Saturday, December 30, 2023

Spotlight on Students: Thinking Like An Archaeologist

Thinking like an archaeologist is one of the most challenging exercises a novice or inexperienced person can do, including beginner archaeologists.  For one of the SA 202: Introduction to Anthropology assignments students were tasked with doing just that.  By viewing the familiar as the unfamiliar they gained important insights into the challenges archaeologists face, and several of them did exceptionally well in the exercise.  Here is a student's piece that was eligible for and agreed to be published.

 

Map of the site (Source: Nichole Voegeli)

By: Nichole Voegeli

 

In 2123, there was a wide-scale battle between AI and humans in the region of the world now known as Midwestia of New Europe. We do not know who “AI” was; however, they must have been powerful because they won the war, forcing the remaining humans to go underground for about a thousand years. Over the last thousand years, humans have re-acclimated to the outer world. During this re-acclimation period, our ancestors gathered some information about the world before the AI war, and they determined that the area that my team of archaeologists is examining was once known as the City of Jefferson in the Missouri region of the United States. My name is Nichole Voegeli, and I am an archaeologist tasked with creating a report detailing the site, artifacts, and interpretations of our findings.

            The site we are examining is rectangular with ten-foot walls coated in a beige substance and devoid of artifacts. I have attached a map with dimensions for reference. In the center of the room is a two-foot high, medium-sized round table with a diameter of about four feet. On the western side of the table, there is a large object, approximately six feet long and three feet wide, shaped like an elongated chair covered with dirty fabric that may have been white at one time. This long chair faces the eastern wall, and there is a set of two matching chairs on the eastern side of the table facing the western wall. The two chairs look similar to the long chair but are only two and a half feet by three feet in size. The site features an eight-foot by 15-foot structure located on the southern wall, made out of gray bricks with a hollow core that starts two feet from the floor and runs upwards through the center of the structure. The bottom two feet of this structure jut out into the room by two feet. The rest of the brick feature sticks out from the wall by six inches. At the top of the two-by-two-foot jut, there is a three-foot by two-foot by two-foot opening that gives access to the bottom of the hollow core. The floor of this hallow opening is covered in ashes, and the brick walls are lined with black dust-like material. The ashes and the black dust suggest that the brick feature was used to contain a fire, but we are not sure what the purpose of the fire was. It could be for warmth, food, or other purposes that we know nothing of.

            We recovered three artifacts from the site. The first artifact was found on the table in the center of the site, facing the brick structure. It is a one-foot-tall object made of stone and other materials with a green cone-shaped head. Its body is round and orange in color, but the bottom of the body is flat and white. The front of the body is covered with a white, triangular, hair-like fabric that tapers to a point at the bottom of the object. There is a small, round beige ball attached to the front of the object, between the upper white fabric and the green cone. On either side of the white fabric, there are red and beige arm-like appendages sticking out of the object, just below the green cone. Since this object appears to be humanoid, I hypothesize that the white hairy fabric represents a beard, the beige ball is its nose, and the appendages are its arms. This object is missing eyes, a mouth, and feet. Attached to the lower portion of the green cone, just to the right of the nose, is a set of yellow-orange leaves with three small red balls clustered in the center of the leaves. The location where we found this artifact suggests its importance and its humanoid shape leads us to believe that it represents a god. The orange, yellow, and red colors found on the artifact are reminiscent of fire, which may mean that the god it represented was a fire god.

            The second artifact is two feet wide, three feet long, and about two feet tall made out of seven black half-inch diameter metal bars. Five parallel bars spaced eight inches apart sit on top of and perpendicular to two parallel bars spaced seven inches apart. The ends of each bar are curved away from where the seven bars connect. This artifact was found on the floor of the hollow core of the brick structure. It is covered in black dust and ashes.

We found the third artifact next to the opening of the hollow core. This artifact is a black half-inch diameter metal rod three feet in length. At one end there is a seven-inch-long yellow metal piece that has smooth ridges and terminates with a ball-shaped tip. This yellow piece fits the grip of my hand nicely, which leads me to think it was made to hold the rod. The opposite end of the rod tapers to a point and at about six inches from the bottom of the point, the rod splits creating a three-inch hook that curves up towards the yellow attachment. The points of the rod have traces of the same black dust and ash that is in the hollow core and on the second artifact. Since the second and third artifacts have traces of ash and black dust and were found near the brick feature, we suspect that these items were used as tools for burning items. We sent samples of the ash and black dust to the lab for testing. Once we get the results back, we may be able to better determine what items were burned.

            Since the second and third artifacts were covered in the same ash material that was found in the brick structure, they may have been used as tools for burning various items. The central location of the humanoid object and the colors found on it are similar to that of fire, suggesting that it was used as a physical representation of a fire deity. The location of the seating, being on either side of the brick feature and the table, hints towards the idea that the room was used as a place to hold small gatherings. The combination of our findings suggests that the space was used for ritual purposes, where the individuals would gather around the table with the humanoid object facing the brick structure while they used the metal items as tools to aid in the burning of various items that could potentially have been used as offerings to their deity.

            While working on this site we had a couple of challenges with gathering artifacts and finding useful clues to provide insight to the past that we were looking at. One challenge is that the site did have signs that there were other furnishings and artifacts in the room, however, they were no longer there. We suspect these items either degraded over time, were not uncovered yet, or were stolen (Sqouros). The other challenge was interpreting the clues we had without involving our current cultural norms. When I was taking classes to be an archaeologist, I remember reading about an example of this particular challenge, I read, “Culturally today, most people drink from a cup. Therefore, if an artifact that looks like a cup is discovered, it is not unreasonable to propose that the people who used it used it as a cup as we do; however, this reasoning is flawed. Twenty-first century Western culture has developed the use of tools in a very different way to ancient societies.” (“Archaeological Interpretation”).


 

Works Cited

“Archaeological Interpretation.” Archaeology Expert, 28 Apr. 2022, www.archaeologyexpert.co.uk/archaeologicalinterpretation.html#. 

Sgouros, Rebecca. “How Archaeologists Study the Past.” Natick Historical Society, www.natickhistoricalsociety.org/how-archaeologists-study. Accessed 15 Nov. 2023. 


 


 

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Something Old, Something Borrowed, Something New: Joulupukki, the Finnish Santa Clause

 

Figure 1: A man dressed as the Finnish version of Santa Clause, the Joulupukki (Source: BBC)

If you peruse the blog you may happen upon a post about St. Nicholas, which details the German traditions and celebrations associated with this holiday.  Many readers have associated this individual with the modern conceptions of Santa Clause, but this is just one of the many traditions and customs that has contributed to our modern understanding of Santa Clause, which is derived from various European cultures.  This cultural sharing has not been one way, though.  These modern conceptions of American/Western Santa Clause have also influenced European cultural traditions, including leading to the creation of a new tradition: Joulupukki (Figure 1).  Today’s blog post will discuss what the Joulupukki is, how it came to be, and how its creation has influenced and changed Finnish culture.

 

Joulupukki is Finnish, and it literally translate to “Yule Goat”.  Joulupukki represents a modern Finnish version of Santa Clause in that it is a man who dresses in flowing red robes, rides a sleigh driven by reindeer.  He exists in a remote area of Finland known as Korvatunturi, which translates into “Ear Fell”. This is a region of Finland where only Joulupukki can hear everything, thereby knowing which children have been naughty and which have been nice.  At Christmas time he goes door to door ringing his loud bell, asking to be invited into the home to provide gifts to those children who made the nice list. 

 

The belief in Joulupukki is so strong that Finns claim that they were the ones who invented the modern Santa Clause.  This idea does have some credence since the popular icon of Santa Clause was created by Finnish American artist Haddon Sundblom in the 1930s.  Unfortunately for Finns Santa Clause actual predates the conception of the Joulupukki, and the Joulupukki was actually the Finns answer to conflicting cultural traditions and beliefs. 

 

The Joulupukki was created out of a need to rectify and rationalize competing pagan and Christian beliefs.  Prior to the adoption and conversion to Christianity Finns, along with many across Europe, celebrated Yule or various other Midwinter rituals and celebrations.  For Finns a goat predominated the season.  It is unclear why it was a goat, but it is believed to be tied to the pagan god Thor, who rode a chariot driven by goats.  Goats remain an important icon of the holiday season as large wicker goats act as holiday décor.  This may also be how and why Joulupukki, which means “Yule Goat,” got its name.

 

Figure 2: Man dressed as the nuuttipukki (Source: Harris 1)

 

The specific pagan holiday that is most closely associated with being the origination point for the Joulupukki was celebrated on January 13, and it still is as part of St. Knut’s Day.  Traditionally, young men would don goat like costumes wherein they would wear furs, leather, deer antlers, and straw/hay, thereby taking on the role of nuuttipukki (Figure 2).  They would then go door to door demanding left over food and drink from the previous mid-winter or Yule celebrations.  Those patrons who would not given in to these demands risked having all sorts of misfortunes happening to them, including but not limited to disgruntled animals, harassment of the household, and/or loss of crops or food.  This misfortune is actually believed to be tied to the mischievous nature of the roaming bands of young men playing the role of nuuttipukki.  They would demand alcoholic beverages above all else, and as the night went on they would get drunker, and if their demands for food and drink were not met the likelihood of them acting out increased.  More often than not households would hand over any available food and drink to avoid the havoc the nuuttipukki would cause otherwise. 

 

Today the nuuttipukki tradition continues to be celebrated on St. Knut’s Day, albeit in a far altered and tamer way.  Young children now don less scary nuuttipukki costumes and they go door to door asking for sweet treats.  The holiday is far more similar to Halloween than what it originally represented, but it continues to be celebrated as a means of closing out the holiday season and paying homage to Finnish pagan roots, which continue to influence their culture traditions and beliefs.

 

Works Cited

Harris, Kathleen. "How Joulupukki, the Finnish Santa, went from naughty to nice." 22 December 2015. Ink Tank. Electronic. 14 November 2023.

No Author. "St Knut’s Day in Finland: the Nuuttipukki." 20 January 2023. All Things Nordic. Electronic. 14 November 2023.

Sirén, Ilkka. "Does Santa Claus come from Finland?" BBC 23 December 2017. Electronic.

 

 

 

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Spotlight on Students: Primate Conservation

The following is a guest post featuring the work of a student enrolled in SA 202: Introduction to Anthropology.  This exceptional work highlights the importance of primate conservation.  I hope you find this piece informative and are inspired to make a positive change in the world that will help this and other endangered primates.

 

Parent golden lion tamarin carrying its baby (Source: Shutterstock)

 

By: Kaitlyn Wilbers

 

Primates play a critical role in our ecosystem and our environment. While we may not all see or know it, they are helping humans out tremendously. Due to humans and natural disasters, many species of primates are going extinct. If humans do not find a way to help stop the extinction of these primates, it will significantly affect human lives. Humans use primates way more than many realize, and while not all primates may seem significant, they all play a specific role in our ecosystem, such as the golden lion tamarin.

 

The golden lion tamarin is one of the smallest primates; it is about the size of a squirrel. They have small hands and feet, long canine teeth, and short incisors (“Golden Lion Tamarin,” Smithsonian’s National Zoo 1). They have long, bright orange fur, a long tail, and a mane that frames their face much like a lion's. The golden lion tamarin is native to the Atlantic coastal regions of southeastern Brazil (“Golden Lion Tamarin,” Zoo Atlanta 5). Their habitats are typically in humid rainforests in trees. They can live up to 100 feet off the ground. The golden lion tamarins use vines to move from tree to tree. These vines are also an excellent food source for the primate because they attract many insects and amphibians. The golden lion tamarin is an omnivore. They consume fruits, insects, invertebrates, vertebrates, and some eggs. Due to their ability to go up high in trees, they can easily collect fruit from the tree and eggs from

nests (“Golden Lion Tamarins,” Smithsonian’s National Zoo 2 ).

 

The human factors that led to the endangerment of the golden lion tamarin are the pet trade and habitat loss. Habitat loss plays a vital role in the endangerment of the golden lion tamarin. This species of primate is losing its habitat due to agriculture. Their habitats are being destroyed to produce and plant sugar cane and coffee and to clear the land for grazing cattle. Logging and construction projects, such as businesses and homes, are additional contributing factors to habitat loss (“Golden Lion Tamarins,” Smithsonian’s National Zoo 1). These primates are also taken from their habitats and sold to people as pets (“Golden Lion Tamarins,” Smithsonian’s National Zoo 1).  We can help prevent the extinction of the golden lion tamarin through. We are also helping the population of this primate species by having a breeding program in place for these primates to help regrow the population (“Golden Lion Tamarin,” Smithsonian National Zoo 2). Once the offspring are born and ready to be weaned, they will be released into the wild to help regenerate the golden lion tamarin population.

 

Protecting the golden lion tamarin from extinction is essential because they play a vital role in regenerating new trees, bushes, and vegetation for the rainforest for many other species of animals (“Conservation of the golden-headed lion tamarin in a changing climate” 2). They help by dispersing seeds they consume from eating various types of food, and by defecating throughout the forest, they replant the seeds that produce food for other species to eat. This also makes habitats for many different insects and species in the rainforest. It is essential to save not only the golden lion tamarin from extinction but all primates from extinction because they help our rainforests. Primates help regenerate our rainforests because, due to their size and how far they can travel, they can disperse numerous amounts of seeds throughout different parts of the rainforest to help regenerate and grow trees, bushes, or other types of vegetation throughout the forest for not only them but other species as well. If we did not have primates to disperse these seeds, it would significantly affect the human population and other species populations in those given ecosystems (Estrada et al. 12). Primates have also been used for

scientific research to help find cures or further understand many medical conditions (e.g., respiratory diseases, mental health disorders, communication disorders, brain function, and more) (Estrada et al. 12).

 

Without the help of primates, humans would not be where they are today. While we may not use all primate species in scientific or medical research to help find better understandings of diseases in humans, they all play an essential role many people are not aware of. While we do not use this type of primate species in scientific or medical research, it plays a vital role in our ecosystem, much like other species of primates. To help regenerate vegetation and maintain other species. This is why we, as humans, must help stop the endangerment and extinction of primates.

 

Works Cited

 

Conservation of the golden-headed lion tamarin in a changing climate. (n.d.).

https://stories.ecmwf.int/conservation-of-the-golden-headed-lion-tamarin-in-a-changi

ng-cli mate/index.html. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.

 

Estrada, A., Garber, P. A., Rylands, A. B., Roos, C., Fernandez-Duque, E., Di Fiore, A.,

Nekaris, K. A.-I., Nijman, V., Heymann, E. W., Lambert, J. E., Rovero, F., Barelli, C.,

Setchell, J. M., Gillespie, T. R., Mittermeier, R. A., Arregoitia, L. V., de Guinea, M.,

Gouveia, S., Dobrovolski, R., … Li, B. (2017, January 18). Impending extinction crisis

of the world’s primates: Why primates matter. Science advances.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5242557/#:~:text=They%20are%20ou

r%2 0closest%20living,driving%20primate%20species%20to%20extinction. Accessed

4 Oct. 2023.

 

Golden Lion Tamarin. Smithsonian’s National Zoo. (2020, August 18).

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/golden-lion-tamarin#:~:text=They%20have%20narr

ow%20hands%20and,(32%20to%2040%20centimeters). Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.

 

Golden Lion Tamarin. Zoo Atlanta. (2020, April 17).

https://zooatlanta.org/animal/golden-lion-tamarin/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.