Prehistoric Punch

Hot off the presses – a new 24 X 18 inch poster featuring pipes from the “National Museum” (better known now as the Smithsonian).  I copied linework from the original artifact drawings that were presented in the 1897 Smithsonian Report by Joseph D. McGuire entitled:  PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES, BASED ON MATERIAL IN THE U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM

After manipulating some of the linework,  I added texture and color based on images, archival visits, and text descriptions.  Theposter can be purchased for $10 plus $5 shipping.

Real Estate Development Project? circa 4,500 BC

For more amazing artifacts from southeastern Europe see this NY Times slideshow.

Here is a Swallowtail Shiner closeup and personal:

photo by Maria Stenzel

Here is a beautiful example of a net-impressed rimsherd. The sample was found by a neighbor in the Palisades. The perfect symmetry of a rectangular pattern is unusual.
photo by Maria Stenzel

Photograph by Maria Stenzel
More about this Palisade’s gem.

I returned recently to the Smithsonian archeological archives to research Little Compton, RI where a friend, Nick Keenan, owns a farm.   The meeting had orginally been intended to fact-check a poster that I made of American Indian smoking pipes, but that project’s geographical scope is broad and more effectively researched using the archive’s online images.  Instead, Nick and I concentrated on the area of Little Compton.  The objects  (mostly from Tiverton, RI) represented the fairly common East Coast prehistoric assemblage.  There were many New England gouges, and an array of celts/adzes, beautifully grooved axes, giant pestles, projectile points, pendants, atlatl weights, and some amulets.   As is often the case, the artifact’s intended use was not always clear – especially in the case of many teardrop-shaped stones topped with a knob (presumably for attaching a cord).  Often referred to as plumb weights, these stones might have been suspended by string for measuring time.  Another possibility is their use as bola stones or net weights. I am hesitant to consider these net-weights for the simple reason that quickly modified rocks could work just as well. The effort invested into shaping such rocks seems extravagant for sinking a net.

This plumb/bola stone from Massachusetts founds its way to the RI drawer

The collections also housed a fair number of pipes.  Their peculiar small size suggested it was a utilitarian component to their lives (a habit) – something that could conveniently be tucked into a satchel and carried about.

Small Soapstone Pipes from RI

Photographer Maria Stenzel has constructed a temporary aquarium  studio in the museum.  The exercise is practice for when she takes her portable aquariums to Antartica later this year.  On assignment for National Geographic, Maria will be accompanying scientists from NSF who will be cataloging sea critters living below/around the Larson Ice Shelf.  Specimens of a recent netting expedition in the Potomac are below:

Unionidae (freshwater mussel) - Potomac River

Gambusia (mosquito fish) - Potomac River

Key School artifact: half of a stone blade found 2009

A recent find on the earthen slope in front of Key School Elementary prompted another parent to come forward with a find from last year.   At left, half of a stone blade and below a – hmm, maybe something like the artifact recovered far below? 

The Key School artifact may also be a plumb stone, bola stone, weave-weight, or . . .   oh yeah, there’s one more possibility- it’s just a strange rock that had been sitting unnoticed for eons until a Key School parent picked it up.

A discussion group is commenting on the museum’s amethyst crystal – the thread is “inclusions in quartz” 

http://gemologyonline.com/Forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=94336#94336

The topic of DC’s artifact collection has resurfaced once again here at the Palisades Museum of Prehistory because of a recent grant application submitted by Tetra Tetrault of the Center for Archaeology & Heritage Education.   Here is the grant award summary:

Project: Moving Towards Housing the Archaeological Collections of our Nation’s Capital
Applicant: Tera Tetrault of the Center for Archaeology & Heritage Education
Amount Requested: $12,900
Cash Match: $
In-Kind Match: $
Project Total: $12,900

Applicant’s Brief Description of Project: The Washington, DC Historic Preservation Office has a large collection of archaeological artifacts and records that are mostly housed in facilities that do not meet standards for archaeological collections. Planning for an adequate repository starts with a collections assessment to document the current conditions. This proposal will complete the first of four phases of a collections assessment and determine the curatorial and storage needs set forth in federal regulation 36CFR79.

First, I tried gooogling the “Center for Archaeology & Heritage Education” but got no results.  The organization seems to be as elusive as the DC artifact collection.

Second, the title of the grant “Moving Towards Housing the Archaeological Collections of our Nation’s Capital” makes one wonder where the artifacts are now? I know some artifacts were given to the Tudor House under condition they not be made public.  The fact that the artifacts are housed in “facilities” (plural), makes me wonder how many other private collections have our public artifacts.

Unfortunately, the condition/existence of DC artifacts does not bode well by the language of this grant (I am assuming it was written by the somebody in the HPO and shopped to acquaintances).  Is this not a common function of the HPO? It seems to imply that all artifacts will remain in purgatory for some time  and it also helps justify  the circumnavigation of required archeology. What’s the point of conducting archeology if the record cannot be preserved?

As the DC HPO continues to maintain no access to public artifacts because of an ongoing assessment of the situation, I would like to point out federal regulation 36 CFR 79 which stipulates under USE OF COLLECTION:  1)  Requires federal agencies to ensure that the repository makes federal collections available for scientific, educational, and religious uses.

I smell a “grant proposal” on what this might mean!!!