The Peabody

August 12, 2024August 13, 2024

British Museum Top Ten: Repatriation Edition

Contributed by Ryan J. Wheeler

June brought a family trip to London, including a visit to the British Museum. Many websites list the top ten items that you should not miss at the museum, and the British Museum itself has a leaflet with their recommended highlights. The British Museum is sort of ground zero for archaeology, anthropology, and colonialism, as well as mounting calls for repatriation (many people are surprised that the British Museum is prevented from repatriating cultural items by law, and can only deaccession items that are deemed duplicates, damaged, or no longer of public interest). A surprise was a number of pieces by contemporary artists that stand in juxtaposition to items from the past. It was particularly neat to encounter several ceramic pieces by Diego Romero in the case along with older and ancient pieces of Pueblo pottery. After the visit, I decided that I’d shared my own British Museum top ten list and my own repatriation recommendations.

Diego Romero’s contemporary Pueblo pottery commemorates the Pueblo Revolt of 1680; at the British Museum Romero’s work appears with older and ancient pieces.

No. 1 Hoa Hakananai’a (meaning ‘lost, hidden, or stolen friend’)

Hoa Hakananai’a is one of two Moai from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) held by the British Museum. According the exhibit text, both Moai were taken from Rapa Nui in 1868 by Commodore Richard Powell and the crew of a British survey ship, HMS Topaze. The Admiralty presented Hoa Hakananai’a to Queen Victoria, who ultimately gave him to the British Museum, rejoining Moai Hava, who went directly from the Admiralty to the museum. Near the base of the colossal figure of Hoa Hakananai’a are offerings made by representatives from Rapa Nui. The Rapa Nui requested repatriation in 2019 and the exhibit text explains that conversations about return are ongoing.

Should the British Museum repatriate Hoa Hakananai’a and Moai Hava? Yes.

No. 2 Parthenon Marbles

Perhaps central to requests for repatriation of cultural items from the British Museum are the sculpted frieze panels from the Parthenon–long called the Elgin Marbles, after the individual who originally took the panels. These impressive carvings once adorned the Parthenon–the Temple of Athena–on the Acropolis in Athens and date from nearly 2,500 years ago. The pamphlets that are usually available to explain why the panels shouldn’t be repatriated were all gone by the time we were there, but the British Museum website explains, “It is universally recognised that the sculptures that survive are best seen and conserved in museums.” Is it? The website goes on to note that in 2009, a new museum was constructed in Athens to showcase the panels. Greece has asked for the return of the carvings numerous times. Two notes from our visit. First, our friend Bill, a big comic and graphic novel connoisseur, noted that the so-called “South Metopes,” the panels depicting a battle between centaurs and Lapiths at the marriage feast of Peirithoos, followed the graphic, sequential storytelling now best known from comic books. Once he pointed this out, it completely changed my appreciation for the panels. Secondly, if you look out the windows of Gallery 18, where the sculptures and carvings are exhibited, you could see someone making breakfast in a flat directly behind the museum. I found the juxtaposition of these culturally and politically charged items with the quotidian of daily life to bring the entire, global conversation about the marbles into stark relief.

The gallery featuring the Parthenon Marbles was a popular destination when we visited in June.

Should the British Museum repatriate the Parthenon Marbles? Yes.

No. 3 Hopewell platform pipes

I’m definitely deviating from the top ten lists provided by the British Museum and other writers at this point, but for a student of archaeology of the Southeastern United States, I was really looking forward to seeing the Hopewell platform pipes. The Hopewell pipes, of stone, with beautifully carved birds and animals in miniature, were removed from Mound City in Ohio by E.G. Squier and Edwin Davis–remember Squier and Davis? Authors of 1848’s Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, one of the earliest archaeological publications of the Smithsonian Institution, sent this remarkable group of nearly fifty carvings abroad. According to the catalog for the 1977 exhibition Sacred Circles, “These little sculptures have a meaning that far outstrips their size. One feels their importance. It has something to do with the salient presentation of each animal, quail, hawk, bear, panther, snake, beaver or squirrel.” Acknowledging the high arts, architecture, and far-flung influences of the Hopewell, UNESCO recently designated eight of these monumental earthwork complexes as world heritage sites. Many institutions in the United States hold material heritage of Hopewell, and consultation with Tribes and Nations, as well as affiliations are beginning to happen.

Hopewell platform pipes from Ohio displayed at the British Museum.

Should the British Museum repatriate the Hopewell platform pipes? Yes.

No. 4 Sutton Hoo ship burial

I was excited to see the items from the seventh century Sutton Hoo ship burial. In 1939, in Suffolk, avocational archaeologist Basil Brown worked with landowner Edith Pretty to excavate the remains of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial, including a trove of weapons and jewels, including gold and garnet items and a fabulous portrait helmet of iron and copper alloy, that some have thought might be King Raedwald of East Anglia.

Many learned a little about Sutton Hoo from the 2021 Netflix movie The Dig starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes. Sadly The Dig didn’t tell us much about the discovery or the project itself, even changing elements of the story and characters, like Mercie Lack and Barbara Wagstaff, teachers and amateur photographers who volunteered to help and captured amazing images of the fragile and rapidly deteriorating find (they became a man in the movie–why?). Okay, so, you probably are thinking Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, solidly in England, no question of repatriation, right? Well, a 2020 blog on Cultural Restitution called for the return of the Sutton Hoo helmet and other items from the ship burial to regional and local museums. The blog, based on an argument forwarded by historian James Barr, notes all the reasons the British Museum would oppose such a repatriation–Edith Pretty donated the items to the museum, the 1963 act that prohibits repatriation, as well as environmental and ethical concerns. Interestingly, we encountered a similar position in 2014 after the Peabody Institute of Archaeology’s repatriation of Mesolithic era painted pebbles to France’s National Museum of Archaeology (Édouard Piette, who had discovered the pebbles and donated them to the national museum, stipulated that they should never leave the so-called Piette Room). We felt pretty good about the repatriation, but upon visiting the area where the pebbles were found, locals complained that the pebbles weren’t coming home to them, but rather hoarded in Paris. Hmmm, good questions.

Should the British Museum repatriate the Sutton Hoo ship burial? Yes.

No. 5 Lewis Chessmen

A Lewis Chessmen queen seems to be considering her plight.

A gallery or two over from Sutton Hoo and you find the twelfth century Lewis Chessmen, carved of walrus ivory and found in the nineteenth century in the Outer Hebribean Isle of Lewis in Scotland. Some went to the National Museum of Scotland–we saw them on our trip in 2017–but the bulk were sold to the British Museum. The source of the ivory and where the figures were made (maybe Norway!) is debated, but they are delightful, including berserkers chomping on their shields and queens doing what only could be described as a medieval face palm. You might think, wait, these are from the UK, so all good for the British Museum to keep, right? I wasn’t too surprised, however, to see that there have been efforts to return the chessmen not only to Scotland, but in 2010 Scottish MP Angus MacNeil called for the chessmen to return to Museum nan Eilean (museum of the islands) at Lews Castle in Stornoway, the major town of the Outer Hebrides. A 2017 Global Heritage blog post notes, “Recognition that the Lewis Chessmen are part of the heritage of the Western Isles of Scotland has come in the last few years after much lobbying, when the British Museum decided to loan six chess pieces to the Museum nan Eilean.”

Should the British Museum repatriate the Lewis Chessmen? Yes.

No. 6 Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone was one of the more popular objects–I lament that I didn’t get a photo of the three young men capturing a selfie.

The Rosetta Stone is sort of like the British Museum’s Mona Lisa–a lot of people were crammed in to get a look and it’s a little smaller than you think it will be. A group of young men in their 20s did a selfie. The Rosetta Stone includes translations of a text in three writing systems–classical hieroglyphics, Demotic script (a simplified hieroglyphics), and Ancient Greek. This allowed nineteenth century scholars–especially French archaeologist Jean-Francois Champollion–to crack the code of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, earning the Rosetta Stone a place in archaeology’s top ten. In 2022, Monica Hanna, dean at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transportation, organized a petition calling for the repatriation of the Rosetta Stone, noting, “the British Museum’s holding of the stone is a symbol of Western cultural violence against Egypt.” The petition garnered over 4,000 signatures. Zahi Hawass, well-known Egyptian archaeologist–circulated a similar petition–which got over 100,000 signatures. According to reporting in 2022, the British Museum argued that an 1801 treaty included legally transferred ownership of the famous tablet.

Should the British Museum repatriate the Rosetta Stone? Yes.

No. 7 North West palace of Ashurnasirpal gate

The lamassu figure from Ashurnasirpal’s palace throne room entrance is paired with the replica of the Balawat Gate (to the left in this picture).

Of all the cultural treasures housed at the British Museum, the Ashurnasirpal gate is perhaps one of the most striking. I first learned about these massive carvings of winged human-headed lions (or lamassu) guardians from the royal palace at Nimrud (modern northern Iraq) in grad school. The late Barbara Barletta taught a fantastic art history course on Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The tests were very different from those in archaeology, and were based around projected slides that corresponded to questions on the test. I became proficient at making quick sketches in my notes so I could keep track of which architectural features and cultural items were which. Erected during the reign of neo-Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II, almost 3,000 years ago, the figure was excavated by Sir Austen Henry Layard in 1851. A similar, perhaps matching figure is at the Met in New York. I can’t find any specific calls for repatriation by governments of Iraq, but they have been increasingly involved in the return of looted cultural items, including cuneiform tablets that landed at the Museum of the Bible and Cornell University. In 2023 Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz offered his 2018 sculpture The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist–his version of a massive lamassu–in exchange for repatriation of the Ashurnasirpal carving. An article about Rakowitz’s offer indicate that he specifically wanted to see the return of the Ashurnasirpal carving to respond to the destruction of a lamassu dating to 700 BCE at the Nergal Gate in Nineveh, which was purposely destroyed by the Islamic State in 2015.

Should the British Museum repatriate the Ashurnasirpal gate? Yes.

No. 8 Aztec serpent pectoral

The mosaic on the Aztec serpent (or caterpillar!) pectoral is made of thousands of chips of turquoise with spondylus shell highlights.

The serpent pectoral is one of several turquoise mosaics from Mesoamerica associated with the Aztec and Mixtec of central Mexico, dating from 1,400 to 1,521. Carved of cedar wood, the undulating body of the double-headed serpent is covered with an intricate mosaic of turquoise and shell. The back side is flat, and unadorned, leading most to describe this as a pectoral, which could have been worn suspended on the chest of a person or larger statue. A catalog note by Vila Llonch notes, “The Nahuatl term ‘coatl’ can be translated as both serpent and twin. The Mexica considered serpents to be powerful, multifaceted creatures that could bridge the spheres (the underworld, water and sky) owing to their physical and mythical characterisitics.” Joshua Fitzgerald offers another interpretation, suggesting the pectoral is not a snake, but rather a caterpillar, representing less bad omens, and more a physical representation of how to think about life stages. The pectoral was purchased by the British Museum from a dealer, representing “an Italian gentleman” in 1894, after considerable negotiations about the price, as well as intrigue involving Duchessa Massimo (Teresa Maria Doria-Pamphili-Landi) and the Massimo Family of Rome. It’s almost impossible to look at a book about the Aztecs or Mesoamerican archaeology without encountering the mosaic pectoral–it’s famous! I can’t find specific instances of Mexico calling for the return of the mosaic pectoral, but a 2022 article by Amah-Rose Abrams points out increasing opposition by Mexico to international auctions, as well as a legacy of protecting cultural heritage from pilfering and removal that dates back to at least 1911, following the Mexican Revolution. In that piece, Mexico’s culture minister, Alejandra Frausto Guerrero, is quoted, stating “any piece of national heritage that is permanently outside the country, not temporarily for an exhibition or cultural cooperation, comes from an illegal act.”

Should the British Museum repatriate the Aztec serpent pectoral? Yes.

No. 9 Nisga’a house pole

The Nisga’a and Haida house poles overlooking the British Museum lunch area.

Two house poles–what many might call totem poles–occupy an area near where you can have lunch at the British Museum. One is Haida, the other Nisga’a, from Angeedaw on the Nass River in British Columbia. I was particularly interested to see the Nisga’a house pole, since a presentation at the November 2023 AAIA repatriation conference highlighted the rematriation of another Nisga’a house pole from the National Museums of Scotland. Both pts’ann were taken by anthropologist Marius Barbeau, who was commissioned to acquire these items from the UK museums. The online entry for the Nisga’a pole includes this text:

The receipt in the Canadian Museum reads: ‘M.Barbeau Nass River Aug 30 1932. [To] Smith and his clan For totem pole of Eagle-Beaver, their property, which they cede in complete clan agreement without further claim (assuming responsibility of division of price between themselves) to M.Barbeau for his disposal according to authority received. Received payment in full (signed) William Smith his mark. (witness) Albert Allen. $310’ The difference in sale and cost figures being accounted for by travel and other expenses?

Apparently, similar documents exist for the rematriated pts’ann, but family stories contradict the receipted account, according to an October 17, 2023 story in IndigiNews. That story–and the presentations at the November repatriation conference–explained that these pts’ann were carved as memorials to deceased family members and are considered more than objects, but as ancestors themselves. The Angeedaw pts’ann is about 25 feet tall with carvings of mythological creatures, an eagle, and beavers.

Should the British Museum repatriate the Nisga’a house pole? Yes.

No 10 Citico shell gorget

Note–I’m not including any images of the shell gorget, as this is so clearly a funerary item.

In a case near the Hopewell pipes described above was a beautiful example of a Citico style shell gorget. I was surprised to encounter this cultural item at the British Museum, as I had become quite familiar with these objects in repatriation work here at the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology. These gorgets, made from the outer whorl of a large whelk shell and depicting stylized rattlesnakes, appear almost exclusively in burials of the late Mississippian era in the southeastern United States. A similar gorget from Etowah, a major mound complex near Atlanta, Georgia, was on exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History when I was there last summer. All of the examples from Etowah and Little Egypt here at the Peabody are awaiting repatriation, either as associated or unassociated funerary objects. My degree of familiarity with these gorgets increased in 2018 when we began working with the FBI to recover several stolen shell gorgets–which was partially successful. That work led me to scour publications, auction catalogs, and online auctions for shell gorgets in the hopes of recognizing one of the stolen ones. Helpful in all that is an exhaustive catalog of shell gorgets compiled by Jeffrey P. Brain and Philip Phillips, published by the Harvard Museum Press in 1996. The British Museum example, which apparently came to the museum in 1884 from William Bragge, does not appear in the Brain and Phillips catalog. Bragge was a nineteenth century engineer, antiquarian, and collector, with a specialty in tobacco; the British Museum holds 1,899 objects that are related to Bragge’s collecting efforts, including objects from far-flung Indigenous cultures, often pipes or smoking-related paraphernalia.

Should the British Museum repatriate the Citico shell gorget? Yes.

June 21, 2024

Wax On, then 57 years later, Wax Off: Deinstallation of the Last Exhibit Case

Contributed by John Bergman-McCool

*The first steps in the deinstallation process: items are removed and inventoried.*

This month we began deinstalling our institution’s last remaining exhibit case. The case resides on the second floor in what was, until recently, our only environmentally controlled storage housing. The case was installed in 1967 and held materials recovered during excavations led by Scotty MacNeish in Mexico’s Tehuacán Valley. The display has sat largely hidden from view behind shelving since 2012, when this room was converted into a housing area.

*Summer curatorial assistant, Cyrus, removing items from the case.*

Beginning this spring, the room slowly changed from collection housing into offices and workspace for collections staff. As part of the transformation, collections were moved into the basement, boards covering the windows were removed, and collections supplies and worktables were assembled. The final piece to resolve was this exhibit case. With the help of our summer curatorial assistants, Kyra Smith and Cyrus Marion, we were finally able to tackle its deinstallation.

Those are actual mesquite seeds attached to the wall.

The case is a fantastic example of exhibit design from the ‘60s and includes charming hand-painted illustrations that have a lot of character. However, the materials within have been “on display” for decades and they need a rest. Moreover, with the window coverings removed, the room and case were exposed to unfiltered ultraviolet light, an agent of deterioration.

Perhaps as an auspicious sign, a key to the exhibit case happened to be in one of the repurposed desks that we moved in for the new office space. With the case opened, we investigated how the items had been installed. Most were secured to the walls with bee’s wax. The wax held up remarkably well for the past six decades. In fact, it was somewhat difficult to remove the items from the wall. Once off the wall, the wax was more accessible and could be removed with heat. We did not remove the wax from botanical items due to their sensitivity to rapid changes in temperature.

Bees Wax held these items on the wall for 57 years!

The items were rehoused and moved into our basement storage for a much-needed rest. The deinstallation of this case marks the end of our institution’s intentional move away from exhibitions, which began in 2017.

June 20, 2024

Peabody Picks: 2024 Summer Reading List

Contributed by Emma Lavoie

As summer approaches and we begin to wind down from the end of another school year, we could all use a good book (or podcast) to help us relax and escape our busy lives. We’ve rounded up our staff’s “Peabody Picks” for summer and hope one of these recommendations may accompany you to the beach, on your next trip, or at home on the couch. We hope you all enjoy your summer!

Happy reading (and listening)!

Ryan Wheeler, Director – Sins of the Shovel: Looting, Murder, and the Evolution of American Archaeology by Rachel Morgan

American archaeology was forever scarred by an 1893 business proposition between cowboy-turned-excavator Richard Wetherill and socialites-turned-antiquarians Fred and Talbot Hyde. Wetherill had stumbled upon Mesa Verde’s spectacular cliff dwellings and started selling artifacts, but with the Hydes’ money behind him, well—there’s no telling what they might discover. Thus begins the Hyde Exploring Expedition, a nine-year venture into Utah’s Grand Gulch and New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon that—coupled with other less-restrained looters—so devastates Indigenous cultural sites across the American Southwest that Congress passes first-of-their-kind regulations to stop the carnage. As the money dries up, tensions rise, and a once-profitable enterprise disintegrates, setting the stage for a tragic murder.

Sins of the Shovel is a story of adventure and business gone wrong and how archaeologists today grapple with this complex heritage. Through the story of the Hyde Exploring Expedition, practicing archaeologist Rachel Morgan uncovers the uncomfortable links between commodity culture, contemporary ethics, and the broader political forces that perpetuate destructive behavior today. The result is an unsparing and even-handed assessment of American archaeology’s sins, past and present, and how the field is working toward atonement.

“An incisive history of early American archaeology—from reckless looting to professional science—and the field’s unfinished efforts to make amends today, told “with passion, indignation, and a dash of suspense.” –New York Times

Richard Davis, Peabody Volunteer – A Kind of Flying: Selected Stories by Ron Carlson

Ron Carlson’s stories, sometimes wicked or bittersweet, often zany, are rich with a hard-earned hopefulness frequently absent in contemporary fiction. In this generous gathering from collections no longer available, longtime fans and new readers alike can savor the development of a master of idiosyncrasy.

Properly celebrated for his range, Carlson offers us a rural sheriff who’s wary of UFOs (“Phenomena”), a lawyer on a mission in remote Alaska (“Blazo”), a baseball player turned killer-by-accident (“Zanduce at Second”), and a man accusing Bigfoot of stealing his wife, followed by Bigfoot’s incomparable response.

.“These stories are full of surprises, jolts, and lightning strikes of recognition. Do yourself a favor and read Ron Carlson.” –Stephen King

John Bergman-McCool, Collections Coordinator – Podcasts: Handsome and Throughline from NPR

Handsome is a podcast from comedians Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin. Every week, the handsome hosts field a question from a friend and attempt to answer it together, covering every subject you could think of. Along the way, Tig, Fortune, and Mae tell plenty of stories and just generally have a ridiculous time.

Throughline is a time machine. Each episode, we travel beyond the headlines to answer the question, “How did we get here?” We use sound and stories to bring history to life and put you into the middle of it. From ancient civilizations to forgotten figures, we take you directly to the moments that shaped our world. Throughline is hosted by Peabody Award-winning journalists Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei.

Marla Taylor, Curator of Collections – Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

Marla – Sometimes I like to revisit favorite books that I have read in the past. Lamb by Christopher Moore is one of those books for me. The full title is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.

Moore tells the story of a very human Joshua (Jesus) and his best friend/protector, Biff, as they explore their world and learn about themselves. Joshua can’t sin, so Biff has to do it all for him with some delightful and unexpected encounters. This book is irreverent and hilarious – it makes me laugh every time.

But Lamb is also so much more than that. It is a deeply sentimental story about friendship, an exploration of faith, and something that has stuck with me over the years. I really enjoy reading it periodically and hope you find the time to read it as well.

“An instant classic…terrific, funny, and poignant.” –Rocky Mountain News

Emma Lavoie, Administrative Assistant – The Only One Left by Riley Sager

At seventeen, Lenora Hope, Hung her sister with a rope – Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife, Took her mother’s happy life – It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.
“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said, But she’s the only one not dead.

“Propulsive … a dizzying Gothic whodunit.” –New York Times Book Review

Michael Agostino, Peabody Volunteer – Discovery and Adventure in Africa by James Wilson Jameson and Hugh Murray

Mike – I like old books. Really old books. Old books which have sat on shelves for many years, sometimes read cover to cover, sometimes ignored and gathering dust. Passed down, sold, and exchanged, they end up in a bookstore that I manage to find while on vacation. I have been lucky enough to come across science books published in the late 1800’s and own four Darwins from that time period. No, these are not first edition collector’s items valued at thousands of dollars. I believe the most I ever spent was $30! They must be in good shape for me to buy them, but often show their age. I don’t mind these flaws as it adds to the character I am seeking.

One year I purchased a very old book, “Discovery and Adventure in Africa,” printed in 1832. According to the writing inside the jacket, I spent $5. It is very fragile, yellow with age, and I must be careful when I open it and turn the pages. But what a find! It is number 16 of a 71 book series called “Harper’s Family Library.” It is written by two men who appear to be professors of history and they are recounting the travels and discovery of other Europeans in Africa. It contains a number of illustrations (“engravings”) which try to capture what the explorers are seeing. The real gem of the book is a 9” x 8” fold-out map of Africa. This map reflects the European knowledge of that era as numerous features appear on the edges of the continent but much of the interior is blank.

This 4” by 6” book is a tough read as the text is tiny. But the style is very colorful, common in old writing. Explorers and their teams died frequently in their travels. In this case, almost every explorer came down with high fevers and were ill for weeks. But many recovered to continue months of travel marked with deteriorating resources and energy. They were met by kindness, distrust, help, violence, and puzzlement. The people they met varied in apparent wealth. Many led simple lives while others were the local kings and queens. Some villages contained dozens of inhabitants, while cities had populations in the thousands. Since the descriptions are second and even third-hand, it is hard to decide how accurate the accounts are. But even with that in mind, the window back in time is still interesting and I am enjoying reading about the various cultures the explorers encountered.

Given its age, I was lucky to find this book on a store shelf. But you can find it for sale on the web as you can for almost anything. For me, the hunt continues and if I’m lucky I will find another volume of this great series of books.

“This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.” –Wentworth Press

Nick Andrusin, Temporary Educator and Collections Assistant – The Age of the Vikings by Anders Winroth

The Vikings maintain their grip on our imagination, but their image is too often distorted by myth. It is true that they pillaged, looted, and enslaved. But they also settled peacefully and traveled far from their homelands in swift and sturdy ships to explore. The Age of the Vikings tells the full story of this exciting period in history. Drawing on a wealth of written, visual, and archaeological evidence, Anders Winroth captures the innovation and pure daring of the Vikings without glossing over their destructive heritage. He not only explains the Viking attacks, but also looks at Viking endeavors in commerce, politics, discovery, and colonization, and reveals how Viking arts, literature, and religious thought evolved in ways unequaled in the rest of Europe. The Age of the Vikings sheds new light on the complex society, culture, and legacy of these legendary seafarers.

“[Winroth] has an impressive knowledge of the sources, the archaeology, and the modern historical literature. . . . Winroth really knows what he is writing about, and has done the research. . . . I recommend the work to anyone with little knowledge of the subject and a wish to learn more.” –New York Review of Books

Cyrus Marion, Curatorial Assistant – The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow

A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution―from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality―and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.

Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, Graeber and Wengrow reveal how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual blinders and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing during all that time? If agriculture and cities did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organizations did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more open to playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.

Cyrus – Pay special attention to those footnotes! You do not want to pass those up in your reading.

“[The book takes] as its immodest goal nothing less than upending everything we think we know about the origins and evolution of human societies.” –The New York Times

Kyra Smith, Curatorial Assistant – Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings―asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass―offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

“Robin Wall Kimmerer has written an extraordinary book, showing how the factual, objective approach of science can be enriched by the ancient knowledge of the indigenous people. It is the way she captures beauty that I love the most—the images of giant cedars and wild strawberries, a forest in the rain and a meadow of fragrant sweetgrass will stay with you long after you read the last page” –Jane Goodall

Additional reading recommendations from our Peabody Staff

An Indigenous Present by Jeffrey Gibson, Philip J. Deloria, and others (2023).
Assembled for Use: Indigenous Compilation and the Archives of Early Native American Literatures by Kelly Wisecup (2021).
Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museumsby Samuel J. Redman (2016).
Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897).
Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft form the Ice Age to the Present by Chris Gosden (2020).
Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology by Samuel J. Redman (2021).
The Ghost Clubby Kate Winkler Dawson (2023). *A Penguin Audiobook Original
The Locked Tomb Seriesby Tamsyn Muir (2019).
The Museum: A Short History of Crisis and Resilienceby Samuel J. Redman (2022).
The Romance of Reunion: Northerners and the South, 1865-1900 by Nina Silber (1997).

June 18, 2024

Reunion Weekend 2024

Contributed by Marla Taylor

PA Reunion Weekend only comes once a year and it is one Saturday that I don’t mind working. Now that I have been at the Peabody for over 16 years (gasp!), I am privileged to have forged connections with dozens of students over the years and I really love seeing them return as alumni.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the Peabody Institute has long been a part of the Phillips Academy work duty program. PA students are required to do some type of work on campus during their time as part of their education. The Peabody has been one of those work venues for about 20 years now. While time requirements for work duty have shifted over the years, this has long been an important link between the Peabody and students. Running the work duty program was a primary focus of mine for 8-10 years and I really enjoyed getting to know the students.

Now, some of those students come back as adults and share their memories with me. Being a part of their PA experience and leaving any type of impact on them is truly one of the best parts of my job. I look forward to many more opportunities to connect!

May 24, 2024September 3, 2024

Flexible Restructuring

Contributed by Nick Andrusin

The Peabody has taught many lessons over the years, so we have a lot of teaching instruments and old plans laying around. When we get contacted by an instructor here at Phillips Academy, we dive into those piles to see what can be used and how! This is what happened very recently with our Trade Connections lesson.

The opportunity arrived when history fellow Anna Green asked us to do a few lessons for her history 100B class. She was looking for a lesson to fit into her student’s final project, a presentation on various Native American cultures from South to North America. We sat down with her one day and sketched out what this lesson could look like and what we could incorporate.

We have a previously existing lesson known as Trade Connections that we last taught in December 2022. This lesson features objects from 4 different regions of the Americas (Mesoamerica, Andes, American Southwest and American Southeast) and discuss how these societies traded and interacted with each other over the millennia. So, for this new version we focused on 8 objects that represent the areas for the assignment. In addition, we made sure that both ancient and modern examples from these cultures were included, showing that there are forms of continuation with these Indigenous groups.

But we didn’t stop at just substitutions of objects. We wanted students to practice basic object interaction so they could approach looking at artifacts in a way that they may not have done before. To do that we broke out the tried-and-true Tarps exercise, which basically give them a crash course in item handling and simple archaeology. Here we set up a mock dig site complete with objects used for different purposes (pottery making, cooking, etc.) and have the students use there critical thinking skills to evaluate what the objects are and areas are used for based on how they found them (kitchen, stone tool workshop, etc.).

(shoulda’ been a conductor…)

After completing the Tarps exercise, students apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills to study of the objects from Mesoamerica, the Andes, American Southwest and American Southeast. We asked them to write down their observations of the object, what are its potential uses, what does it tell you about the culture, was it made by ancient or modern individuals, etc. The students then use this knowledge to pick and research an object on their own for their final project.

It was great revamping an older lesson and making it available for today’s classes at Phillips Academy!

May 16, 2024

A New Visitor to the Institute?

Contributed by John Bergman-McCool

Every month our collections staff monitor glue traps stationed around the building. The traps provide a way to monitor what kind of insect activity is happening at our Institute. They serve as one of several pillars of our Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. IPM is a sustainable approach to managing pests that utilizes techniques that minimize risk to human health and the environment. Other pillars in our program include regular cleaning, maintaining temperature and humidity at levels that slow down and discourage insect activity, and isolating and treating affected items with deep cold or hypoxic conditions.

Insects within research and museum collections are a reality, especially within an old building like the Peabody. Some insects do not pose a danger to the collection, but their presence can signify that environmental conditions within the building may be outside of our target range. Other pests can damage the collection, and their presence requires immediate attention. In the past, the presence of one adult carpet beetle out in the open in our ethnographic collection area was enough to kick off a month’s long survey of susceptible items.

*Insects Limited is a great resource for IPM solutions and insect identification, including this poster of museum baddies.*

Our traps are placed along the walls where many insects prefer to travel and they are open on either side. When caught, the position of the bugs give us a sense of where insects are coming from, either within the building or from the outside. Some insects can live and breed within the building, while others have to leave to find a mate before coming back to lay eggs.

This month, as temperatures outside the building are warming up and the humidity is increasing, we are starting to see an increase in activity within our traps. One trap returned an insect that required closer inspection.

*The trap in question with an enlarged image of the unknown insect.*

In the above image, there are lots of little specks and one larger. The small specks are psocids (booklice), one of the dirty dozen pests depicted above. Booklice feed on molds, fungi, grains, insect fragments, and other starchy material, including glue from bookbindings (link). If this trap were in our library or archives, we would want to do a good cleaning. There are no at-risk collections where this trap is located, though a vacuum cleaning is warranted.

The larger speck is a beetle of some variety. It came from the room side of the trap, not the door side. It is roughly 1-2 mm in length (very small!) and needs to be examined under magnification. Amazingly, there are many beetles of this size. One that we have seen in traps in the past is the minute brown fungus beetle (MBFB) (link). They are an insect that doesn’t pose a direct risk to the collections, however they can indicate warm and wet environmental conditions. MBFB eat wet organic matter and plaster, and if found in large numbers they may alert us to leaks in the building.

A more alarming possibility is the powderpost beetle (link). This is a truly dangerous pest. They can decimate wood. Adults are rarely seen, and they lay tiny eggs on or just under the wood surface. When the eggs hatch the larva burrow under the surface and tunnel around until they emerge from tiny pin holes when they are adults.

*Here is a very up close and personal view of the mystery insect.*

Under magnification our insect doesn’t look like either of these. A very useful tool for identifying unknown insects is the image lookup function in Google images.

*Click the above icon and follow the prompts to upload your image. Google will return images that look similar to your upload.*

With the image loaded into Google, we were pretty quickly able to find very close visual matches that suggest that our beetle is a Saw Tooth Grain Beetle (link, link). This beetle is a common kitchen pest frequently found in oatmeal and grain. There is a possibility that this insect is a random encounter, however they are known to consume tobacco, which we have housed with our collection. We have susceptible items within the collection, but they aren’t housed anywhere near this trap location. This is one to keep our eyes on, so we’ll be monitoring this area for future encounters.

May 15, 2024

Peabody Pets – Happy National Pet Month!

Contributed by Emma Lavoie

May is National Pet Month, a time to celebrate how important our pets are! Whether they are just being their playful selves or providing assistance in various ways, pets contribute so much love in people’s lives. They also make our social media that much more entertaining.

This month we’d like to introduce some more Peabody Pets! Amongst these new faces, you may see some familiar furry friends from our first Peabody Pets blog here!

Meet Opal

Opal is a beagle/basset hound mix that was rescued from Oklahoma. She was a puppy when she came to Peabody curator of collections Marla Taylor’s family just about a year ago and they decided her birthday is February 14^th. Opal was named by Marla’s sons – they came up with the name completely on their own and it won the family vote. Opal loves her boys!

Opal’s favorite foods are broccoli, carrots, and salami. She LOVES chasing the ball in the backyard but hasn’t figured out that she needs to bring it back to have it thrown again. She also loves trying to play soccer with the boys (but she uses her mouth). Opal does not hesitate to climb onto your lap when she wants some attention.

Meet Sophie and Elle

Sophie and her daughter Elle are the newest additions to Peabody director Ryan Wheeler’s family. Sophie (also known as Baby Cat, Baby Momma Cat, Clio, Buttons, etc.) was part of a feral cat colony in Fort Lauderdale, where she befriended Ryan in 2021. She was ultimately rescued by the organization Love for Cats in 2022 and was soon joined by her kitten Elle (named for Millie Bobby Brown’s character Eleven from Stranger Things).

In July 2022, Ryan traveled to Florida to bring Sophie and Elle back to Massachusetts. Despite being feral, Sophie enjoys sitting with her humans, interacting with her dog friend Scotty, and, occasionally, snuggling with her daughter. Elle is now two years old and the biggest cat at Ryan’s home. She enjoys being goofy, watching television, and playing with her toys.

Meet Batson

Batson is a 1-year old golden retriever whose birthday was just last month! He is the second fur child to Peabody administrative assistant Emma Lavoie and her family. Batson gets his name from the Batson River that flows through Kennebunkport, Maine. The towns of Wells and Kennebunkport, Maine are very dear to Emma’s family, as her family has spent summers there since she was a child. Batson’s namesake is also dedicated to the Batson River Brewing & Distilling Company, a local favorite in Maine!

Batson’s favorite activities are swimming, running on the beach (and into the ocean), looking out the window, giving hugs, wrestling or sitting on his brother, and looking at himself in a mirror (we’re still figuring that one out). His favorite foods are peanut butter, green beans, carrots, and his meatball and jerky treats. You may recognize Batson’s brother, Rourke, from our previous pet blog. Rourke is now 5 years old and loves having a little brother… most of the time. Rourke got his name from Emma’s old family Irish name O’Rourke (meaning Red Hero). Emma found the family crest during her visit to Ireland in the fall!

Meet Baz

Remember Baz from our previous blog? He’s now 17 years old! Baz has been a long-time member of Peabody collections coordinator John Bergman-McCool’s family. He will follow you around the house for hours waiting for the moment you sit down. Then, he claims his spot in your lap. The remaining time is spent sleeping on your pillow. He loves cucurbits of all kinds and playing fetch.

Meet Scotty

Recognize Scotty from our previous blog? Scotty MacLeish is an Australian cattle dog mix who joined Peabody director Ryan Wheeler’s family in fall 2016. He was about a year old at that time, a rescue from Tennessee. Scotty soon made an appearance in Ryan’s Human Origins course, where he helped facilitate conversations about dog domestication (being part dingo!).

Scotty enjoys hanging around with his cat friends, but doesn’t enjoy rainy or cold weather. His name is a tribute to Richard “Scotty” MacNeish, fifth director of the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology and super star archaeologist of plant domestication.

Meet Dexter

This is Dexter! He is a 6 year old Tabby cat. He was adopted from the pet adoption center in Irondequoit, NY, joining Peabody temporary educator and collections assistant, Nick Andrusin’s family back in 2019. His new family did not pick his name. Instead, they chose to keep his original name, Dexter, as he already knew and answered to it before adoption.

His favorite activities include rough housing, staring at birds, and sitting on an open lap for as long as possible. He loves cream cheese and deli meats.

May 6, 2024

ICC @ SAA

Contributed by Marla Taylor

At the SAA meeting in New Orleans, I had the pleasure of representing the Indigenous Collections Care (ICC) Guide in the poster session – In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part V): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice.

The ICC poster discussed the development of the ICC Guide, what is covered in the document, and how it can support NAGPRA compliance. The ICC Guide provides a framework to respect and recenter collections stewardship practices around the needs and knowledge of Native American and Indigenous community members. This framework encompasses materials both within and beyond the scope of NAGPRA.

I was excited for the opportunity to share the ICC Guide project with an archaeological audience. I had so many positive conversations with folks and really enjoyed connecting with everyone. It was a great conference and great experience!

May 6, 2024

The Peabody at #SAA2024NOLA!

Contributed by Emma Lavoie

This month, members of the Peabody staff attended the 89^th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA). This year, the annual meeting was in New Orleans, Louisiana. SAA was founded in 1934 and is the largest organization for archaeologists conducting work in North and South America. Fun fact: the first meeting by SAA took place at Phillips Academy in December 1935!

Today, the SAA includes over 7,000 members and their annual meetings take place all over the country, giving archaeologists the opportunity to present papers and posters on their research, as well as conduct symposiums and panel discussions related to current issues in the field of archaeology.

There are many institutions and vendors who take part in SAA’s exhibit hall, where various groups rent space to promote their organizations and activities. This is also a wonderful place to meet and network with other institutions and archaeologists. The Peabody booth was very popular – and this may or may not have had to do with our booth neighbors, the Institute for Canine Forensics. They were the best neighbors and of course we had a blast meeting Katana and Jazz (two of their service canine teammates.)

This was one of the largest exhibit hall turnouts the Peabody has experienced at SAA and it was a great opportunity for staff to meet new people interested in the Peabody for research, educational programming with the Journal of Archaeology and Education, collection care, and NAGPRA work. It was also wonderful for staff to reunite with past friends and colleagues.

With the SAA conference in New Orleans (right in the heart of the French Quarter no less), there were many opportunities to explore the historical city and jazz culture. I even got to see a site associated with my ancestors – the Lafitte brothers, who used the property for their privateering and smuggling operations in New Orleans.

Next year’s SAA meeting will take place in Denver, Colorado – where SAA will be celebrating 90 years! You can be sure to see the Peabody in attendance!

May 6, 2024May 6, 2024

The Exploits of the JAE: Open Access Publishing Meets Archaeology and Education

Contributed by Ryan Wheeler

Poster sessions are a great way to share information and connect with people at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Exhibitors have two hours to share their research and projects, connecting at length with attendees that stop by to chat–a bit less pressure than the regular sessions and symposia! At the recent 89th annual meeting of the SAA, the Journal of Archaeology & Education was represented at the Thursday afternoon posters after hours session. For those that couldn’t make it, here are some highlights of our poster:

JAE poster from the recent SAA annual meeting.

Abstract

Education has become an important component of archaeology in all realms, from traditional teaching arenas in universities and K-12 schools to research to government and contract work. In 2017 the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology and the University of Maine, Orono collaborated to found the Journal of Archaeology & Education, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal dedicated to disseminating research and sharing practices in archaeological education. The journal’s founders recognize the significant role that archaeology can play in education at all levels and intend for JAE to provide a home for the growing community of practitioners and scholars interested in sharing their first-hand experiences and research. Since 2017, JAE has published 41 articles and 2 special issues with a total of 12,412 downloads. JAE’s editorial board contend with issues around growing awareness and increasing submissions, as well as how to handle the ethics of human subjects research in environments where Institutional Research Boards are not always available and researchers are not consistently aware of the need to have their research vetted.

About the Journal

The Journal of Archaeology and Education is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal dedicated to disseminating research and sharing practices in archaeological education at all levels. We welcome submissions dealing with education in its widest sense, both in and out of the classroom—from early childhood through the graduate level—including public outreach from museums and other institutions, as well as professional development for the anthropologist and archaeologist.

The journal’s founders recognize the significant role that archaeology can play in education at all levels and intend for the Journal of Archaeology and Education to provide a home for the growing community of practitioners and scholars interested in sharing their first-hand experiences and research. Costs related to publication are shared by the University of Maine, providing for access to the bepress publishing platform, and the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, funding copyediting and layout. Authors are not assessed any fees.

The journal was founded at the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, where archaeology is used to support high school curricula at Phillips Academy, and is hosted at the University of Maine’s Digital Commons website. Contact the editors by emailing Kathryn Kamp (KAMP@Grinnell.EDU) or Ryan Wheeler (rwheeler@andover.edu).

JAE editor Kathryn Kamp talks to attendees at the poster session.

Open Access Publishing

Open access publishing has significantly increased since 2010, when only around 30% of all articles published were freely available, to about 50% of articles published in 2019 (Heidbach et al. 2022). The overall trend has been toward open access publishing, as governments in both Europe and North America have pushed for open access publishing of studies that they have funded. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) currently indexes 180 open access archaeology journals. Different levels of open access publishing include Gold, where all a journal’s articles are open access and indexed by the DOAJ. Often this requires that the author pay an article processing fee. Green level involves reader payment on a publisher’s website, but articles may become more freely available on open access archives after an embargo period. Hybrid level allows authors to choose from the Gold or Green open access models. Bronze level open access sees publication in a subscription-based journal (see Greussing et al. 2020; Marwick 2020). Other models–sometimes referred to as Diamond or Platinum–omit fees for authors and readers, like the JAE approach. Almost all of the open access models include some fees by either the author or reader, and this has become a significant discussion in open access publishing and academic publishing in general. Initially these fees were expected to be rather low, but now author fees are regularly thousands of dollars. This is an obstacle to those publishing studies that are adjacent to their primary research (often the case with archaeology education studies), or those working in areas with limited funding. Marwick (2020) uses the hashtag #openirony to describe articles published on open access in archaeological publishing that are, in fact, unavailable to many readers due to paywalls.

IRB Policy

In 2021, the JAE adopted a requirement for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, or equivalent, for articles involving human subjects. The Editors and Editorial Board found that many archaeologists were unfamiliar with IRB review, but as they conducted and published assessment research, such review involving students and program participants was necessary. The policy states:

All human subjects research results published by the Journal of Archaeology and Education (JAE) must be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or an equivalent entity in the author’s country. The purpose of IRB review is to assure, both in advance and by periodic review, that appropriate steps are taken to protect the rights and welfare of people participating as subjects in your research. If you do not have an IRB affiliated with your organization, you must find a suitable IRB at a qualified university or other institution. Most universities have IRBs that will accept applications from outside their institution. Authors, especially those without an academic affiliation, could use an independent IRB, which is subject to the same federal regulations as universities. There may be fees associated with university and independent IRB reviews. The IRB protocol number assigned by your IRB must be included in the article. Manuscripts without IRB approval will not be considered for publication in JAE.

Article	Author	Downloads
Teaching Archaeology with Inclusive Pedagogy	Maxine H. Oland	1102
Putting Archaeology and Anthropology into Schools: A 2019 Update	Colleen P. Popson and Ruth O. Selig	941
Teaching with Technology: Digital Tools for Archaeological Education	Caroline Gardiner	873
GRAND CHALLENGE No. 1: TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION Archaeological Pedagogy, Indigenous Histories, and Reconciliation in Canada	Kisha Supernant	673
GRAND CHALLENGE No. 5: COMMUNICATING ARCHAEOLOGY Outreach and Narratives in Professional Practice	Todd J. Kristensen, Meigan Henry, Kevin Brownlee, Adrian Praetzellis, and Myra Sitchon	574
Archaeology in the Classroom at a New England Prep School	Ryan J. Wheeler	475
From Maya Pyramids to Paleoindian Projectile Points: the Importance of Public Outreach in Archaeology	D. Clark Wernecke and Thomas J. Williams	460
No Smoking Please? Campus Cigarette Butt Collection as an Archaeological Field Exercise	G. Logan Miller	460
GRAND CHALLENGE No. 3: DIGITAL ARCHAEOLOGY Technology-Enabled Learning in Archaeology	Meaghan M. Peuramaki-Brown, Shawn G. Morton, Oula Seitsonen, Chris Sims, and Dave Blaine	437
Say What?: Demystifying Discourse Analysis for Archaeology Students	Cynthia L. Van Gilder	429