Sunday, November 26, 2006
New Mexico's Chaco Canyon: A Place of Kings and Palaces?
BOULDER, Colo., June 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- Kings living in palaces may have ruled New Mexico's Chaco Canyon a thousand years ago, causing Pueblo people to reject the brawny, top-down politics in the centuries that followed, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder archaeologist.
University of Colorado Museum anthropology Curator Steve Lekson, who has studied Chaco Canyon for several decades, said one argument for royalty comes from the rich, crypt-style burials of two men discovered deep in a Chaco Canyon "great house" known as Pueblo Bonito several decades ago. They were interred about A.D. 1050 with a wealth of burial goods in Pueblo Bonito, a 600-room, four-story structure that was considered to be the center of the Chaco world, he said.
Archaeologists have long been in awe of the manpower required to build Chaco's elaborate structures and road systems, which required laborious masonry work, extended excavation and the transport of staggering amounts of lumber from forests 50 miles distant, he said. The scale of the architecture and backbreaking work undertaken for several centuries suggests a powerful centralized authority, said Lekson, curator of anthropology at the University of Colorado Museum.
"I don't think Chaco was a big happy barn-raising," said Lekson, chief editor of The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon: An Eleventh Century Pueblo Regional Center, published in April 2006 by the School of American Research Press in Santa Fe, N.M. "Things were probably quite a bit grimmer than some have imagined."
"Kingship" developed in Mesoamerica about 2,000 years before Chaco, Lekson said, and kings quickly became a constant on the political landscape. "It's not remarkable that there were small-scale kings and states at Chaco in A.D. 1100," he said. "What is remarkable is that it took the Southwest so long to get around to it."
Located in northern New Mexico, Chaco Canyon was the hub of the Pueblo culture from about A.D. 850 to 1150 and is believed to have held political sway over an area twice the size of present-day Ohio. A center of ceremony and trade, the canyon is marked by 11 great houses oriented in solar, lunar and cardinal directions with roads that appear to have connected Chaco to outlying Pueblo communities.
Researchers have long pondered how Chaco rulers wielded control over outlying Pueblo communities in present day Utah, Arizona and Colorado, he said. Such "outliers," located up to 150 miles away, would have required that visitors from Chaco walk up to eight days straight in order to reach them, said Lekson, who is also a CU-Boulder anthropology professor.
The answer may lie in the clarity of the Southwestern skies, the open landscape and the broad vistas that created an efficient "line-of-site" system, he said. "Chaco people could see Farview House at Mesa Verde, for example, and Farview could see Chaco," he said. "I think similar linkages will be found between Chaco and the most distant outliers in all directions in the coming years."'
The roads, some as wide as four-lane highways, may have been used for ceremonial pilgrimages by priests and their followers, Lekson said. "They also could have been used by troops, tax collectors and inquisitors," he said.
Funded by the National Park Service and CU-Boulder, the new book is a collaboration of more than 30 years of fieldwork by hundreds of researchers and students, many of whom participated in a massive NPS Chaco excavation from 1971 to 1982. Scores of academics met around the Southwest during the past several years, discussing the most recent research and latest theories regarding Chaco for the book.
The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon explores the natural environment and architecture, as well as Chaco's economy, politics, history and regional influences. The authors also look at outside cultural influences from all directions, including ties to Mesoamerica, said Lekson. Twenty authors contributed to the book, including Lekson, CU Museum Director Linda Cordell, CU-Boulder anthropology doctoral student Derek Hamilton and Richard Wilshusen, who received his doctorate from CU-Boulder.
Lekson estimates that 95 percent of the Chaco people lived in small pueblos, while an elite 5 percent lived in the great houses. Pueblo Bonito and the other Chaco great houses were "tall, empty monuments" that could have been used for a variety of activities, from ceremonies and storage to inns and even slave cells, he said.
The culture's architecture and settlement patterns changed dramatically in the region about 1300, when sites begin to look more like modern Pueblos.
"Chaco has been characterized in oral histories as a wonderful, awful place where people got power over other people," Lekson said. "Later Pueblo cultures in the region did not develop from Chaco, but rather represent a reaction against it, with people distancing themselves from a bad experience."
- - - -
CONTACT: Steve Lekson, 303-492-6671, lekson@colorado.edu
Jim Scott, CU-Boulder News Service, 303-492-3114
University of Colorado Museum anthropology Curator Steve Lekson, who has studied Chaco Canyon for several decades, said one argument for royalty comes from the rich, crypt-style burials of two men discovered deep in a Chaco Canyon "great house" known as Pueblo Bonito several decades ago. They were interred about A.D. 1050 with a wealth of burial goods in Pueblo Bonito, a 600-room, four-story structure that was considered to be the center of the Chaco world, he said.
Archaeologists have long been in awe of the manpower required to build Chaco's elaborate structures and road systems, which required laborious masonry work, extended excavation and the transport of staggering amounts of lumber from forests 50 miles distant, he said. The scale of the architecture and backbreaking work undertaken for several centuries suggests a powerful centralized authority, said Lekson, curator of anthropology at the University of Colorado Museum.
"I don't think Chaco was a big happy barn-raising," said Lekson, chief editor of The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon: An Eleventh Century Pueblo Regional Center, published in April 2006 by the School of American Research Press in Santa Fe, N.M. "Things were probably quite a bit grimmer than some have imagined."
"Kingship" developed in Mesoamerica about 2,000 years before Chaco, Lekson said, and kings quickly became a constant on the political landscape. "It's not remarkable that there were small-scale kings and states at Chaco in A.D. 1100," he said. "What is remarkable is that it took the Southwest so long to get around to it."
Located in northern New Mexico, Chaco Canyon was the hub of the Pueblo culture from about A.D. 850 to 1150 and is believed to have held political sway over an area twice the size of present-day Ohio. A center of ceremony and trade, the canyon is marked by 11 great houses oriented in solar, lunar and cardinal directions with roads that appear to have connected Chaco to outlying Pueblo communities.
Researchers have long pondered how Chaco rulers wielded control over outlying Pueblo communities in present day Utah, Arizona and Colorado, he said. Such "outliers," located up to 150 miles away, would have required that visitors from Chaco walk up to eight days straight in order to reach them, said Lekson, who is also a CU-Boulder anthropology professor.
The answer may lie in the clarity of the Southwestern skies, the open landscape and the broad vistas that created an efficient "line-of-site" system, he said. "Chaco people could see Farview House at Mesa Verde, for example, and Farview could see Chaco," he said. "I think similar linkages will be found between Chaco and the most distant outliers in all directions in the coming years."'
The roads, some as wide as four-lane highways, may have been used for ceremonial pilgrimages by priests and their followers, Lekson said. "They also could have been used by troops, tax collectors and inquisitors," he said.
Funded by the National Park Service and CU-Boulder, the new book is a collaboration of more than 30 years of fieldwork by hundreds of researchers and students, many of whom participated in a massive NPS Chaco excavation from 1971 to 1982. Scores of academics met around the Southwest during the past several years, discussing the most recent research and latest theories regarding Chaco for the book.
The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon explores the natural environment and architecture, as well as Chaco's economy, politics, history and regional influences. The authors also look at outside cultural influences from all directions, including ties to Mesoamerica, said Lekson. Twenty authors contributed to the book, including Lekson, CU Museum Director Linda Cordell, CU-Boulder anthropology doctoral student Derek Hamilton and Richard Wilshusen, who received his doctorate from CU-Boulder.
Lekson estimates that 95 percent of the Chaco people lived in small pueblos, while an elite 5 percent lived in the great houses. Pueblo Bonito and the other Chaco great houses were "tall, empty monuments" that could have been used for a variety of activities, from ceremonies and storage to inns and even slave cells, he said.
The culture's architecture and settlement patterns changed dramatically in the region about 1300, when sites begin to look more like modern Pueblos.
"Chaco has been characterized in oral histories as a wonderful, awful place where people got power over other people," Lekson said. "Later Pueblo cultures in the region did not develop from Chaco, but rather represent a reaction against it, with people distancing themselves from a bad experience."
- - - -
CONTACT: Steve Lekson, 303-492-6671, lekson@colorado.edu
Jim Scott, CU-Boulder News Service, 303-492-3114
Ancient Rock Art Depicts Exploding Star
By Ker Than
Staff Writer, Space.com
A rock carving discovered in Arizona might depict an ancient star explosion
seen by Native Americans a thousand years ago, scientists announced today.
If confirmed, the rock carving, or “petroglyph” would be the only known
record in the Americas of the well-known supernova of the year 1006.
The carving was discovered in White Tanks Regional Park just outside
Phoenix, in an area believed to have been occupied by a group of Native
Americans called the Hohokam from about 500 to 1100 A.D.
The finding is being announced today at the 208th meeting of the American
Astronomical Society in Calgary, Canada.
Full story here:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060605_rock_art.html
Staff Writer, Space.com
A rock carving discovered in Arizona might depict an ancient star explosion
seen by Native Americans a thousand years ago, scientists announced today.
If confirmed, the rock carving, or “petroglyph” would be the only known
record in the Americas of the well-known supernova of the year 1006.
The carving was discovered in White Tanks Regional Park just outside
Phoenix, in an area believed to have been occupied by a group of Native
Americans called the Hohokam from about 500 to 1100 A.D.
The finding is being announced today at the 208th meeting of the American
Astronomical Society in Calgary, Canada.
Full story here:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060605_rock_art.html
Tattooed mummy with jewelry found in Peru
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A female mummy with complex tattoos on her arms has been
found in a ceremonial burial site in Peru, the National Geographic
Society reported Tuesday.
The mummy was accompanied by ceremonial items including jewelry and
weapons, and the remains of a teenage girl who had been sacrificed,
archaeologists reported.
The burial was at a site called El Brujo on Peru's north coast near
Trujillo.
They said the woman was part of the Moche culture which thrived in
the area between A.D. 1 and A.D. 700. The mummy was dated about A.D.
450.
The presence of gold jewelry and other fine items indicates the mummy
was that of an important person, but anthropologist John Verano of
Tulane University, said the researchers are puzzled by the presence
of war clubs, which are not usually found with females.
The woman had complex tattoos, distinct from others of the Moche,
covering both arms and other areas. Bone scarring indicated the woman
had given birth at least once. The cause of her death was not apparent.
Verano said she would have been considered an adult in her prime.
Some Moche people reached their 60s and 70s.
The grave also contained headdresses, jewelry made of gold and
semiprecious stones, war clubs, spear throwers, gold sewing needles,
weaving tools and raw cotton.
"Perhaps she was a female warrior, or maybe the war clubs and spear
throwers were symbols of power that were funeral gifts from men,"
Verano said. In the thousands of Moche tombs previously exposed, no
female warrior has been identified.
The find is described in the June issue of National Geographic magazine.
WASHINGTON - A female mummy with complex tattoos on her arms has been
found in a ceremonial burial site in Peru, the National Geographic
Society reported Tuesday.
The mummy was accompanied by ceremonial items including jewelry and
weapons, and the remains of a teenage girl who had been sacrificed,
archaeologists reported.
The burial was at a site called El Brujo on Peru's north coast near
Trujillo.
They said the woman was part of the Moche culture which thrived in
the area between A.D. 1 and A.D. 700. The mummy was dated about A.D.
450.
The presence of gold jewelry and other fine items indicates the mummy
was that of an important person, but anthropologist John Verano of
Tulane University, said the researchers are puzzled by the presence
of war clubs, which are not usually found with females.
The woman had complex tattoos, distinct from others of the Moche,
covering both arms and other areas. Bone scarring indicated the woman
had given birth at least once. The cause of her death was not apparent.
Verano said she would have been considered an adult in her prime.
Some Moche people reached their 60s and 70s.
The grave also contained headdresses, jewelry made of gold and
semiprecious stones, war clubs, spear throwers, gold sewing needles,
weaving tools and raw cotton.
"Perhaps she was a female warrior, or maybe the war clubs and spear
throwers were symbols of power that were funeral gifts from men,"
Verano said. In the thousands of Moche tombs previously exposed, no
female warrior has been identified.
The find is described in the June issue of National Geographic magazine.
Celestial Find at Ancient Andes Site
The discovery in Peru of a 4,200-year-old temple and observatory
pushes back estimates of the rise of an advanced culture in the
Americas.
By Thomas H. Maugh II
Times Staff Writer
May 14, 2006
Archeologists working high in the Peruvian Andes have discovered the
oldest known celestial observatory in the Americas — a 4,200-year-old
structure marking the summer and winter solstices that is as old as
the stone pillars of Stonehenge.
The observatory was built on the top of a 33-foot-tall pyramid with
precise alignments and sightlines that provide an astronomical
calendar for agriculture, archeologist Robert Benfer of the
University of Missouri said.
The people who built the observatory — three millenniums before the
emergence of the Incas — are a mystery, but they achieved a level of
art and science that archeologists say they did not know existed in
the region until at least 800 years later.
Among the most impressive finds was a massive clay sculpture — an
ancient version of the modern frowning "sad face" icon flanked by two
animals. The disk, protected from looters beneath thousands of years
of dirt and debris, marked the position of the winter solstice.
"It's really quite a shock to everyone … to see sculptures of that
sophistication coming out of a building of that time period," said
archeologist Richard L. Burger of Yale University's Peabody Museum of
Natural History, who was not involved in the discovery.
The find adds strong evidence to support the recent idea that a
sophisticated civilization developed in South America in the pre-
ceramic era, before the development of fired pottery sometime after
1500 BC.
Benfer's discovery "pushes the envelope of civilization farther south
and inland from the coast, and adds the important dimension of
astronomy to these ancient folks' way of life," said archeologist
Michael Moseley of the University of Florida, a noted Peru expert.
The 20-acre site, called Buena Vista, is about 25 miles inland in the
Rio Chillon Valley, just north of Lima. "It is on a totally barren,
rock-covered hill looking down on a beautiful fertile valley," said
Benfer, who presented the find last month in Puerto Rico at a meeting
of the Society for American Archeology.
The site is remarkably well preserved, Benfer said, because it rains
in the area only about once a year.
The name of the people who inhabited the region is unknown because
writing did not emerge in the Americas for 2,000 more years. Some
archeologists call them followers of the Kotosh religious tradition.
Others call them late pre-ceramic cultures of the central coast. For
brevity, most simply call them Andeans.
Benfer and archeologist Bernardino Ojeda of Peru's National Agrarian
University have been working at Buena Vista for four years. The site
contains ruins dating from 10,000 years ago to well into the ceramic
era in the first millennium BC.
The large pyramid and a temple occupy about 2 acres near the center
of the site. Radiocarbon dating of cotton and burned twigs found in
the temple's offering pit place its use at about 2200 BC.
That is about 400 years after the first pyramid was built in Egypt
and about the same time that the peoples who would become the Greeks
were settling into the Mediterranean region.
The temple is built of rock that was covered with plaster and
painted, although most of the white and red paint has long since
flaked off.
Benfer calls it the Temple of the Fox because a drawing of a fox is
carved inside a painted picture of another animal, probably a llama,
beside each doorway. According to Andean myth, the fox taught people
how to cultivate and irrigate plants.
As the team mapped out the site, Benfer observed that a person
standing in the doorway of the temple and gazing through a small,
flap-covered window behind the altar is aligned with a small head
carved onto a notch of a distant hill. The line had an orientation of
114 degrees from true north, pointing southeast.
Benfer does not normally deal with archeoastronomy — the science of
ancient astronomy — so he contacted a childhood friend, Larry Adkins
of Tustin, and asked him what that angle signified.
Adkins, a physicist who is retired from Rockwell International and
who now teaches astronomy at Cerritos College, told him 114 degrees
pointed the way to sunrise on the Southern Hemisphere's summer
solstice, Dec. 21, the longest day of the year.
"That really got the ball rolling," Adkins said.
The summer solstice marks planting time, as the Rio Chillon begins
its annual flooding, fed by melting ice higher up in the Andes. The
flooding deposits fresh soil on the land, fertilizing the crops and
eliminating the need for manure from domestic animals.
"This was the beginning of flood-plain agriculture," Benfer said. He
thinks fishermen from the coast originally moved to the site to grow
cotton for use in making fishing nets.
The large frowning disk sits near the door to the temple. It is made
of mud plaster and grass and covered with a fine surface of clay.
Benfer speculates that the sculpture represents Pacha Mamma, the most
important god of the Andes. He acknowledges the difficulty of proving
that, however, because the next known sculpture of the mother goddess
does not appear until 800 BC.
"The disk would frown over the sunset on the winter solstice, the
last day of harvest," Benfer said.
Alignments in the temple also pointed to the position at the summer
solstice of a constellation known in Andean culture as the fox,
Benfer said.
Unlike Western constellations, which are outlined by groupings of
stars, some Andean constellations were made from dark areas in the
sky that are gaps in the bright Milky Way.
Scientists once thought that the gaps represented a lack of stars,
but astronomers now know that they are caused by large clouds of dust
that block light from distant stars.
The so-called dark cloud constellation of the fox is well-known today
in the region, but archeoastronomer Anthony Aveni of Colgate
University doubted that it has maintained its shape for four
millenniums.
"He has an alignment. That's neat," Aveni said. But the idea that the
ancients were looking at the same constellation "is a bit of a leap
for me."
Last summer, Benfer's team also partially excavated a second
sculpture, that of a life-sized human figure playing a pipe. The
figure is sitting with its legs sculpted in high relief and hanging
over the edge of one of a series of short platforms that lead down to
what appears to be another temple.
The remaining 18 acres of the site have a variety of buildings, most
of them from later cultures, that include a ceremonial center,
stepped pyramids and what apparently was a residence center for
elites. Most of those have been looted.
Oval houses that probably served as homes for families of commoners
sit across a ravine from the main pyramid.
There were probably other buildings farther down the slopes, Benfer
said, "but the Chillon River removes everything from time to time."
Evidence of pottery indicates that the site was inhabited for
centuries, but it is not yet clear whether or how it was eventually
abandoned.
"There were people in the valley at the time of the Spanish Conquest,
but they were of several ethnic groups," Benfer said.
That suggests that the sophisticated civilization was eventually
replaced by small bands of farmers who immigrated from various areas.
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times
pushes back estimates of the rise of an advanced culture in the
Americas.
By Thomas H. Maugh II
Times Staff Writer
May 14, 2006
Archeologists working high in the Peruvian Andes have discovered the
oldest known celestial observatory in the Americas — a 4,200-year-old
structure marking the summer and winter solstices that is as old as
the stone pillars of Stonehenge.
The observatory was built on the top of a 33-foot-tall pyramid with
precise alignments and sightlines that provide an astronomical
calendar for agriculture, archeologist Robert Benfer of the
University of Missouri said.
The people who built the observatory — three millenniums before the
emergence of the Incas — are a mystery, but they achieved a level of
art and science that archeologists say they did not know existed in
the region until at least 800 years later.
Among the most impressive finds was a massive clay sculpture — an
ancient version of the modern frowning "sad face" icon flanked by two
animals. The disk, protected from looters beneath thousands of years
of dirt and debris, marked the position of the winter solstice.
"It's really quite a shock to everyone … to see sculptures of that
sophistication coming out of a building of that time period," said
archeologist Richard L. Burger of Yale University's Peabody Museum of
Natural History, who was not involved in the discovery.
The find adds strong evidence to support the recent idea that a
sophisticated civilization developed in South America in the pre-
ceramic era, before the development of fired pottery sometime after
1500 BC.
Benfer's discovery "pushes the envelope of civilization farther south
and inland from the coast, and adds the important dimension of
astronomy to these ancient folks' way of life," said archeologist
Michael Moseley of the University of Florida, a noted Peru expert.
The 20-acre site, called Buena Vista, is about 25 miles inland in the
Rio Chillon Valley, just north of Lima. "It is on a totally barren,
rock-covered hill looking down on a beautiful fertile valley," said
Benfer, who presented the find last month in Puerto Rico at a meeting
of the Society for American Archeology.
The site is remarkably well preserved, Benfer said, because it rains
in the area only about once a year.
The name of the people who inhabited the region is unknown because
writing did not emerge in the Americas for 2,000 more years. Some
archeologists call them followers of the Kotosh religious tradition.
Others call them late pre-ceramic cultures of the central coast. For
brevity, most simply call them Andeans.
Benfer and archeologist Bernardino Ojeda of Peru's National Agrarian
University have been working at Buena Vista for four years. The site
contains ruins dating from 10,000 years ago to well into the ceramic
era in the first millennium BC.
The large pyramid and a temple occupy about 2 acres near the center
of the site. Radiocarbon dating of cotton and burned twigs found in
the temple's offering pit place its use at about 2200 BC.
That is about 400 years after the first pyramid was built in Egypt
and about the same time that the peoples who would become the Greeks
were settling into the Mediterranean region.
The temple is built of rock that was covered with plaster and
painted, although most of the white and red paint has long since
flaked off.
Benfer calls it the Temple of the Fox because a drawing of a fox is
carved inside a painted picture of another animal, probably a llama,
beside each doorway. According to Andean myth, the fox taught people
how to cultivate and irrigate plants.
As the team mapped out the site, Benfer observed that a person
standing in the doorway of the temple and gazing through a small,
flap-covered window behind the altar is aligned with a small head
carved onto a notch of a distant hill. The line had an orientation of
114 degrees from true north, pointing southeast.
Benfer does not normally deal with archeoastronomy — the science of
ancient astronomy — so he contacted a childhood friend, Larry Adkins
of Tustin, and asked him what that angle signified.
Adkins, a physicist who is retired from Rockwell International and
who now teaches astronomy at Cerritos College, told him 114 degrees
pointed the way to sunrise on the Southern Hemisphere's summer
solstice, Dec. 21, the longest day of the year.
"That really got the ball rolling," Adkins said.
The summer solstice marks planting time, as the Rio Chillon begins
its annual flooding, fed by melting ice higher up in the Andes. The
flooding deposits fresh soil on the land, fertilizing the crops and
eliminating the need for manure from domestic animals.
"This was the beginning of flood-plain agriculture," Benfer said. He
thinks fishermen from the coast originally moved to the site to grow
cotton for use in making fishing nets.
The large frowning disk sits near the door to the temple. It is made
of mud plaster and grass and covered with a fine surface of clay.
Benfer speculates that the sculpture represents Pacha Mamma, the most
important god of the Andes. He acknowledges the difficulty of proving
that, however, because the next known sculpture of the mother goddess
does not appear until 800 BC.
"The disk would frown over the sunset on the winter solstice, the
last day of harvest," Benfer said.
Alignments in the temple also pointed to the position at the summer
solstice of a constellation known in Andean culture as the fox,
Benfer said.
Unlike Western constellations, which are outlined by groupings of
stars, some Andean constellations were made from dark areas in the
sky that are gaps in the bright Milky Way.
Scientists once thought that the gaps represented a lack of stars,
but astronomers now know that they are caused by large clouds of dust
that block light from distant stars.
The so-called dark cloud constellation of the fox is well-known today
in the region, but archeoastronomer Anthony Aveni of Colgate
University doubted that it has maintained its shape for four
millenniums.
"He has an alignment. That's neat," Aveni said. But the idea that the
ancients were looking at the same constellation "is a bit of a leap
for me."
Last summer, Benfer's team also partially excavated a second
sculpture, that of a life-sized human figure playing a pipe. The
figure is sitting with its legs sculpted in high relief and hanging
over the edge of one of a series of short platforms that lead down to
what appears to be another temple.
The remaining 18 acres of the site have a variety of buildings, most
of them from later cultures, that include a ceremonial center,
stepped pyramids and what apparently was a residence center for
elites. Most of those have been looted.
Oval houses that probably served as homes for families of commoners
sit across a ravine from the main pyramid.
There were probably other buildings farther down the slopes, Benfer
said, "but the Chillon River removes everything from time to time."
Evidence of pottery indicates that the site was inhabited for
centuries, but it is not yet clear whether or how it was eventually
abandoned.
"There were people in the valley at the time of the Spanish Conquest,
but they were of several ethnic groups," Benfer said.
That suggests that the sophisticated civilization was eventually
replaced by small bands of farmers who immigrated from various areas.
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times
'Brazilian Stonehenge' discovered
Brazilian archaeologists have found an ancient stone structure in a
remote corner of the Amazon that may cast new light on the region's
past.
The site, thought to be an observatory or place of worship, pre-dates
European colonisation and is said to suggest a sophisticated
knowledge of astronomy.
Its appearance is being compared to the English site of Stonehenge.
It was traditionally thought that before European colonisation, the
Amazon had no advanced societies.
Winter solstice
The archaeologists made the discovery in the state of Amapa, in the
far north of Brazil.
A total of 127 large blocks of stone were found driven into the
ground on top of a hill.
Well preserved and each weighing several tons, the stones were
arranged upright and evenly spaced.
It is not yet known when the structure was built, but fragments of
indigenous pottery found at the site are thought to be 2,000 years old.
What impressed researchers was the sophistication of the construction.
The stones appear to have been laid out to help pinpoint the winter
solstice, when the sun is at its lowest in the sky.
It is thought the ancient people of the Amazon used the stars and
phases of the moon to determine crop cycles.
Although the discovery at Amapa is being compared to Stonehenge, the
ancient stone circle in southern England, the English site is
considerably older.
It is thought to have been erected some time between 3000 and 1600 BC.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4767717.stm
Published: 2006/05/13 01:29:46 GMT
© BBC MMVI
remote corner of the Amazon that may cast new light on the region's
past.
The site, thought to be an observatory or place of worship, pre-dates
European colonisation and is said to suggest a sophisticated
knowledge of astronomy.
Its appearance is being compared to the English site of Stonehenge.
It was traditionally thought that before European colonisation, the
Amazon had no advanced societies.
Winter solstice
The archaeologists made the discovery in the state of Amapa, in the
far north of Brazil.
A total of 127 large blocks of stone were found driven into the
ground on top of a hill.
Well preserved and each weighing several tons, the stones were
arranged upright and evenly spaced.
It is not yet known when the structure was built, but fragments of
indigenous pottery found at the site are thought to be 2,000 years old.
What impressed researchers was the sophistication of the construction.
The stones appear to have been laid out to help pinpoint the winter
solstice, when the sun is at its lowest in the sky.
It is thought the ancient people of the Amazon used the stars and
phases of the moon to determine crop cycles.
Although the discovery at Amapa is being compared to Stonehenge, the
ancient stone circle in southern England, the English site is
considerably older.
It is thought to have been erected some time between 3000 and 1600 BC.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4767717.stm
Published: 2006/05/13 01:29:46 GMT
© BBC MMVI
Map of Mexico, 1550
The University of Uppsala in Sweden has put its 1550 map of Mexico City
by Alonso de Santa Cruz on-line.
The map is zoomable and allows people to add annotations to the map. The
clarity is very good.
http://sysrep.uiah.fi/map_of_mexico/mapview/mom2
by Alonso de Santa Cruz on-line.
The map is zoomable and allows people to add annotations to the map. The
clarity is very good.
http://sysrep.uiah.fi/map_of_mexico/mapview/mom2
TAMTOC, ORIGIN OF THE MESOAMERICAN CULTURE
- The Monument 32 or Moon Calendar, more ancient than the Aztec Calendar.
- Investment of 800 thousand pesos for the rescue of the monolith.
The discovery of the Monument 32in Tamtoc, eight meters long, four meters and a half high, a thickness of 32 centimeters and a weight between 10 and 12 tons, can generate radical changes in the concepts of the Mesoamerican culture, which might have had its origin here, in the potosinian Huasteca.
The archaeologist Guillermo Ahuja informed that to conclude the rescue of the piece and to continue with the studies, the State Government has joined efforts with the INAH for an investment of 800 thousand pesos, so that by middle of May, when rescue works be finished, the archaeological site will open to the public.
He explained that the Sun Stone, astronomical instrument also known as Aztec Calendar, dates approximately 1400 A.D., while the monument 32 is from 700, that is to say 700 previous years and with a very advanced iconography in diverse areas of the knowledge.
According to archaeological research, the Monument 32 is one of the most ancient representations of the Mesoamerican art, where it is possible to appreciate the presence of two feminine figures, from which sprout watercourses, same that apparently indicate the importance of the vital liquid and its relation with the generation of life, since also birds are represented.
Four years after the State Government bought the property it was proposed the creation of a trust, which has received similar contributions from the State Government, INAH and from the Banamex Cultural Fund.
Ahuja points out that the idea is to shape an interdisciplinary group integrated by linguists, ethnologists, historians, archaeologists and epigraphists, to continue with the works of rescue and of epigraphic interpretation.
In the related to the archaeological work, he affirmed that the studies of the monolith 32 indicate that the huasteca culture is present from the preClassic to the postClassic, with elements that can give a radical change in the concepts that traditionally prevailed on the Mesoamerican culture.
Heavens offer unique clues to the seasons
By ROD KENNEDY
Special to the Star-Tribune
Before the advent of calendars, the only way to mark the changing of the seasons was through direct observation. Ancient peoples observed the passage of the sun north from the Winter Solstice, and then south from the Summer Solstice. In Mesoamerica the people observed the sun passing directly overhead twice a year by using special tubes in the temples that pointed at the zenith.
For people north of the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees N) this method was not an option because the sun never passes directly overhead at those latitudes. Therefore, people in Europe and North America had to rely on other observations to mark the change of seasons. One method of observing the sun's changing seasonal position is with a structure such as Stonehenge in England or the famed Serpent of the Sun in Ohio. Ancient monuments such as these were aligned with the sunrise on certain days of the year, typically the Summer Solstice. Some archaeologists suggest that the Big Horn Medicine Wheel in northern Wyoming is such an observatory.
However, in some situations such a structure is not practical. Fortunately there are seasonal markers in the night sky that are just as easy to use. For example, if we step outside on a clear night and look north, we find the Big Dipper. In May the Big Dipper is turned upside down, as if to dump its contents to earth in the form of life giving spring rain. To ancient agricultural peoples this would have been a good sign for the beginning of the growing season.
Another constellation associated with agriculture is the constellation Virgo, the Maiden. We can find Virgo by using the Big Dipper as a guide. Using the dipper's curved handle we "follow the arc to Arcturus," and then "speed on to Spica." Spica is the brightest star in Virgo and is almost due south throughout May.
Virgo has been associated with agriculture for thousands of years, and is often depicted as a young woman holding a sheaf of wheat or grain in her hand. In ancient Egypt she represented Isis; in Greece she was Persephone, daughter of Ceres goddess of the harvest. In Babylon she was Ishtar, queen of the stars and to ancient Christians she was the Madonna or Ruth of the Fields.
Although Spica is the only bright star in Virgo, the area of this constellation is far from empty. Where Virgo borders Coma Berenices (due north of Virgo) is an area known as the Coma-Virgo galaxy field. Photographs taken from large Earth-based telescopes reveal more than 3,000 galaxies. More than 100 of these are visible with medium to large backyard telescopes. In most small telescopes the galaxies will appear only as faint smudges of light.
Yet knowing that each smudge is a vast stellar city thousands of light years across makes the view staggering. As Thomas Carlyle once wrote:
"Sis (sic) it not reckoned still a merit, proof of what we call a 'poetic nature,' that we recognize how every object has a divine beauty in it; how every object still is 'window through which we may look into Infinitude itself?'"
Observers looking 15 degrees east of Spica will notice another bright object in the night sky. This is the planet Jupiter. Jupiter is the only planet visible throughout the night in May. Mars and Saturn vanish not long after sunset and Venus does not appear until just before dawn, so Jupiter glides silently along between Virgo and Libra the Scales, a lonely light in the southern sky.
Rod Kennedy is an employee at the Casper Planetarium.
Special to the Star-Tribune
Before the advent of calendars, the only way to mark the changing of the seasons was through direct observation. Ancient peoples observed the passage of the sun north from the Winter Solstice, and then south from the Summer Solstice. In Mesoamerica the people observed the sun passing directly overhead twice a year by using special tubes in the temples that pointed at the zenith.
For people north of the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees N) this method was not an option because the sun never passes directly overhead at those latitudes. Therefore, people in Europe and North America had to rely on other observations to mark the change of seasons. One method of observing the sun's changing seasonal position is with a structure such as Stonehenge in England or the famed Serpent of the Sun in Ohio. Ancient monuments such as these were aligned with the sunrise on certain days of the year, typically the Summer Solstice. Some archaeologists suggest that the Big Horn Medicine Wheel in northern Wyoming is such an observatory.
However, in some situations such a structure is not practical. Fortunately there are seasonal markers in the night sky that are just as easy to use. For example, if we step outside on a clear night and look north, we find the Big Dipper. In May the Big Dipper is turned upside down, as if to dump its contents to earth in the form of life giving spring rain. To ancient agricultural peoples this would have been a good sign for the beginning of the growing season.
Another constellation associated with agriculture is the constellation Virgo, the Maiden. We can find Virgo by using the Big Dipper as a guide. Using the dipper's curved handle we "follow the arc to Arcturus," and then "speed on to Spica." Spica is the brightest star in Virgo and is almost due south throughout May.
Virgo has been associated with agriculture for thousands of years, and is often depicted as a young woman holding a sheaf of wheat or grain in her hand. In ancient Egypt she represented Isis; in Greece she was Persephone, daughter of Ceres goddess of the harvest. In Babylon she was Ishtar, queen of the stars and to ancient Christians she was the Madonna or Ruth of the Fields.
Although Spica is the only bright star in Virgo, the area of this constellation is far from empty. Where Virgo borders Coma Berenices (due north of Virgo) is an area known as the Coma-Virgo galaxy field. Photographs taken from large Earth-based telescopes reveal more than 3,000 galaxies. More than 100 of these are visible with medium to large backyard telescopes. In most small telescopes the galaxies will appear only as faint smudges of light.
Yet knowing that each smudge is a vast stellar city thousands of light years across makes the view staggering. As Thomas Carlyle once wrote:
"Sis (sic) it not reckoned still a merit, proof of what we call a 'poetic nature,' that we recognize how every object has a divine beauty in it; how every object still is 'window through which we may look into Infinitude itself?'"
Observers looking 15 degrees east of Spica will notice another bright object in the night sky. This is the planet Jupiter. Jupiter is the only planet visible throughout the night in May. Mars and Saturn vanish not long after sunset and Venus does not appear until just before dawn, so Jupiter glides silently along between Virgo and Libra the Scales, a lonely light in the southern sky.
Rod Kennedy is an employee at the Casper Planetarium.
Kennewick Man Skeletal Find May Revolutionalize Continent's History
A forensic anthropologist at Middle Tennessee State University is one
of a select number of scientists to participate in the examination of
a skeleton that could force historians to rewrite the story of the
entire North American continent.
Dr. Hugh Berryman, research professor, was one of only 11 experts
from across the United States to scrutinize the bones of Kennewick
Man, a 9,300-year-old skeleton found 10 years ago along the Columbia
River at Kennewick, Wash.
“It’s one of the oldest skeletons, one of the earliest individuals
that populated this continent,” Berryman says. “And we have a chance
to look at those remains and learn from them what they tell us about
the past and who these people were.”
The 380 bones are being preserved at the University of Washington’s
Burke Museum under an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, which controls the land on which Kennewick was discovered.
Berryman says he was between two and three feet deep in the ground.
The burial miraculously saved the bones from the elements, the
animals, machinery and man for centuries, and ancient deposits of
calcium carbonate on the bones allowed the researchers to determine
the positioning of the bones in the ground.
“We have evidence that the bones were still in anatomic order,”
Berryman says. “He was still articulated, and he appears to have been
a burial. So once something is buried, that moves it at a depth that
perhaps the coyotes, the wolves, scavengers could not get to it.”
The July 2005 research was very nearly derailed when the Corps
initially decided to turn Kennewick over to a coalition of Native
American tribes. Eight scientists filed a federal lawsuit to gain
permission to study the skeleton. A federal judge, whose ruling later
was upheld by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, decided in
favor of the scientists after determining that the tribes could not
prove a direct cultural affiliation with Kennewick.
Berryman says the information that can be gleaned from Kennewick came
close to being lost forever.
“Since 1990, we’ve lost most of the skeletal remains from groups,”
Berryman says. “It’s a shame that a lot of these groups are already
gone. We have no way of knowing what kind of movements there were in
prehistoric times, where these people came from, who they were
related to, what other tribal groups they might be related to.”
What the experts were able to ascertain from their brief encounter
with Kennewick is that he did not look like a Native American. In
fact, Berryman says Kennewick’s facial features are most similar to
those of a Japanese group called the Ainu, who have a different
physical makeup and cultural background from the ethnic Japanese.
Some Ainu’s facial features appear European. Their eyes may lack the
Asian almond-shaped appearance, and their hair may be light and curly
in color. However, this does not mean that Kennewick Man necessarily
was European in origin. His features more closely resemble those of
the natives of the Pacific Rim than those of Native Americans.
Berryman, a fracture expert who was trained in the fine art of
picking apart dead people at the University of Tennessee’s “Body
Farm,” also documented three types of bone breaks in Kennewick—
fractures that were suffered in his lifetime and then healed,
fractures that happened after his burial, and fractures that occurred
when the skeleton was eroded from the riverbank.
Part of a spear had remained lodged in Kennewick’s right hip bone at
a 77-degree angle, but, remarkably, the spear did not cause his
death. The cause of his demise remains a mystery. What is known is
that this athletic, rugged hunter suffered many physical traumas
before finally expiring in his mid-to-late 30s.
“The muscle markings are pretty pronounced,” Berryman says.“He was
probably a well-built individual. The bones of the right arm were
larger than the left.”
The bigger right arm can be explained by the 18-to-24-inch-long
atlatl, or spear thrower, that gave him and his contemporaries the
ability to propel a spear up to the length of a football field in
order to kill their food. Kennewick died long before the invention of
the bow and arrow.
Berryman says Kennewick has only begun to reveal the story of his
life and times, and it would be tremendous to have other scientists
examine his bones.
“It was a lot slower process than we thought,” Berryman says. “The
first day, all day, we looked at one bone, one femur. And then we
realized at the end of the day that we were going to be lucky to be
able to cover this the way that it should be in a week-and-a-half.”
Age, ancestry, sex, height, pathologies, types of trauma, even
whether a woman has given birth—all can be determined just from
examining a skeleton, says Berryman, who often is called upon to give
expert testimony on bones in criminal trials.
“Bone is great at recording its own history,” he says.“Throughout
your life, there are different things that you do, and they may leave
little signs in the bone. If you can read those signs, it’s almost
like interviewing a person.”'
Copyright © 1995-2006 ScienceDaily LLC — All rights reserved —
Contact: editor@sciencedaily.com
of a select number of scientists to participate in the examination of
a skeleton that could force historians to rewrite the story of the
entire North American continent.
Dr. Hugh Berryman, research professor, was one of only 11 experts
from across the United States to scrutinize the bones of Kennewick
Man, a 9,300-year-old skeleton found 10 years ago along the Columbia
River at Kennewick, Wash.
“It’s one of the oldest skeletons, one of the earliest individuals
that populated this continent,” Berryman says. “And we have a chance
to look at those remains and learn from them what they tell us about
the past and who these people were.”
The 380 bones are being preserved at the University of Washington’s
Burke Museum under an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, which controls the land on which Kennewick was discovered.
Berryman says he was between two and three feet deep in the ground.
The burial miraculously saved the bones from the elements, the
animals, machinery and man for centuries, and ancient deposits of
calcium carbonate on the bones allowed the researchers to determine
the positioning of the bones in the ground.
“We have evidence that the bones were still in anatomic order,”
Berryman says. “He was still articulated, and he appears to have been
a burial. So once something is buried, that moves it at a depth that
perhaps the coyotes, the wolves, scavengers could not get to it.”
The July 2005 research was very nearly derailed when the Corps
initially decided to turn Kennewick over to a coalition of Native
American tribes. Eight scientists filed a federal lawsuit to gain
permission to study the skeleton. A federal judge, whose ruling later
was upheld by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, decided in
favor of the scientists after determining that the tribes could not
prove a direct cultural affiliation with Kennewick.
Berryman says the information that can be gleaned from Kennewick came
close to being lost forever.
“Since 1990, we’ve lost most of the skeletal remains from groups,”
Berryman says. “It’s a shame that a lot of these groups are already
gone. We have no way of knowing what kind of movements there were in
prehistoric times, where these people came from, who they were
related to, what other tribal groups they might be related to.”
What the experts were able to ascertain from their brief encounter
with Kennewick is that he did not look like a Native American. In
fact, Berryman says Kennewick’s facial features are most similar to
those of a Japanese group called the Ainu, who have a different
physical makeup and cultural background from the ethnic Japanese.
Some Ainu’s facial features appear European. Their eyes may lack the
Asian almond-shaped appearance, and their hair may be light and curly
in color. However, this does not mean that Kennewick Man necessarily
was European in origin. His features more closely resemble those of
the natives of the Pacific Rim than those of Native Americans.
Berryman, a fracture expert who was trained in the fine art of
picking apart dead people at the University of Tennessee’s “Body
Farm,” also documented three types of bone breaks in Kennewick—
fractures that were suffered in his lifetime and then healed,
fractures that happened after his burial, and fractures that occurred
when the skeleton was eroded from the riverbank.
Part of a spear had remained lodged in Kennewick’s right hip bone at
a 77-degree angle, but, remarkably, the spear did not cause his
death. The cause of his demise remains a mystery. What is known is
that this athletic, rugged hunter suffered many physical traumas
before finally expiring in his mid-to-late 30s.
“The muscle markings are pretty pronounced,” Berryman says.“He was
probably a well-built individual. The bones of the right arm were
larger than the left.”
The bigger right arm can be explained by the 18-to-24-inch-long
atlatl, or spear thrower, that gave him and his contemporaries the
ability to propel a spear up to the length of a football field in
order to kill their food. Kennewick died long before the invention of
the bow and arrow.
Berryman says Kennewick has only begun to reveal the story of his
life and times, and it would be tremendous to have other scientists
examine his bones.
“It was a lot slower process than we thought,” Berryman says. “The
first day, all day, we looked at one bone, one femur. And then we
realized at the end of the day that we were going to be lucky to be
able to cover this the way that it should be in a week-and-a-half.”
Age, ancestry, sex, height, pathologies, types of trauma, even
whether a woman has given birth—all can be determined just from
examining a skeleton, says Berryman, who often is called upon to give
expert testimony on bones in criminal trials.
“Bone is great at recording its own history,” he says.“Throughout
your life, there are different things that you do, and they may leave
little signs in the bone. If you can read those signs, it’s almost
like interviewing a person.”'
Copyright © 1995-2006 ScienceDaily LLC — All rights reserved —
Contact: editor@sciencedaily.com
Temple of the Fox found in Peru
By Kavita Kumar and Emily Dulcan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
He helped match a skull with the remaining bones of Spanish explorer
Francisco Pizarro. And he led the team that excavated the oldest known village
in the Americas.
Now retired University of Missouri at Columbia anthropology Professor
Robert Benfer, working with a team of archaeologists, has another exciting
find to add to his impressive resume: uncovering an ancient temple that he says
contains the oldest sculptures and astronomically oriented structures found in
the New World.
Benfer and his team uncovered the 33-foot stepped pyramid temple, the
Temple of the Fox, in a 20-acre excavation site at Buena Vista, Peru. He says
the temple dates to 2220 B.C. - which makes it 1,000 years older than anything
of its kind previously found, he said.
The alignment of the temple with the sun and constellations on the
equinox and summer and winter solstice suggests that the early Andeans used
astronomical signs and constellations to guide their agricultural activities.
"It's a big find - finding something new and without precedent," said
Benfer. "It's like mathematicians finding a new interesting question."
Benfer, 67, presented his team's findings Monday night at Mizzou as
the last in a series of lectures sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of
America. And he is planning to fly today to Puerto Rico where he will present his
findings to the Society for American Archaeology.
Scott de Brestian, president of the central Missouri chapter of the
Archeological Institute of America, said Benfer's discovery of the
precisely constructed temple means sophisticated human calendars existed
earlier than was previously believed.
"This really changes our view of how old some of these cultural
traditions are," de Brestian said.
Benfer's work "pushes back Andean attention to astronomy in early
civilization to more than 4,000 years ago," said Michael Moseley, a University of
Florida anthropologist who has worked in Peru for more than 30 years. "This is
pioneering."
Moseley added that Benfer's discovery pushes the envelope in
challenging the rest of his field to pay more attention to astronomy in their work.
Benfer makes a point of saying that he didn't find the site by himself.
Americans taking credit for archaeological discoveries in Peru have
led to controversies in the past.
Benfer worked with a team of Peruvian archaeologists, including
Bernardino Ojeda, and students from Peruvian universities and from the
University of Missouri.
The astronomical alignments that Benfer and his team found mark
important dates for farming. That suggests that the early civilizations in Peru
relied more heavily on agriculture than some have believed.
Benfer knows that other scientists might greet his findings with
skepticism - and they should. But he thinks he has a persuasive case because he found
multiple alignments "and those aren't going to happen by chance," he said
The physical orientation of the temple's offering chamber is slightly
different from the rest of the temple, so that it is directly aligned with the
rising sun on Dec. 21, the date of the Southern Hemisphere's summer solstice.
That's when floodwater rose from the nearby Chillon River and crops should have been
planted. Looking to the west, the chamber directly aligns with a natural
platform over which the sun sets on June 21, marking the beginning of
the harvest.
At the same point in the west, people living 4,000 years ago would have
observed the rising of the star constellation the Fox on March 21, when
floodwater receded.
The temple's relationship to the sun has remained almost exactly the
same with the passing of the millenniums, while the constellations have
shifted, and the temple's relationship to the Fox constellation is no longer the same,
Benfer said.
The Temple of the Fox is named for the etching of a fox found at the
temple's entrance. In Andean cultures, the fox is associated with water.
One of two sculptures at the temple is a face flanked by two animals.
Benfer characterizes the face as "disconsolate." It is oriented exactly the
same as the offering chamber. Benfer speculates that the face could be one of
the earliest characterizations of Pacha Mama, the Andean god or goddess who
believers thought created the Earth.
It almost never rains at Buena Vista, Benfer said, so the remains
found in the excavation site are in fairly good shape. They found twigs and pieces
of cotton that they radio carbon-dated and found to be 4,000 years old, he said.
Benfer began teaching at the University of Missouri in 1969. He
retired in 2003 but continues to work with graduate students.
He has been working in Peru since the 1970s, traveling there nearly
every year - sometimes more than once. He has been working at the Buena Vista
site for four years and discovered the Temple of the Fox in June 2004.
He hopes to return to return to Peru this summer to continue
excavating the site.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
He helped match a skull with the remaining bones of Spanish explorer
Francisco Pizarro. And he led the team that excavated the oldest known village
in the Americas.
Now retired University of Missouri at Columbia anthropology Professor
Robert Benfer, working with a team of archaeologists, has another exciting
find to add to his impressive resume: uncovering an ancient temple that he says
contains the oldest sculptures and astronomically oriented structures found in
the New World.
Benfer and his team uncovered the 33-foot stepped pyramid temple, the
Temple of the Fox, in a 20-acre excavation site at Buena Vista, Peru. He says
the temple dates to 2220 B.C. - which makes it 1,000 years older than anything
of its kind previously found, he said.
The alignment of the temple with the sun and constellations on the
equinox and summer and winter solstice suggests that the early Andeans used
astronomical signs and constellations to guide their agricultural activities.
"It's a big find - finding something new and without precedent," said
Benfer. "It's like mathematicians finding a new interesting question."
Benfer, 67, presented his team's findings Monday night at Mizzou as
the last in a series of lectures sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of
America. And he is planning to fly today to Puerto Rico where he will present his
findings to the Society for American Archaeology.
Scott de Brestian, president of the central Missouri chapter of the
Archeological Institute of America, said Benfer's discovery of the
precisely constructed temple means sophisticated human calendars existed
earlier than was previously believed.
"This really changes our view of how old some of these cultural
traditions are," de Brestian said.
Benfer's work "pushes back Andean attention to astronomy in early
civilization to more than 4,000 years ago," said Michael Moseley, a University of
Florida anthropologist who has worked in Peru for more than 30 years. "This is
pioneering."
Moseley added that Benfer's discovery pushes the envelope in
challenging the rest of his field to pay more attention to astronomy in their work.
Benfer makes a point of saying that he didn't find the site by himself.
Americans taking credit for archaeological discoveries in Peru have
led to controversies in the past.
Benfer worked with a team of Peruvian archaeologists, including
Bernardino Ojeda, and students from Peruvian universities and from the
University of Missouri.
The astronomical alignments that Benfer and his team found mark
important dates for farming. That suggests that the early civilizations in Peru
relied more heavily on agriculture than some have believed.
Benfer knows that other scientists might greet his findings with
skepticism - and they should. But he thinks he has a persuasive case because he found
multiple alignments "and those aren't going to happen by chance," he said
The physical orientation of the temple's offering chamber is slightly
different from the rest of the temple, so that it is directly aligned with the
rising sun on Dec. 21, the date of the Southern Hemisphere's summer solstice.
That's when floodwater rose from the nearby Chillon River and crops should have been
planted. Looking to the west, the chamber directly aligns with a natural
platform over which the sun sets on June 21, marking the beginning of
the harvest.
At the same point in the west, people living 4,000 years ago would have
observed the rising of the star constellation the Fox on March 21, when
floodwater receded.
The temple's relationship to the sun has remained almost exactly the
same with the passing of the millenniums, while the constellations have
shifted, and the temple's relationship to the Fox constellation is no longer the same,
Benfer said.
The Temple of the Fox is named for the etching of a fox found at the
temple's entrance. In Andean cultures, the fox is associated with water.
One of two sculptures at the temple is a face flanked by two animals.
Benfer characterizes the face as "disconsolate." It is oriented exactly the
same as the offering chamber. Benfer speculates that the face could be one of
the earliest characterizations of Pacha Mama, the Andean god or goddess who
believers thought created the Earth.
It almost never rains at Buena Vista, Benfer said, so the remains
found in the excavation site are in fairly good shape. They found twigs and pieces
of cotton that they radio carbon-dated and found to be 4,000 years old, he said.
Benfer began teaching at the University of Missouri in 1969. He
retired in 2003 but continues to work with graduate students.
He has been working in Peru since the 1970s, traveling there nearly
every year - sometimes more than once. He has been working at the Buena Vista
site for four years and discovered the Temple of the Fox in June 2004.
He hopes to return to return to Peru this summer to continue
excavating the site.
Cloud of scholarly dust rises over ancient footprints claim
Are the footprints of surprisingly ancient Americans preserved in
40,000-year-old volcanic ash in southern Mexico? In December, an
article in the journal Science cast a cloud of doubt over that claim.
The authors, Michael Waters and Paul Renne, argue that the ash dated
to 1.3 million years ago, much too old for humans on this continent,
and that the so-called footprints were nothing more than marks made
by the tools of modern workers quarrying the stone with crowbars.
Now, Silvia Gonzalez, an archaeologist from Liverpool John Moores
University, and several members of her research team have published
their data and interpretations in the journal Quaternary Science
Reviews. Based on their results, the case is far from closed.
According to the researchers, the early dates for the ash are wrong.
They note that the overlying deposits range in age from 9,000 to
40,000 years, with no evidence of significant breaks in the sequence.
Moreover, an article in the March issue of the Mammoth Trumpet states
that Gonzalez and her team have dated lake sediments below the ash
layer to about 100,000 years ago, which would mean the ash had to be
considerably younger than the date reported in Science.
Gonzalez and her co-authors also claim the "footprints" are distinct
from recent tool markings, which are sharply defined and unweathered.
Also, many of the footprints appear to preserve details of foot
anatomy that would not be duplicated by quarry tool divots. Finally,
and most importantly, the team has identified more "potential
footprints" in nearby locations "where no quarrying operations have
occurred."
Gonzalez told the Mammoth Trumpet that the only way to fully answer
the critics would be "to excavate an area where there has been no
quarry activity and uncover more footprints. We will do this as soon
as we can."
The most famous ancient footprints are the 3.6 million-year-old
tracks of early human ancestors excavated by Mary Leakey at Laetoli
in Tanzania, Africa.
In the current issue of the Journal of Human Evolution, Australian
scientists announced the discovery of 23,000-year-old trackways of
human footprints in western New South Wales.
Bradley T. Lepper is curator of archaeology at the Ohio Historical
Society.
blepper@ohiohistory.org
Copyright © 2006, The Columbus Dispatch
40,000-year-old volcanic ash in southern Mexico? In December, an
article in the journal Science cast a cloud of doubt over that claim.
The authors, Michael Waters and Paul Renne, argue that the ash dated
to 1.3 million years ago, much too old for humans on this continent,
and that the so-called footprints were nothing more than marks made
by the tools of modern workers quarrying the stone with crowbars.
Now, Silvia Gonzalez, an archaeologist from Liverpool John Moores
University, and several members of her research team have published
their data and interpretations in the journal Quaternary Science
Reviews. Based on their results, the case is far from closed.
According to the researchers, the early dates for the ash are wrong.
They note that the overlying deposits range in age from 9,000 to
40,000 years, with no evidence of significant breaks in the sequence.
Moreover, an article in the March issue of the Mammoth Trumpet states
that Gonzalez and her team have dated lake sediments below the ash
layer to about 100,000 years ago, which would mean the ash had to be
considerably younger than the date reported in Science.
Gonzalez and her co-authors also claim the "footprints" are distinct
from recent tool markings, which are sharply defined and unweathered.
Also, many of the footprints appear to preserve details of foot
anatomy that would not be duplicated by quarry tool divots. Finally,
and most importantly, the team has identified more "potential
footprints" in nearby locations "where no quarrying operations have
occurred."
Gonzalez told the Mammoth Trumpet that the only way to fully answer
the critics would be "to excavate an area where there has been no
quarry activity and uncover more footprints. We will do this as soon
as we can."
The most famous ancient footprints are the 3.6 million-year-old
tracks of early human ancestors excavated by Mary Leakey at Laetoli
in Tanzania, Africa.
In the current issue of the Journal of Human Evolution, Australian
scientists announced the discovery of 23,000-year-old trackways of
human footprints in western New South Wales.
Bradley T. Lepper is curator of archaeology at the Ohio Historical
Society.
blepper@ohiohistory.org
Copyright © 2006, The Columbus Dispatch
A dog's life long ago
Broke backs pleasing their Indian masters
BROOKLYN - In ancient Illinois, small dogs were made to carry or pull
sacks of firewood until the tips of their vertebrae broke.
Sometimes their heads were lopped off with stone axes during
sacrificial ceremonies. Most often, they were buried with the trash.
No wonder canines kept by Indians in the Midwest were described in
early European explorers' journals as nasty tempered and prone to
bite. They were also believed to be unable to bark but still served
as watch dogs, perhaps by nibbling on a sleeping Indian's toes.
Nevertheless, an evolving archaeological record in the metro-east
shows that these small 25- to 35-pound primitive animals became as
ingrained in ancient human existence as today's pampered canine pets.
In Southern Illinois a thousand years ago, it was truly a dog's life,
according to 60 complete or partial dog skeletons recovered from the
remarkably well-preserved, buried remains of a village from an era
archaeologists refer to as "Terminal Woodland." The site is just
outside Brooklyn and is well clear of a nearby modern cemetery.
This fishing village was primarily occupied until about 950 A.D., or
just before the explosion of mound building that marked the more well-
known Mississippian Culture, whose members built the raised earthen
complex at the Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center a few miles away.
The skeleton total from the Brooklyn site, first excavated in 2003,
is probably a North American record for the recovery of prehistoric
dog remains, said Joe Galloy, a Harvard-trained archaeologist.
Galloy's specialties include interpreting the relationship between
dogs and the earliest Americans.
"If there is something that really pulls on the muscles, this bone,
the spinous process will fracture and reheal, and this is an example
of one," said Galloy, holding up a delicate, deformed vertebra on
which the shark-fin like bone tip that anchors back muscles was bent.
"You see this in modern sled dogs," he said, "This comes from being
used as pack animals, probably hauling firewood."
On a large sheet of white paper spread on a table in front of Galloy
at the offices of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research
Program in Belleville, was the nearly complete skeleton of a young,
female dog recovered from the excavation site.
Galloy said this creature is descended from wolves that probably
prowled human camps and dumps 15,000 or so years ago in Europe and
Asia and gradually changed in appearance to resemble today's dogs.
Galloy said the wolves, in return for scavenging, became the eyes and
ears of the humans and eventually became their hunting partners.
At another archeological site -- the Koster Site along the Illinois
River in Calhoun County -- one of the earliest North American dog
burials was uncovered in the 1970s. Radiocarbon dating showed it is
about 8,500 years old.
This animal, however, was probably a revered hunting dog and was
interred separate from a trash pit and had been reverently laid on
its side, just like rare human burials from this much earlier time.
But the dogs found by excavating teams at the Brooklyn dig headed by
Galloy and site supervisor Brad Koldehoff were not hunting partners.
By the time of this particular village, fishing and growing corn had
replaced nomadic hunting.
The Brooklyn site, which has gained a national reputation, is
officially known as "Janey B. Goode." The nickname derives from the
old Chuck Berry song and is a tribute to the location's
archaeological riches.
"In contrast to earlier times, when the men went out hunting and the
dogs went with them and were very highly valued, at this time people
settled in one spot and the dogs became women's' helpers," he said.
Another use, albeit a grisly one, was as sacrifices, probably to
dispel sickness in humans.
Six of the dogs, all males, were found buried and headless. Two dogs
were found with their heads still intact, but with their skeletons
bound back to back with the skulls facing east and west.
Dog remains found from a time a few hundred years later at Cahokia
Mounds were burned and had cut marks indicating the creatures had
been used as food, said Koldehoff, the excavation director. Koldehoff
pointed out that within a span of maybe 500 to 600 years, early dogs
went from hunting partners, to pack animals to dinner fare.
But weren't there some ancient people, children perhaps, who cuddled
primitive puppies and maybe even played with them?
Koldehoff said he thinks that had to have happened, but there is no
physical proof.
"There's certain things you can't dig up," he said. "You can't dig up
a dance. You can't dig up a song. And you can't dig up somebody
petting a dog."
Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com and 239-2625.
© 2006 Belleville News-Democrat and wire service sources. All Rights
Reserved.
http://www.belleville.com
BROOKLYN - In ancient Illinois, small dogs were made to carry or pull
sacks of firewood until the tips of their vertebrae broke.
Sometimes their heads were lopped off with stone axes during
sacrificial ceremonies. Most often, they were buried with the trash.
No wonder canines kept by Indians in the Midwest were described in
early European explorers' journals as nasty tempered and prone to
bite. They were also believed to be unable to bark but still served
as watch dogs, perhaps by nibbling on a sleeping Indian's toes.
Nevertheless, an evolving archaeological record in the metro-east
shows that these small 25- to 35-pound primitive animals became as
ingrained in ancient human existence as today's pampered canine pets.
In Southern Illinois a thousand years ago, it was truly a dog's life,
according to 60 complete or partial dog skeletons recovered from the
remarkably well-preserved, buried remains of a village from an era
archaeologists refer to as "Terminal Woodland." The site is just
outside Brooklyn and is well clear of a nearby modern cemetery.
This fishing village was primarily occupied until about 950 A.D., or
just before the explosion of mound building that marked the more well-
known Mississippian Culture, whose members built the raised earthen
complex at the Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center a few miles away.
The skeleton total from the Brooklyn site, first excavated in 2003,
is probably a North American record for the recovery of prehistoric
dog remains, said Joe Galloy, a Harvard-trained archaeologist.
Galloy's specialties include interpreting the relationship between
dogs and the earliest Americans.
"If there is something that really pulls on the muscles, this bone,
the spinous process will fracture and reheal, and this is an example
of one," said Galloy, holding up a delicate, deformed vertebra on
which the shark-fin like bone tip that anchors back muscles was bent.
"You see this in modern sled dogs," he said, "This comes from being
used as pack animals, probably hauling firewood."
On a large sheet of white paper spread on a table in front of Galloy
at the offices of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research
Program in Belleville, was the nearly complete skeleton of a young,
female dog recovered from the excavation site.
Galloy said this creature is descended from wolves that probably
prowled human camps and dumps 15,000 or so years ago in Europe and
Asia and gradually changed in appearance to resemble today's dogs.
Galloy said the wolves, in return for scavenging, became the eyes and
ears of the humans and eventually became their hunting partners.
At another archeological site -- the Koster Site along the Illinois
River in Calhoun County -- one of the earliest North American dog
burials was uncovered in the 1970s. Radiocarbon dating showed it is
about 8,500 years old.
This animal, however, was probably a revered hunting dog and was
interred separate from a trash pit and had been reverently laid on
its side, just like rare human burials from this much earlier time.
But the dogs found by excavating teams at the Brooklyn dig headed by
Galloy and site supervisor Brad Koldehoff were not hunting partners.
By the time of this particular village, fishing and growing corn had
replaced nomadic hunting.
The Brooklyn site, which has gained a national reputation, is
officially known as "Janey B. Goode." The nickname derives from the
old Chuck Berry song and is a tribute to the location's
archaeological riches.
"In contrast to earlier times, when the men went out hunting and the
dogs went with them and were very highly valued, at this time people
settled in one spot and the dogs became women's' helpers," he said.
Another use, albeit a grisly one, was as sacrifices, probably to
dispel sickness in humans.
Six of the dogs, all males, were found buried and headless. Two dogs
were found with their heads still intact, but with their skeletons
bound back to back with the skulls facing east and west.
Dog remains found from a time a few hundred years later at Cahokia
Mounds were burned and had cut marks indicating the creatures had
been used as food, said Koldehoff, the excavation director. Koldehoff
pointed out that within a span of maybe 500 to 600 years, early dogs
went from hunting partners, to pack animals to dinner fare.
But weren't there some ancient people, children perhaps, who cuddled
primitive puppies and maybe even played with them?
Koldehoff said he thinks that had to have happened, but there is no
physical proof.
"There's certain things you can't dig up," he said. "You can't dig up
a dance. You can't dig up a song. And you can't dig up somebody
petting a dog."
Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com and 239-2625.
© 2006 Belleville News-Democrat and wire service sources. All Rights
Reserved.
http://www.belleville.com
Mexican monolith could change history
3,000-year-old carvings contain ‘new symbols in Mesoamerica'
MEXICO CITY - A carved monolith unearthed in Mexico may show that the Olmec civilization, one of the oldest in the Americas, was more widespread than thought or that another culture thrived alongside it 3,000 years ago.
Findings at the newly excavated Tamtoc archaeological site in the north-central state of San Luis Potosi may prompt scholars to rethink a view of Mesoamerican history that holds its earliest peoples were based in the south of Mexico.
"It is a very relevant indicator of an Olmec penetration far to the north, or of the presence of a new group co-existing with the Olmecs," said archaeologist Guillermo Ahuja, who led a government team excavating the site for the past five years.
To read the story in its entirety visit:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12703283/
