D. 1200s, the migrants' arrival in the northern Rio Grande Valley, and the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Each set of lessons will include instruction for two grade levels. History Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society, collects, preserves, and interprets the history of Colorado for present and future generations. History Colorado is both a nonprofit agency with its own mem-bership and a state institution located within Colorado's Department of Higher Education. The State Historical Fund was created by the 1990 constitutional amendment allowing limited gaming in the towns of Cripple Creek, Central City, and Black Hawk. The amendment directs that a portion of the gaming tax revenues be used for historic preservation throughout the state.

Kabotie Discusses Native American Culture, Legends. (Summary, Cortez Journal, July 31, 2010)

Life-giving water has been a part of the Ancestral Puebloan heritage for centu-ries and was the focus of Hopi and Tewa artist Ed Kabotie's "Courting the Rain" presen-tation at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Through paintings, pottery and mu-sic, Kabotie discussed symbols and sayings associated with rain. Ceremonies are a way people react to their environment and court rain. He pointed out aspects of a ka-china ceremony painting by his Hopi grandfather. The details remind us of the sacred-ness of rain; homes built like rain clouds; dancers' bodies are painted black, the color of

the rain clouds, and eagle plumes on the head represent clouds. Kabotie, of both the (Hopi) Badger Clan and (Tewa) Winter people, split his time growing up between the Hopi village Shungopavi and the Santa Clara Pueblo. Kabotie's name, which his aunts gave him as a boy, means "Cloud Mountain" in the Tewa language. The way he sees the world is affected by the stories he was told and Tewa creation stories. The Hopi people's dependence on rain grew out of the short, blue "Hopi corn," because in the Hopi creation story, every tribe took an ear of corn and went off into the world. The Hopis, choosing last, got blue corn. Kabotie showed some of his paintings that depict Hopi symbols associated with rain, including a Kokopelli painting, painted with a planting stick associated with seed planting. Life is sacred when it is planted. Hopis are well known for their skills, including as watchers of rains. Kabotie's father taught him rain court-ing songs. The songs of bullfrogs are re-created in ceremonies to help bring rain. Rains represent blessings.

History Shows School Was Cool. (Summary, Cortez Journal, September 4, 2010) To today's grandkids and great grandkids: “U mite not blv it but b4 Facebook, b4 YouTube, b4 twit-ter and tweeting and texting on the sly, kids ur age had scrapbooks and albums of snapshots taken with cameras that had "rolls of film" in them.” They actually had to take them to the drugstore and wait a week for their development. The Montezuma County Historical Society shared pictures from when Society members were the coolest kids at Cortez High School. The Montezuma County His-torical Society at a July program, featured John Porter and Walt Ertel, speaking on their families in Montezuma County. "Volume Three" of Great Sage Plain to Timberline" is in the works, with a pos-sible late fall or early winter publication. Call Joyce Lawrence, secretary, for information: 970-88202636 or rjl@fone.net.

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The PAAC lab training project will be resuming at the Lowry facility in east Denver on Decem-ber 2. All 15 dates for the lab (7 in December, & 8 in January) have been posted on our web site at http://coloradohistory-oahp.org/programareas/paac/certreq/labcreditb.htm. You’ll also find a link to this page in the form of an announcement on our “What’s New?” page, http://coloradohistory-oahp.org/whatsnew/whatsnew.htm. There is no change in the project from previous years; volun-teers are asked to participate for a minimum of two days [do not need to be consecutive]; the lab hours are 8:30am-4:30pm each day with a one-hour lunch break; and there are no prerequisites for participation. However, space is limited so, when necessary, preference will be given to those who are closer to earning a PAAC Lab certificate. The vast majority of artifacts being analyzed are flaked stone and ground stone materials. Therefore, the Prehistoric Lithics Description & Analysis and In-troduction to Laboratory Techniques courses would be useful [but not required] as background train-ing. Although the lithics course is not on the current schedule, the lab techniques course will be held in Fountain just south of Colorado Springs on December 4-5.

Two Ancient Animal Bones from Ethiopia Show Signs of Butchering by Human Ancestors, Moving Back Earliest Evidence for Use of Stone Tools by About 800,000 Years. (Summary, Durango Herald, August 15,

2010) The bones appear to have been cut and smashed about 3.4 million years ago, the first evidence of a stone tool used by Australopithecus afarensis, the species best known for the fossil called "Lucy," says re-searcher Zeresenay Alemseged. The study's authors said the bones indicate the human ancestor used sharp stones to carve meat from the carcasses of large animals and other stones to smash bones to get at the mar-row. One bone is a rib from a creature the size of a cow, and the other is a leg bone from something the size of a goat. No stone tools were found at the site. Researchers also called the finding the earliest evidence for meat-eating among hominins, an evolutionary group that includes people and their ancestors. The study's authors attributed the tool use to afarensis because no other hominin is known from that time in the area where the bones were found. The skeleton of a young afarensis female, called "Selam," was found about 200 yards away from the bone site. The Lucy fossil, which dates to 3.2 million years ago, was discovered in the same general area in 1974. Afarensis probably scavenged carcasses rather than hunting live animals and ate the meat raw. Researchers said it is not clear whether the stone tools were made or were simply stones that were used as tools. They plan to look for evidence of tool-making. While some afarensis stripped meat from a carcass, others probably stood guard to ward off predators in return for some of the meat, which would indicate a degree of cooperative behavior. Until now, the earliest sign of tool use dated to about 2.6 million years ago, also in Ethiopia. It is not clear who used those tools. Some experts were unconvinced because the bones were found on the surface rather than being excavated. That means nobody knows exactly what layer of earth they came from, which is key to knowing their age and associating them with other bones and materials to give them context.

Researchers Put Human Speech Gene into Mice. (Summary, Daily Sentinel, May 29, 2009) The gene, FOXP2, was identified in 1998 as the cause of a speech defect in a large London family, half of whose members have difficulties with articulation and grammar. All those affected inherited a disrupted version of the gene from one parent. Other animals also possess the FOXP2 gene, but the human version differs significantly in its DNA sequence from those of mice and chimpanzees, as might be expected for a gene developed by natural selection to play an important role in language. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have ge-netically engineered a strain of mice whose FOXP2 gene has been swapped out for the human version. A great many genes underwent evolutionary change to endow people with the faculty of language, and the mouse gained only one of them. Therefore, it is surprising that possession of the human FOXP2 does change

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the sounds that mice use to communicate with other mice, as well as other aspects of brain function. That is the result reported in the journal Cell. A team of German researchers studied 300 features of the humanized mice. FOXP2, a gene whose protein product switches on other genes, is important during the embryo's devel-opment and plays an active part in constructing many tissues, including the lungs, stomach and brain. The gene is so vital that mice in which both copies of the gene are disrupted die after a few weeks. Despite the mammalian body's dependence on having its two FOXP2 genes work just right, the team found that the human version of FOXP2 seemed to substitute perfectly for the mouse version in all the mouse's tissues except for the brain. In a region of the grain called the basal ganglia, known in people to be involved in language, the humanized mice grew nerve cells that had a more complex structure. Baby mice utter ultrasonic whistles when removed from their mothers. The humanized baby mice, when isolated, made whistles that had a slightly lower pitch, among other differences. Putting significant human genes into mice is the only feasible way of exploring the essential differences between people and chimps. There is no good way of genetically engineering chimps, even if it were ethically acceptable. The most surprising find, and cause for great optimism, is that the gene does seem to have a great effect on pathways of neural develop-ment in mice.

On Island of Flores, International Team Trying to Shed Light on Fossilized 18,000-year-old Skeleton of a Dwarf Cavewoman, Scientific name Homo floresiensis, nicknamed "the Hobbit", Discovered in 2003. (Summary, Denver Post, March 7, 2010) The team is trying to prove that she and the dozen other hobbits since discovered are members of a distinct hominid species. The discovery of Homo floresiensis divided scientists, threatening to change our un-derstanding of human evolution. Here, apparently, was a band of distant relatives that exhibited features not seen for millions of years but living at the same time as much more modern humans. Not all the answers to human evolution lie in Africa, and our development was more complex than previously thought. Critics dismissed the hobbit's discovery, arguing that the hobbit, just three feet tall with a brain the size of a baby's, was nothing more than a deformed human. Its strange appearance, they say, could be blamed on a range of genetic disorders that cause the body and brain to shrink. A growing consensus has emerged on human origin that this is indeed a separate and primitive spe-cies that lived in relatively modern times -- 17,000 to 100,000 years ago. The November issue of Journal of Human Evolution was dedicated to the Flores findings and included a dozen studies supporting the hobbit as a new species. A study of the hobbit's feet found they had traits associated with both modern humans and apes. The mounting evidence has prompted an Australian archaeologist to expand research to the Soa Ba-sin on Flores and the nearby Indonesian island of Sulawesi to answer several questions: Who were the hob-bit's ancestors? Where did they come from? What were their interactions, if any, with the modern humans of the time? Why are they extinct? Africa is central to any narrative about human evolution because it is thought that Homo erectus was the first hominid to leave the continent 1.8 million years ago, and most hominid fossils have been found there. But the discovery of the hobbit, with its primitive traits, suggests that important stages in hominid evolution might have occurred in Asia. For example, it might turn out that Homo erectus evolved in Asia. This was to-tally unexpected and indicates how little we know about hominid evolution, particularly in Asia. Still, no one who supports the new-species theory suggests the hobbit is a direct ancestor of modern humans. Rather, they think it represents a previously unknown branch of a pre-modern, hominid lineage. What scientists have discovered about Homo floresiensis: Teeth: Teeth from at least three hobbits revealed traits similar to early Homo species or Australopithecus, which lived in Africa between 3.8 million and 2.9 million years ago. The research in Australia was published in the Journal of Human Evolution. Brain: The hobbit's brain looks nothing like that of a sick, modern human. While small, it had a wrinkled surface and highly developed frontal lobe, characteristics consistent with the capabilities for higher thinking. Wrist: The hobbit's left wrist was indistinguishable from an African ape or early hominid and nothing at all like that seen in modern humans and Neanderthals.

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Indonesian Villages Cashing in on "Hobbit" Craze. (Summary, Daily Sentinel, March 7, 2010) The dwarf cave-dwellers, whose skeletal remains were discovered in a cave, scientists believe went extinct 170,000 years ago. Villagers with an eye for profit insist the hobbits hung around until at least 300 years ago and their de-scendants are still living in nearby villages. The "Ebu Gogo" or "the grandmother who eats everything," has for generations played the role of vil-lain in Flores folklore. They are described as big-eyed, hairy creatures who came down the mountain to steal crops, fruit and liquor. The discovery of the remains in the Liang Bua cave in 2003 put the Flores excavation on the map. Suddenly, a steady stream of fossil enthusiasts was turning up, and hobbit tours began. A tiny farming village a few miles from the cave became a popular stop. Supposedly there were as many as two dozen tiny people living there. There are a lot of short people in the village the guide claimed who are related with the hobbits in the cave. An analysis of the teeth from at least three hobbits found traits similar to early Homo species or Austra-lopithecus, which lived in Africa between 3.8 million and 2.9 million years ago, according to research published in the Journal of Human Evolution. Two years ago, a Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History sci-entist published findings in the journal Science. He found the hobbit's left wrist was indistinguishable from an African ape or early hominid and nothing at all like that seen in modern humans and Neanderthals. A Harvard University biologist and a Columbia University anthropologist both started off skeptical, but now agree that the hobbit is a new species.

We're a Little Bit Neanderthals. (Summary, Daily Sentinel, May 7, 2010)

The most detailed look yet at the Neanderthal genome answers yes to questions: Whether Neander-thals and modern humans mated? Between one and four percent of genes in people from Europe and Asia trace back to Neanderthals, according to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Ger-many. Researchers from UC-Santa Cruz and Harvard Medical School compared the genetic material col-lected from the bones of three Neanderthals with that from five modern humans. The findings, reported in Sci-ence, show a relationship between Neanderthals and modern people outside Africa. That suggests that inter-breeding occurred in the Middle East, where both modern humans and Neanderthals lived thousands of years ago. Humans trace their origins out of Africa into the Middle East and then on to other parts of the world. The genetic relationship with Neanderthals was found in people from Europe, China and Papua-New Guinea, but not people from Africa. The guess is that as more Africans are sampled, we will find some of these old line-ages in Africa. Researchers looked at the genomes of a west African and a south African, but not someone from northeast Africa, where the mixture would be more likely to have occurred. Science anticipates the report will provide material for geneticists and anthropologists to quarrel over for years. While there was a flow of genes from Neanderthals to modern humans, there is no indication of gene movement the other way. The closest extinct relative to modern people, Neanderthals existed from about 400,000 years ago to about 30,000 years ago. They coexisted with modern humans for 30,000 to 50,000 years in Europe and western Asia. While many people think of Neanderthals as very primitive, they had tools for things like hunting and sewing, controlled fire, lived in shelters and buried their dead.

New 'Molecular Clock' Aids Dating of Human Migration History. Researchers at the University of Leeds have devised a more accurate method of dating ancient human migra-tion -- even when no corroborating archaeological evidence exists. www.sciencedaily.com.

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San Juan Basin Archaeological Society

107 St. Andrews Circle

Durango, Colorado 81301

FIRST CLASS

San Juan Basin Archaeological Society

A Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society

If you’re not a member of our group and would like to receive our newsletter, attend our monthly meetings, join us on our outings, and participate in our many other activities and those of the Colorado Archaeological Society (CAS), call our President Andy Gulliford (970-375-9417) and ask for information about our organization. Annual dues, including those for membership in the Colorado Archaeological Society, are listed below and are payable by checks made out to SJBAS and mailed to our Treasurer Mark Gebhardt, 107 Saint Andrews Circle, Durango, CO 81301. Dues cover membership for the calendar year. With SWL means that the membership includes a subscription to CAS’s quarterly journal “Southwestern Lore” (SWL). No SWL means that the journal is not included with your membership, hence the difference in the dues.

Individual (includes “Southwestern Lore”) SJBAS $15.00 + CAS $16.00 = $31.00 Individual (no SWL) SJBAS $15.00 + CAS $ 8.00 = $23.00 Family (with SWL) SJBAS $20.00 + CAS $20.00 = $40.00 Family (no SWL) SJBAS $20.00 + CAS $10.00 = $30.00

www.sjbas.org