Is a Zebra White With Black Stripes, or Black With White Stripes?

While working in Kanab, Utah this last month a recurring theme seemed to reappear on site after site.  As we cruised along recording the never-ending lithic landscape that the kindly paleo and post-paleo folk had left behind as evidence of their passing, we continued to find black-on-white sherds everywhere.  Now, rather than discuss the intricacies of ceramics as many of our ilk are prone to do, I simply want to focus on design elements.  Specifically, one design element, that of color selection.

Why did they chose black on white?  Why not white on black.  Clearly, these revered ancients understood something that still perplexes many a scientist and elementary-age child.  All evidence seems to suggest that they were providing the answer to the age-old question:  Are zebras black with white stripes, or white with black stripes?  As is evidenced by the abundant collection of black-on-white found throughout the Four Corners area, they were clearly white with black stripes. 

Thank the gods that we finally have an answer!  I have been losing sleep over that one for YEARS! and now I can sleep peacefully knowing the Anasazi have my back.

So... one is left to ponder... how did THEY know that?  Clearly, as is evidenced by the abundant pottery  under discussion, zebras must have been observed by the Anasazi.  After all, we are struggling scientists looking at the obvious evidence before us, so it must be true.  Perhaps the zebra was observed in all his/her striped glory galloping along the red sandy washes and canyons of southern Utah way back in the day when everything was clearly perfect (with the one minor exception of spousal discord - see earlier post) and man was (presumably) one with the natural world.  Maybe the zebra was so sacred that it was all used up.  Maybe just one guy in a dugout happened to bring one back from the African continent (Not likely - have you ever tried to paddle one of those things?).  Perhaps some zebras were caught on a log jam near the coast of Africa during a storm and floated to the New World (the evidence from iguanas and other terrestrial species is well documented in the historic literature).  Perhaps there were only a few strays from the unintended seagoing voyage that eventually made there way to the southwest, wherein they were elevated and revered to such a degree (there is good evidence to suggest this is possible from the horse that once belonged to Cortez in Mexico that was later revered and idolized by the indigenous cultures) that their coloration became embedded in the culture.  Maybe, after time, the whole idea of a horse disappeared from the context and we are only left with the black and white palette from which the Anasazi could continue to revere their ancient equine visitor.

Perhaps in our wanderings throughout the deserts, we ought to pay careful attention to the dead horse bones often found laying in a wash.  Rather than being a horse, they could be the remnants of the ancient (and most certainly revered - I mean, look at all the pottery!) zebra.  How they got here, we can only postulate and guess.  However, we at least can all sleep well tonight, knowing that one of our age-old questions has been answered by our friend the Anasazi.  Clearly, as is indicated by the abundance of sherds, the zebra is white with black stripes.

Mitigation that works

We were finally able to do some cool mitigation!  Normally, when SHPO determines that some project will affect another, the trade-off generally is limited (emphasis on limited) testing of a really cool site.  Or worse, they require you do write a historical report that will be read by all of three people and then get buried on some shelf.  Well, finally we did project that was off the beaten path (so to speak).  We worked in an old coal mining town (Winter Quarters, UT) that had a terrible mining disaster in 1900.  At the time, it was the worst mining disaster in history and continues today in the top five worst in U.S. History.  In one fire, 200 men and boys died in the mine and it essentially ended the town.  practically every family was affected.

We wanted to do an interpretive sign for mitigation, but SHPO wanted a historic report - Blah!  So, we wrote a sweet book.  It's small.  Only about 40 pages or so, but contains pictures from the town.  We found pictures in private and public collections, looked at journals, talked to descendants, etc, etc, etc.  Finally, after two years we are officially done.  The book is in publication right now.  Debbie did the writing and I stupervised as much as possible (like any good boss should).

My hope is that we can move on from nasty grey literature that never gets read to something cool, like a website, book, or interactive project for future mitigation.  It's small, but it's a step in the right direction.  You know, "one small step for an archaeologist, one giant leap for archaeology."

Found these two panels on the old Lake Bonneville shoreline in Utah.  Usually, you don't see these types of forms so far north.  Clear indications for maize and some common Fremont renderings.

When things go wrong!

Plant surveys down on the AZ strip a couple weeks ago resulted in some challenging jury-rig action.

 The battery mounts broke and the battery fell onto the belt, which cut through the side wall and sprayed acid all over the engine.  With the help of some tape, string, and a belt, we got the ole truck back to town.

Good times were had all around.  Added bonus - the belt still works!

AJ and I also found a sweet Elko Corner-Notch down near Beaver.  The access road plowed right through the site!  Go government employees Go!

I was working out near Duchesne the other day and found these on a rock panel.  I thought they were interesting, so here they are.

The red image looks very similar to a pictograph I remember from Range Creek (a great big eye).  This feature is highly eroded, but it's apparent that it was something.

The face could be modern - I'm not much of a rock art junkie to be able to say for sure.

I found these while driving past a spring on the way to my project areas.  The spring made me stop and then start checking nearby rock faces for art work.

Spousal discord and plate throwing - an historic precedent?

By way of background, I decided to start this blog as a result of attending one of the SAA meetings some years back. Without being offensive to anyone, a attended a presentation that discussed the "obvious" role of women in prehistoric food gathering and postulated that women were "clearly" playing a "major role" by creating snares, nets, and other devices that "obviously" added to the family and-or community cooking pot. I was struck that although the thinking seemed reasonable, the presenter truly had no archaeological evidence to support the theory (of course, how could you, when we're talking about nets and snares). Instead, they were able to extrapolate an entire societal class based on modern observations.

As such, this train of thought continued as I was conducting a survey in the Great Basin region, wherein I came across yet another piece of broken groundstone (a portion of a mano). While observing the groundstone fragment, my mind recalled those old movies (black and white in my mind - but you can create your own color of insanity here) showing the wife throwing plates at her husband in anger and frustration. With that in mind, I realized something extraordinary - you rarely EVER find whole ceramic vessels (pottery to the layman), or intact groundstone artifacts on archaeological sites (based on my own experience at least).

So, here I was, standing in the middle of a field of sagebrush, and I realized that I had the evidence (or so it might seem to someone with a little imigination) to prove that prehistoric housewives were "clearly" throwing around their plates and other kitchen items at their husbands who "obviously" did something to upset them.

Insofar as actual research, I started examining site forms from other projects, and realized that I had sufficient evidence to write a paper for the next SAA meetings. It would obviously not be taken too seriously, but perhaps this is what our discipline needs - a little bit of light-hearted laughter and some academic effrontery to the existing paradigms that permeate everything we do. With that being said, I invite you all to join in with comments, diatribes, articles, links, fun and funny things, and we'll even allow for some serious discussions as well.

Sincerely,

Chris Jensen