BLOOMSBURG UNIVERSITY
Bloomsburg

Pennsy 1'✓ an i a

Anthropology Newsletter
Vol. 13, No. 5
March 1989
Anthropology Courses for Fall 1989: The anthropology
faculty wil 1 be offering the fol lowing classes for the Fall
1989 sem\ter:
~

**
~
*
*

46.101
46.102
46.200
46.210
46.220
46.310
46.380
46.390
46.480

Introduction to Anthropology
Anthropology & World .ProbLems
Principles of Cultural Anthropology
Prehistoric Archaeology
Principles of Physical Anthropology
Aztecs &' Mayas
Culture Change & Culture Contact
Socialization of the Child
Religion & Magic

* - General Education Course. Distribution B

** -

Values, Ethics

&

Responsible Decision-making Course

Anthropology & World Problems: 46.102 will be offered as a
writing intensive course in the fa! I semester.
If the
university curriculum committee approves a proposal before
it from the English Department, this course ~nd others
designated like it will be able to be used by students in
place of their Composition II general education requirement.
However, even if the proposal is not approved, the course
will be writing intensive as part of an university-wide
Writing-Across-the-Curriculum effort. In addition to essay
examinations on the course material, students will be
assigned weekly writing assignments. Enrollment for the
course wi 11 be held at a maximum of 25 students, as opposed
to the current enrollment of 50. The course wi 1 l be offered
by Dr. Minderhout.
46.102 looks at the problems of hunger, population
growth, resource destruction and warfare from an
anthropological perspective. Traditional societies, where
these problems did not typically exist, or existed in a very
different form from their modern equivalents, wi 1 l be
contrasted with the situation currently found in Third World
nations. The course examines the historical processes
whereby traditional societies were broken down and proposes
some solutions to the problems described above.

Aztecs & Mayas: This course, to be offered by Dr. Aleta,
looks at the prehistoric cultures of Mesoamerica.
Archaeological. historical and ecological evidence is looked
at in an effort to understand the lives of the complex, and
often spectacular, cultures of Mexico and Central America
before European contact. As the title indicates, the

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emphasis in the course will be on the two great
civilizations in the area at the time of the Spanish
Conquest, but attention wil 1 also be given to other
prehistoric cultures, such as the Olmecs, with their 40 ton
sculptures of human heads, and the inhabitants of
Teotihuacan, the great pre-Aztec city in the valley of
Mexico.
Socialization of the Child: This course looks at child
rearing cross-culturally, noting differences between
American behaviors and those of other cultures. Both
traditional tribal and peasant societies are examined as
well as other modern industrialized nations such as Japan
and the Soviet Union. The impact of modernization and
culture change on the child in Third World nations is also
discussed. Attention is also paid to the institution of
schooling, both within this country and in other nations.
The course is offered by Dr. t-'ri ndel:'hou t.
Religion & Magic: 46.480 looks at religious practice
cross-culturally. The social functions of religious
behavior are examined along with theories on the origin of
religion. A variety of cultural practices, including magic,
witchcraft, divination, religious healing, and myth and
ritual are discussed in order to examine the place of
rel rgion in society. The role of religion in culture change
is al.so described. This course is offered by Professor
Reeder.
Congratulations!: To anthropology major Travis Pickering who
was recently accepted to participate in the Koobi Fora Field
School in Kenya this summer. This field school, run by
Harvard University, wil 1 be located at an area where a
number of important discoveries about early humans have been
made by Richard Leakey and his associates. The most
significant of these ~ere the fossilized remains of a Homo
erec:tus i ndi vi dua 1 f rem 1. 6 mi 1 1 ion years ago. - The most
complete Homo erectus skeleton found to date, the remains
a~e of a 12 year old boy. What was also noteable was the
ooy s height; at maturity, he would have stood over 6 feet
tall, thus destroying old stereotypes about early humans
being small creatures. Who knows what Travis wil 1 find?
Anthropology Club Trip to Philadelphia: by Lynne Ernst.
On February 11, Anthropology Club members Steve Comly, Lynne
Ernst, Andy Go l dfine, Bill Piotrowski and Nick Spock, along
with Tom Aleta and Karen Elwel 1. spent the day at the
University of Pennsylvania Museum located on the Penn Campus
in Ph i 1ade 1phi a.
Upon arrival at the museum, the group was greeted by
Tom / s friend from graduate school, Clark Erikson and his
wife, Kay Candler. Erikson is currently an assistant
professor of anthropology at the University as well as the

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assistant curator of the museum; Candler is currently
working on a display of prehistoric South American
featherwork for the museum.
1Erlkson began the tour by showing the group the many
variitions among prehistoric South American figurines and
pottery. including examples from the Moche. Chavin. Parac3s,
and Chimue cultures. Erikson explained that much of the
pottery on display was used for drinking corn beer.

Another display case contained a mummy bundle which had
been x-rayed in order to see t he contents i nside. Erikson
noted that the bundles were x-rayed and not opened so that
they could be preserved and studied in the f u ture by people
~Ith better, more advanced technologies .
After viewing the different styles of pottery, the
group opted to go out for 1un,eh. -At the suggestion of
Erikson and Andy Goldfine, everyone agreed on the Reading
Terminal Market. a large food market where everything from
Chinese food to good old Philly Cheese steaks ~an be
ordered.
·
i

Upon returning to the museum, the group toured the
Northwest American room, where artifacts from the Eskimo
culture were on display. Some of the especially captivating
artifacts included waterproof parkas made from seal
intestines and eelskin, a canoe made from animal hides, and
an ivory chain carved from a walrus tusk.
After viewing the Northwest American display, the group
separated, and members individually toured the museum.
While some chose to return to the South American display or
to continue to look at the Northwest display, others chose
to t6ur the Egyptian exhibit, which contained different
styles of columns, hieroglyphics from a tomb, a sarcophagus,
and a sphinx. Upon leaving the exhibit area, club members
were fortunate enough to see two shrunken heads peering up
at them through the display case. And, on that note, we
concluded our tour and departed the museum.
The next Anthropology Club trip will be to the
Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. on the weekend of
April 7-8. For those interested in attending or finding out
more about the trip, please contact either Pat Andrews or
the Anthropology Department.
The Anthropologist / s Cookbook: The fol lowing recipe was
collected by an anthropologist working in Israel. The
recipe is called babke and is a light cake of eastern
European origin. In the community where the anthropologist
dld fieldwork, this cake was prepared on Friday mornings in
preparation for Sabbath and was served after a meal, often
with strawberry preserves.

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1· oz yeast or 2 tsp dried yeast
4 tbsp sugar
few drops of vani l la
4 cups sieved flour
3 or 4 eggs, yolk & white separated
2 oz chopped nuts
2 oz raisins or sultanas
1 cup warm water
Sprinkle yeast in 1/ 3 cup o~ war~ water to which a teaspoon
of sugar has been added. Al low to stand ln a warm place , for
10-20 minutes. Place flour in a large bowl, make a small
hollow in the middle, and add the yeast mixture. Gradually
work flour into the I iquid. Add egg yolks, vanilla, the
remaining sugar and warm water. Knead wel 1 until the dough
no longer sticks to the hands.
Mix
in raisins and nuts .
.,
....
Place the dough into a well-oiled, warmed bowl and cover
with a damp cloth. Allow to stand in a warm place until the
dough has doubled in bulk (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours). Punch
down and place it in an oiled cooking tin and allow to rise
again <approx. 20 minutes). Brush the top with some beaten
egg white to which a little sugar has been added.
Bake in a medium oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or
unti 1 cake is brown on top.
International Feast: Thanks to Tom Aleto and Karen Elwel 1
for hosting the Anthropology Club / s International Feast on
February 25. About 20 students and faculty attended, and
there was plenty of food from several different cultures.
Food from Thailand, Mexico, France, Poland, Italy, the
Middle East, Ireland, and Pennsylvania German culture was
avai !able, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
The Mi I lersville Undergraduate Archaeology Gonference:
by Art Sweeney.
It was a typical weekend in the beginning
of March, a little bit of rain and wind, and just enough
cold to make it the slightest bit uncomfortable. However,
it was not going to be a typical weekend for a group of
anthropology students from Bloomsburg, for they were headed
south into a whirlwind of information and learning - to
Mi I l ersvj 1 1 e University.
It was in Millersville that anthropology students
Chrissy Bafile, Teri Bahner, Steve Comly, Darrell Gundrum,
Bil I Piotrowski and Art Sweeney attended an exciting
experience for al I students, the Undergraduate Archaeology
Conference (March 3-4, 1989). At this gathering, papers
were presented concerning archaeological field schools held
during the summer of 1988, including Bloomsburg University/s
Field School at the Fort McClure site.

s.

A total of four SSHE schools participated at the
conference: Bloomsburg, Indiana. Mansfield and Millersville.
Each of these schools presented research findings or
reported on-going research related to the last summer ' s
field work. A variety of sites were represented: the
historic, represented by the Henry Clay Iron Furnace
<excavated by Mil lersvi lie); the prehistoric, represented by
the Ripley Site (excavated by Indiana); and a combination of
the two, as represented by work at Fort McClure. The
Ma~sfield contingent presented some interesting information
concerning archaeology and the law, with some insights into
native American cultural heritage.
The two papers presented by the Bloomsburg participants
were by Darrell Gundrum Can analysis of the stratigraphic
problems at the Fort McClure site) and Art Sweeney <an
overview of the excavations and the findings of the field
school). It should be noted that both of these papers were
wel I received and were thought to be among the more
interesting and wel I-presented papers at the conference
<Editor's Note).
An example of one of the outstanding papers was
research done on bone tool analysis by John Mutchka of
Indiana. He is attempting to analyze bone tools in terms of
both their technology and their function. Through the use
of experimental archaeology <which is an attempt to recreate
a situation that occurred in the past here in the present,
i.e .. using the tools the same way that prehistoric people
used them and then comparing the marks left on the
experimental tools with those on the real ones in the hopes
that one can find out the actual prehistoric use of a tool),
John hopes to classify bone tools according to its shape and
use. This process is common in analyzing lithic materials;
however, this is the first time that anyone has really
attempted this on bone tools. Other papers covered
everything from ceramic analysis to excavation methodology.

'I

This undergraduate conference provided knowledge both
for those attending, in a learning sense, and those giving
papers, in an experience sense. Another conference is
planned for next year, and it is guaranteed to be at least
as interesting and as fun as this one.
<So get started on
those papers now.)
A special thank you is extended both to Millersville
University for providing the excel lent facilities for this
conference and to Professor Tom Aleto for taking the time to
accompany us to Mil lersvi I le.

Anthropologv in Business: While anthropology has
traditionally been a teaching and research discipline,
increasingly anthropologists have been branching out jnto
government, merchandising, and especially corporate

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business. According to the American Anthropological
Association, 10% of all anthropologists in the United States
now work in business and industry, mostly as troubleshooters
being asked to resolve problems within working areas.
Agencies such as the Corporate Anthropology Group of
California have grown up to provide services to corporate
offices. Anthropologists are most often asked to find
solutions to problems in a business, but increasingly they
are being asked to assess companies which are in the process
of being merged or acquired. For instance, General Motors
hired a staff anthropologist in~1984 when it acquired
Electronic Data Systems Corp. to detemine how the new
acquisition was being run and whether there would be
problems ~ithin it brought about by the purchase.
Anthropologists have especially become popular in Silicon
Valley where Job-hopping and rapid changes in management
often wreak havoc in an organiz 4 tion. Anthropologists are
asked to determine how to structure a business to keep top
personnel.
When working within corporations, anthropologists
seldom use the traditional approaches of other management
consultants, such as focus groups, questionnaires or polls.
Rather, using participatory observation, the anthropologist
will take a desk Job in the company and learn to know it
from the inside. Anthropologists often prefer open ended
interviews to more directed techniques like questionnaires
when trying to find out how employees actually feel about
their employer. Emphasis wil 1 be placed on how employees
interact with each other rather than on traditional measures
such as budgets or inventories. While participatory
observation can be very time intensive, through it
anthropologists are able to learn what image the company is
portraying to its employees or what work values are actually
being encouraged.
1

To be sure, as in any other setting, the major prob lem
anthropologists have in being accepted in the business world
is the perception that the discipline is only interested in
digging up artifacts or the behavior of exotic cultures.
Some anthropologists have learned to call themselves
management consultants to avoid the misconceptions generally
associated with the field.
But many employees find the
prospect of being studied by an anthropologist fascinating;
they also appreciate that anthropologists are really
interested in the employee 1 s perspective on the company.
Many find that their opinions are being sought for the first
time, and most are eager to make suggestions on how to
improve communication or working conditions. Thus it is
that anthropologists are increasingly finding themselves in
demand outside of academia.
Ethics & Archaeology: An article by Harvey Arden in the
March issue of National Geographic underlines ethical

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problems in archaeological fieldwork that are increasingly
concerning fieldworkers in that discipline.
The article
focuses on the Slack Farm site in Kentucky, a major site on
which an American Indian village stood from 1450 to 1650 AD.
In 1987 the site was decimated by ten men who dug at random
within the site trying to locate Indian artifacts for sale
to collectors.
In particular, these men ravaged the burial
ground associated with the site, since often the best
preserved artifacts are found as grave goods in burials.
When state officials final 1? learned of the destructive
diggi~g and put a halt to it, the bones from numerous
burials littered the surface, as they had been simply thrown
aside in search of more marketable treasures.
Because of a growing demand for prehistoric artifacts.
there are more and more entrepreneurs, both in this country
and abroad, armed with shovels and ready to take risks in
the search for artifacts.
To say that these individuals de
not undertake careful, systematic excavation of a site is an
understatement.
As at Slack Hi 11, these entrepreneurs are
only interested in the saleable commodities.
The bits and
pieces of a culture, from which an archaeologist
teconstructs the lives of past civilizations, are simply
cast aside.
At the same time, the al 1-important context in
which those pieces of evidence Jay is lost forever.
What is
left is a pretty piece, suitable for a collection, but
practically useless for scientific analysis.
Unfortunately
few states have laws to be able to successfully prosecute
individuals found to be destroying archaeological sitis.
Those laws now on the books often produce nothing more than
a slap on th~ wrist to violators.
In the Slack Hi! 1 Farm
incident, for example, the ten men involved were charged
.with "desecration of a venerable object'', a misdemeanor
carrying a maximum fine of $500 and a year in jail.
Four of
the ten could not be prosecuted since they were residents of
Illinois or Indiana and couldn / t be extradicted for a
misdemeanor.
In Indiana, archaeological site destruction
~an only be prosecuted as trespassing, a misdemeanor
carrying a fine as low as $1.
Kentucky has revised its law
now, redefining the crime as a felony and applying stiffer
penalties, and several other states are fol lowing suit.

At the same time, American Indians have become
increasingly vocal about archaeologists excavating the
remains of their ancestors.
To quote Dennis Banks, a
longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, in
reference to the Slack Farm site: "What if this were a white
cemetery that had been desecrated? Would the archaeologists
be bagging the disturbed bones and grave goods to take them
for s'tudy at museums and universities?"
At one time, the
remains of prehistoric American Indians were routinely
removed ,from burial sites for analysis and then stored in
1
vaults ~nd on shelves in the back rooms of museums.
Archaeologists have been sympathetic to the concerns of

..

American Indi an s , and i nc reasingly compromise s have been
worke d out, as they we re at Slack Farm.
Resea rc hers were
al l owed to e xamine the remains found at the site in a
l aboratory setting; upon completio n of the examination,
however-, the ren1a ins we r e boxed and cebur i ed at the site by
representatives of several diffece nt Indian groups to insure
the proper disposal of them.
In cases where a site is to be
destroyed by some pub! i c works project or other
construc tion, other a r rangements for b uria l and consecration
of th e remain s has t o be made.
Indians kept a vigi 1 at the
Slac k Farm site throughout the scientific e x cavation of the
site; they hel d tobacco-burning ceremonies every four days
and bui lt a swe a t lodge to purify those who had come to
~isit the disturbed graves. To date, compromises of this
sort have bee n relatively satisfactory.
Analysis of human
bones revea ls a great deal of in formation about the original
population of an area, including information on sex, age,
diet, and the health of the population; some researchers are
concerned, however, that the reburial of remains closes the
door to research, especially when future technologies may
reveal even more data from bone.
Nonetheless, the Society
f o r American Ar cha e ology wen t on record In 1986 as saying
that " huma.n sk e l et al rerr..1i n s mu st a t al I times be treated
•...' i t h d i g n i t / an d r e spec t. "