Regardless of nationality, culture or era, human behavior is universal. I have written about my family’s old home place and the forced relocation — sometimes at gunpoint — of the native Americans who lived in Indiana and elsewhere. Recently there was television coverage about China. “So that the people will have a better life,” the government is moving millions of people from rural areas into high-rise apartment towers. Homes on the building sites are confiscated and bulldozed — much to the grief of the owners.
Shelter is a basic need of all living creatures. Even birds in their nests, bears in caves or foxes in their dens have homes, so to speak. Humans’ homes serve many purposes beyond shelter — cooking, eating, sleeping, bathing, recreation, etc. The possessions and embellishments in them are a record of human activity and how people live.
“Everywhere I go, I go looking, looking . . .“ — Carlos Castaneda, Don Juan the wizard in The Teachings of Don Juan
Humans are curious: we want to know! We are driven to understand and explain — not just because of practicality, but for learning’s sake alone. Some of us want to explore the past, discover its secrets and preserve its artifacts. Such a one is Michele Greenan, The State Museum’s Director of Archeology and Indiana Historic Sites. After having her identify my prehistoric axe head, I interviewed her. When I was young I thought about becoming an archeologist. I thought that it would be fascinating and adventurous to go on digs in exotic places.
Ah the romance of archeology! Just think how exciting it must have been to be Heinrich Schliemann (1822—1890) who decided that Homer’s Iliad reflected reality and in 1862 excavated the site where Troy is thought to have been located. Unfortunately, he used dynamite! Then there was Lord Carnarvon, owner of Highclere Castle and the locale of Downton Abbey, who financed Howard Carter’s discovery of King Tut’s tomb in Egypt. Think how exciting it would have been to be there when the tomb was opened and see all the beautiful things inside!
Or how about the discovery of Mesa Verde, the Indian pueblo cliff dwellings in southern Colorado? Alas, many artifacts were taken before it was protected as a national park. In 1940 teenagers found fabulous cave paintings estimated to be 17,300 years old near Lascaux, France. The site is closed to the public because of the damage done by the carbon dioxide from the breath of humans and are threatened by various molds.
Troy, Egyptian tombs, Mesa Verde and Lascaux are the “sexy” exemplars of archeology. Michele explained that the day-to-day work of a professional archeologist lies in finding, studying and preserving the minutiae of human activities. Shards of pottery, underground pipes, even privies tell us about the lives of people of the past. Ages and ages hence, some curious archeologist of the future may dig beneath the ruins of those Chinese apartment towers and discover how the people of our century lived.
I was thrilled by petroglyphs that ancient gatherers and hunters etched into the cliffs of Utah’s Capitol Reef. However, thefts and vandalism still continue. Thieves needed only a few hours to saw loose and haul away petroglyphs in California that are still used for Paiute-Shoshone ceremonials, and they maliciously damaged others. According to an article about them, they’ve withstood winds, flash floods and earthquakes for more than 3,500 years.
Michele stressed that the supply of artifacts of the past is finite. There will be no more shards of pottery made by the cliff dwellers, no more petroglyphs or cave paintings made by prehistoric peoples, no more axe heads such as the one found by my ancestors at the Old Home Place. When I think about my axe head that shows how hard prehistoric people must have had to work to survive and how easily it could be lost I understand her passion for preservation. wclarke@comcast.net
