Why Archaeology is Relevent for Today.




 

Otto Román, a Guatemalan archaeologist, excavating the cache of
 polished axes that were found in 2009. This ritual deposit marked
the beginning of occupation at Ceibal around 1,000 B.C.

     Most of us have seen the movies of the swash-buckling archaeologist Indiana Jones. It offers up a romantic version of what digging up or hunting down ancient artifacts is like. This past semester in my "Principles of Archaeology" class I learned that portrayal is highly inaccurate, but to be fair, those films are a big reason why I want to study Archaeology.

     When the average person thinks of Archaeology they may think of digging up skeletons, artifacts, or restoring ancient ruins. They may also think that it is a way to see how bye-gone cultures and societies worked, and to a large extent that's part of it. We might not realize how Archaeology is so important for world today though, and how it has helped our current civilizations become what they are now.

   
The last question of my final exam asked me to write any essay giving three examples of, Social, Political, and Economic reasons why archaeology is important for today's society, here and abroad. I'd like to share what I answered and possibly expand all three of those points.

Machu Picchu

Social/Cultural Identity
      Peru has practically built their whole county's Identity around the Inca to show that they have something to offer the rest of the world. One of their most famous sites is Machu Picchu, which is pictured to the right. It's just one of the great historical treasures the country has to offer, they are also famous for mummies. Peru, however is not the only country that has done this. More obvious places like Greece with their fantastic ruins, pottery, sculptures and other artifacts have also built up a culture around their history through the use of Archaeology. Italy has followed suit with their wealth of Roman antiquities that spans most of Europe to show that they have much more to offer than pizza and pasta.
Of course, we can't forget Egypt, which has some of the most recognized archaeological artifacts and sites out there still.

Political Relevance
     This maybe one of the most overlooked uses of archaeology that the general public is aware of, but for a lot of indigenous peoples across the world it has played a vital role their individual cultures. For example, after Australia was colonized by Europe the Aborigines had struggled for basic human rights and freedoms to claim their ancestral lands (Sutton, Yohe II 376). Due to laws passed in the 1960s and 70s, archaeologists sense of responibility to involve native peoples, as well as Aboriginal activist groups, the Aborigines were able to provide strong evidence through archaeological finds to win arguments over land ownership.

     Here in the U.S. the Native Americans lost skeletal remains along with important ceremonial objects from their lands, which were excavated without permission or just plain looted, sometimes by archaeologists. Though, In 1990, NAGPRA which stands for Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was passed in congress, this allowed Native American groups to reclaim those possesions from various museums and universites(Sutton, Yohe II 365). NAGPRA states that if you are excavating on federal land, or if you are using federal funds and you uncover any Native American artifacts, you must stop everything and contact the proper tribal authorites. It is then up to the Native American group to let you keep excavating or not (Sutton, Yohe II 365).

The Elgin Marbles


    Artifacts can also effect diplomatic relations between counties as well. Take for example The Elgin Marbles which were taken out of Greece from the Acropolis of Athens in the early 19th century and brought to England (Williams). To this day Greece and England are fighting over who legally owns them. Greece is also trying to retrieve more of these artifacts from 8 other countries too (Williams).


Dr. Alexei Vranich with his crew that are
Imara Indians in Bolivia

Economic

     Last month a few fellow students and I got a chance to meet and greet Dr. Alexei Vranich. He worked mainly in Bolivia on a pre-Incan site called Tiwanaku. One of the things he talked about was how the funds to excavate the site helped to employ the local Imara indians who basically live in poverty. He also said how the funds that the site generated from tourists, as well as the annual festivals at the site, help the Bolivian economy. Bolivia, like Peru, is also trying to create a cultural Identity from the past and they are wanting to show the world they have something to offer too. The downside Dr. Vranich said, is that he dare not go there when he doesn't have the funds because the local people would be heartbroken if he were to show up without being able to offer them a job. It maybe be like this in other parts of the world to where tourism of archaeological sites, or the funds to excavate them, is a part of a countires economy.

So archaeology isn't just raiding tombs or taking back religious artifacts from Nazis, but it is larger part of the world than you may have once thought. And also....

 

Sources:  
Sutton, Mark Q., and Robert M. Yohe. "Cultural Rescource Management." Archaeology: the Science of the Human past. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2008. 351-81. Print.

Williams, Sean. "The Elgin Marbles." Web log post. The Elgin Marbles. Heritage Key, 28 May 2009. Web. 09 Dec. 2011. .



                                                                                                                                                                    









EDIT: Aliens built them there pyramid thingies.

A handful of ancient civilizations built pyramid style structures. You know what that means right? Aliens! That's right, tall white beings from the stars told the smaller brown humans how to build them...err...wait, I just realized how that sounded.

The basis for Aliens helping our ancestors was an interesting thing at one time, however now it has evolved into something stupid and borderline racist. Anthropology and Archaeology are ever changing an evolving fields because new finds open up new possibilities we didn't consider before. Mostly it has to do with how we are realizing humans were more developed than we thought and were extremely quick learners, after all, only the strongest survive.

Pyramids in Egypt
The first pyramids were carved from bedrock and were tiered, not like the smooth looking pyramids you might think of. The shape of the pyramind is said to represent sunbeams coming down from the heavens which they believed how you got into the afterlife in their solar religion. So, they were tombs, and it was a way to show everyone at that time who was boss (Maitland). To cut the limestone for the later pyramids they used copper tools and a hard marerial called Dolerite, also limestone is soft enough to be cut by stone tools in it's bed, after it is removed and exposed to the sun it dries and hardens (NatGeo). Next, the Pharoh would consult a commitee on where to place the pyramid with the help of astronomers to make sure the axis of the pyramids lined up correctly with the constellations. Then a gigantac workforce of about 20-30 thousand people constructed the pyramids using flotation techniques to get the massive stones out of the quarries and about 20 men to drag or push the stones up ramps to place them (National Geographic). You could think of the ramps as scafolding. Many bakeries around the pyramid sites have been excavated which could have produced thousands of loafs of bread to feed this many people (National Geographic).

Quarry for pyramid stones.

"Alien theorists often say that the pyramids couldn’t have been built by such ‘primitive’ ancient people and it’s strange that the pyramids suddenly just appeared out of nowhere" (Maitland). The archaeolgical evidence is enough on it's own to oppose that claim, plus Egyptologist actually have day-to-day records of the goings-on during pyramid building recorded on papyrus paper (Maitland). Some people have a tendency to think that because these things were built a long time ago that there wasn't enough people on to do it, however that's just ignorance. In anthropological terms ancient Egypt was/is considered a state, which means it had a population of hundereds of thousands with a complex social system etc...Also, the poeple of Egypt at that time had different priorities and since they had only one supreme ruler, the Pharoh, he was able to mobilize a project of that magnitude with no questions asked (Maitland).

Another thing, if aliens built the pyramids then why are the cores of the pyramid constructed very sloppy, I thought aliens had super advanced technology? According to Archaeologist Mark Lehner the builders didn't join the stones of the core very accurately and filled the seems with a bunch of mortar. Do you think aliens would be that sloppy? Further proof that men built the pyramids is the fact that the divisions assigned to buld them actually graffitied their divisions name onto the building  such as ‘Friends of Khufu’ and ‘Drunkards of Menkaure’(Maitland), the second one is my favorite.

Mayan Pyramids
The Mayans built "pyramids", that were also made from limestone, to be closer to the gods. They too like the Egyptians were big into astronomy and incorporated that into a religion. Unlike the Egyptian pyramids, most of the Mayan ones had stairs that led up to a temple which housed important members of their society like priests and nobles. The Mayan pyramids were also built to be used as land marks, as most of them were made high enough to protrude out of the jungle, so that Mayans who used trade routes or perhaps even an army could tell were they were in relation to their position. The Mayans, like the Egyptians, were also good record keepers and alot of the information I'm giving you has been translated for their heiroglyphs. - Most of this was provided by Crystal-links.com, but there is other of information on other websites that shares the same. Plus there is more information readily availible in a local library.

Chinese Pyramids
They're burial mounds and tombs. Enough said.

My Theory
I'm big on how environmental factors played/plays a part in past and present cultures. It's obvious that the people who built these things wanted them to be majestic. The human imagination is often inspired by what they see around them, so what in nature is looks like a pyramid, is majestic and possible close to the gods? A mountain. There have been archaeological finds of how mountains were used for a variety with things, but by making your own mountain you can control what it's used for and where to put it. However that's just my theory and I'm still an undergrad, but it's a possibility.

My rant about this alien crap.
When you say that Aliens built all this stuff, you are basically saying humans aren't or weren't smart enough to do any of it. Also there is this idea in western society that people of another color that aren't European couldn't possibly have done anything like that because they didn't have the technology so they had to have help from aliens, when in fact archaeologists are finding that past cultures had more technology than previously thought. Any archaeologist claiming that aliens help build these things and backs it up with a photo of a slab of ancient text is only showing you part of the picture. That slab most likely came from a larger piece and the archaeologist is using out of context to make a name for himself and get money. Lastly, why in the fudge would aliens only show us how to build stone monuments? Wouldn't they rather teach us something else like gee let's say....Inter-stellar travel, or super advanced technology?

Sources:
Maitland, Margret Ph.D. "The Eloquent Peasant » Blog Archive » Why the Aliens Did NOT Build the Pyramids." The Eloquent Peasant. 24 Aug. 2006. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.  I strongly recommednd reading this article.

National Geographic: Egypt Pyramids--Facts, Photos, Diagrams."National Geographic - Inspiring People to Care About the Planet Since 1888. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. 

Etowah Indian Mounds

Today Anna and I visited the Etowah Indian Mounds "digsite" which next to the Etowah river. The sight was inhabited by some of the ancestors of the Creek and Cherokee nations from around 900a.d. to 1550a.d. In 1540 the conquistador De Soto visited this place with 1000 of his soldiers while he was looking for the lost city of gold Cibola. After that the village was almost wiped out by diseases from the Europeans who carried them. Way to go De Soto. The people that fled the village during this time joined with other tribes like the Creek and Cherokee. The re-construction of the home you see in the photo on the left was the typical dwelling within the village(called a wattle, or daub hut) of the native towns-person/family. It was believed to have a wood or rock frame then covered in packed red clay. These homes would have sat crowded on the perimeter of the courtyard/plaza which was below the mounds.

Here is a scale model to illustrate how the village was set up around the mounds. You can see the three main mounds. The tallest mound in the top right hand corner, which is equal to the height of a six story building, was where the temple was also housed the high priest and his family. The mound in the middle would have housed a lesser chief and possibly the council house was located there too. In the top left mound was the burial mound with about 350 graves, some excavated and some found with remote sensing equipment. Mostly all the graves now are found with remote sensing because the descendants hold the grave sites sacred and would be very displeased if they were disturbed. There is now a congressional act to protect that right too.

You can climb up to the top.

me in front of the mound at a distance.

Just to give you a sense of scale of how big the main mound is here are a few pictures above that try to demonstrate it's size.


Now if you're thinking that the village kind of looks like a Mayan one would than you're not the only one. There is a popular theory that some Mayans migrated from Mexico and settled in this area as well as along the Mississippi river valley where other mounds have been found. and if you compare the photos I have given with photos of a Mayan city than you could see a lot of resemblance. One example this theory may be correct is the fact that corn came from Mexico where it had been farmed for thousands of years. Also the inhabitants dug a large defensive ditch all the way around the village until it meet the river with palisades built on it to pick off enemies. Another theory though which still maintains settlers from Mexico, but an intermingling with other Indian Nations and that theory says hey, North American Indians were just as smart as the Mayans, as evidence with some of the art found at this site. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the artwork, but it's awesome! I tend to think the latter theory maybe the correct one just because of all of the evidence collected, you have Mayan style villages yet have examples of other cultures evident in the art work excavated from the graves. It's hard to tell for sure though because there is still a lot to find at this site and hopefully down the road they will better be able to tell who built the city.