Anthropology Newsletter BLOOMSBURG UN I UERS ITY Bloomsburg Pennsyluania ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER Uol. 16, No. 2 ANNouNc1NG: October 1991 The 1992 Summer Field School "EHcnuntions at the Great Circle Park: Preh.istoric Ritual in ConteHt by Dr. Dee Anne Wymer 0 The Project's Background: ApproHimately 2,000 years ago a remarkable culture, called Hopewell by today's archaeologists, once eHisted i·n the mid-Ohio Riuer drainages. The Hopewell are famous world-wide for their unique and rich burial customs that included elaborate death rituals and interment in large earthen mounds. The mounds were often built inside compleH geometric enclosures enclosures demarcated by earthen embankments forming squares, circles, octagons, and other unusual shapes and features (please see drawing of the Newark earthworks below). These embankments, typically enclosing 25 to 30 acres in eHtent, did not contain burials but rather functioned to define ceremonial or sacred spaces. Some euidence suggests that it may haue taken seueral generations of indiuiduals, piling basket-load upon basket-load of sediment, to complete entire compleHes. Burial goods placed with the dead reflect a uast trade network that nearly spanned the entire North American continent, including ornaments fashioned from Canadian copper and Florida marine shell, along with ceremonial spearpoints made from Wyoming obsidian. Surprisingly, giuen the dramatic and artistically important nature of this culture, archaeologists still know relatiuely little about the eueryday life of these people who liued in the region from approHimately 100 B.C. to A.O. 400. This is particularly true of the heartland of Hopewell culture - the Licking Riuer uolley of eastcentral Ohio. Many of the impressiue burial mounds. and ceremonial compleHes were destroyed by early urban deuelopment as well as Anthropology Newsletter wanton destruction for the soke of retrieuing the elaborate burial goods during the 10·oos and early 19OOs by amateur archaeologists and relic collectors. Euen less information was auailoble about their smaller and less dramatic habitation sites. Howeuer, beginning in 1983 a concerned group of professionals from many scientific and education disciplines formed a research group to study the Hopewell culture in the Licking Riuer uolley before the push of urbanization had destroyed our archaeological past. I became a member of this set of scholars as o graduate student and much of my research is based on the results of our inuestigations. Since the formation of this group in 1983 we houe conducted o large number of inuestigations of the Licking Uolley, including surface surueys, interuiews with local relic collectors, re_uiews of historic documents, ond most importantly, seuerol intensiue eHcauotions. In fact, the 1990 fieldschool took place at the Munson Spring Site located in the uolley ond the upper-most layers were ceremonial deposits produced by the Hopewell. Howeuer, ot this phase of the research we houe come to realize thot we still do not houe o complete picture of the prehistoric Hopewell culture, porticulorly in linking their small scattered hamlets to the large central ceremonial compleH that hod dominated the Licking Uolley riuer system. Among the things that remain unanswered ond require further inuestigation ore: What drew together these scattered hamlets, eoch only consisting of seuerol family groups, to periodically conduct ceremonies ot the central geometric compleH? How could on egalitarion society with neither chiefs or nobles organize such o mossiue monumental public construction? How did o society without written records keep track of such on eHtensiue earth-mouing project or know how to place the octagon-circle portion of the earthwork so that it matched specific lunar alignments? How long did it toke to complete the entire geometric compleH? Did o single generation complete one section ot o time? How wos the labor organized, for whot period of time, ond to · whose oduontoge? Did the formation of these eloborote ceremonial compleHes somehow ploy o role in the equally eHtensiue poncontinentol trade network? It is with these questions in mind that I decided to address the larger picture by integrating the data gleaned from the recent eHcouotions ot Hopewell habitation sites in the region with a more in- .. . . · Anthropology Newsletter depth inuestigation of the currently remaining fragments of the ualley's ceremonial compleH. Although the uast majority of this compleH, -once couering ouer four square miles, was destroyed by the end of the 1800s, two significant portions were saued and are now preserued as parks within the Ohio Historical Society site management system. Due to my eHpertise in Hopewell archaeology, and the contacts I houe with members of the Society, I haue been giuen permission to bring Bloomsburg Uniuersity's fieldschool to the Park to conduct a series of eHcauations - the first systematic research to be done there in well ouer 50 years. The Newark Great Clrcle Park: R major section of the earthwork compleH, known as the Great Circle, hos been preserued as a park within the modern city of Newark, Ohio. The Great Circle, although once used as the county's fairground, appears to be fairly undisturbed by historic actiuities. This is particularly true of the embankment and adjacent interior moat (the ditch formed by remoual of the dirt for creation of the embankment). The last research at the Great Circle was conducted in the 1930s and concentrated on a burial mound in the center of the park. Unfortunately, this research wos conducted before modern theoretical perspectiues or new techniques hod been deueloped. Thus, there is no information on the construction technique utilized for the embankment itself, no accurate dates on t~e building of this portion of the ceremonial compleH, or inuestigation of non-mound archaeological materials or remains within or immediately outside the Great Circle. II 11 The Great Circle (circa 1840) ... Anthropology Newsletter The two remaining major fragments include the Octagon-Circle (now a golf course!) located in the upper-left corner and the large circle located in the lower-center. This circle is preserued as a large (35 ocre) park in Newark, Ohio and is known as the "Great Circle Park". The Field School: flpproHimately 12 to 15 Bloomsburg Uniuersity students will thus haue the rare opportunity to work at a unique ceremonial site that is known world-wide. Students, working olongsi~e other archaeologists and professionals from uorious fields, will help in the creation of a trench through o portion of the embankment and small test units will be placed within and just outside the circle. Our main goal is to record the construction techniques for the building of the Circle, recouer materials like wood charcoal for radiocarbon dating, and test for undisturbed deposits in and around the embankment that may relate to the ceremonial rituals that took place at the site. Our research will be eHtremely important since these will be the first set of precise dates for the earthwork compleH as well as the first scientific documentation of the archaeology of these complico.t ed ritual spaces. My ultimate goal is to conduct a series of eHcouations like those planned for this summer at the other remaining portions of the earthwork compleH and to ultimately tie this information together with our habitation site data. Thus, I hope to euentuolly find answers to some of the questions noted abm.Je - how indeed did this incredible piece of "the built enuironment" operate as the central focus of the uolley and how did this wondrous culture create such o monumental construction. Please join me in this Odyssey into the ritual and sacred life of the Hopewell people. Details: The fieldschool will take place from mid-June through the end of July, students will be housed in the same student apartment compleH we stayed at last field season, and the course will be worth 6 credits. Prior eHperience or coursework in archaeology is not required (but it looks like there will be o large number of "returnees" from the 1990 eHcouotions ! ). The Pork itself is a beautiful tree-filled "green-space" that is o popular picnic spot for the community. Additionally, there is a fine museum at the site which will be our base of operations and we will also take fieldtrips to other adjacent and equally fascinating sites and museums. Since the number of students Anthropology Newsletter is limited to approHimately a maHimum of 15 please contact me as soon as possible if you are interested (or would like more details). Boy, are we going to haue a great summer. Lost Knowledge: Since the last newsletter, a number of articles of anthropological interest haue appeared in national magazines. The most prominent of these was the couer story of the September 25, 1991 Tl ME. Entitled "Lost Tribes, Lost Knowledge," the article was about the rapidly disappearing natiue cultures of the world and their culturally specific knowledge bases. Natiue cultures are disappearing rapidly for basically two reasons: 1) determined efforts by gouernments, corporations, and entrepreneurial indiuiduals to undermine natiue ways and dispossess natiues of their assets, especially their land; and 2) the younger people in natiue cultures choosing to turn away from traditional ways to embrace the materialistic culture of international society. The result in either case is the same: a few old people who still retain the knowledge giuen to them by their ancestors but who haue no students. Rs an eHample, MIT linguist Ken Hale is quoted in the article as saying that 3000 of the world's 6000 languages are doomed because no children speak them. Since languages contain special uocabulary items which reflect people's unique solutions to the problems facing them, the loss of a language generally also means the loss of potentially useful information. The most common information lamented in recent articles like TIME's is the medical knowledge of natiue peoples. In two recent articles in CUL TURRL SURU I URL QURRTERL Y, anthropologists Elaine Elisabetsky and Steuen R. King both note that drug companies are becoming increasingly interested in the pharmacopoeias of natiue peoples. She notes that 7000 natural compounds are currently used in modern medicine; most of these are deriued from folk healing traditions, especially from European and American Indian traditions. Howeuer, in the 1960's Western drug companies cut back their research into medicinal plants in fauor of the fermentation of microorganisms and synthetics. While this fueled a biotechnology reuolution, recently these firms are discouering that they are now deriuing limited success at enormous cost from those efforts; many are turning back to plant research. Rt the same t_ime, tropical rain forest deforestation has created o crisis in plant eHtinction; it is Anthropology Newsletter estimated that 100 tropical plant species become eHtinct each day due to deforestation, which is occuring at a rate of 80 acres ·o minute world-wide. With fewer than 2% of higher plants hauing been screened for pharmaceutical properties, these losses of plant species may well mean that potential cures of all sorts are falling beneath the deuelopers' bulldozers. Thus, there are a great many drug companies gearing up their plant research facilities. For instance, Merck recently announced a major initiatiue with Costa Rica to discouer and analyze rain forest plants for medical properties (reported in the September 20 PH I LADELPH I A INQUIRER)~ Drug companies ore finding that the most cost effectiue approach to plant research is to contact traditional healers in notiue societies to learn what they use and how; many anthropologists are engaged in this work. Howeuer, almost inuariably those healers ore the elderly. In culture ofter culture there is no one to carry on the work, and key information is being lost. Both of these articles brings up on interesting legal question as well: to whom does medicinal plant knowledge belong? If o drug company studies a plant used by o natiue healer and finds it hos therapeutic ualue, shouldn't the healer receiue a patent and a portion of the proceeds from the sales? In the post, drug companies haue refused to pay notiue heaiers for their contribution; King reports on o non -· profit conseruotion orgonizaU•,n, the Healing Forest Conseruoncy, which is trying to change this situation and giue natiue healers the credit - and income - they ore due. The Tl ME article also notes other areas of traditional knowledge that ore rapidly disappearing, including contraception for population control and traditional means of agriculture. For instance, the traditional system of slash and burn agriculture used by the notiue formers of the tropics is becoming appreciated today for its ability to produce a crop while allowing the tropical rain forest to regenerate itself. (in Cultiuating the Tropical Forest Richard K. Reed writes that "The damage being done to [South American] Indian societies is particularly distressing because they ore the only humans who haue managed to subsist in the forest without causing permanent harm." In. CONFORMITY & CONFLICT, edited by James P. Spradley & Oauid W. Mccurdy, p. 1 40.) In another article in the CULTURAL SURU I UAL II 11 , .. ,. __ _., . Anthropology Newsletter QUARTERLY, Gordon Thomasson writes that the ciuil war in Liberia has nearly wiped out indig·enous knowledge of rice planting. Traditionally, Liberian women (who do the farming) maintained dozens of uarieties of rice (Thomasson collected 112 in one uillage) which were planted in slightly different ecological microniches to produce the maHimal potential from a piece of land. This knowledge was passed on from mother to daughter; young women memorized the appearance of the different uarieties and their uses. This traditional knowledge is being replaced by one international hybrid rice which does not grow as well in Liberian soils - and in fact, does not do well at all without eHpensiue petrochemical fertilizers. Perhaps the best part of the Tl ME article is the photographic work accompanying it. Photographer William Coupon prouides some maruelous portraits of the Penan people of Borneo, highland tribespeople of Papua New Guinea, Aleuts from Alaska, pygmies from the Central African Republic, and Lacandon Indians of Chiapas, MeHico. Anthropology & Business: Another article appeared recently which takes a look at another aspect of anthropology. The September 30, 1991 BUSINESS WEEK contains an article about the increasing use of anthropologists as corporate consultants to study interactions and communications in the working place. Actually this is nothing new; BUS I NESS WEEK published a similar article in June 1986. Howeuer, recently the number of corporate hirings of anthropologists hos been on the rise. The current article quotes a prediction from a Wayne State anthropologist that half of all new anthropology Ph.D.'s will get their first employment in the business world by 1 993. What do anthropologists haue to offer corporate eHecutiues? Anthropologists are trained in participatory obseruation, a data gathering technique in which anthropologists liue and work among the people they are studying. When a business hires an anthropologist, the anthropologist goes out into the workplace, working and interacting with employees and discouering how they see their jobs. If possible, the anthropologist also gets to know the workers outside the job, going with them to their homes or restaurants or any other setting where the employee is comfortable about talking about problems on the job. This differs from the approach of most corporate consultants who either talk with managers about how Anthropology Newsletter problems can be solued or who inuite employees into their offices for one-on-one "chats" or formal interuiews. This often leads to eHecutiue solutions imposed from aboue which may not address a problem from a worker's perspectiue. The anthropologist, by comparison, offers management an employee-based solution, which often comes closer to the heart of a difficulty. The BUS I NESS WEEK article cites cases from three companies, HeroH, NyneH Corporation, and General Motors, where these employee-based solutions are working. The HeroH eHample is a typical one. The problem put to the anthropologist, Julian Orr, by HeroH management was this: euery year the number of seruice calls for HeroH equipment was increasing. Management's solution had been to produce new technology which was "simpler", but with the introduction of the new machines, seruice calls continued to increase. What could be done? Orr went out with HeroH seruice technicians to see what the problem was from the technician's perspectiue. He found that the technicians knew that the problem was not technology breakdown, but unfamiliarity with the machines. People didn't know how to use the equipment, and each new model added to the confusion. Seruice technicians were trained to fiH breakdowns, but not how to effectiuely show people to use the equipment. Orr suggested to management that seruice technicians be trained as teachers; he also initiated a training program which drew on the knowledge of ueteran technicians, rather than on outside eHperts, to -help new personnel. With technicians trained for the job they actually had to tackle, the number of seruice calls decreased. This kind of anthropological consultant work has a number of problems built into it. First, many of the problems anthropologists discouer in these situations are those of poor employee/manager communications; a common employee complaint is "We told them, but they just don't listen to us." In this conteHt, managers may not listen to anthropological solutions either. Second, many of these anthropological solutions seem deceptiuely simple - like the HeroH eHample. Managers are prone to say "I paid a consultant to tell me this? Rn article in HR magazine in October 1990 by Dau id M. Stipy ( "Rnthropologist Uncouers Real Workplace Rttitudes ") addresses this problem by noting the kind of intense work performed by an anthropologist to come up with these apparently simple solutions: 11 Anthropology Newsletter When inuolued in a project [the anthropologist] literally works whateuer hours are required. Spending 14 to 15 hours a day in a plant is not uncommon. Being in a plant all day and then going home with someone for dinner and continued discussion frequently occurs. This intense commitment to the project means that buying 30 consultant days from an anthropologist is like buying 45 to 50 days from most other consultants. Few managers are willing to make that kind of commitment to interacting with_employees. 11 11 Finally, there is a problem of ethics in this kind of research. Anthropologists belieue that their first ethical responsibility is to their informants, the people who prouide them with information. Traditionally anthropologists haue belieued that if publishing a piece of information will harm an informant in some way, then it is best not to publish, euen if this aduersely affects the anthropologist's data base or publications record. This is especially a problem in the workplace, where many employee complaints end up being about management - or indiuiduol managers in particular. Since management is paying the anthropologist's fee, they feel they haue o right to her or his information, but will on employee be fired for her or his candor? Similarly, an anthropological solution may lead to greater productiuity, which may in turn lead to lay-offs as the company finds it needs fewer workers. Whose side is the anthropologist on in that case? To dote, anthropologists houen't hod to confront these problems, but as BUS I NESS WEEK notes, sooner or later, these issues will emerge. Rs anthropology turns more and more away from being on academic discipline to the world of business, these ethical concerns will need to be addressed. The Anthropologist's Cookbook: For a different taste, try this groundnut stew from Ghana in West Rfrico. Groundnuts ore what we coll peanuts. 1 small jar (8 oz) of 2 1 /2 lbs lean meat peanut butter 1 large onion salt 1 lb okra 3 chili peppers or 1 1 /2 tsp ground chili 2 tbsp tomato puree 1 /2 cup peanut oil 3/4 pt. beef stock Cut up the meat, onion, and peppers. Fry in oil until the onions ore ';.,,, Anthropology Newsletter soft. Rdd salt and stock and cook until the meat is tender (1 1 /2 to 2 hrs?). Half an hour before the meat is ready, add okra, peanut butter and tomato puree. When it is ready, the sauce should be the consistency of a thick soup. In Ghana this dish is serued with side dishes of bananas, dried fruit, coconut, oranges, apples or fried plantain. Serues 4-6. BU Rnthropologlsts Mnke Presentations: Seueral of the BU anthropologists haue been making presentations around campus in the past month. Dr. Tom Rleto made a presentation, "Children of the Uirgin", on September 16 as part of the uniuersity's Latino Heritage Month. Dr. Rleto talked about the integration of religion into eueryday life in MeHico. He stressed the roots of this integration in both Spanish and the pre-Columbian Indian cultures; he then showed how Spanish Catholicism merged with Indian beliefs to produce contemporary MeHican faith and practice. He illustrated his talk with slides taken on his many uisits to MeHico. Dr. Daue Minderhout presented a workshop at the Phi Beta Lambda Fall Workshop on October 5. Entitled "Why Businesspeople Need Anthropology", Dr. Minderhout showed how anthropology is becoming more and more utilized in the American business community. Anthropologists are helping businesses understand the international marketplace as well as cultural minorities in the U.S. Riso, as noted aboue, anthropologists also are in increasing demand as consultants to study internal problems in American businesses. Dr. Dee Anne Wymer will make a presentation on October 25 to the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi's annual freshman awards luncheon. She will talk about her archaeological research ouer the past two years, focusing on her part in analyzing an 11,500 year old mastodon and in the eHcauation of Hopewell Indian mounds in Ohio. The team of which Dr. Wymer is a part had their Mastodon research published in QUATERNARY RESEARCH recently. Dr. Wymer analyzed the uegetable contents in the gut remains of the creature and found that the animal was ingesting a wider uariety of plants than had preui"ously been thought to haue been true.