Accidental Archaeological Pioneer: George McJunkin

Figure 1: George McJunkin (Source: Wikicommons)

 

The story of George McJunkin is remarkable in various ways (Figure 1).  McJunkin was born into slavery in 1851 and was denied many rights and privileges, but upon receiving his freedom in 1868 he took every opportunity to make up for lost time.  He learned to read, play the fiddle and guitar, and to speak Spanish.  He spent his time satiating his curiosity in naturalism, reading everything he could the subject.  He took up employment as a cowboy and rancher where he spent his free time combing the New Mexican desert searching for and collecting American Indian artifacts.  McJunkin has since been identified as the first Black avocational or early artifact collector, which was common in his day.  Prior to the established archaeological methods that exist today the field was filled with amateurs who simply went out looking for anything and everything they could find.  While these methods are not supported today they did yield a variety of amazing discoveries, one of which McJunkin has finally received long over due credit for.  This blog post will address McJunkin’s monumental discovery of the Folsom site in New Mexico.

 

The Folsom site is heralded as the first archaeological site to establish the earliest human occupation in the Americas, although it is no longer considered the earliest such site today.  Its discovery was accidental and very much due to McJunkin, who happened upon it while repairing fencing on the ranch where he was working.  Torrential rainfall had damaged the fence but also washed away topsoil, exposing mysterious bones that McJunkin recognized.  He knew they were bison bones, but they were unlike any bison bones he was familiar with.  They were far larger, leading him to recognize that this was an important discovery that required study by the scientific community.  He went about writing several other avocational and professional scholars, but only a couple were interested in visiting the site.  It is unclear if they were reluctant to do so because of McJunkin’s race or because of the isolated location of the site (as it was only accessible by either taking a two-day horse back ride or one day car trip, and cars were not as commonly available as they are today and not everyone knew how to ride a horse). 

 

Over the next decade and a half McJunkin did not give up his solicitation of interest.  His efforts were fruitful a few years after his death when two avocational fossil hunters were able to convince their friend, who had just purchased a car, to drive them out to the site.  Their confirmation of McJunkin’s discovery was brought to the attention of Colorado scholars who visited the site in short order.  They initially thought that the site was a significant paleontological site as the bison bones belong to a species that had neither been previously identified nor classified, leading to the first of McJunkin’s unintentional monumental discoveries.  

 

Figure 2: Folsom point (Source: Bureau of Land Management)

 

As they excavated the bones the researchers made another extraordinary discovery: lodged within the remains of the rib cage was a man-made, fluted stone point (Figure 2).  This instigated an intense debate within the archaeological community, one that had been raging for some time.  This debate concerned the initial timeline for human occupation of the Americas.  American Indians claimed that archaeologists and historians were wrong in their conclusion that the Americas had been occupied for only 4,000 years, a stance that well known anthropologist Aleš Hrdlicka was fervently committed.  The discovery of this man-made point and its association with an extinct megafauna species set that date back to 10,000 years, a far earlier date of occupation.  The site and the point were both named after a nearby town, Folsom. 

 

It was not until other similar sites were discovered throughout the American Southwest did the archaeological community begin to accept the earlier date of occupation, thereby establishing the first timeline for the Paleoindian occupation of the Americas.  Again, there have been further discoveries since McJunkin’s that have reestablished the timelines for Paleoindian occupations of the America’s, but the Folsom site, McJunkin’s discovery, will always be remembered as the first Paleoindian site, even though he could not know that initially.  It also means that McJunkin is the first Black American archaeologist, another title he never set to achieve but did nonetheless. 

 

References

Conner, C. D. (2021, July 7). Revolutionary Lives: George McJunkin. Science for the People.

Morrow, J. (n.d.). George McJunkin, a cowboy who loved archeology . Retrieved from University of Arkansas System-Arkansas Archaeological Survey: https://archeology.uark.edu/george-mcjunkin/

Nash, S. (2022, January 20). A Hidden Figure in North American Archaeology. Retrieved from Sapiens: https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/george-mcjunkin/

National Park Service. (2020, August 1). George McJunkin. Retrieved from National Park Service Capulin Volcano National Monument in New Mexico: https://www.nps.gov/cavo/learn/historyculture/george-mcjunkin.htm

Peebles, M. (2020). George McJunkin and the Discovery That Changed American Archaeology. Retrieved from Archaeology Southwest: https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/2015/02/23/george-mcjunkin-and-the-discovery-that-changed-american-archaeology/