Time Sifters Archaeology Society Newsletter July 2020

JULY-2020 PRESERVATION  EDUCATION  RESEARCH  INSPIRE Dear Member: On June 17 we started our “Summer Series: Crusaders in the Holy Land” presented by Dr. Steven Derfler on ZOOM. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. On July 15th at 6:00 PM, we will continue the series with the second of three lectures. This one will be “Crusader Castles: Krak de Chevaliers, Belvoir, Qaalat Nimrod”. Please join us. The video of the presentation will be available soon on the website and also on our YouTube Channel. In this issue we continue our series “Archaeologists You Should Know”, highlighting Jesse Fewkes and his work at Mesa Verde. We are also starting another series of stories by local archaeologists titled “Early Experiences”. This month we have Steve Derfler telling us about his experience at Beersheva in Israel. Next month Uzi Baram will tell us about his at the Chalcolithic village of Shiqmim in Israel. Have a great summer and thank you for being a Time Sifters member. Darwin “Smitty” Smith, President [email protected] Archaeologists You Should Know Jesse Walter Fewkes Excavated Casa Grande & Mesa Verde By Smitty, Time Sifters Board Member; Sources - Educational Resources; Wikipedia; Smithsonian Institution. Jesse Walter the Zuni and Hopi tribes. systematically pillaging the sites. Fewkes was an He surveyed the ruins of a The national monument of Casa American anthropologist, number of cultures in the American Grande consists of the ruins of archaeologist, Southwest. He supervised the multiple structures surrounded writer and excavation of the Hohokam site, by a compound wall constructed naturalist. He Casa Grande in southern Arizona, by the ancient people of the was born in and the Ancient Pueblo ruins at Hohokam period, who farmed the Newton, MA, Mesa Verde in southern Colorado. Gila Valley in the early 13th century. on November During these excavations, he had to 14, 1850. His parents were Jesse contend with battling “amateur At Mesa Verde, he focused on and Susan Emeline (Jewett) archaeologists” who were Continued on page 3... Fewkes, who were both born in Ipswich, MA. Photos: Library of Congress, National Park Service Fewkes received a Ph.D. in Marine Zoology from Harvard in 1877, and was Curator of Lower Invertebrates at the Museum of Comparative Zoology until 1887. In 1889, when noted ethnologist Frank Cushing resigned, Fewkes became leader of the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition, which is named for its patron Mary Hemenway. It was on this project, that he documented the existing lifestyle and rituals of

Early Experiences When Archaeology met Modernity By Dr. Steven Derfler - Time Sifters Board Member and Executive Director, Educational Resources, Inc. Tel es Saba and an encounter with the horrors of World War I This is a personal story within a Photos: The Guardian; Steve Derfler complete, down to a family photo, universal setting. It deals with prospect of discovering “modern folded and creased. progress into the past while history’” before digging the ancient confronting the “present”. As a “stuff”. This all would change for However, the lessons taught by college student, I was set on my me. As we dug deeper, twisted the Beersheva Archaeological studies - archaeology of the biblical weapons greeted us. Then the Expedition senior staff would world. I would become one of the unthinkable began to appear. The leave an indelible mark on me and “slave labor gangs of ancient Israel” as grim remains of a Turkish soldier help me and others chart our my mentor, Anson Rainey of peeked out of the dirt. We all were approach. Aharoni ensured that the Tel Aviv University’s Institute of taken aback. proper excavation of the Turkish Archaeology would put it with a trench be carried out with respect wink. The site was Tel es-Saba, Since then, I have become and dignity. Following the meticulous biblical Beersheva. It was a project accustomed to the discovery of measures of recording and under the overall direction of human remains. But this first documenting, the remains were Yohanon Aharoni from Tel Aviv encounter still brings back difficult placed in a casket along with the University. They would teach me memories. Its one thing to unearth soldier’s personal effects. everything I knew about archaeology, skeletal material, yet another to history and geography of Israel. reveal a recently mummified corpse. The Israeli government proceeded I was there for a three month The soldier that we discovered had to contact Turkish authorities. excavation season. been caught in his trench during This brought a moving episode to the bombardment designed to a close as we turned over the I arrived at the site, not knowing “soften up” the Turkish lines. remains to the Turkish officials. anything about field archaeology- Apparently he died in this shelling, hoping to soak it all in. There but his body was never removed for The soldier was identified, the were lessons to be learned that I a proper burial. After the Allied personal effects returned to surviving never expected. The very first victory, with the Turkish withdrawal, family members, and he was laid team assignment that I had almost this unfortunate man was declared to rest back in his homeland. A took me out of the world of MIA, and would remain so for decades sense of closure gave the family archaeology forever. We were - until we found him. some relief as well. tasked with excavating a series of squares along the perimeter of We were shaken at the discovery. The lessons learned were invaluable. the site in order to find the city What made it such a ‘CSI’ moment Archaeology knows no time frame, wall. As we got through the 25cm was so unsettling. The soldier was evidence of the human experience level we found the outlines of still in uniform, down to the bandolier of is not just relegated to the distant what we initially thought was a bullets strapped to his chest. He past. Rather, at the most unexpected foundation trench. As we continued to had his Mauser rifle nearby. But moments, our recent shared dig down, unusual artifacts began to by far the most upsetting was the experiences can be brought to appear. They included old, rusty discovery of his wallet. It was still light in the strangest of settings. cartridge casings, tin cans, and “black Gaza Ware” ceramics of the early 20th century. It dawned on Rainey and Aharoni that we had discovered the Turkish Army trenches of World War I. The Battle of Beersheva was fought on 31 October 1917, when the Allies attacked the garrison at Beersheba. Beersheba was defended by trenches on Tel Sheva. The Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Light Horse Cavalry) launched attacks against the defenses following an artillery barrage. At first, we were excited at the

Continued from page 1 ... Puerto Rico. His objective was to collect specimens that would shed Jesse Fewkes … continued light on the island's prehistoric inhabitants. Excavations yielded the variants and styles of prehistoric all the known Hopi Katsinam, the information about the physical Southwest Indian pottery, producing a ceremonial performers, and preserves characteristics and the manner of number of books with carefully the existence of the Katsinam. life of its early indigenous people. drawn illustrations. His work on Fewkes was one of the first voices Among the archaeological artifacts the Mimbres and Sikyátki for government preservation of recovered were some \"problematic pottery styles eventually led to the ancient sites in the American archeological objects,\" then called reproduction of many of these Southwest because by the mid- stone collars or rings. He was one traditional forms and images. 1890s, vandalism of these sites of the earliest anthropologist to He was the first to use a phonograph was widespread. In the American call attention to these pieces, and to record indigenous people for Anthropologist for August 1896, attempt to associate them with study. He tested its use among the Fewkes described the destruction other Mesoamerican artifacts we Passamaquoddy in Maine, before of a large cliff dwelling called now know to be related to “the ball traveling to the Southwest to make Palatki, or \"Red House\", situated game”. his recordings of the Zuni (1890) in the Red Rock country south- and Hopi (1891). In addition to the west of Flagstaff, Arizona, and He excavated a number of recordings, he wrote historically appealed for protective legislation. Pre-Columbian sites in Puerto valuable descriptions of the music His actions along with others Rico and extended his research and musical practice. Later, Benjamin played an important role in the to neighboring islands such as Haiti, Gilman used these recordings to creating and signing of the 1906 Cuba, Trinidad and the Lesser show that they used musical intervals Antiquities Act by President Antilles. His book, Aborigines of Porto unlike those in the Western Theodore Roosevelt. This law Rico and Neighboring Islands, tempered scale. protects cultural resources. published in 1907 is a classic of In his study of the Hopi religious Roosevelt also established the early archaeology, and is profusely rituals and festivities, Fewkes Mesa Verde National Park on illustrated with photographs of compiled descriptions and drawings June 29, 1906. his many important finds. of the Hopis' Katsina cult in the Fewkes joined the Smithsonian's manuscript, Codex Hopi. He Bureau of American Ethnology in Jesse Fewkes retired from the commissioned several Hopi artists 1895, becoming its director in Smithsonian Institution in 1928. to produce a series of paintings of 1918. At this point in his career He passed away in 1930 and is buried in National Memorial Park, West Falls Church, VA. the Hopis' supernatural beings, the he focused on the prehistoric Katsinam. This manuscript documents inhabitants of the island of Photos: National Park Service; Library of Congress; U.S. Forest Service; Rationalobserver; Wikipedia Officers: Board of Directors Copyright © 2020 Darwin \"Smitty\" Smith, President Time SiftersArchaeologySociety,Inc., Sherry Svekis, Vice President Directors: Don Nelson All rights reserved. Marion Almy, Secretary Jean Louise Lammie We send newsletters to people Laura Harrison, Treasurer Evelyn Mangie who have attended or expressed Karen Jensen, Membership interestin our lecturesand given us their email address.

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