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BACKDIRT2009
Annual Review of theCotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA
A MONUMENTAL TASK
ON EASTER ISLAND
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FEATURES
PHOTO ESSAYS
PATTY CIVALLERI
GREGORY ARESHIAN
A MONUMENTALTASK ONEASTER ISLAND
EASTER ISLANDPHOTO ESSAY
EMPIRES OFDIVERSITY:ANCIENT ANDMODERN IRAN
JO ANNE VAN TILBURG& CRISTIN ARVALO
PAKARATI
62
66 84
A Cotsen Instituteresearch project seeks tounderstand the mysteriousmoaiof Easter Island bygoing to the source thevolcanic quarry where thestatues were made.
ARCHAEOLOGYOF THECONFUCIANLANDSCAPE
LI MIN
72
The politics of remem-brance at work in the an-
cient landscape of Qufu,home of Confucius.
EXPLORINGOPPORTUNITIES:STAFF TRIP TOSOUTH AMERICA
SHAUNA K. MECARTEA& ELIZABETH KLARICH
78
Institute staff travel to Peruand Bolivia to observeinternational projects andlaunch new initiatives.
METAL &LANDSCAPEIN ANCIENTANATOLIA
JOSEPH LEHNER
92
Researching Iron-Agetechnology at Kerkenes
Dag, once known asPteria.
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DEPARTMENTS
BETWEENTHE LINES
NEW CIOAPRESS TITLES
LIST OF COREFACULTY
DONOR LIST
PUBLICPROGRAMSIN REVIEW
INSTITUTENEWS
3
PROFILES17
REFLECTIONS ONRESEARCH
29
98
104 113
106
111
BACKDIRTDirector
Charles S. Stanish
Acting DirectorLothar von Falkenhausen
Assistant Director
Elizabeth Klarich
Director of Publications
& Communications
Shauna K. Mecartea
Editors
Shauna K. MecarteaElizabeth Klarich
Eric GardnerDaril Bentley
Design
Eric Gardner
Contributing Writers
Helle GireyEvgenia Grigorova
Ellen PearlsteinRichard LesureRan BoytnerDean GoodmanMac Marston
For more information or to request asubscription, please contact the CotsenInstitute of Archaeology Press at:310-825-7411 or email [email protected].
Read Backdirt online at:www.ioa.ucla.edu/publications/backdirt
Copyright 2009 UC Regents
ANNUAL REVIEW 2009COTSEN INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY
Cover Photo: Moaiof Easter Island over-
looking the stone quarry of Rano Raraku.Photo courtesy of Jo Anne Van Tilburg.
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CONSERVATIONSTUDENT UPDATES
tions o early Greek society and how these influ-ences continued through Greek history. Catherineis also interested in the major population collapsesand dispersals occurring aer that time periodand the oreign influences gained rom it in bothart and culture. During her time here, she will beworking with John Papadopoulos, Proessor oClassics, and Sarah Morris, Steinmetz Proessor oClassical Archaeology and Material Culture in theDepartment o Classics.
STEPHANIE SALWENcomes to UCLA with aB.A. in Anthropologyrom the University oMichigan, Ann Arbor. Shehas experience withunderwater maritimearchaeology and workedto locate and identiy threenineteenth-centuryshipwrecks in Lake Huron
as part o her honors thesis. Over the past threesummers, she has gained additional archaeological
experience working on the excavations at a BronzeAge ell site in Pecica, Romania. At UCLA, she willwork with materials rom the Channel Islands toexplore the role o transportation technology andtrade in the development o complex societies. Sheplans to ocus on the way regional interactionworks to promote or inhibit the emergence o socialinequality and political complexity, with anemphasis on the development o maritime technol-ogy. Stephanie will work under the direction o heracademic advisor, Jeanne Arnold, Proessor oAnthropology.
SISKA GENBRUGGE Last summer Siskaworked as an intern conserving archaeologicalobjects rom the Athenian Agora Excavations inAthens, Greece, as well as on a collection o Aricanknives in the Royal Museum or Central Arica inervuren, Belgium.
LAUREN HORELICK Lauren spent the summerworking the tomb o the Last Phrygian KingMidas and reconstructing ancient iron,bronze,and ceramic vessels at the Gordion Excava-tion Project in urkey. During the later part o the
summer she treating several Sri Lankan dancemasks at the Field Museum in Chicago, Il. Currentprojects include an investigation into ethnographicmanuacturing techniques o Haitian Vodoucharms and their long-term care in museumcollections.
JIAFANG LIANG Last summer Jiaang workedon Chinese wall paintings at the Freer Gallery oArts, as well as did on-site conservation at theLiangdaicun Archaeological Site (Zhou Dynasty) inXian, China.
LINDA LIN Linda examined and treated aMassim canoe model at the de Young Museum oSan Francisco during her summer internship. Shethen spent the second hal o her summer in Xi-anChina working at the Shaanxi ArchaeologicalInstitute.
SUZANNE MORRIS Suzanne participated inthe arapaca Valley excavation in the AtacamaDesert in northern Chile where she worked withhuman remains and identified storage problems o
composite materials. She then interned at theConservation Center o the Buffalo Bill HistoricMuseum in Cody, Wyoming where she worked onobjects in the museums collection.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE INTERDEPARTMEN-TAL ARCHAEOLOGY GRADUATE PROGRAM OR THE UCLA/GETTY MASTERS PROGRAM IN THE CONSERVATION OFARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS,PLEASE VISIT US ON THE WEB ATWWW.IOA.UCLA.EDU.
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Institute News & Events
BY RAN BOYTNER
CREATION OF THEUCLA ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD PROGRAM
UNTIL RECENTLY,UCLA archaeology fieldschools were run independently o one another andwith limited success. Between 2000 and 2007, UCLAestablished ewer than three field schools yearly. Inearly 2007, however, a new initiative at the CotsenInstitute took shape, and an attempt to reshapehow students experience fieldwork in archaeologywas launched. Influenced by longtime beneactorLloyd Cotsens suggestion to transorm the wayarchaeology is practiced in the twenty-first centuryand by a desire to make field schools intensive and
lie-changing learning environments, the UCLAArchaeology Field Program (AFP) was created.
Building on innovative pedagogy and training atUCLA projects in Chile, Ecuador, and Panama, theAFP attempted to create shared standards or stu-dent field training, consolidation o resources, andan expanded range o field school offerings. In 2007,UCLA sent 25 students to its three field schools.For 2008, we thought we could at least triple thenumber o students and significantly increase thenumber o field schools. As this article is written,the last 2008 program (in Egypt) is wrapping up
its work and the success o the AFP ar surpassesanything imagined.
During 2008, the AFP included 13 field schoolsin 11 countries around the world. All o the pro-grams were filled to capacity, and almost 140 stu-dents spent five to six weeks (program dependent)engaging in intensive field research and training.We insisted on a low aculty/student ratio, with noprogram having more than seven students or eachstaff member. In many programs, the ratio wascloser to 1:3. Our students worked in our conti-
nents, rom Egypt in the east to Peru in the west.Visits to field schools by AFP and Cotsen Institutestaff yielded enthusiastic responses by participat-ing students, and evaluation orms emphasized theintensive learning that took place.
Some o the statistics are quite impressive. Morethan 51 UCLA students participated in the pro-gram. O the remaining students, some were romother UC campuses and about 40% were rom 48different universities across the US, including someo the most prestigious schools in the country (suchas the University o Chicago and Columbia Uni-
Excavations at San Ber-
nardino National Forest,
California.
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WITH BREATHTAKING VIEWSo the Acropolisand a 360-degree panorama o modern and historicAthens, the New Acropolis Museum was designedby world acclaimed architect Bernard schumi tohouse the wealth o recovered antiquities on theAcropolis and reuniy the surviving pieces o theunique architectural sculptures o the Parthenon.o celebrate the construction o this new museum,the Consulate General o Greece in Los Angeles,the Cotsen Institute o Archaeology, and the UCLAClassics Department cosponsored a public lectureand photo exhibition at the Fowler Building in
May o 2008. Te staff o the Cotsen Institute col-laborated with D. Caramitsos-ziras (then-ConsulGeneral o Greece) and John K. Papadopoulos(Proessor and ormer Chair o Classics) to developan exhibition space or more than a dozen incred-ible large-scale photos o the new museum duringits construction.
Te photos were on display at the Cotsen Insti-tute on the A level o the Fowler Building rom lateApril through mid May and received many visitorsduring that time. On May 5, 2008, at least 200 visi-tors rom the Los Angeles Greek community and
archaeology enthusiasts viewed the photo exhibi-tion and attended the public lecture in the LenartAuditorium. Guest speakers or this event includedProessor Dimitrios Pandermalis, President othe Organization or the Construction o the NewAcropolis Museum, with opening remarks by bothCaramitsos-ziras and Papadopoulos.
Architect Bernard schumi was scheduled tolecture with Pandermalis, but remained in Europedue to a scheduling conflict. Following the lecture,guests remained or a reception and had an oppor-tunity to talk with the speakers and mingle in theamphitheater o the Fowler building. As the New
Acropolis Museum is not scheduled to open untilearly 2009, the photo exhibition and lecture at theCotsen Institute provided the public with an excit-ing behind-the-scenes preview o the constructionphases o the spaces and collections.
BY ELIZABETH KLARICH
ANCIENT TREASURES IN MODERN SPACES:THE NEW ACROPOLIS MUSEUM
ELIZABETH KLARICH IS ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE COT-SEN INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY. FOR MORE INFORMA-TION ABOUT COTSEN INSTITUTE EVENTS, PLEASE VISITWWW.IOA.UCLA.EDU/NEWS-EVENTS.
Institute News & Events
Photos courtesy of the Organization for the
Construction of the New Acropolis Museum.
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News Brief
BY RICHARD LESURE
CONFERENCE ON SOCONUSCO REGION(MEXICO) HELD AT THE COTSEN INSTITUTE
IN FEBRUARY o 2008, the Cotsen Institute oArchaeology hosted a research seminar on theearly archaeology o the Soconusco region onthe Pacific Coast o Mexico and Guatemala. Teimpetus or the conerence was recent work on thetransition to settled village lie in lowlandMeso-america that has undermined traditional under-
standings based on highlandregions. Tere turnsout to have been variability rom region to regionin hunter-gatherer adaptations, the importance omaize, and social change in the earliest vil lages. Iwe are to advance understanding o the transitionto agriculture and its consequences in Mesoamer-ica generally, we require concentrated specializedwork on particular areas.
Archaeological work in the Soconusco re-gion has played a significant role in the growingrecognition o differences between lowlands and
highlands. Te UCLA seminar brought togetherarchaeologists actively working on materials romthe period o transition (4000400 B.C.) betweennomadic hunter-gatherers and settled village soci-eties. An international group o participants romthe United States, Mexico, and Canada pre-circu-lated data-rich papers that ranged in topic rom the
role o gender in ood collection to the emergenceo the areas first proto-urban centers. Te papersserved as the basis o two days o stimulatingdiscussions. Te results will be published by theCotsen Institute o Archaeology Press.
RICHARD LESURE IS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF
ANTHROPOLOGY AT UCLA.
A BEHIND-THE-SCENES TOUR OFUCLA ARCHAEOLOGY COLLECTIONSBY ELIZABETH KLARICH
THE FOWLER MUSEUM AT UCLAhas an ar-chaeological repository o more than 600,000 arti-acts acquired during research conducted by UCLAaculty, staff, and other proessional archaeologists.What most people do not realize is that the vastmajority o collections are curated at the recentlyrenovated Kinross Building in Westwood Village.In early June o 2008, the Friends o Archaeology(FoA) had the opportunity to spend a Saturdayaernoon touring the Fowler Museum Archaeol-ogy Collections Facility at Kinross. For this specialtour, Wendy eeter, Curator o Archaeology at the
Fowler Museum and Research Associate o theCotsen Institute, and several volunteers spent theiraernoon showing the 25 guests and Cotsen Insti-tute staff members the research collections stored atthe acility.
Te group visited the permanent storage areas,which house collections rom regions as diverse asCaliornia, the American Southwest, many areas
o Mexico, and Sudan. Several collections werealso on display to illustrate active research proj-ects taking place at Kinross. For example, several
volunteers working on materials rom the RainbowBridge Monument Valley Expedition (19331938)showed FoA members the artiact catalogs, excava-tion notes, photographs, maps, and archaeologicalcollections rom this historically significant projectrom the American Southwest.
Many members o the group commented thatthey had no idea such collections existed on theUCLA campus and expressed interest in getting
involved in their curation and related researchprojects. Te Cotsen Institute would like to thankeeter and the many volunteers that aernoon ortaking the time to share these rich archaeologicalresources with our supporters o archaeology atUCLA. For inormation about joining FoA, visit usonline at www.ioa.ucla.edu/support/foa.
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ALWAYS A SUCCESS: THE ANNUALOPEN HOUSE AT THE COTSEN INSTITUTE
Institute News & Events
BY HELLE GIREY
BY NOW the many visitors to the Cotsen Insti-tute o Archaeology know what to expect rom theannual Open House held in May. Te laboratoriesproudly exhibit the new inormation that has beengathered since the last Open House, short publiclectures are presented in the Lenart Auditorium,the Experiential echnologies Center presents in-teractive Virtual Reality models, and children havea chance to try their hand at producing art workon archaeological topics in the Childrens Activ-ity Centersuch as orming clay figures o EasterIslands wonderul statues, the moai. Last year, chil-
dren could also get temporary tattoos inspired bydesigns o the Polynesian Islands and color pictureso Easter Island.
Te importance o the Cotsen Institute OpenHouse is maniold, but its main purpose is toinorm the public about archaeologywhat reallyhappens to the materials rom excavations and whatinormation can be gleaned rom these data. Schoolchildren can learn about the excitement o archae-ology and in many cases learn about the historieso their own cultures. Tis is also a wonderul timeto encourage undergraduate students rom Los An-
geles schools to continue their study o archaeologyand to apply to UCLA.A number o aculty at nearby institutions who
are UCLA alumniincluding Dr. Laurel Breece o
Long Beach City College; Dr. Bill Breece o OrangeCoast College; Dr. Brandon Lewis o Santa MonicaCollege; Dr. Mark Allen o Caliornia State Univer-sity, Pomona; and Dr. Phil De Barros o PalomarCommunity Collegebring their students to theOpen House in order to expose them to the wealtho research topics in the discipline and to meetCotsen Institute aculty. Te ollowing laboratorieswere open to the public this year:
Anatolian Laboratory
Ceramics Analysis Research Group
Channel Islands Laboratory Chilean Research Laboratory
Classics Laboratory Conservation Laboratory
East Asia Laboratory Egyptian Laboratory
European Laboratory Mediterranean Laboratory Moche Archive
Rock Art Archive South Asian Laboratory
Southwest Archaeology Laboratory Virtual Reality Display
Zooarchaeology Laboratory
HELLE GIREY IS DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS
AT THE COTSEN INSTITUTE.
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Awards & Acknowledgements
MR. LLOYD COTSEN RECEIVESTHE PRESTIGIOUS UCLA MEDALBY SHAUNA K. MECARTEA
IN MAY OF 2008, Mr. Lloyd Cotsen was awardedthe UCLA Medalthe universitys highest honorin recognition o his leadership in the field o ar-chaeology. As one o our recipients, Cotsen, ormerchair and CEO o Neutrogena Corporation andcurrent president o the Cotsen Management Cor-poration, received his medal on May 27 at a specialceremony at the UCLA Chancellors Residence.
Cotsen, who has been supporting archaeology atUCLA or more than 40 years, began by donatingin 1996 to the Institute o Archaeologys Friends
o Archaeology aer joining several field tripssponsored by the group. In 1999, the Institute wasrenamed in honor o Cotsen or his contributions,which included a $7 million gi in support o ac-ulty, students, publications, laboratories, academicprograms, and public outreach. In 2006, he donatedan additional $10 million to the Cotsen Instituteo Archaeology to support graduate ellowships,undergraduate research, publications, and a fieldprize. Cotsens generosity has established him as thelargest individual donor in the history o UCLAsCollege o Letters and Science.
Cotsen is also president o the Cotsen Fam-ily Foundation and has served on the boards onumerous educational and cultural organizations,including the Huntington Library, the Getty rust,the Los Angeles County Museum o Art, the LosAngeles Public Library, and the Music Center oLos Angeles County.
A graduate o Princeton University and HarvardBusiness School, Cotsen worked in Greece as a fieldarchitect on archaeological digs or the Universityo Cincinnati and the American School o Classi-
cal Studies at Athens or more than 20 seasons. Heis also a ellow o the American School o ClassicalStudies and a premier collector o olk art romaround the globe. Te Cotsen Institute aculty, stu-dents, staff, and affiliates congratulate Mr. Cotsenon this major award rom UCLA.
SHAUNA MECARTEA IS DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS AND
COMMUNICATIONS.
Lloyd and Margit Cotsen
at the Chancellors Resi-
dence during the award
ceremony. Photo by Kari
Wilton.
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Awards & Acknowledgements
CHRISTOPHER B. DONNAN:A TREASURE OF THE COTSEN INSTITUTEBY ELIZABETH KLARICH AND SHAUNA K. MECARTEA
CHRISTOPHER B. DONNANShistory at UCLAgoes back to 1960, when he first worked as a FieldAssistant with the Archaeological Survey whilecompleting his bachelors degree at the Universityo Caliornia, Berkeley (1962) and 48 years later wecelebrate his outstanding career and service at hisretirement. Aer his undergraduate experience,Donnan continued his UCLA education, receiv-ing his masters degree in Anthropology (1965).He then returned to Berkeley, where he completedhis doctorate in 1968. Tat same year, he movedback to Los Angeles to begin a aculty position in
the Department o Anthropology and we are nowcelebrating his ortieth year at UCLA.
During his UCLA career, Donnan has servedas Acting Director o the Archaeological Survey(19711975), Director o the Fowler Museum (19751996), Director o the Moche Archive at the CotsenInstitute, and Chair o the Cotsen Institute Execu-tive Committee. His classes in Andean prehistoryhave always drawn huge numbers o undergraduateand graduate students, as do his public presenta-tions. Donnan is a dedicated mentor to generationso students, a consummate collaborator, and an
integral part o the Anthropology Department andthe Cotsen Institute at UCLA.
Research
Donnan is best known or his work in Peru, wherehe has dedicated his career to the study o theMoche culture o the north coast through archaeo-logical fieldwork, collections research, and thou-sands o hours o material analysis. Donnan hasspent many years living and directing field projectsin Peru at such well-known sites as Chan Chan,Chotuna-Chornancap, Pacatnam, Sipn, San Jos
de Moro, and Dos Cabezas.Although he has ocused primarily on iconogra-
phy and the rich history o pottery production in theAndes, Donnan has also published on stone tools,murals, numbering systems, metallurgy, architec-ture, burial traditions, and many other elements oAndean prehistory. In recognition o his contribu-tions to Peruvian archaeology, Donnan was awardedthe Great Cross of the Order of Merit for Distin-
guished Servicesby the President o Peru in 1995.
Grants and Awards
Donnan has received research grants and awardsrom numerous national and international agen-cies, including Fulbright, Ford Foundation, National Science Foundation, Kress Foundation, NationalGeographic Society, and National Endowment orthe Arts. He has served as an Advisory CommitteeMember at the Center or Pre-Columbian Studies aDumbarton Oaks (19761983), Senior Research Fellow at the Getty Institute or the Study o Art andthe Humanities (19961997), University Lecturer a
UCLA (2003), and Distinguished Lecturer in Art othe Ancient Americas at Johns Hopkins Universityand the Walters Art Museum (2005). In 2005, Don-nan was elected to membership in the AmericanAcademy o Arts and Sciencesone o the mostprestigious awards honoring excellence in academidisciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs ormore than 225 years.
Museum Exhibitionsand Documentaries
In addition to serving as Director o the FowlerMuseum or more than 20 years, Donnan hascurated a number o museum exhibitions:Moche
Art of Peru(19771978), Ceramics of Ancient Peru(1992), and Royal ombs of Sipn(1993). Tesehave all been very well attended in a number omuseums beyond UCLA. He has also brought hisresearch to the public through participation in theproduction o documentary films such asMoche
Art of Peru(19741975).
Publications
Donnan has published well over 100 articles andbooks or both academic audiences and the public,including recent volumes published by the CotsenInstitute o Archaeology Press:Moche FinelinePainting from San Jos de MoroandMoche ombsat Dos Cabezas. Donnan plans on continuing re-search in the Moche Archive at the Cotsen Insti-tute and we look orward to his involvement as atreasured Emeritus Proessor.
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CHRISTOPHER DONNAN RECEIVES TROWELAWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICEBY HELLE GIREY
ON MAY 10 2008,Cotsen Institute o Archaeol-ogy Director Charles Stanish presented ChristopherB. Donnan with the rowel Awardan awardor outstanding service to the Instituteor hislongtime dedication to and involvement in archae-ology at UCLA. Donnan, now Proessor Emerituso Anthropology since his recent retirement, is theoremost authority on the Moche civilization oPeru and is ondly nicknamed Mr. Moche. Heis also known as the archaeologist with a goldentrowel because wherever he excavates surely somemagical artiacts, interpretation, and inormation
will emerge!Tis golden touch also brought a new museum
acility to UCLA: the Fowler Museum o CulturalHistory (now named the Fowler Museum at UCLA).For many years, archaeological and ethnographiccollections were housed in the basement o HainesHall. In 1992, under the directorship o Donnan,a new museum building was opened or the manywonderul UCLA collections and temporary exhib-its. In 1993, the extraordinary excavation directedby Walter Alva and Donnan at Sipn in 1987 culmi-nated in the Royal ombs of Sipnexhibition, which
made its U.S. debut at the Fowler Museum.
Sipn, located on the north coast o Peru andboasting numerous tombs, is considered the rich-est site ever excavated in the western hemisphere.It was a truly exhilarating time at the FowlerMuseum and the Cotsen Institute as entry linessnaked around the building at times. One Sundayaernoon during the exhibit, twice the number opeople that could fit into Lenart Auditorium ar-rived or the Institute Public Lecture by Donnan.Wine and cheese were served to the people wait-ing patiently or the impromptu second presenta-tion provided by Donnan while lecture organizers
scrambled to provide are or the other audiencegroup. Since that time, the Cotsen Institute knowsthat any lecture by Donnan will fill the auditoriumwith the public and scholars alike. Donnan servedas the Fowler Museums director until 1996.
For the Cotsen Institute, Chris Donnan has beenActing Director, teacher, researcher, and riend. Hisavorite sentence is: We are on the same team!Tere are ew scholars who bring together anthro-pology, archaeology, and the magic o discoverylike Chris Donnan.
Christopher Donnan and
Helle Girey at the trowel
award reception, 2008.
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GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARDCREATED IN HONOR OF LONGTIME VOLUNTEER
STAFF ACHIEVEMENTS
BY ELIZABETH KLARICH
BY ELIZABETH KLARICH
THE COTSEN INSTITUTElost a long-time supporter and ormer President othe Friends o Archaeology (FoA) whenMichael Gottesman passed away in Janu-ary o 2008 at the age o 69. Mike wasborn and raised in Los Angeles, receivinghis B.A. in Economics rom UCLA andhis M.S. rom Pierce College in InventoryManagement. During his undergraduateyears at UCLA, he was in Navy ROC.Aer leaving the Navy, he spent his
career working in the aerospace industry,where he also met his wie Sonia. Mikesinvolvement with archaeology began inthe 1980s, when he started taking classesrom UCLA Extension, studying withaculty such as Clem Meighan. He earnedan Archaeology Certificate by writing athesis on obsidian hydration studies.
Aer retiring rom Hughes AircraCompany in 1993, Mike and Sonia be-
came very active with the FoAreported-ly being draed by the group during aprecolumbian potluck dinner. In additionto their many hours o volunteer workat the Institute, the Gottesmans openedtheir home to many UCLA archaeologists,providing a surrogate amily or graduatestudents and a meeting place or the FoAor many years.
In Mikes memory, Sonia and severalmembers o the FoA began a new und
or graduate student support. TeMi-chael Gottesman Graduate Student ravel
Awardis available to archaeology graduatestudents attending academic conerences,which will contribute significantly to theirproessional development. Te CotsenInstitute acknowledges this generousgi and thanks the Gottesmans or theirmany years o service and riendship toarchaeology at UCLA.
Awards & Acknowledgements
It has been an exciting year or the staffo the Cotsen Institute. Te ollowing areamong the highlights.
ERIC GARDNER,Publications Coordi-nator, received a UCLA Staff ScholarshipAward in recognition o continuingcommitment to proessional development
and career growth. Te award provides$500 to the recipient or training. Eric willuse these unds or a design class at UCLAExtension.
ELIZABETH KLARICH, AssistantDirector, was awarded an InternationalCollaborative Research Grant rom theWenner-Gren Foundation to continue herarchaeological research in Peru.
LAURA LLIGUIN, Administrative As-sistant, has been busy undraising orMultiple Sclerosis research. She and herboyriend, Erain Gutierrez, participatedin the Land Rover Bike MS our in October, raising more than $2,200 or theNational MS Society, Pacific South CoastChapter.
SHAUNA K. MECARTEA, Directoro the Cotsen Institute o ArchaeologyPress, was selected to be a participantin the Proessional Development Pro-gram, a one-year leadership developmentprogram sponsored by Campus HumanResources. Tis program provides par-ticipants with opportunities to enhanceproessional and management skills, buildproessional networks, and learn about thstructure and culture o the university.
Michael Gottesman
Laura Lliguin and Efrain Gutierrez
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STORAGE: PRESERVATION AND ACCESSOF ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS
Cotsen Institute Symposium
BY ELLEN PEARLSTEIN
THE COTSEN INSTITUTEand UCLA/Getty Mas-ters Program in Archaeological and EthnographicConservation hosted a symposium on June 682008 titled Storage: Preservation and Access of Ar-chaeological Collections, which explored issues sur-rounding the creation o stable, accessible storage oportable finds rom excavations. Te worldwide im-portance o this topic was indicated by attendanceby 175 delegates rom Canada, England, Greece,New Caledonia, Peru, urkey, and the United ArabEmiratesas well as rom all over the United States.Te presence o archaeologists, conservators, col-
lections managers, archivists, bioanthropologists,cultural resource managers, digital documentationspecialists, and imaging scientists demonstrates theinterdisciplinarity o the topic.
Te program began with a reception hostedby the Getty Conservation Institute at the GettyVilla, with tours o UCLA/Getty Masters ProgramLaboratories. Te symposium included 19 presenta-tions delivered by directors o centralized storagerepositories or archaeological collections, archaeo-logical conservators who have achieved innovativeand accessible storage methods, and archaeologists
who have developed digital management systemsor portable finds. Te challenges and successes onegotiating within host countries or resources,examples o successul onsite storage, digital man-agement, and virtual collections and 3D scanning astools or outreach, research, and conservation weredescribed by the speakers.
Evaluated as a resounding success, the proceed-ings will be published as an open-access digitalpublication in early 2010. Te symposium and pub-lication were unded by a generous grant rom theNational Endowment or the Humanities.
ELLEN PEARLSTEIN IS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF INFOR-MATION STUDIES AT UCLA AND FACULTY MEMBER OF THE
UCLA/GETTY MASTERS PROGRAM IN THE CONSERVATIONOF ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS.
Top: Pearlstein at podium during opening of symposium.
Bottom: Symposium audience during one of the breaks.
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Field Notes
Fieldwork in the
Gordion Region, TurkeyTis past summer I continued my doctoral dis-
sertation fieldwork at the site o Gordion in central
urkey. One o my goals was to determine what types
o trees grow at various elevations on mountains in
the Gordion region. So, I rented a car, gathered some
adventurous colleagues, and attempted to drive up a
mountain on dirt roads in a 1980s Fiat. In our most
memorable attempt at the peak o Bayurt epesi,
which reaches a height o 2,280 m above sea level, we
got stuck on our first attempt while trying to pushthe car up a nearly 30-degree slope. We backtracked
out o the mountain chain and attempted another
ascentthis time successully reaching the top o the
mountain above 1,900 meters, where we discovered
the picturesque alpine lake shown here (le). Tis
was well above the tree line, and our first sample o
alpine vegetation in central urkey.
Mac Marston, Ph.D. Candidate,
Archaeology
GPR Surveys at the GenghisKhan Avraga PalaceDean Goodman o the Geophysical Archaeometry
Laboratory (www.GPR-Survey.com) has conducted
ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys at the
Genghis Khan Avraga Palace site in Eastern Mongo-
lia. Te research was done in conjunction with the
Center or Iron Age Studies o Ehime University;
Niigata University, Japan; and the Mongolia Academy
o Science. Te purpose o the survey was to help
locate subsurace structures rom one o the palacesites o Genghis Khan. GPR was able to locate subter-
ranean house floors paved with flat stones that also
had externally connected fire pits. Te house floors
were ingeniously designed or allowing hot air to rise
under these thirteenth-century dwellings or heating
in severe Mongolian winters.
Subsurace images made with GPR-SLICE soware
indicate that areas outside the excavation show
similar patterns, whereby wall structures could be
identified. Archaeologists have been able to extrapo-
late the presence o a number o similar dwellings
located in the immediate vicinity o the 2008 excava-
tions. GPR imaging was also able to help locate a
sacrificial area where many animal bones were ound.
Tis location may correspond with an area describedin written Chinese documents, discussing the daily
sacrificial burnings Genghis Khans wie ordered to
occur each day or an entire year aer his death. Ad-
ditional chemical dating, GPR surveys, and ollow-up
excavations are planned or 2009.
Dean Goodman, Research Associate,
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
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P
RO
FILES
DEATH AND ART INEGYPTIAN ANTIQUITY
SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONIN ANCIENT (AND NOT SOANCIENT) CHINA
TRACKING THE ORIGINSOF AGRICULTURE ALONGTHE RED SEA
INVESTIGATINGCALIFORNIA PREHISTORY
WITH ZOOARCHAEOLOGY
INTERVIEW WITH KARA COONEY
INTERVIEW WITH LI MIN
INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL HARROWER
INTERVIEW WITH JUDY PORCASI
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21
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Faculty Profile
NEW EGYPTOLOGIST DISCUSSESLOVE OF DEATH AND ART
You received your Ph.D. in Near Eastern Stud-
ies from Johns Hopkins University in 2002,
and your research focuses on Egyptian art and
archaeology. How did you become interested
in ancient Egyptian culture and art?
Ever since I can remember, Ive wanted to learnall I could about ancient civilizationsand orwhatever reason ancient Egyptian material culturealways resonated with me. I remember when I wassix or seven years old, my mother bought me a bookon Egyptian mummies rom the British Museum
and I just adored staring at all those ghoulish deadbodies, coffins, canopic jars, and books o the dead.Little did my mother know that I would become aspecialist in unerary arts.
Even though I was enthusiastic about ancientcivilizations at a very young age, I didnt have muchopportunity to study ancient Egypt in high schoolor as an undergraduate. Not many people do. Itwasnt until my junior year o college that I had thechance to take a class in Egyptian art. I just loved it,and it was then that I started to look into gradu-
An Interview with Kara CooneyBY SHAUNA K. MECARTEA
ate opportunities. Until then, it hadnt seriouslyoccurred to me that I could study Egyptian art andcivilization as a proession.
You were Co-curator at the Los Angeles Coun
ty Museum of Art (LACMA) for Tutankhamun
and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, a Kress
fellow at the National Gallery of Art, and have
appeared as the team archaeology expert on
the History Channels Digging for the Truth.
With many interesting and diverse achieve-
ments under your belt, what do you think has
been the most compelling so farand why?
A Kress ellowship and an NSF dissertation awardwere invaluable, allowing me to travel all overthe world to study the primary evidence or mydoctoral research (mostly examining coffins andostraca in European museums and in Egypt). TeKress ellowship also unded me or a second year,during which I wrote the bulk o my thesis. TeNational Gallery o Art in Washington, D.C., wasa supportive and diverse environment that encour-
aged and reinorced the multidisciplinary style oresearch that I had been taught at Johns Hopkins.Im tremendously proud o my book Te Cost of
Death, which is an extension o the work I did whilat the National Gallerybut I have to admit that itis a very academic book with a limited, Egyptologi-cal audience. On the opposite end o the spectrum,co-curating the King ut exhibition with NancyTomas at LACMA was a great opportunity towork on a much more accessible project and to talkwith and lecture to a much broader audience. Plus,it gave me the chance to work closely with someamazing objects and to learn about the complicated
world o blockbuster museum exhibits.While teaching may be my most compelling
pursuit (whether its a graduate class on readinghieroglyphs or an undergrad survey o the ancientMediterranean), i I had to name my most unex-pected project thus ar it would be the televisionseries Im currently writing, producing, and hostingor the Discovery Channel. (In act, as I type thisIm on a plane flying to Sri Lanka rom Cambo-diawhere we just shot part o the show in ancientAngkor.) Te series is called Out of Egypt, and myhusband, Neil Craword (whos a filmmaker), creat-ed the show with me and is an executive producer.
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While teaching may be my most
compelling pursuit (whether its a
graduate class on reading hiero-
glyphs or an undergrad survey of
the ancient Mediterranean), if I
had to name my most unexpected
project thus far, it would be the
television seriesIm currently writ-
ing, producing, and hosting right
now for the Discovery Channel.
Because its a comparative archaeology series, Ivebeen given the extraordinary opportunity to stepoutside o Egyptologyand out o my own comortzoneto learn about ancient and modern civiliza-tions all over the world.
elevision is easily dismissed by some academ-ics, but as an Egyptologist Ive learned that thismedium is an important opportunity to commu-
nicate to the public. And it gives me the chance to(inormally) apply and test some o my ideas aboutancient Egypt on other cultures as disconnected asVietnamese Buddhists and the Moche culture inPeru. Tis kind o broad, comparative examinationisnt necessarily well suited or an academic peer-reviewed journal or a university press monograph,but the medium o television welcomes (and evendemands) telling an accessible story in which I stepout into the unknownand out o my own area oexpertise.
Your previous position was at the Getty Re-
search Institute (GRI) as Research Associate.What projects did you focus on during your
tenure there?
At the GRI, I ran the Villa Scholars Program. I readhundreds o applications and sat on a number odecision committees. I also ran the annual disser-tation workshop at the Getty Centera three-dayseminar or graduate students in the writing stageso art historical dissertations. One o the highlightso my time at the Getty Villa was working closelywith Dr. Erich Gruen, implementing his scholaryear ocusing on cultural identity in the ancient
Mediterranean. I was the only Egyptologist at theGetty Villa, which brought a unique perspective toa place that traditionally ocuses on Greco-Romancivilizations. Not only did I learn a great deal aboutother parts o the Mediterranean but many Gettycolleagues and research ellows had the chance tolearn about ancient Egypt rom me. And I madesome lielong riends. And thankully, because Iwas at the Research Institute, my own academicwriting was a part o my job. I finished my bookTe Cost of Deaththere.
As a new faculty member in the Departmentof Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, what
are some of your upcoming projects?
Im knee deep into my second book, Te Lifeand Death of a Coffin: How and Why the AncientEgyptians Spent So Much on Teir Funerary Arts,which will reach out to a larger audience than myfirst book. Most o the manuscript is finished, but itstill needs polishing. Tis book will reach out to asmany people as possible: ellow academics, stu-dents, archaeologists in other fields, and the generalpublic with an interest in Egyptology. Tere are so
Opposite page: Kara standing
in front of a queens pyramid on
the Giza Plateau, Egypt.
Right: Kara in the temple of
Medinet Habu, the mortuary
complex of Ramses III, west
bank of Luxor, Egypt.
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Kara at a Coptic period cemetery near
Karanis, Fayum.
many people out there with such enthusi-asm or the ancient world, and or ancientEgypt in particular.
Im also actively researching anotherbook project on spending or death in an-cient Egypt during a well-known econom-ic and political downturnthe late NewKingdom and the so-called Tird Inter-mediate period. Im very interested in theways that economic recession and politicalinsecurity affect the manner in whichpeople prepare or something as culturally
conservative as uneral rituals and burial.And Ive got some amazing evidence withwhich to work, including tombs, coffins,mummies, and even receipts and lettersthat suggest less ostentatious and moredeensive patterns o burial during thisspecific time period.
Finally, Im working on a number oarticles, including at least three submis-sions or the UCLA Encyclopedia ofEgyptology(UEE)a groundbreakingonline resource (edited by my colleagues
Willeke Wendrich, Associate Proessoro Near Eastern Languages and Cultures,
and Jacco Dieleman, Associate Proessoro Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)that will make academic Egyptologicalinormation accessible to the entire world,not just specialist libraries. Ive just sub-mitted a UEE article on scarabs, and Imrewriting another on burial deposits. Nextup is an article on a little-known buildingin the Karnak complex that Ive studiedquite a lot, called the Edifice o aharka.
How do you think ancient art informs
specialists about ancient cultures?
I one defines ancient art quite broadly,then there is no question that it canprovide a more complete picture o acivilization. Its likely that less than fivepercent o ancient Egyptians were literate,so to learn about the bulk o the popula-tion we have to turn to non-textual, visualsources. Some o this material culture iswell made by high-level crasmen. Otherexamples were produced by lower-tier and
poorly paid individuals. Tese value andquality differences are very inormativeabout the makeup o ancient Egyptiansociety.
A broader perspective o art in theancient world brings up two disciplinaryproblems. First, many art historians donot consider lower-quality visual cultureto be art. And second, there has longbeen a schism in Egyptology (as in justabout every other field o ancient studies)between those who study texts and thosewho study objects. Obviously, this divide
is arbitrary and based on our moderndisciplinary divisions and methods oorganizing data. My work seeks to addressthese divisions, on the one hand, by inte-grating both text and art in my researchprojectsand on the other by includingobjects in my data sets that might not beconsidered fine art by some specialists.
You are interested in the cost of
death (which is the title of your first
book). Can your research in ancient
Egypt lend insight into the funerary
practices of today?
I just read a book called Te Undertakingby John Lynch, a poet and undertaker inthe northeast U.S. Its a beautiul book,and it just reinorced that Americanunerary practices are undamentally
different rom the ancient Egyptians.Where the elite Egyptians were aggressiveand systematic in giving the dead all thatthey needed or a successul transition tothe next world, we put off preparationsmoving orward in our arrangements in atentative and even embarrassed ashion.
Te Egyptians were so obsessed withgetting the necessary unerary materialsor their dead, like coffins and amulets,that they oen usurped objects that hadbeen made or others. And we shouldnt
orget that the purchasing o uneraryobjects ar in advance o death probablyallowed psychological preparation orthe Egyptian amily as well. Americanunerals ocus much less on the material-ity o death and more about denial o it.In act, the more I study the ways that theEgyptians spent tremendous amounts otheir income on preparations or death thmore appropriate the analogy o a modernAmerican wedding becomes. Both theEgyptian uneral and the Americanwedding involve a tremendous amount
o money spent or one moment o ritualdisplaya display that can instantaneously communicate status level, spendingabilities, gender, and even geographic andcultural identities.
KARA COONEY IS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN
THE DEPARTMENT OF NEAR EASTERN LAN-GUAGES AND CULTURES. SHE BEGAN TEACH-ING AT UCLA IN JANUARY.
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Faculty Profile
FROM NUMISMATICS TOCHINESE ARCHAEOLOGYAn Interview with Li MinBY ERIC C. GARDNER
How did you first become interested
in archaeology?
Archaeology was not an adulthood intellectualrevelation or me. Having grown up in a smallcoastal city in China, I had become interested inhistory and archaeology in my childhood. Aer thetraumatic experience o the Cultural Revolution,the early 1980s was a time o optimism and imagi-nation. Tere was a great desire among intellectualsto inspire the next generation. Archaeologists suchas ong Enzheng wrote science-fiction novels with
archaeological themes, which captivated youngreaders like mysel.
Tere was no public archaeology programavailable at the time to help the public. Te cityscience education committee kindly took on theresponsibility and invited a well-respected historyteacher rom a local middle school to coach me. Iwould visit him aer school on a weekly basis aermy classes at the elementary school or a conversa-tion in history. Tis volunteer intellectual supportwas provided to me on the basis o my interest, orwhich I am deeply grateul.
With the help o local engineers, I went to thecopper oundry to compile a research collection
o bronze coins and objects rom scrap metal beorethey were melted down. I started to publish myworks on coins in China Numismatics when I was12. I still care very much about the development onumismatics. When I heard John Papadopoulos,UCLA Proessor o Classics, deliver a great talkon Greek coinage at Michigan many years ago, Ithought it had the potential to transorm our field.Although I developed broad intellectual interestsin the ollowing years, the appeal o archaeologywhich allows you to have a conversation with thepast through its actual remnantsnever lost its
hold on me.Tere is the question o studying Chinese ar-
chaeology abroad. Te motivation comes rom theappeal o anthropology. When I was in high school,I met a young local archaeologist who attendedK. C. Changs lecture series on anthropologicalarchaeology at Peking University. I was ascinatedby Changs ingenuity in approaching early Chinain the broader context o early civilization and pasthuman experiences. I aspired to study abroad andwent to Canada or my B.A. and M.A. in Anthro-pology, and completed my Ph.D. at the University
o Michigan. Te program in anthropologicalarchaeology at Michigan provided me with trainingon the emergence o states and early civilizationsin a comparative ramework. Faculty membersthere were keen to provide hands-on training andassistance or graduate students. Faculty membersHenry Wright and Richard Redding participatedin the fieldwork and contributed their expertise inarchaeological science.
Tell us a bit about your own research. What
areas or methods have you focused on in your
work? What is it that attracts you to them?
My dissertation research (Conquest, Concord,and Consumption: Becoming Shang in EasternChina) investigates the ways aspects o symbolic,social, and natural worlds converged in humaninteractions with animalsparticularly in therealms o ood and religious communicationon the rontiers o Shang civilization in the latesecond millennium B.C. Te research consisted oexcavation at the Bronze Age site o Daxinzhuangand zooarchaeological analysis o the excavatedmaterial rom the site.
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The attraction of archaeology
is its ability to uncover diverse
human experience through min-
ute observations of contextual
remains from the distant past.
The reward of being a detective
of past societies is the potential
to bring the past alive and reveal
the genealogy of our own ideas.
Now that you are part of the faculty at UCLA,
what upcoming projects are you planning?
My orthcoming project will be a regional surveyo the Quu region in the Wen-Si River Basin oSouthern Shandong, not ar rom where I did mydissertation fieldwork. Some o the important Chi-nese archaeological works were carried out in thisregion (or example, the excavations o Dawenkou,Wangyin, Yinjiacheng, and the Bronze Age Lu cityat Quu). A regional archaeological project wouldhelp to put everything together and address manyunresolved questions in the broad ramework osocial evolution. I elaborate on the project in my
article in this issue.
For much of Chinas recent history, society
at least officiallyhas been more interested
in the future than in the past. At times a great
emphasis was placed on making a decisive
break with old traditions and old ways of life.
How does archaeology fit into contemporary
Chinese culture (both academic and popular),
given that history of tension with the past?
When one tries to make a break with the past, it
involves investigating the past in order to say Weare so different. Tere has been a lot o archaeologydone in an evolutionary scheme in the twentiethcentury in order to demonstrate that we are in adifferent stage o society. In the 1970s, or example,prehistoric archaeologists emphasized genderinequality and wealth differences in their effortto understand changes rom an egalitarian socialstructure to one with entrenched inequalitylead-ing to social stratification and the rise o early states
In contemporary China, the image o the utureis oen represented as somewhat resembling the
Above: view from a Han
kings tomb in Qufu,
Shandong.
My major field research centers on two majorthemes. Te first is the transormation o regionalsociety in the context o early state ormation andexpansion. It involves understanding regionalsite distribution through survey, and changes ineveryday lie through excavation. Te second is thetransormation o regional society in the contexto early global trade and colonialism. It involvesstudying maritime societies and their connections,which explains my research on coastal China andsoutheast Asia.
Te questions o the two realms are not dissimi-lar. How did local conceptions and pursuit o power
figure into the workings o the larger ramework?How did the political dynamics at the local scalework through existing structures and transormthem? One adjusts the research strategy in responseto the changing scale and nature o interaction,rom interregional to global. Te attraction oarchaeology is its ability to uncover diverse humanexperience through minute observations o contex-tual remains rom the distant past. Te reward obeing a detective o past societies is the potential tobring the past alive and reveal the genealogy o ourown ideas.
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Golden Ages o Chinese society in the pastwhenthe people lived in peace and society prospered. Tepast is a potent conceptual tool or political expres-sion in making arguments about what has beenachieved or what should be achieved. Attitudestoward archaeology and traditions in contemporarysociety seem contradictory. On the one hand, the
economic development and grand constructionprojects are rapidly destroying the cultural heritageacross the countryand some local governmentsperceive cultural preservation as an obstacle to de-
velopment. On the other hand, Chinese societyatboth an intellectual and popular levelis increas-ingly ascinated by archaeology.
Recent emphasis has shied more toward thecultural history o Chinese civilization, in contrastto the early researchwhen more ocus was placedon evolutionary changes. Te current interest in thepast, however, is a double-edged swordas some
local governments are rather heavy handed in theirefforts to develop the cultural heritage or tour-ism, which could be equally destructive. Tere ismore than ever a great need or an educated publicgenuinely interested in the inquiry o past societ-ies and appreciative o the intellectual journey osuch inquiry. Tereore, archaeologists have to play
an active role in defining what type o uture liesahead or Chinese societyin that diverse ways orepresenting the past would be a major part o thatuture.
What is the most important thing the study of
the past can teach people today?
Wisdom, I would say. We make our decisions basedon past experience, whether it is personal experi-ence or the long-term experience o our societywritten in history or preserved in memory. Under-standing the past, especially through archaeology,
gives us a more nuanced understanding o humanexperience. Archaeology can help give us the wis-dom o understanding past ailures or how thingscame about. We can use it to understand the past aswell as to understand how our conceptual vocabu-laries about the past come about.
LI MIN IS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF
ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES AND THE INTERDE-PARTMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY GRADUATE PROGRAM.
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Many are coming to recognize
that our understandings of early
agriculture have been dramati-
cally shaped by a handful of
regions that have been studied
in considerable detail becausethey have the earliest evidence
of crops and domesticated ani-
mals. Some of the patterns in
surrounding areas really differ.
parts o Arica where people move quite requentlyduring the year and spend two or three months inone area raising crops (or instance, sorghum) andmove with their animals toa different area in differenttimes o yearreturningcyclically rather than stayingin one place. Sedentism wasthought to be necessary oragriculture based on findingsin the Levant, and we justdont see that in other areas.
Te other thing that reallyis quite striking is that agri-culture really appears quitelate in the Horn o Arica andsouthern Arabia comparedto these other regions. Itsnot that people wouldnt havebeen aware o the opportu-nities (they were in contactwith peoples in other regions and knew that theirneighbors were sustained by more than just huntedanimals and gathered plants, that they had thesedifferent lieways), but they, probably or a range o
different reasons, chose not to adopt agriculture oran extended period o timeso thats a ascinat-ing issue about transitions. Tey seem to be quite
significantly delayed orreasons that are verydifferent rom those thatinhibited the spread oagriculture in Europe.
What might account
for this delay in the
areas where you
work?
Many archaeologists arerecognizing that ratherthan an invention ortechnological advanceagriculture entailssocietal transormation.Tat recognition makes
it clear that its very diverse and very unique inspecific areas. So, i we do indeed think o agricul-ture as a societal transormation then we really needto rethink some o the ways weve been thinking
Mike trying his hand at
plowing in Ethiopia while a
local farmer laughs at the
oxens attempted escape.
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about its spread and about its reormulation or evenreinvention in different parts o the world. Tatspart o the reason I think these lesser-known areasare so important or uture work in archaeology,because they really round out the picture thats beenrelatively narrowed by a ocus on a small handul oregions with the earliest and most spectacular finds.
Do you have an ongoing project in Yemen
right now where you are studying this?
We are planning fieldwork in January to March in
Oman, which is an outgrowth o collaborative workweve been doing with a team in Yemen involvingMcCorriston, Prem Goel, Dorota Brzezinska, araSteimer-Herbet, and others. Weve been looking attombs and other stone monuments in southern Ara-bia and how their spatial patterning reflects socialrelations among ancient tribes and emerging statesin southern Arabia. One type o tomb (sometimesreerred to as a high circular tomb or a cairntomb) first appears during the late ourth millen-nium B.C., about fiy-two hundred years ago.
Many arid parts o Yemen are sparsely popu-
lated, and there is an incredible level o preserva-tion o some o these tombsfields o thousandso tombs in some places. Another prevalent typeo monument, called a trilith, appears about 2000years ago and is arguably linked to camel caravanswhich would have been taking incense (mainlyrankincense) rom eastern Yemen and carryingit to the capitols o desert kingdoms, includingMarib, and eventually transporting that incenseto Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. So, thesemonuments are part o an important materialrecord o hinterland peoples and their activities inthese highland desert landscapes.
You work extensively with GIS technology.
How do you use GIS technology in the work
you do? What impact has this technology had
on archaeology as a discipline?
My work with GIS not only involves GIS computersoware but also remote-sensing data such as satel-lite imagery, and GPS mapping technologies thatare powerul tools or archaeological fieldwork andanalysis. Tese three things appear as a triad that issometimes reerred to as geomatics or GeographicInormation Science that encompasses a whole
realm o technologies or collecting, managing,and analyzing spatial data. Tese tools have hadimportant impacts in archaeology. Particularly inthe last three years, with the unveiling o GoogleEarth, many have come to realize how importantspatial perspectives can be or a variety o differentreasonsnot limited to archaeology but certainlyincluding it. So, it is really a burgeoning specializa-tion and one that has an exciting uture role to play
It is interesting how GIS has also become em-broiled in some o the theoretical debates whichhave sprung up in archaeology over the last 20
years. You see a lot o archaeologists struggling toincorporate or reconcile GIS with their theoreti-cal orientations and interests. So, you have a groupo people that have really emphasized quantitativeanalyses and statistics and the scientific aspectso archaeology who have been interested in GIS,and many people who have been more interestedin the humanistic and interpretive and qualita-tive research also using GIS. How that plays outwithin the community o those interested in GIS isquite interesting to mehow its shaped by thoseorientations and how it in turn shapes peoplesnotions about where archaeology should be going,
what kinds o questions are appropriate, and howwe arrive at satisying answers to the questions wedecide to ask. So, thats been one point that makesGIS very interesting to me.
MICHAEL HARROWER IS THE FIRST TWO-YEAR COTSENPOSTDOCTORAL FELLOW AT THE COTSEN INSTITUTE.
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Volunteer Profile
UNEARTHINGCALIFORNIA'S PREHISTORYAn Interview with Judy PorcasiBY ERIC C. GARDNER
How did you become interested in archaeol-
ogy? What is your background in the field?
Archaeology is a second career or me. I worked orabout 25 years in Caliornias aerospace industrybeore becoming an archaeologist. I was a special-ized technical writer and management analyst withseveral o the major aerospace companies, and sowas my husband. Well, aer he retired and washaving un taking courses at UCLA I decided that Iwanted to do that too. We took paleontology, geol-ogy, and archaeology classes and enjoyed these very
much. My first archaeol-ogy class was a rock artfield class with Jo Anne
van ilburg, ResearchAssociate o the CotsenInstitute. I had been outo college or decades,and I wondered i I couldhandle some hardcoreacademic work. But allwent well and then I tooka aunal analysis class
with Dr. Roy Salls. It wasa very inspiring class, es-pecially since it related tothe lie scienceswhichwere always an interesto mine.
Aer completing theclass, I decided to volun-teer in the bone lab. Testaff o the lab mentoredme or awhile, and soon Iwas doing aunal identi-fications and analysis. In
the meantime, my hus-band and I continued to take the other archaeol-ogy classes required to finish the UCLA ExtensionCertificate in Archaeology. My final project or thatwas a aunal report that now has been published. obecome more proessional, I entered the Cal StateNorthridge Masters program in Anthropologyagain ocused on the aunal aspect o archaeology.As part o this program, I had the opportunity todo both excavation and aunal analysis on impor-tant sites on Catalina and San Clemente Islands. OnCatalina Island I worked at Little Harbor and onSan Clemente I worked at Eel Point.
Overall, I find archaeology to be very stimulat-ingespecially because it brings in so many diversebut related disciplines. When working with bonecollections you invariably find an interesting aspectthat needs additional research ocus. Tis is myprimary interest. I a question presents itsel, I loveto dig into it. Beore studying archaeology I hadbeen trained in investigative reporting as a journal-ism student at both USC and UCLA, so Ive alwaysbeen doing some type o research. Faunal analysisis like solving puzzles all day. I just recently finishedmy Ph.D. at Leicester University in the United King-
dom, again doing a veryextensive aunal study.
Can you talk a little
bit about the work
you do in the bone
lab? What kinds of
puzzles are you able
to solve there?
Archaeological bone
collections come intothe lab either romacademic projects orrom cultural resourcemanagement (i.e., com-mercial) projects, andits our responsibilityto identiy and analyzeeach bone or ragmentto the most definitivelevel possible. We iden-tiy the animal speciesand any modifications,
such as burning or toolmaking, that might have been made to the bone bypeople. Tis gives us insight into the dietary andother uses people might have been making o ani-mals in their environment. We can get an image othe ecological situation, ritual activities, and so on.Studying changes in use o animal products overlong periods o time, we can determine when thingswere going well or site occupants or when therewere economic or societal problems impacting theirability to get or use certain oods. Te aunal recordtells a lot about the people who have le little or noother evidence o their lieways.
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You mentioned that for your Masters you did
some work in the Channel Islands, and that
you are currently working with Wendy Teeter.
Tell us about some of the fieldwork youve
done.
Ive done fieldwork on Catalina, on San ClementeIsland, in Baja Caliornia, and on the coastal main-land o Caliornia. I especially enjoyed workingin some o the early Spanish missions in San LuisObispo and Monterey Counties. In addition to mywork at the Institute, I am also an independent
aunal consultant. I work on commercial contractsor collections excavated all over Caliornia and aew rom Mexico. While most o my work is donein a lab setting, I enjoy working in the field as muchas possible.
Care to share any especially memorable expe-
riences from any of your projects?
I think it is especially important to report anddisseminate archaeological findings. I make it apoint to publish any significant findings rom my
aunal projects. For example, at Catalina and SanClemente I was able to identiy the remains o theenormousMola mola ocean sunfish, which had notbeen previously identified at those islands. It turnsout that prehistoric islanders exploited an intensivefishery o this species. Tis is rather amazing sincethe Mola is the size o a Volkswagen and can weighmore than 3,000 pounds. We ound remains othousands o these fish.
Another finding was that the islanders on bothCatalina and San Clemente were big-time dolphinhunters. How these people captured the ocean sun-fish and hundreds o dolphins remains a mystery.
Recently I co-published the story o the now-extinctflightless duck (Chendytes lawi). We were able totrack when, where, and how long it took this animalto become extinct once people arrived on the Cali-ornia coast. Since the duck was flightless, it hadno protection rom terrestrial predatorswhetherhuman or animal.
Do you feel like you have a fair conception of
what life was like for some of these popula-
tions in prehistoric coastal California?
Much is known about the recent populations, theproto-historic people, and those occupying thecoast when the Spanish arrived. My interest reallygoes back to the very beginning. My dissertationand the research Im working on now goes back10,000 years, and really nothing is known about thepeople o coastal Caliornia at that time. Tere areonly a ew aunal collections rom that time periodOther than the aunal record, very little remains asevidence o these earlier occupations.
Tere are conflicting ideas about who thesepeople might have been and how they arrived here.
I believe that there was a significant maritime mi-gration along the coast between 13,000 and 10,000years ago. We really dont know much about thesepeople other than what we can discern rom thedebris theyve le behind. More recent populationshave le a variety o art iacts and other evidence ocomplex societies. You dont find any o that in theearlier sites. Part o the problem is that rising sealevel over the millennia has drowned many o theoldest sites.
Right. Youre talking about a period when
much of North America was in an Ice Age.
Yes. I believe that people were able to get to westernNorth America by sea ollowing along the coastrom northwestern Asia. Tere were inlets called re
fugia, where they could sustain themselves and findresources. Tey knew how to make use o whateverthe sea provided. Its not as i there was nothing butice along the coast. Te open coastal areas and thekelp orests provided adequate resources or them.Tey also seemed to find early reuge on the islands
Closing thoughts?
Im very excited about being a Research Associateat the Cotsen Institute. Hopeully this will give methe opportunity to find new lines o inquiry andresearch. I hope to be able to join with and assistthe other Cotsen researchers in any way I can.
JUDY PORCASI IS A NEW RESEARCH ASSOCIATE AT THE
COTSEN INSTUTUTE AND A LONG-TIME VOLUNTEER.
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R
EFLECTIO
NS
HANS BARNARD
NOMADS OF EGYPTSEASTERN DESERT 30RAN BOYTNER
TARAPAC, CHILE:2008 SEASON 32JAFFA CULTURAL HERITAGEPROJECT: REPORTAARON BURKE 34
SCALORIA DAYIN GENOAERNESTINE S. ELSTER 38THE POWER AND
PITFALLS OF GISMICHAEL J. HARROWER 40BYZANTINE ARTIN THE MAKINGIOANNA KAKOULLI& CHRISTIAN FISCHER 42FIELD RESEARCH IN
PUKARA, PERUELIZABETH KLARICH 46CONSERVING AN ANCIENTFEATHER BLANKET
ELLEN PEARLSTEIN 48
LOFKND, ALBANIA:AFTER EXCAVATIONSARAH MORRIS& JOHN PAPADOPOULOS 50RECONCILINGWITH THE PASTMERRICK POSNANSKY 52ARCHAEOLOGY IN THEPETRIFIED FOREST
GREG SCHACHNER 56KAREN WISE
BEHIND THE SCENESAT THE LA NHM
58EXCAVATIONS ATSISUPALGARH
MONICA L. SMITH &RABINDRA KUMAR MOHANTY
60
SAM CONNOR & CHAD GIFFORD 36PAMBAMARCA, ECUADOR:FIELD SCHOOL
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Nomadic people are
not archaeologically
or historically invis-
ible, but leave traces
that are discernable
and often specific for
a nomadic way of life.
A CONFERENCE ON THE HISTORY OFTHE PEOPLES OF THE "EASTERN DESERT"From prehistory to the presentBY HANS BARNARD
IN 1998, the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cai-ro (NVIC) published the proceedings o a meetingtitled Lie on the Fringe, organized by Ola Kaper(now at Leiden University) and Willeke Wendrich,Associate Proessor o Near Eastern Languages andCultures at UCLA. Te subject o the meeting andthe volume was lie in the desert areas o Egyptin Graeco-Roman times (332 B.C.E.641 C.E.). In2008, the Cotsen Institute o Archaeology at UCLApublished the combined proceedings o two meet-ings titled Nomads in Archaeologyorganized byWendrich and the author.
Te subject o these meetings and the volumewas the archaeology o mobile peoples, with a geo-graphical emphasis on Central Asia and the desertzone between the Red Sea and the Nile Valley inEgypt and Sudan. Te mineralwealth o the latter area, usu-ally reerred to as the EasternDesert, has attracted minersand quarrymen rom very earlytimes onward. Teir remainsand those o the various harborsand trade routes that connected
the Nile Valley with ArabiaFelix, sub-Saharan Arica, India,and the enigmatic Land o Punthave attracted most o the atten-tion o historians and archaeolo-gists that study the region.
Despite environmental degradation, whichstarted with the end o the Holocene pluvial periodabout 8000 years ago, and scholarly neglect theEastern Desert has native inhabitants and a historyo its own. Te arrival in the Nile Valley o thehunter-herder-gatherers is one o the many actorsthat gave rise to Pharaonic civilization. Sometimes
a hint o those that remained behind can be gleanedrom the historical sources, such as the Medjay(around 22501800 B.C.E.) and the Blemmyes(around 600 B.C.E.600 C.E.). At other times, theirtraces appear in the archaeological record, such aspan-graves (dating 16501500 B.C.E.) and EasternDesert Ware (dating 300600 C.E.), but inorma-tion on the indigenous history and culture remainsscarce and incomplete.
It is clear that the pastoral nomads in the East-ern Desert have always depended on the armersin the Nile Valley, whereas the armers needed theproducts o the desert dwellers in almost equal
measure. Many economic, environmental, and po-litical actors determine whether groups will moveor settleand a terminology with fixed categoriesor mobile and sedentary groups is no more ap-plicable to the ancient situation than to the present.Much like the ancient names (such as Medjay orBlemmyes) do not correspond with our modernuse o such ethnic terms, so our understanding owords such as tribe, nomad, or Bedouindoes notcorrespond to reality.
Apart rom logistical problems, the study o theEastern Desert is hampered by biases in the textual
sources, by ambiguous ethnographic parallels, andby the low archaeological visibility o the remainso the desert dwellers. Te vast majority o the his-torical sources were written by outsiders who never
visited the area. Tese wereprejudiced toward a settled wayo lie and express negative at-titudes, which exist until today,toward mobile groups. Ethno-graphic and ethnoarchaeologi-cal inormation is limited andprovides incomplete parallels
between modern and ancientmobile groups. Te emphasis othe archaeological research hasbeen on the more visible andeasier-to-interpret remains o
the mines, quarries, and trade routes o outsiderstemporarily settling in the desert. Many stud-ies concentrate on Pharaonic and Graeco-RomanEgypt, disregarding Nubian, Napatan, and Meroiticsources o inormation.
It has recently been appreciated that nomadicpeople are not archaeologically or historically invisible, but leave traces that are discernable and oen
specific or a nomadic way o lie. A new interpre-tation o existing data will lead to new insights,and new archaeological tools and techniques willdramatically increase the number o sites andartiactsas well as the inormation gleaned romthem. During the past decades, the anthropologicatheory on the relationship between the settled ma-
jority and the mobile minority in the Near East hasdeveloped rom the permanent conflict reflected inmany historical sources to the symbiotic relation-ship that can be deduced rom archaeological andethnographical data.
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Unortunately, these insights come at a time inwhich access into the Eastern Desert has become
increasingly difficult. A conerence aimed to ad-dress the problems and possibilities o the study othe dwellers o the Eastern Desert, as well as to pro-
vide an overview o the current state o our knowl-edge, took place at the NVIC on November 2527,2008. Tis meeting was organized by the authorand Kim Duistermaat, the current director o theNVIC, with the assistance o staff members o theNVIC and financial support o the Royal Nether-lands Embassy in Cairo and the Cotsen Institute.
Te first two days o the conerence were filledwith short presentations covering a wide variety o
subjects and time periods. Te first session concen-trated on the natural environment and the prehis-tory o the desert. A number o important siteswith petroglyphs were presented and discussed, aswell as the archaeology o some o the more ancientsites in the desert. Te second session centered oncurrent and uture developments, both in the desertand in research strategies. It became evident thatthe area and its inhabitants have always been in fluxand that although certain aspects appear constantthere is no firm evidence o a true continuity in hu-man activities or even o human presence.
Ongoing climate change and development o the
region or tourism are now transorming the East-ern Desert at a rapid pace and demand inventiveinput concerning archaeological and environmentalpreservation. Sessions on the second day o the con-erence centered on the area in Graeco-Roman times(during which the Eastern Desert saw more visitorsrom outside than ever beore) and on the traceso similar visitors during other periods, includingthe Coptic monks who still retreat into the des-ertwhere they inevitably compete with the nativeinhabitants or space, water, and other resources.
During the lively discussion that ollowed thesesessions, as well as each individual presentation, it
was concluded that the distinction between outsiderand insider inormation was not as clear as initiallyassumed and that as much inormation as possibleneeds to be taken into account i we want to urtherour knowledge efficiently. A lot can still be learnedrom existing material and texts, much o whichare unpublished, as well as rom the study o satel-lite imagery and reports and maps o the Colonialperiod. Special attention needs to be given to theunderstanding o the archaeoclimate and to land-scape archaeology, together with the developmentand testing o models or the movement o people.
As it would not have been appropriate to discuss
the history o a people so close to their homelandwithout any o them present, the morning o thethird and last day o the conerence was spenttalking to representatives o several Bedouin tribesrom the Sinai and the Egyptian Red Sea coast.Tis part o the program was made possible by thelogistical and linguistic assistance o Karin vanOpstal, Rudol de Jong, and Amir Gohar. Te Bed-ouin appeared well aware o the changing o theirenvironment and liestyle. All mentioned the pusho the deteriorating desert (with its lack o possibili-ties or improvement) and the pull o the city, with
its schools, jobs, and televisions.At the same time, all were worried about losingtheir customs and traditions, which eature promi-nently in their oral history and personal identity.In the evening, the conerence was summarizedand its preliminary conclusions discussed by Dr.J. L. Bintliff (Proessor o Classical Archaeology atLeiden University) during the yearly CleveringaLecture. Tis lecture is held in Leiden and manyother places worldwide to commemorate the bravestance taken on November 26, 1940 by Dr. R. P.Cleveringa, at the time Proessor o Law at LeidenUniversity, when he denounced the firing o his
colleague Dr. E. M. Meijers by the Nazi governmentsolely due to his Jewish upbringing. Te CleveringaLecture in Cairo and the subsequent reception werewell attended by men and women o many differentbackgrounds. Te final proceedings o the coner-ence on the history o the peoples o the EasternDesert, together with contributions o invited au-thors, will be submitted and hopeully accepted orpublication with the Cotsen Institute. For now, theymay be ound at www.archbase.org/ED/.
HANS BARNARD IS A RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
AT THE COTSEN INSTITUTE.
Life in the Eastern Desert: As a symbol of hospitality
and recreation, enjoying djabana(coffee with ginger
and sugar) is an important part of Beja life (cf. The
Archaeology of Mobility, pp. 518-520; photo by W.Z.
Wendrich).
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COMING FULL CIRCLE:THE 2008 SEASON AT TARAPAC, CHILEBY RAN BOYTNER
AS SOME OF THE MORE AVID read-ers o Backdirtknow, the arapac ValleyArchaeological Project is taking place inone o the harshest places on earth: theheart o the Atacama Desert. Four years owork there revealed an astonishing rangeo adaptations and great concentration osites. One in particular, named Caserones(see Figure 1), is so large that is difficult toimagine how the valley could have sup-ported its population. As data were pour-ing in rom our multidisciplinary research
team, we had to dramatically adjust ourinitial understanding o the area andconront the new realities exposed in thematerial record.
Beore beginning research at ara-pac, we thought that the valley played animportant role in the resource acquisitionby the emerging iwanaku polity during
the first millennium A.D. We believedthat the administrative innovations oiwanaku elites allowed the transporta-tion o rich minerals rom places such asarapac to the iticaca Basin in signifi-cant quantities and that these resourcesprovided enough wealth to allow iwan-aku to spread its political and economicdomination throughout the southern An-des. We were wrong. O more than 5,000ceramic sherds collected in our extensivesurvey, only 3 may have been iwanaku.
Not only was there no evidence or iwanaku at arapac, there was little evidenceor contact with the highlands at all priorto the Late Intermediate period (ca A.D.1000).
So what is going on? Like you, we werescratching our heads. Te literature sug-gests that a huge polity, likely a chiedom,
Figure 1: Satellite image of Caserones.
Figure 2 (below): Overview of TR 1024.
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emerged at arapac at the exact time en-vironmental conditions worsened dramat-ically throughout the Andes. It has been
suggested that even as major civilizationscollapsed elsewhere (Wari, Moche, iwan-aku) the extreme desert environment wassupporting increased complexity and eventhe creation o a vast irrigation canal andfield system.
Tese observations were difficult toaccept. A more intensive examination othe literature revealed that this theory isbased on dates extracted rom ceramicragments using thermoluminescence(L) dating technology, a notoriously
difficult technique with a wide margino error. In addition, radiocarbon datescollected rom Caserones in the 1960ssuggested occupation between A.D. 500and 1000. But the context o the datedmaterials was lost and it is impossible toknow what was dated exactly.
Tus, the 2008 season was dedicatedto solving the chronological sequence.We ocused our efforts on two differentlocations. Te first was the careul strati-graphic excavation o a site previouslyidentified by the 1967 ChileCaliornia
expedition and by our own survey. Te1024 site (also known as R 13) is o verysimilar architecture to Caserones, liesonly 3 km to its north, and includes threedifferent architectural styles (see Figure 2).
We excavated eight different unitsat the sites, careully documenting thedifferent layers and extracting well-pre-served organic samples or radiocarbonanalysis (see Figure 3). Our second effortwas ocused on the large irrigation canaloriginating at the mouth o arapac andending at a very complex field system
almost 7 km to its south (see Figure 4).We excavated three different cuts o thecanal, collecting organic samples rom
its construction layers and observingheavy microstratigraphy at the canal bed.It is clear that water flowed at the canalmultiple times, which likely indicates anextended period o use.
At the time o this writing, our radio-carbon samples are still being processedor export permit by the Chilean authori-ties. We are still unable to offer resultsand address the chronological problem.However, ceramics recovered rom thelower layers at 1024 and the irrigation
canal are o the same style as those oundat Caserones. It seems that all three loca-tions are contemporaneous and thereorebuilt when Caserones reached its zenith. Iconfirmed by our radiocarbon results, thiswill make a lot o sense.
As rainall increased almost 20% overtime across the Andes, larger amountso surplus crops were producedwhichsupported and strengthened an ever-in-creasing elite. State-level societies emergedacross the Andes, with iwanaku thesouthern maniestation o such increased
complexity. Increased rainall allowedlocal residents o arapac to expand theirsubsistence activities, which led to the cre-ation o larger sedentary sites. Local socialcomplexity evolved into a large chiedom,and when caravans o iwanaku merchantstraveled into the valley its inhabitants (hav-ing become more locally centrist) began toreject iwanaku merchant wares and ideas.
Similar to the rejection o Hellenisticideas spread in the ancient Near Eastprior to Alexander the Great, some com-munities chose to resist and protect local
identities and traditions. Caserones wasbuilt as a response to the threat rom thehighlands, with a large public building
at its center symbolizing its vast area oinfluence. It became the center o the Picaarapac culture and thrived by engag-ing in the large-scale public works (thecanal and fields) that led to a phenomenalincrease in ood production.
However, the arapac Valley wasimpacted by climate changes that under-mined the subsistence and growthandthus the scope and influenceo themajor civilizations o the Andes. Telarge, unified, and proud cultural tra-
dition o Pica-arapac collapsed andendemic violence and war over very scarcresources ensued. Kin-based small groupsabandoned Caserones and its large irriga-tion project and moved upriver, whereaccessible water was still available. Eventhere, competition or water and other re-sources was fierceand thus settlementswere highly ortified and well protected toguard against threat o violence.
Te interpretations presented here arear rom our initial assumptions o the cul-tural evolution at the arapac Valley. Not
or the first time, the data recovered romactual archaeological investigation orcedarchaeologists to dramatically alter pre-conceived ideasbut precisely these typeso intellectual challenges are what makearchaeology so ascinating and intriguingto scholars and the public worldwide.
RAN BOYTNER IS DIRECTOR OF INTERNATION-AL RESEARCH AND A RESEARCH ASSOCIATE AT
THE COTSEN INSTITUTE.
Figure 5: Satellite image of irrigation canal
and agricultural fields. Image by H. Barnard.
Figure 3: Excavations at TR 1024. Image by
Ran Boytner
Figure 4: Excavations of the irrigation canals.
Image by H. Barnard.
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THE 2008 ANNUAL REPORT OF THEJAFFA CULTURAL HERITAGE PROJECTBY AARON BURKE
THE JAFFA CULTURAL HERITAGE PROJECT(JCHP), which was ounded in early 2007 by its co-directors Aaron Burke, Assistant Proessor o NearEastern Languages and Cultures (NELC) at UCLA,and Martin Peilstcker o the Israel AntiquitiesAuthority has completed its second ull year oactivity. Te activities o the JCHP in 2008 includedwork on the first volume o the JCHP series as wellas on the publication o Jacob and Haya Kaplansexcavations (19551981), the initiation o researchexcavations on the mound, and continued work onthe publication o the Ganor Compound and Qishle
excavations, which ended in 2007. Post-season workcontinued during the 2008/2009 academic year onpublication and computer modeling o its remains.
2008 Field Season
Excavations, under the supervision o Kyle Keimerand George Pierce (NELC Department graduatestudents), were conducted during our weeks inJuly o 2008 ocusing on work within the Visitors
Center in Qedumim Square. At the start o theseason, our goal was to undertake a deep sound-ing within the lowest levels o Area CKaplansexcavation area that is now enclosed within theVisitors Center. Upon closer assessment o the areaand reflection upon reerences in Kaplans prelimi-nary reports, we elt that it would be necessary firstto clariy urther the remains o what was conse-quently revealed by our work to be a well-preservedstructure in Area C, which Kaplan had dated to thethird century B.C.E.
We were able to open our probes to explore this
structure, which revealed that the structure is armore substantial than Kaplan ever realizedactu-ally underlying the entire excavation area. Ourefforts ocused on the first probe, which traced thenorth wall o the central room to the west until thewest wall (which had never been excavated) wasexposed. Te probe was dug down more than 2 mand eventually reached the bottom o the ashlarmasonry walls in this corner (see reconstruction inthe image below).
Plan of Jaffa showing loca-
tion of Kaplan excavation
areas (by George Pierce).
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Tese walls (probably o Hellenistic date, asindicated by Kaplan) rest upon an earlier, possiblyPersian-period, wall o slightly different orientationbut that clearly served as the oundation or theashlar wall. races o the plaster floor in this roomwere detected below the mass o early Roman fill,including abundant ceramics used to backfill thisroom.
Kaplan Publication Project
Most o our publication efforts were invested in the
preparation o a collection o 26 studies or the firstvolume o the JCHP series or submission in late2008. However, considerable work was also investedin preparation or the publication o Jacob Kaplansexcavations, which is now being unded by theShelby WhiteLeon Levy Program or Archaeologi-cal Publications. Analysis and ceramic readings othe excavated remains rom Areas B, D, G, and Fwere completed in the fieldand pottery readingsor Area A, which were initiated, were completedor the early seasons (19551958). Members o theJCHP team also continued the creation o a digital
archive o materials needed or the publicationproject.Tese electronic resources are now available to
all team members via the Online Cultural Heri-tage Research Environment (OCHRE) developedby David and Sandra Schloen o the University oChicago. Tis data entry work continued in theall o 2008 with the hiring o undergraduate andgraduate students. Te goal is the completion o thebasic data entry, including links to all electronic re-sources (i.e., photographs, drawings, and museumrecords), by the spring o 2009beore returningto the field or a resumption o analysis o these
materials.
Virtual Reality Modeling 2008
With the assistance o Robert Cargill, a recentNELC graduate at UCLA, work was also begunduring September and October o 2008 on a virtualreality model o the Hellenistic structure that waspartially exposed by Kaplan in Area C during his1965 excavations and (as mentioned previously) wasthe ocus o our excavations in 2008. Tis work wasunded by the Kershaw Chair o Ancient Eastern
Mediterranean Studies, which is currently held by
William Schniedewind in the NELC Department.A number o reasons made this structure the
best starting point or virtual reality modelingefforts in Jaffa. First, this area consists o a well-pre-served structurethe walls