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Indiana Jones
Talks Back
By Forrest Fenn
About 750 professional archaeologists and anthropologists
paid $125 each to attended the “Clovis and Beyond” conference held in
Santa Fe last October (1999). Dr. Joe Watkins in an editorial in this
newsletter titled “Salvaging Our Ethics,” lamented that it might be
unethical for him to attend the conference because it was put on by me,
a collector. The fact is he did attend but whether or not he was there
is of little or no consequence. If he wants to salvage some ethics maybe
he should look a little closer to home. With as much as 65% of the work
accomplished in the field by professional archaeologists going
unreported perhaps he should start his salvage efforts by focusing on
those scientists instead of worrying about what the collectors are
doing. Incidentally, the conference was a huge success with about 1400
people in attendance. The only public complaint came from Joe Watkins.
He asked the question, “Why was the collector involved in the ‘Clovis
and Beyond’ conference in the first place?” He seems oblivious to the
contributions that collectors have made to the archaeological record
(Eli Lilly from Indiana is a good example.) Never mind that most of the
archaeological sites have been discovered by collectors, many of whom
have given their collections and records to museums where they now
educate the public.
Joe Watkins, in his editorial said I had been “accused” of “mining
artifacts” in a pre-contact pueblo which I own. Those words are
reminiscent of McCarthyism and are certainly unbecoming a man in Dr.
Watkins position. He has since apologized.
Although my field work is not equal to the standards of some
professionals (I work with my own funding,) I am proud of my
accomplishments. Of course there has never been any attempt at quality
control in the professional community.
The fact is that on five occasions during my work, when significant
objects were first discovered, we stopped our work and called the state
Office of Archaeological Services and paid professionals (Eric Blinman
and John Ware) to excavate those objects. Perhaps the most important of
these were two prehistoric kachina dance masks made of selenite plaster,
with long snoots, and painted five colors (the only two ever
discovered.) They were found on the floor of a room with numerous items
of medicine including painted rocks, fetishes, quartz crystals, six ears
of corn carved of wood and painted yellow, and other ceremonial objects.
Because we recognized the importance of these religious items we invited
eight Tewa Elders from Hano pueblo at Hopi (the closest living
relatives, 320 years removed) to come to the pueblo as our guests for
two days. We were interested in learning what they knew about these
wonderful artifacts and to learn how they viewed our having them. After
a lengthy tour of the pueblo (San Lazaro) we video taped them for an
hour at the Museum of New Mexico, Laboratory of Anthropology. They told
us the masks were from the Bear Clan which was dead, and the masks could
not harm us. They did not object to our having them as long as we
"treated them with respect."
Our excavations are now finished, having completed work in 34 of the
estimated 5000 rooms in the pueblo (less than 7/10th of one percent)
Dr Watkins asked the question, "Why was the collector involved in the
'Clovis and Beyond' conference in the first place." He seems oblivious
to the contributions that collectors have made to the public record.
Never mind that most archaeological sites have been discovered by
collectors, many of whom have given their collections to museums where
they now educate the public.
Public funding for archaeological research is rapidly becoming an
endangered species, necessitating an increased dependence on private
funding, much of which comes either directly from collectors or is
heavily influenced by them. There are things professionals can do to
help themselves. Here is some advice and a few observations from Indiana
Jones to the SAA.
1. I am born of you and am nourished by your lectures, your reports,
and your beautiful museum displays. Thank you for giving me life.
2. Leave the jargon at home. Your future depends on increased public
interest, and that’s where your future funding will originate. If
14-year old students don’t understand your report you’re doing it wrong.
And incidentally, color in books is alright.
3. Stop whining about what amateurs are doing. You have bigger
problems at home, like unreported field work, for starters.
4. Collectors are not going away, and you are heavily outnumbered.
Get used to it and learn from them.
5. Don’t get carried away with your importance. Private property
rights come first, now and always.
6. If it’s a Canis Latrans bone, give us a break; say it’s part of a
coyote.
7. Your peers already know you’re smart, so write for the rest of us
sometime. We’ll buy your book and read it; they probably won’t.
8. Lighten up. It’s not as if dreaded diseases are being cured or
famines being prevented by archaeology. You should be having more fun.
I would invite anyone seeking additional thoughts on this subject to
visit
www.friendsofpast.org
and look for Indiana Jones in the Forum Section.
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