1941: Archaeology

A worldwide review of archaeological excavations and investigations during the year 1941 seems impossible under existing conditions. We know that all American participation in Old World projects has been withdrawn. Even if we assume that some work has continued there, even under the most adverse possible conditions, the records of accomplishment, due to discontinuation of publication or transportation difficulties have failed to reach us, except in a few cases.

Third Wall of Jerusalem.

World conditions have not deterred two archaeologists in Jerusalem, Professors E. L. Sukenek and L. A. Mayer of the Hebrew University, with the cooperation of the American School of Oriental Research, from continuing their excavations to solve the mystery of the third wall of Jerusalem built by Herod Agrippa after the death of Christ. They brought to light the course of a wall and tower built as a fortification to the cast of the present location of the American School of Oriental Research. This will make it possible to use the wall and tower as an orientation point to establish the location of adjacent ancient sites.

Cretan Sign Language.

The numerous clay tablets found in ancient Crete have long been an unsolved puzzle to students of language who believed that many were accounting records. Cretan writing was assumed to have originated in picture writing about 2000 bc and some centuries later evolved into a running script. Recently, Dr. John Franklin Daniel of the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, announced that by relating the tablets to the writings of Cyprus, a few ancient Cretan words are now decipherable. About 1450 bc, the people of Cyprus borrowed the Cretan forms of letters, producing a hybrid script which eventually evolved into the Classic style of Cyprus, long deciphered. Working from this it has been possible to trace many of the signs to Crete. The sound values of about one third of the Minoan signs are now known. With these clues it is possible to read many Minoan words and it is hoped eventually by this means to reconstruct the ancient economics of Crete.

Cave Paintings.

L'Abb‚ Henry Breuil has authenticated the discovery of a large series of prehistoric cave paintings in the Lescaux Cave near Montignac in southwestern France. These paintings, when fully described and illustrated, should add much to our knowledge of palaeolithic art. Innumerable human figures, bulls, horses, birds, a rhinoceros, as well as geometric patterns have been reported. Older than the murals in the famous Altamira Cave which have been dated at 20,000 years, these paintings in the Lescaux Cave are said to be of the late Aurignacian age or Perigordian epoch of palaeolithic time.

United States Excavations and Surveys.

In Eastern and Central United States many new excavations have been begun and other long term projects continued. A few of these follows: At Ocmulgee National Monument, Georgia, digging was confined to areas near historic trading posts. To make the results of these excavations more vivid, the burials, some of which were identified as Creek, while others obviously belonged to a preceding cultural occupation, were prepared as field exhibits. A rock shelter near the Trailside Museum, Bear Mountain, New York, excavated under the direction of James D. Burggraf of the museum, contained a stratified deposit, in three different levels: the uppermost level contained early 18th century English material; the middle layer, Late Algonkin period objects; and the lowermost level, Early Algonkin artifacts. Scattered Iroquois sherds bear evidence of the Iroquois invasion. It is estimate that the cave was occupied for 1,500 years.

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University has initiated a long range survey in the territory covering the northern half of the Mississippi alluvial plain, approximately from Cape Girardeau to the Arkansas-Louisiana line. This is a joint enterprise of the University of Michigan, the Louisiana State University, and the above. The first season's work, in 1940, mainly in Arkansas, north of the Arkansas River, consisted of an initial survey and testing of surface material. Surface collections were made from 154 sites. The next step will be to test the largest possible number of sites strati-graphically, and to excavate the most important of these.

Under the direction of Dr. Fay-Cooper Cole, the University of Chicago completed its eighth year of excavation at the Kincaid Mound Site near Metropolis, Ill. Six large mounds consisting of clay pyramids with wood and thatch temples, stone box burials, numerous artifacts, and examples of pottery were uncovered. It is hoped that an exact chronology for the mound may be established by the tree-ring method, that is, to date it by correlating any timbers found in the mound with a known cycle of tree growth.

The Illinois State Museum and the Illinois State Parks Division in cooperation with the WPA are jointly making every effort to conserve the records of any archaeological sites about to undergo destruction through Federal, state. or commercial construction, a principle which is followed now in many other states. Thus a mound and village site opposite the great pyramid of the famous Cahokia mound was excavated prior to its destruction for house construction.

R. G. Morgan and H. H. Ellis of the Ohio State Museum at Columbus have almost completed the excavation of the Dunlap Mound near Chillicothe, Ohio. Assisted by the WPA, the Indiana Historical Society began its third year of excavation of the Angel Mound in Vanderburgh County.

The University of Missouri has initiated a long range program to study the archaeology and ethno-history of the Siouan tribes of Missouri, especially in the location and excavation of their villages along the Missouri. Under the leadership of Mr. Robert McCormick Adams, the Academy of Sciences of St. Louis and the WPA are working in two counties along the sand ridges of the Mississippi flood plains in the southeastern section of the state. In New Madrid County, particularly at a Middle Mississippi village site of rather late date, pit houses have been uncovered in association with extended burials. This site was investigated by the Academy in 1878; the present effort is an attempt to make comparisons with results reported in the past.

A presumably relatively recent village site marking occupation by Plains Indians has been excavated on a farm near Clinton, Okla., under the supervision of Dr. Forrest E. Clements of the University of Oklahoma and the WPA.

In Southwestern United States archaeological investigation is in the hands of a numerous personnel and is spread over a wide area. The Colorado Museum is making a survey which has as its goal the establishment of a chronological outline for the non-Pueblo cultures of the state. The work is carried on under the direction of Betty H. and Harold A. Huscher. In the La Garita Mountains of Southern Colorado, a deep site revealed two occupational levels divided by a thick limonite stratum. The lower of these two levels contained crude percussion flaked tools; the upper, slab-lined cists and hearths, and two types of dart points.

Emil Haury of the University of Arizona excavated a cave on the Papago Indian Reservation where the debris appeared to be in chronological strata ranging in time from about 5000 bc to 400 ad, and later more scattered deposits. There was an equally great range in the artifacts recovered: the bottom layer contained stone age implements while the topmost was a contemporary Papago layer. Mummies, probably attributable to the Hohokam peoples, were accompanied by cotton textiles, human hair cord, fur blankets, and sandals.

Directed by Dr. Paul S. Martin of the Field Museum of Natural History, excavations were conducted at the Su ruins, the site of a Mogollon village in Central New Mexico, where eight pit houses were found and many artifacts, potsherds, and skeletons recovered.

The excavation of a cave in the Winchester Mountains by the Amerind Foundation revealed an important series of ceremonial materials associated with an interesting potsherd series of Hohokam, Mimbres Classic, Dragoon, Tucson Ware, and some additional wares from areas to the northward.

In an effort to establish the sequence of the old cultures found there, the Desert Laboratory of the Southwest Museum has continued the study of two large sites at Twenty-nine Palms, California. A plane table survey is being made, and the relation of the geological situation to past climatic conditions is being studied in cooperation with Dr. Ernst Antevs. Phil C. Orr of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History excavated four village sites of the Canalino group on Mescalititlan Island (California), as well as four cemeteries in which several burial types were represented.

To make for a better understanding of the former Indian occupation, the Los Angeles Museum, under the direction of Arthur Woodward, is attempting to integrate all forms of life in a general reconnaissance of sites on San Clemente, Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Catalina, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz Islands. This is reported as the first time such a correlation of botany, entomology, mammalogy, ornithology, and archaeology has been attempted in an island survey.

Dr. F. G. Rainey, of the University of Alaska, accompanied by Dr. H. L. Shapiro of the American Museum of Natural History, returned to Point Hope. Alaska, to continue excavations at the ancient Ipiutak culture site, where a unique un-Eskimo like form of culture was discovered in 1939. This season the excavations were concentrated on the six-mile long burial site, resulting in the recovery of some 500 skeletons, and many additional artifacts. It is believed the collections cover a time range of some 2,000 years. Excavations at Tigara, the modern Eskimo town at Point Hope, indicate a continuous occupation since the abandonment of the Ipiutak village.

Mexico and Central America.

At Cerro de las Mesas, on the Rio Blanco, in southern Vera Cruz, a joint expedition of the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution, under the direction of Dr. M. W. Stirling assisted by Dr. Philip Drucker, found that three sixteen-foot deep stratigraphic trenches revealed that the occupation period followed that at Tres Zapotes and continued closer to the historic period. Fifteen stela and eight carved monuments were found; one, four feet high, was an almost exact replica of the famous Tuxtla statuette, but differed from it in that it bore no glyphs. The most outstanding find here was an offering of 782 finely carved jade objects of a variety of types.

Under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, a number of projects were continued; Dr. S. G. Morley examined the so-called Stela Platform at Uxmal, in Yucatan, reassembling many stela to study the glyphs. Mr. John Dimick, assisted by Mr. Stanley Boggs, continued excavations at Campana San Andres, west of San Salvador. The principal mound here consisted of several superimposed structures, all of mould-made adobe bricks. At Copan in Honduras, Mr. Gustav Stromsvik continued excavations and repairs. Mr. Robert Burgh mapped a large number of small ruins in the Copan Valley. At Kaminaljuyu near Guatemala City (Guatemala) Mr. A. Ledyard Smith excavated some narrow enclosed courts and found them to be additional examples of the well known Maya ball-court. One of these courts contained stone parrot heads like those at the Ball Court at Copan. Excavating near Managua, in Nicaragua, Mr. F. B. Richardson found a number of human footprints in deeply buried ancient volcanic strata. With the cooperation of President Somosa of Nicaragua, a series of these footprints will be uncovered and a permanent shelter will be built, to preserve them in situ.

South America.

Edward N. Ferdon, Jr., on behalf of the School of American Research and the University of Southern California, excavated at a site near the town of La Labertad in Ecuador. This region was chosen, because with the exception of the late G. A. Dorsey's work on the island of La Plata, no other systematic excavations have been made on the Ecuadorean coast. A collection of potsherds made by Dr. Jijon y Caamano indicated the presence of several pottery types not hitherto recorded.

From Peru, that land of many pre-Spanish ruined cities and temples, Dr. Luis E. Valcarcel, director of the National Museum of Peru, reports that two ancient cities were discovered by Dr. Paul Tejos. These resemble in plan and structure and may be contemporaneous with the famous Machu Picchu discovered by H. V. Bingham in 1911, and are probably contemporaneous. A road from the newly discovered ruins leads to Machu Picchu suggesting that the Inca cities were connected by a road system. The Peruvian Government has continued its archaeological work; ruins near Lima, particularly Pachacamac, are being cleared under the direction of Dr. Valcarcel and Dr. Albert Giesecke. Dr. Julio Tello also continued his work at Pachacamac uncovering fine dressed stone masonry. This is the third coastal site where this masonry is known, the other two are at Tambo Colorado in Pisco and a Nazca Valley site.