Time Sifters Archaeology Society Newsletter November 2019

NOVEMBER-2019 PRESERVATION EDUCATION RESEARCH INSPIRE Dear Member: This month we welcome David Alberg, who is the Sanctuary Superintendent of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary in Newport News VA, to tell us about the Lost Battlefield off the coast of North Carolina. Please join us on November 20th for this fantastic presentation We are also excited about our second In-Depth Seminar on January 31st “Neanderthals & Early Humans”. This will be an all day seminar held at Ringling Life Long Learning’s new facility at the old Sarasota High School. More details about registration and cost will be announced soon. We have made one small change to when our dues are collected. Previously membership dues were collected on your an- niversary date, but this has proven very hard to administer. So with that in mind, the Board changed the procedure so that all membership dues will be collected in January at our January presentation. So if you pay up your dues now, you are good till January 2021! Thank you for being a Time Sifters member. See you on the 20th. Darwin “Smitty” Smith, President [email protected] Preserving a Lost WWII Battlefield off of North Carolina David William Alberg Sanctuary Superintendent Monitor National Marine Sanctuary Beyond Monitor National Marine represents an ideal opportunity to battlefield anywhere in the United Sanctuary’s (MNMS) current celebrate, study, and preserve a States. With the 75th anniversary boundaries off North Carolina lie nationally significant collection of of the close of WWII this is the waters associated with nearly 500 shipwrecks and would serve as a time to honor the history and sacrifice years of western maritime history uniquely accessible underwater of Allied servicemen and the U.S. and includes shipwrecks representing museum and memorial to WWII’s Merchant Marine. coastal heritage, American Civil Battle of the Atlantic. MNMS's About David Alberg: in 1992, he began War, U.S. naval aviation, World expansion boundaries will contain the his career as the first curator for War I, and World War II. NOAA is most publicly accessible collection of the Virginia Air & Space Center in proposing a boundary expansion WWII shipwrecks near America's Hampton, VA; then served as the to protect and honor these additional shore and would constitute the Director of Exhibits & Collections for resources. MNMS expansion largest area designated as a WWII the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. In 2001, he served as the Deputy Director for Nauticus (The National Maritime Center in Norfolk, VA). He holds a BD in mu- seum studies from George Mason University and a MD in museum education from the College of William and Mary. In 2017, he was appointed as a Board Member of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Notes from a Time Sifter By Evelyn Mangie, Time Sifters Board Memberwww.iranchamber.com Ancient Roots of the Kurds In Liberated Kobani, Kurds Take Pride Despite the Devastation (NY Times, 2/1/2015, T. Arango,). The Kurds have been much in the news lately, yet many Americans know very little about this ancient culture. The Kurds have existed as a society in the Mesopotamian plains and the mountains of the Taurus and Zagros for at least 3000 years. Traditionally they were sheep and goat herders who were known for their military prowess since ancient times. Their native tongue is Indo European, and it is believed that they are related 1 23 1. The Citadel at Aleppo (Wikipedia); 2. The 4 5 Citadel at Cairo (Egypt Tours); 3. Kurdish Em- pire in 13th Century (Ancient History Ency- clopedia): 4.Map of Kurdistan from 1920 (Edmaps.com); 5. Area occupied by the Kurds today (BBC News). to the ancient Medes who established CE, many Kurds adopted Sunni After that, the Kurds were split an empire in 612 BCE. (Iran Islam, so most Kurds can speak into several principalities united Chamber Society), the date that Arabic, but the Kurds never by language, culture and tradi- Kurds claim for their founding. adopted Arab customs, holding tions and were autonomous but fast to their own culture and not independent. In the 15th Their empire lasted until Cyrus traditions. century, the Kurdish principali- ties were caught in a power struggle the Great was able to impose In the 12th century CE Kurdish between the Persians and the soldiers of fortune founded the Ottoman Turks as they each tried Persian hegemony in 550 BCE the Ayyubid Dynasty and they to expand their territories. The rose in political power. They Kurds made an alliance with the and the Medes became Persian were excellent military engineers Ottomans who defeated the subjects. They were probably and built the massive defenses Persians and allowed Kurdistan at Aleppo (destroyed by ISIS in autonomy for about 300 years. In the Kardouchoi that Xenophon 2014) (1. Wikipedia) and the the 19th century, the Kurdish people Citadel at Cairo (2. egypt.tours). They began asking for unity and speaks of in his Anabasis as controlled the government of this independence, but the Ottomans, empire that stretched from the with the help of some European those who fought at the Battle of Zagros Mountains through Egypt friends, were able to defeat the (3. Ancient History Encyclopedia) Kurdish independence movement. Cunaxa with Cyrus the Younger until the 13th century when Turkish-Mongolian tribes invaded. Continued on page 3 ... and the “Ten Thousand” Greek mercenaries in 401 BCE. Despite Persian control, Median culture was dominant in Persia until Alexander the Great conquered the Empire in 331 BCE. After that, the Kurds remained as small principalities like the other populations of the area such as the Parthians and the Sassanids of Persia, and the Seljuk Turks of Anatolia. In the 7th century

News & Events Saturday & Sunday, November 9 & 10, All Day Discover the Island of Egmont Key Explore the iwslaalnkdinagtttohuersm, oHuitshtoorficTaal mrep-eanBaactym; eDnigtsit,aLl ihgehrtihtaougesedTisopulrasy., Ferry tickets at the Fort De Soto Bay Pier departure site. See Flyer for details. Continued from page 2 ... allowed some autonomy in Iran, Iraq movement toward Kurdish and Syria but not in Turkey independence or autonomy. Ancient Roots of the Kurds where they are forbidden to wear Though the Kurds did not have traditional clothing, denied ethnic an organized military in the When the Ottomans were defeated identity, restricted in the use of 1940s, they fought Nazis with the in World War 1, the Kurds rushed British army in WWII. They joined to the Conference at Versailles to their Kurdish language and are the U.S fight to overthrow Saddam present their claims for the recognition called “Mountain Turks” rather Hussein in 2003 and became an of Kurdistan. Most were thrilled than Kurds. In response, the important ally for the U.S-led coalition when the Allied Powers passed Kurds in Turkey formed an forces in the war against ISIS the Treaty of Sevres in 1920, independence party (PKK) and (ISIL, Daesh). The world watched recognizing a free Kurdistan. have engaged in armed struggles on television in 2015 as the (4. edmaps.com). The British and since 1978 so they are hated by Kurds helped defeat ISIL at the French had been given mandates in the Turkish government who sees city of Kobani near Syria’s border the Levant (Sykes-Pico, 1916) to them as terrorists. with Turkey. But Turkey is a coalition oversee the development of new In Syria, Kurds are the largest of ally too, so the Kurds are in a difficult European style nation-states from the many minorities, comprising position again and even though the defeated Ottoman Empire. But nearly 10% of the Syrian population, they are a legitimate and ancient when Atatürk won his war of inde- but the Assad dynasty opposed society, they may never gain the pendence for Turkey in 1923, there any attempt at separatism, independence that they long for. was fear of Russian expansion confiscated Kurdish land, bombed into the Caucasus. So British Kurdish mosques, and even forbids For more, see “A Centenary of officials brokered a new policy at giving Kurdish names to babies. Failed Promises” by Philip Kowalski of the peace conference at Lausanne In Iraq, Kurds make up nearly the Washington Kurdish Institute, that invalidated the Treaty of 20% of the Iraqi population but and “The Kurds and the Lausanne Sevres and divided the newly during the Iran-Iraq war (1980- Peace Negotiations, 1922-23” by created Kurdistan between Figure 1 F1ig9u8re82) the Iraqi Ba’athist party Othman Ali, Middle Eastern Studies, Turkey, Iran, and the mandates tried to break Kurdish ethnic vol. 33, No. 3, 7/1997, pp. 521- that eventually became Iraq and continuity by forcibly relocating 534, and BBC News, “Who are the Syria. That left the Kurds under Kurds and spraying some Kurdish Kurds”, 10/15/2019. foreign control again. towns with poison gas. A new Iraqi Today, about 25-30 million Kurds government that formed in 2006 still live in what they believe is gives the Kurds an autonomous their ancient homeland, (5. BBC status buFtigduries3putes Kurdish News, 10/15/2019) but are kept claim to their oil-rich territory in in a minority status by other governments even though they are northern Iraq. the fourth-largest ethnic group in The Iranian government claims the Middle East. They have been to protect the Kurds but often engages in violence to oppose any Officers: Board of Directors Copyright © 2019 Darwin \"Smitty\" Smith, President Time SiftersArchaeologySociety,Inc., Sherry Svekis, Vice President Directors: Evelyn Mangie All rights reserved. Marion Almy, Secretary Dorothy Cascio Don Nelson We send newsletters to people Laura Harrison, Treasurer Steven Derfler who have attended or expressed Karen Jensen, Membership interestin our lecturesand given us their email address.

Membership Speakers & Events Calendar Lifetime: $350 Unless noted, all will be held at 6:00 PM Individual: $25 Selby Library, 1331 First St., Sarasota 34236 Family: $35 Student: $10 November 20 Supporting $40 Preserving a Lost WWII Battlefield off of North Carolina Dave Alberg Pay online at: January 22, 2020 WWW.TimeSifters.org Archaeology Year in Review: A look at what was talked Or mail checks to: about in 2019. Time Sifters, Inc. Smitty Smith PO Box 5283 Sarasota, FL. 34277 January 31 In-Depth Series … Neanderthals & Early Humans: An all day Workshop on our early Ancestors Dr. Edward Gonzalez-Tennant Time Sifters Archaeology Society P. O. Box 5283, Sarasota, FL 34277