BLOOMSBURG UNIVERSITY

Bloomsburg

Pennsylvania

ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER
Vol. 14, No. 1
September 1989
Department of Anthropology

A New Newsletter - & a New Department:

Beginning this fall,
anthropology has become a separate department under the
leadership of Professor Robert Reeder, the new department
chairperson. The anthropologists look forward to their
pending move to the newly renovated Old Science Building, a
move we hope will occur some time this fall. With the
laboratory space being provided for anthropology in the new
location, we hope to be able to provide an expanded program
in field archaeology and physical anthropology as well as
better research opportunities for our maJors.
The Anthropology Newsletter has now been housed in
three different departments since its inception in 1975,
namely, Sociology/Anthropology, Philosophy/Anthropology, and
the new independent Anthropology Department. We will
continue to provide any and all interested members of the
university community with information about anthropology on
campus, nationally and internationally. If you would like
to be added to our malling list, please contact Dave
Mlnderhout at 4334.

Meet Our New Faculty Member:

We welcome Dr. Dee Anne Wymer
to the anthropology staff, beginning with the fall semester.
Dee Anne ls an archaeologist with a Ph.D. from Ohio State
University. Her specialty within archaeology ls
paleoethnobotany, an imposing label for the analysis of
plant remains in archaeological sites. From her research
into sites ln Ohio dating from between 100 BC and 1000 AD,
she has been able to demonstrate that archaeological
assumptions about the subsistence baee of Indians in the
Midwest In that time period may well be wrong. In
particular, the rise of the Hopewell culture between 100 BC
and 500 AD in that area, with its associated geometric
earthworks, impressive works of art and elaborate burials,
ls not, according to her research, based on the cultivation
of maize, as had been widely assumed. Rather, the Hopewell
culture seems to have been built on the domestication of
plants native to the eastern woodlands of North America,
such as May grass and sunflowers, as well as on the
collection of native nuts, berries, tubers, etc. By
studying the rise of agriculture in the Midwest, Dee Anne
also hopes to shed light on the question of the origins of
agriculture world-wide. She has also located and begun work
on a site In Ohio which may yield evidence about the
earliest presence of humans in this hemisphere; BU students

2.

will have an opportunity to work on this site during the
summer of 1990.
Dee Anne also comes to us with a strong background in
teaching. Her student recomme_ndatlons from Ohio speak to
her enthusiasm, her knowledge of the field, her humor, and
her solid presentations. She ls very interested in physical
anthropology as well as in archaeology. We are very happy
that she has Joined our program.

A Belated Congcatylatlons:

to Darryl Gundrum who graduated
from BU with maJors in anthropology and geology in May 1989.
Darryl has received an assistantship In archaeology from the
University of Calgary, where he has begun his work this
fa 11 •

AcchaeoJoalcaJ Research in South An)erlca:

During this past
July, ~r. Thomas Aleto conducted archaeological research on
La Puna Island as part of a two month vlslt to the-South
American country of Ecuador. · Assisting in this
investigation was Patrick Andrews, a BU senior maJorlng In
anthropology. The research consisted primarily of
pedestrian reconnnaissance survey, the main method used by
archaeologists to find prehistoric sites. In such a survey
the researchers systematlcal1y cover the area they wish to
investigate, scanning the surface of the ground in search of
any indication of past human occupation. In this part of
coast a 1 Ecuador, such artifacts. inc 1ude pottery, debris from
stone tool manufacture, stones used for grinding corn and
other seeds, human burials, and the remains of prehistoric
meals, principally discarded -mollusk shells and fish bones.
La Puna ls a very large island with a land mass of over
900 square kilometers (approximately 560 square miles> and
cannot be easily surveyed in a short time. As a result, Dr.
Aleta and Mr. Andrews restricted their investigation to two
small areas on the north and west side of the island. These
zones
are the focus of the major economic activity of La
I
Puna,
namely shrimp farming. In the past seven years,
construction of shrimp cultivation ponds has resulted ln the
destruction and disturbance of many archaeological sites by
tractors and other heavy earth moving machines. One of the
objectives of the summer ✓ s research was to catalog the
destroyed and damaged sites and to discover additional sites
before they are similarly altered.
In terms of these objectives, the work was successful.
Five new sites were discovered, and archaeological material
was recovered from the surfaces. Most of the artifacts
consist of pottery and other ceramic pieces like figurines
and spindle whorls, email bead-like counterweights used in
the spinning of cotton into ~oread. In some cases, this
ceramic material recovered wa~ well known, and the
investigators were able to place the sites in the proper
I

3.
cultural and temporal contexts. In other cases, the pottery
was either too poorly preserved to allow such determinations
or represents a previously undiscovered and unknown culture.
Of particular significance are two sites that were
intensively collected ln order to procure a large sample of
artifacts for further study. One of them belongs to the
culture known as the Punaes, the people for whom La Puna ls
named. They Inhabited the island when the Spanish made
their first contact with the cultures of Ecuador and Peru.
Pizarro and hls, fellow conquistadores spent three months
with the Punnaes in 1531 before launching their assault on
the Inca
empire. Because the Spanish were
horrified by many
,
'
Punae customs and spent much of their time in open conflict
with them, they left several detailed accounts of the Punae
way of life in their Journals and letters to the King of
Spain. However, relativel7 little ls known about many ·
important aspects of Punae culture that can only be answered
through archaeological investigation. For this and other
reasons, the discovery of the Punae village at the site
called Celbo Grande ls especially exciting.
.

The other site, known as Lorna Alto, ls Important
because it promises to shed light on Valdivia culture, one
of the first pottery producing societies in all of South
America. The Valdivlans are among the first sedentary and
agricultural people in all of the Americas and can shed
light on why people first domesticated plants and began to
live ln permanent settlements. Until the present, most of
the Valdivia sites that have been studied have been located
on the mainland of Ecuador. The presence of Valdivia
culture in an Island context may offer a new perspective on
these earliest of farmers.
Because there was not sufficient time to undertake a
complete analysis of the artifacts during the investigators/
stay In the field, a collection of the material was brought
back to BU for further study. This analysis will be
undertaken by Dr. Aleto and must be completed by June 1990
when the pottery must be returned to Ecuador. Dr. Aleta
welcomes any student who ls interested ln assisting in the
analysis and who would like to learn more about either the
techniques of ceramic analysis or Ecuadorian archaeology. If
you would like to help, please contact Dr. Aleto in 219 BCH.

·Another SuQVQer Traveler:

BU anthropology maJor Travis
Pickering participated ln Harvard Unlversity/s Koobl Fora
field school in Kenya this past summer. Koobl Fora ls the
area where Richard Leakey discovered KNM-ER 1470, a nearly
complete Homo habilis skull from 1.8 million
years ago. Travis got to meet Leakey, tour the KNM-ER 1470
site and many others, and to do sane field archaeology on
sites; he also toured the East African countryside to see
the wildlife and topography. We hope to persuade him to

write up his experiences for the Newsletter in the near
future.

Anthropology Club News: As of this writing, the
Anthropology Club has met three times, planning its
activities for the upcoming year. The club hopes to sponsor
speakers, provide film programs, and attend regional or
national meetings of anthropologists. The first activity of
the year was held on Sunday, September 10, as the
anthropology faculty provided a picnic for the students at
the Bloomsburg Town Park.
· Any student interested ln anthropology ls welcome to
attend club meetings. The club ·meets every Tuesday at 3:30
PM in 106 BCH. Pat Andrews ls the club president for the
fall semester; Andy Goldfine ls treasurer; and Dr. Aleto ls
the club advisor.

The

Anthropologlst ✓ s Cookbook:
Here ✓ s a recipe to use up
all the extra tanatoes from backyard gardens. This recipe
for "Tornates Frltes" (tomato fritters> ls from France.

For the fritter batter:
3/4 cup plus 1 tblspn flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tblspns butter, melted
1 egg lightly beaten
1 cup beer
1 egg white, beaten stiff but not dry
16 medium-sized firm tomatoes, cut in 1/4 inch slices
salt
pepper
chopped parsley
oil for deep frying
Sift the flour together with the salt. Beat in the
butter, then the egg. Then beat in enough beer to lighten
the flour and turn it into a thick but pourable batter that
will coat a spoon. Let rest an hour; then whisk ln the
stiff egg white.
Press as much juice and as many seeds out of the
tomatoes as possible without crushing the slices. Season
with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley.
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet until it smokes. Then
dip the tomato slices in the batter to coat them. Slip a
few at a time into the oil and fry until golden brown.
Drain on a paper towel and serve as soon as possible.
Yield: 8 servings

s.
Seeing ls BeJlevlng: Aristotle defined the Western concept
of the senses as he cataloged the five that Americans
routinely think of: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
But as anthropologist Alan Dundee has pointed out, Americans
emphasize the sense of sight, giving it an importance equal
to or greater than all the other senses put together. Using
American colloquial expressions, he notes that Americans
favor politicians with vision; we can see their point of
view; they need a public image.
If our perspectives are
challenged, we may claim that it all depends on how you look
at it. Having a hard time with an idea? Well, then, 1 ✓ 11
believe it when I see it; I can;t picture it; there/a more
to this than meets the eye. Or, how about, out of sight,
out of mind?
We talk about doctors seeing us as patients; hopefully
they will do more than that. In fact, the doctor will
probably Interview us about our complaints. As we travel,
we see the sights; If amazed by them, we couldn;t believe
our eyes. Who wants to buy something sight unseen? We
prefer to go into something new with our eyes open. After
all, we need to be able to see through a fake. Maybe we
need to use a seer; lt;s useful to be able to foresee future
events.
As we leave a conversation, we part with "See you!"
Accordingly we greet someone with "It/s good to see you; I
haven;t seen you in ages!" Apparently it;s not good to
hear, smell or feel you. We don;t want to rely on hearsay;
we need an eyewitness, and we ✓ 11 hire a private eye to find
one, if necessary. And we can;t rely on that person ✓ s word;
we need to see it "In black and white" on paper or in a
contract.
Anthropology ls caught up In the metaphors of vision as
well. We do participatory observation, we say, though we
probably ask more questions than we observe. We do our
research to gain insight into the world-view of another
society. Ruth Benedict warned anthropologists about looking
at another culture through their own cultural perceptions:
"We do not see the lens through which we look." And, after
all, other cultures do not place our emphasis on sight - or
even define the senses in the same way. The Javanese, for
Instance, say there are five senses: seeing, hearing,
smelling, feeling and talking.
Dundee also believes that the emphasis on sight in
American culture has grown in recent decades. For Instance,
the familiar saying "Seeing ls believing" at one time went
on to say "but feeling/a the truth." As our technology for
pres~nting visual images continues to grow, the emphasis on
sight may well continue to strengthen. See my point?

6.

Sahl ins Speaks: On September 5, University of Chicago

anthropologist Marshall Sahl ins spoke at Bucknell University
as part of the Ralph Spielman Memorial Lecture series. The
lecture was attended by several students and faculty from
Bloomsburg University Departments of Anthropology and
Philosophy.

Dr. Sahl ins, who ls widely known for hie theoretical
writings in anthropology and social science, read a paper
entitled "Social Science: The Tragic Western Sense of
Imperfection." In the lecture he turned to one of the
themes that runs through his writings, namely, the
consideration of whether culture ~nd society are products of
human ideas or whether they arise . from the material
conditions of life.
Drawing on a vast body of literature that included
sources such as the Bible, St. Augustine, John Locke, Karl
Marx and Karl Polanyi, Sahllns argued that modern social
science is based on the fundamental idea that life ls a
punishment. In this context the primary motivation in life
ls the avoidance of pain and the search for pleasure. This
ls manifest ln the economizing principle: individuals are
driven by an attempt to maximize unlimited wants with
limited means. This leads to a view of society as a force
that constrains individual desires and sublimates what ls
natural. Sahllns argued that although thle view of society
ls widely held in the West to be objective truth, lt ls, in
fact, a subJective construct that ls a product of a specific
cultural tradition.
To support his position, Sahllns cited the case of the
Algonkln Indians of northeastern Canada. These people
inhabit one of the least hospitable regions of North
America; starvation ls a constant threat. As reported by
the Jesuits who made contact with them In the 17th century,
the Algonkln were happy despite their suffering and did not
lament their fate. Their generosity, which extended to
sharing food even it might have resulted In hunger for the
giver, was seen by the Jesuits as a lack of conmen sense.
weak-hearted and mean-spirited, given to avarice and
ambition.> Sahl ins argued that the Algonkln cultural
pattern could be explained only lf social life was not seen
to arise from the avoidance of pain and the quest for
pleasure. Rather, he argued, lt reflected a view of the
world in which life ls seen as the antithesis of suffering.
The apparent lack of common sense in sharing scarce food in
the face of certain hunger springs from a view of hunger as
a collectlye problem rather than as an individual concern.
Sahl ins argued that the overriding fear of the Algonklns was
not individual privation, but fear that the band would break
up if food were withheld and social life would end. The end
of social life was seen as the cessation of life itself.

Sahllns elaborated on these themes by drawing on much
of the social philosophy that forms the basis of social
science. His presentation was erudite, and his command of
the literature was most impressive. Dr. Sahl ins and his
ideas were well-received by a large, attentive audience.

Minor in Anthropology:

Yes, It ls possible to minor in
anthropology. A minor in anthropology consists of 6 courses
or 18 credits. Three of the courses are required. They
are:
46.200 Principles of Cultural Anthropology
46.210 Prehistoric Archaeology
46.220 Principles of Physical Anthropology
Three other elective anthropology courses should be chosen
ln consultation w1th an anthropology adviser. Feel free to
see any of the anthropology faculty for more information.