1939: Archaeology

Excavations in the Near East.

Archaeological activities in the Old World are so numerous as to preclude mentioning even all the places where work was carried on. In Bulgaria, the 1938 expedition of the American School of Prehistoric Research, under the direction of Dorothy A. E. Garrod of Cambridge University, excavated in the cave of Batcho Kiro, near Drenovo, and found a stratified paleolithic sequence of Mousterian and Aurignacian cultures, surrounded by a later deposit containing pottery and recent fauna.

On the northeastern shore of the Red Sea, the site of a fortified industrial city of the time of King Solomon has been uncovered through excavations conducted by Doctor Nelson Glueck, director of the American School for Oriental Research in Jerusalem. The smelting and refining plants were well equipped with a system of wall flues. The wall fortifications, their tops flush with the desert, were graduated in tiers. Some of the foundations lay on the natural hard clay bed. Many of the building walls were so well constructed that the excavators found them still standing at their original height.

Through his excavations for the British Museum at Atchana near Antioch, Syria, Sir Leonard Woolley has succeeded in filling another gap in our knowledge of the ever-intriguing Hittites for the period between 1650 and 1400 bc, the interval between the two great empires. The palace at Atchana had been gutted by fire, but nevertheless Sir Leonard's excavations brought to light much information on Hittite habits of life. He was able to identity suites of rooms obviously once occupied by women, to judge by the combs, trinkets, and toilet boxes unearthed in the debris; other rooms containing only clay tablets and wine jars are said to have been the quarters of clerks. In an annex was a suite of rooms determined to have belonged to the archivist. Here were found 300 clay tablets which await decipherment.

Many archaeological projects continue to be carried on in Palestine. The most important seaport of ancient Palestine, Ezion-Geber in the Bible, according to Doctor Nelson Glueck, was built in 10 bc. Explorations near Akabah uncovered this site, now called Tell el-Kheleifeh by the Arabs. Though excavations are still far from completion, from the portions of the site already uncovered, it is clear that the city had an elaborate system of smelting and refining plants, with an extensive arrangement of flues and air channels. So we have here the site of a great fortified factory city, traditionally believed to have been planned and constructed by King Solomon.

The Palestine Department of Antiquities has excavated the uncompleted palace of the Caliph Hisham in the Valley of the Jordan, north of Jericho. The palace contained a throne room, banquet hall, swimming pool, and mosque. Foundations, columns, and walls were ornamented with mosaics, frescoes, and carving.

Digging in Palestine near Nazareth, the Academy of Inscriptions of Paris, found a series of catacombs containing 400 tombs with inscriptions in Greek and Hebrew, as well as the foundations of a large synagogue bearing evidence of having been burned in 4 ad.

At the site of ancient Armageddon at Megiddo, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, under the direction of Gordon Loud, completed another season's work. In the fourteenth century bc level, was uncovered a carved ivory wand, the first to be reported in this area; similar ivory objects are known from Egypt in about the 19th century bc

In its ninth season of excavation the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, under the direction of Doctor T. Leslie Shear, digging in the Agora, found a royal tomb of the 14th century bc containing thin leaves and rosettes of gold as well as ivory boxes. Excavating wells on the slope of the Acropolis, they found five Neolithic vases and two skulls said to be of a primitive type.

New World Archaeological Excavations.

In the Americas, as in the Old World, it is impossible to give even brief mention to all the archaeological work now in progress. The chief centers of activity, as in the past, are in Mexico and Central America, and in Southwestern United States. However, due in part to an awakening interest and in part to WPA support of archaeological projects which might otherwise have been carried on very modestly, most of the states east of the Mississippi are delving into their prehistoric past.

Archaic, Toltec and Aztec Cultures of Mexico.

From Mexico, Doctor Alfonso Caso, director of excavations at Monte Alban in Oaxaca, where a few years ago he excavated a tomb containing unusual treasures, reports that the builders of the city of Monte Alban and the not far distant city of Mitla were people of the same culture. At Monte Alban he finds three culture stages, each of which correlates with those of Mexico — an Archaic, a Teotihuacan or Toltec culture, and an Aztec culture.

The Carnegie Institution of Washington, under the direction of Doctor A. V. Kidder, investigated pit tombs near Guatemala City. These tombs were built during the middle stage of Monte Alban, or during the period of the decline of the Toltecs in Central Mexico. The basis of this correlation is the similarity in pottery which, as in other areas, is the best time marker for culture sequences.

Mayan Civilization.

Doctor Karl Ruppert of the Carnegie Institution reports finding a stadium seating about 8,000 people in the moat-circled ruins of a town in the impassable jungles of Campeche in Southern Mexico. In all, ruins of 12 towns were located here, presumably built by peoples closely related to the Mayas and flourishing in prehistoric times. Most of the towns were small, containing few buildings, that containing the stadium was an exception. The Maya played a ball game with a solid rubber ball, the object of which was to throw a ball through a ring in a wall, and this stadium was in all probability used for ceremonies and such ball games.

At Copan, another ancient Maya city in Honduras, G. Stromsvik of the Carnegie Institution, also found a large ball court, the third one reported for this site. The rectangular area was bounded by a low bench from which sloping surfaces rose to a second wall. Each wall was decorated with three stone parrot heads. The most interesting feature of this ball court is a series of hieroglyphs along one wall from which, after they are deciphered, it is hoped to establish the approximate construction date of the stadium.

Dating of Mexican Sites.

Relative or actual dating of sites or objects is the goal of the archaeologist, not only in the Old World but in America. A joint expedition from the Smithsonian Institution and the National Geographic Society under the leadership of Doctor Matthew W. Stirling of the Bureau of American Ethnology centered its attention at an ancient site near the village of Tres Zapotes in the Tuxtla region of Vera Cruz. More than fifty mounds were found, many of which were trenched. A collection of pottery vessels and clay figurines obtained in a cemetery suggests two culture horizons. Nine sculptured stelae were found. Of especial interest and importance is one fragment bearing a well marked date in bar and dot numerals (in the so-called short count form) which has been deciphered as November 4, 291 bc in the Spinden correlation, or 31 bc in the Goodman-Thompson correlation. The earliest hitherto known Maya date, that of May 16, 18 bc occurs on the famous Tuxtla statuette in the United States National Museum. This newly discovered monument is therefore the oldest dated monument in the New World. This and related finds extend the Maya area 150 miles west of Comalcalco, which was previously the westernmost-known Maya site.

Mr. Gordon Ekholm of the American Museum of Natural History has spent two field seasons in reconnaissance and excavation in an archaeologically unknown area in Sinaloa, Mexico, extending from the Culiacan River northward to the international border. Mr. Ekholm finds that the painted and incised pottery of Sinaloa does not extend into Sonora. A mound was cleared at a site near the town of Guasave on the Sinaloa River. The culture here represented apparently is related to what other workers in this general area have named the Aztatlan Complex and found by Doctor Isabel Kelly to be the earliest of four culture periods at Culiacan.

Excavations in the United States.

In Colorado the excavation of a rock-shelter southwest of Delta, in a region investigated two previous seasons, by the Colorado Museum of Natural History, revealed some evidence of a previously unreported people. Though stone and bone artifacts were obtained, there were no evidences of masonry nor of the practice of agriculture. The same institution also excavated a village site at the Book Cliffs near Cisco, Utah, where crude masonry, slab-lined cists, pottery, stone and bone artifacts, and two human skeletons were uncovered.

Accompanied by a group of students, Paul H. Nesbitt of the Logan Museum, Beloit, Wisconsin, excavated at the Wheatley Ridge village site near Reserve, New Mexico. The village was apparently occupied by carriers of the Mogollon culture who settled this area before the advent of the Pueblo people. From the materials brought to light it has been possible to assign this site chronologically to the Three-Circle phase of Mogollon culture. All houses were of the pit type. The burials were unaccompanied by mortuary offerings, confirming the previously stated belief that this absence of mortuary offerings is a diagnostic of the Mogollon culture.

Near Durango, Colorado, Earl H. Morris of the Carnegie Institution has been investigating sites of a Basket Maker II culture stage. These dwelling sites appear to have been abandoned about 300 ad.

Excavation of small sites in the Jedito Valley and on Antelope Mesa, Arizona, under the direction of J. O. Brew of the Peabody Museum has carried the chronology of this area back to the Basket Maker III period, so that we have a time sequence here ending in the Spanish occupation.

In Eastern United States, there is renewed archaeological interest and activity. Under a five year grant from the Carnegie Corporation. Vassar College has begun an archaeological survey of the Hudson River Valley in New York. The objective is to make Vassar College a center for information on the archaeological sites and collections of the area. In Connecticut, the Peabody Museum at Yale University excavated a shell-heap near Old Lyme, but found no stratigraphic sequence. The Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences excavated a village and burial site on Frontenac Island in Cayuga Lake, New York. W. A. Ritchie tentatively reports finding three types of burials, entended, flexed, bundle, and cremation. This site seems to be affiliated with the Laurentian culture. In Delaware the Archaeological Society of that state has begun its first excavation near Wilmington.

In Southeastern United States, the University of Kentucky and Louisiana State University appear to be most active. The University of Kentucky excavating mounds, shell heaps, and house sites has determined that these are closely related to types well-defined in Ohio such as the Adena and Fort Ancient. One village site contained historic trade materials proving that the Fort Ancient culture was flourishing in Kentucky in historic times. In Louisiana three sites have been excavated: the Crooks in Catahoula Parish, the Greenhouse in Avoyelles Parish, and the Little Woods in Orleans Parish. The first two proved to be dwelling sites, the last a shell midden, contained artifacts which appear to be the earliest thus far known in Louisiana.

T. D. Stewart of the Smithsonian Institution has completed the excavation of an Indian village at Patawomeke, Stafford County, Virginia. Based on the many finds which included bones, arrow heads, and pottery, it has been possible to date it as early 17th century. See also ANTHROPOLOGY.