BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE
Bloomsburg
Pennsylvania
Anthropology Newsletter
Vol. 5, No. 2
October 1980
Department of Philosophy/Anthropology
Enrollments in 1980: When the dust cleared after registration we found that 480
students enrolled in the 12 courses we are offering in the fall semester. That
represents an all-time high for anthropology at BSC. We'd like to say "thanks" for
your interest. We hope we can continue to merit that kind of student interest.
Southwest Tour: A meeting of all students interested in joining the 1981 Southwest
Tour will be held October 27 in 102 Bakeless at 3 p.m. An itinerary has been prepared, and fees and costs will be discussed. If you cannot attend, please contact
either Dave Minderhout or Bob Reeder in 219 Bakeless. Private vehicles will be
used, and lodging will consist of camping out in KOAs and national parks. Priority
registration will be given to anthropology majors or students with cars.
Graduate School in Your Future? Now is a good time to be collecting catalogs and
admissions materials for graduate school. Most departments have February deadlines
for applications, especially for students applying for financial aid. If you need
to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), arrangements can be made to take the
test locally through the Counseling Office. The Guide to Departments of Anthropology
is a good source of information on graduate schools, including special programs
offered, fellowships and assistantships, and addresses for catalogs and other
admission materials. The faculty receives many brochures describing graduate programs
in other schools. Contact Dave Minderhout if you're interested in seeing them.
Ethnographic Facts: Anthropologists have known for some time that in individual
cultures women in monogamous unions tend to have more children than those in polygynous unions. The reason for this has always been unclear, and the suspicion has
always been there that the difference in fertility was due to erratic sampling procedures or sloppy statistics. Now Barry Isaacs of the University of Cincinnati has
suggested in the latest issue of Ethnology that the difference is real and is directly
related to significant social practices. Isaacs did his research among the Mende of
Sierra Leone, finding that women in monogamous unions had statistically significantly
more children than those in polygynous unions. Two factors seemed to influence this
relationship. Isaacs found that more than half the women in monogamous unions were
in their second marriages with a husband in his first marriage. Children are highly
valued among the Mende, and women are valued primarily for child-bearing abilities.
Men contemplating marriage for the first time are mainly interested in women who
will provide them with children. What better wife, then, than a divorcee or widow
with a proven record? The most desirable women in Mende society are young virgins,
but marriage with them is chancy, since a husband never knows whether the girl will
produce babies. Isaacs also found that first wives in polygynous unions had as
many babies as women in monogamous unions and that second wives tended to be women
of low fertility in their second marriages or young, unproven women. First wives
have a monopoly of attention and nutrition for the first years of marriage; this
may pay off in more children. Subsequent wives can then be chosen for qualities
other than child-bearing. The fact that men have to spread their attentions around
in polygynous unions may also affect the fertility rate. Incidentally, while 63%
of the polygynous unions involved two wives, 6.5% involved six or more wives.

2

In a related vein, Rose Frisch of Harvard in a recent Natural History magazine
describes the close relationship between fat and fertility in women. Frisch
found in her research that a particular body composition, i.e., a ratio of fat to
body weight, proved to be an important determinant of fecundity and that a woman who
loses 10 to 15 percent of her body weight becomes anorrheic, that is, her menstrual
cycle stops. Too much fat can have the same effect. The average age of menarche
100 years ago in America was 16; today it is 12.6 years whereas among South American
Indians living in the Andes above 10,000 feet, it is 18 years. The key, on average,
Frisch argues, is when the women weighs 103 pounds. If she is of average height,
she should begin to menstruate. If she is uncommonly tall or short, her menstruation
should be delayed. Since women reach these weight-height dimensions earlier now
than they did 100 years ago, they are menstruating sooner. As Frisch points out,
reproduction requires energy. A pregnancy requires a total of 50,000 extra calories,
and lactation about 1,000 extra calories per day. The main function of the 35 pounds
of fat stored on average by girls by age 18 in our culture may be to provide easily
mobilized energy for reproduction. The 144,000 calories stored at the time of mature
reproductive ability would be sufficient for a pregnancy and about three mcnths'
lactation. This may also help explain why first wives in Sierra Leone have more
children.
The Anthropologist's Cookbook: Ropa vieJa (Old Clothes) is a recipe from Panama.
Its ingredients reflect Panama's position as an international transit zone, including
as they do both soy sauce (salsa China) and Worcestershire sauce (salsa Inglesa)o
This dish is served with rice, preferably a broken coarse variety of rice cooked
in blackened iron pots over an open fire.
450 grams (1 lb.) chuck or stewing beef
salt to taste
1 clove garlic
2% tsp. soy sauce
1 medium onion, finely chopped

pepper to taste
cup water
cup vinegar
1 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

t
t

Sprinkle the raw meat lightly with salt and pepper, then place in a flat shallow
dish with vinegar and soak for two-three hours. Place the soaked meat in a pot
with an inch or so of water and simmer for 15-30 minutes. Remove and chop it into
small, thin strips and place in a frying pan with the onion, salt, pepper and garlic.
Mix together the water, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce and add to the meat.
Simmer slowly until almost all the moisture evaporates. The result is a tasty meat
with a thin sauce. As a variation, a little tomato paste may be added to the sauce.
Bigfoot in Columbia County?--Part I: The Wright family dog lay placidly on the
kitchen floor trying to escape the late afternoon heat of a mid-August day. The
aging farm dog now merely kept out of the way of trouble and the discomfort of the
Columbia County heatwave. Years had passed since he bothered with squirrels
scampering on the farmhouse yard which stretched southward to the edge of the great
oak forrest. His utility as a sheep dog and a vigil for strange night sounds was
only a memory as he dozed, stretching out on the cool linoleum floor. Mrs. Wright
was hurrying to finish her ironing before her husband returned from a construction
job in town. A soft summer breeze swept down from the mountain ridge nearby rustling
the dried sweet corn patch and passed through the open kitchen windows.
As Mrs. Wright looked up from her absent minded ironing, she did a double-take
noticing that a shadow had passed over the kitchen wall in front of her. She turned

3

around toward the window at her back only to see the curtains moving in the wind.
She began to perceive an odd odor which developed rapidly into an overwhelming and
unfamiliar rancid stink, A dense heavy asthmatic breathing caught her attention
at about the same time as the dog let out a ferocious snarl. The old farm dog,
shaken from its sleep, suddenly began to howl unearthly wails. With flared nostrils
and bared teeth, the old dog circled madly around the room as Mrs. Wright wondered
whether her husband's 12-gauge shotgun was still in the hall closet and if it was
loaded. She was hoping the red pickup truck would immediately be heard grinding
up the hollow road bringing Mr. Smith home for supper.
But the odd pungentodor was gone as quickly as it had appeared. The heavy breathing
could no longer be heard and the old dog's yelps soon changed into a few defensive
barks. It was a longer time before the dog stopped its shaking and longer still
before he curled his tail under his body and went back to sleep on the floor.
During the next week the Wrights learned of other neighbors' dogs acting strangely,
always at the same time of the day--late afternoon. Further conversations with
more remote neighbors on the other side of the mountain revealed a curious pattern:
the farm dogs on the north side of the mountain regularly became unsettled in the
late afternoon. The farm dogs on the southern slope of the mountain became
agitated early in the morning.
Two weeks later Bill Tolanca was driving his truck up the Jonestown mountain from
the south slope at 8 a.m. As he was rounding a curve in the road he saw a giant,
two-legged hairy beast standing in the center of the road. It turned its head in
the direction of Tolanca's truck.
NEXT ISSUE:

BIGFOCYf'S HUT?

Archeology News: Systematic excavation of the Brouse prehistoric Indian site
near Riverside is now under way. The work is being done by members of Mr.
Solenberger's Field Archeology II class, primarily, but half a dozen members of
the M.A.N. Club also dug at the site under Solenberger's supervision on Saturday,
September 20. So far only a little worked flint has been found, but flint chips
and hearth stones cracked and reddened by fire give promise of more finds to come.
On the last two Thursdays, on account of rain, classes have been held indoors, which
gave an opportunity for discussion of technical terms used in archeology, and for
students to see and handle specimens of various types of stone artifacts and pottery.
M.A.N. members, meaning any students interested in either Indian or historic archeology, are urged to contact Mr. Solenberger, at the Department of Philosophy and
Anthropology office, if they are interested in further field trips, either for more
digging at the Brouse site or in Saturday excursions to places of archeological or
historical interest. Once or twice each month, Mr. Solenberger is accustomed to
attend evening meetings of chapters of the Society for Pennsylvania Archeology,
such as one in Williamsport on Monday, October 6, with slides on the Overpeck Site.
He also plans to attend the convention of the Eastern States Archeological Federation
at Albany, New York, October 31-November 2, 1980. Call him for details if interested.
On the afternoon of Saturday, September 20, Mr. Solenberger attended the unveiling
of a bronze plaque at the Montgomery House in Danville, showing that this 18th Century
house is now on the National Register of historic properties. The house serves as
the muset.nn of the Montour County Historical Society. At that time, Mr. Solenberger
presented to the Society some Indian artifacts excavated by the BSC Archeology
Project at the Creekmouth Site, Danville, during 1979.