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John Weinstein / GN87788,30Ac

In the Field

The Bulletin of The Beld Mirseum

May/June 1996

The Museum’s

The Field Museum annual Spring Sym-
Exploring posium examines

The Earth And Its the Andes from
People many angles.

consortium of 34 Chicago-area
scientific institutions, conserva-
tion organizations, and govern-
ment agencies has announced the
formation of the Chicago Region
Biodiversity Council, which will pursue dozens
of projects collectively entitled the Chicago
Wilderness Project to restore and expand the
native ecosystems of southeastern Wisconsin,
northern Illinois, and northwestern Indiana.
Near Chicago, small pockets of native tall-
grass prairies, oak savannas, woodlands, and
wetlands survived the 19th-century develop-
ment of large-scale agriculture, the introduction
of exotic plants and animals, and the 20th-cen-
tury march of urbanization and suburbanization.
While these biological communities now occu-
py less than one percent of their pre-European-
settlement acreage and some species have
already become extinct, the remaining biodiver-
sity nevertheless makes the Chicago region one
of the most important assemblages of rare and
threatened species in the world. /See Peter
Crane, “Biodiversity in Metro Chicago,” In the
Field, March/April 1996, p.10.]
Field Museum scientists, especially Debra
K. Moskovits, head of the Museum’s Office of

-8 10

A unique experi-
ment in interactive
video brings kids
from four states to
“Life Over Time”

A complete schedule
of May/June events,
including special pro-
grams around “Spi-
ders!” the exhibit.

CHICAGO WILDERNESS

Environmental and Conservation Programs,
were among the initiators of the discussions that
led to Chicago Wilderness. After nearly two
years of negotiations, the organizations were
able to announce formation of the Council at a
news conference in Stanley Field Hall on April
10. In the interim, however, the participating
institutions have begun work on 28 individual
restoration, conservation, survey, and educa-
tional programs. Additional projects will be
announced as they are approved by the Council.

Organizers are optimistic that Chicago
Wilderness will achieve World Biosphere
Reserve status in the next few decades. As a
result of historical accident, turn-of-the-century
greenbelt planning, and more recent conver-
sions and acquisitions like the Midiwin Prairie,

(Continued on page 3)

John Weinstein / GN87791.30c

VOLUNTEERS AS
‘VALIDATORS’ OF MUSEUM

Museum volunteers in education, collec-
tions, research, and other areas are honored
at an annual dinner. Trustee Hugo Melvoin
told them they “validated” the work of the
Museum’s staff and Trustees.

MC CARTER IS NAMED NEW
PRESIDENT OF FIELD MUSEUM

By Ron Dorfman
Editor, In the Field

he Museum’s Board of Trustees has

named John W. McCarter, Jr. to suc-

ceed Willard L. Boyd as president of

the Museum effective October 1.
McCarter, 58, is currently a partner in the
Chicago-based management consulting firm
Booz Allen & Hamilton and serves on the
boards of the University of Chicago and WTTW
Channel 11, of which he is chairman, Boyd, 69,
former president of the University of Iowa, has
led The Field Museum since 1981.

As a boy in Chicago, McCarter developed
an interest in anthropology — especially Egypt-
ian mummies — during visits to The Field
Museum, but pursued studies at Princeton, the
London School of Economics, and business
management at Harvard, where he received his
M.B.A. in 1963. But he always kept a toe in sci-
entific waters and later became president of the

RETHINKING THE
PEOPLING OF THE AMERICAS

eep in the Brazilian Amazon, an

international team headed by a

Field Museum archaeologist has

discovered new evidence of

ancient human cultures. Their

findings may change our understanding of the

peopling of the New World and shed light on the
role of tropical forests in human evolution.

Anna Roosevelt, the Museum’s Curator of

Archaeology and Professor of Anthropology at

the University of Illinois at Chicago, led the

team that excavated Caverna da Pedra Pintada, a

cave on the north bank of the Amazon in Monte
Alegre, Brazil [see map, page 9]. The work was
published in the April 19 issue of Science mag-
azine and featured on the front page of The New
York Times the same day..

In the lowest levels of the cave, the
researchers found evidence of early human habi-
tation — including cave paintings, stone spear
points, and the carbonized remains of fruit,
wood, and animals — dating back more than
11,000 years. The paintings depict humans, ani-

(Continued on page 9)

John Weinstein / GN87778.28¢

high-tech agribusiness firms DeKalb-Pfizer
Genetics and DeKalb Corporation. At the Uni-
versity of Chicago, he chairs the Biological Sci-
ences and Health Care Committee of the Board
of Trustees and the Visiting Committee to the
Division of Physical Sciences. These, he noted,
“are the two divisions of the University that are
most closely associated with The Field Muse-
um, so I [have] the perspective of the impor-
tance of the Museum to the University.”

One of the things that intrigued him when
he was confronted with the possibility of head-
ing up the Museum, he said, was that, while it is
a scientific organization with an important pres-
ence in national and global arenas, it is also an
institution that intimately impacts the lives of
the people of Chicago. “I have been involved an
awful lot with this community over the years,”
McCarter said. “We [at Booz Allen] have
worked for the Chicago Transit Authority,
we’ ve worked for the Chicago Board of Educa-
tion, we’ve worked for the Police Department

(Continued on page 2)

Article, Page 11

Above: A controlled
burn to help restore
native growth at the
Waterfall Glen Forest
Preserve in DuPage
County. At left:
Debra K. Moskovits,
head of the Muse-
um’s Office of Envi-
ronmental and
Conservation Pro-
grams, with Ben-
jamin Tuggle,
director of the Illi-
nois field office of
the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service and
chair of the Chicago
Region Biodiversity
Council.

John McCarter
addresses the Muse-
um staff in the
Founders’ Room. At
right are Leo Mullin,
chairman of the
Museum’s board of
trustees, and Presi-
dent Willard L. Boyd.

FIELD NOTES

Although navigating
Lake Shore Drive and
accessing the muse-
ums is currently a
mess, by the Spring
of next year things
ought to look some-
thing like these ren-
derings by San
Franscisco landscape
architect Lawrence
Halprin. The top pic-
ture shows the exten-
sion of Roosevelt
Road east toward the
Shedd Aquarium;

at bottom is a pedes-
trian parkway lead-
ing to The Field
Museum.

PEOPLE, NOT STRUCTURES, MAKE A MUSEUM

By Willard L. Boyd
President, The Field Museum

eople not structures make great muse-

ums. When we think of great museums

we think of heroic structures, and the

inanimate objects exhibited in gal-
leries. In reality museums are about people and
their ideas. The objects of nature give rise to
human ideas about nature. Human ideas give
rise to cultural objects.

The basic mission of The Field Museum is
to generate new knowledge and understanding
based on encyclopedic collections of environ-
mental and cultural objects. In doing so we
study the evolution of nature and human inter-
action. We apply the scientific method to bio-
logical, geological, and anthropological
diversity and change. We push out the frontier
of human knowledge about the world’s cultures
and environments. In addition to science we are
deeply involved in humanistic and artistic
exploration. We think of ourselyes as a secular
institution; yet we are a sacred place reflecting
many human spiritual beliefs. We are a place of
human inquiry.

Like the cultural and natural evolution we
study, the Museum itself evolves, The Museum
changes in the context of its own cultural tradi-
tion. As in natural evolution, there are moments
when the Museum changes more rapidly than at
other times. As in natural and cultural evolution
there is a constant tension and disequilibrium in
the Museum as we make progress in the push
and pull of human change. We need to under-
stand and appreciate the phenomenon of con-
flicting ideas and views about nature, culture,
and institutional goals. Our Museum is the
forum for evolving ideas.

Our new President, John W. McCarter, Jr.,
understands how people and their institutions
evolve. Based on his experience and his sensi-
tivity to people, he is uniquely qualified to draw
us together as we pursue learning in our second
century. His qualities are many and exceptional.
Two are of very special importance to our
Museum at this time. He has a deep intellectual
appreciation and commitment to research in the
biological and soil sciences, which represent a
major thrust of the Museum’s biological efforts
in the coming decade. As a young person grow-

LAKE SHORE DRIVE:

WAIT’LL NEXT YEAR

ing up in Chicago, John frequented The Field
Museum and came to understand the signifi-
cance of anthropology and the study of cultures
to our mission.

John combines a commitment to research
with a special understanding about public learn-
ing outside of the classroom gained as chairman
of the Board of WITW, Channel 11. To his
understanding of research and public learning
John McCarter brings extraordinary awareness
of how human institutions such as The Field
Museum evolve. This was clear in his com-

ments to staff and volunteers when he was intro-
duced to them by our Board Chairman, Leo
Mullin.

John spoke specifically of his past associa-
tion with the Museum and how much it has
meant to him. In terms of the future he said, “I
must learn from you so that we can work togeth-
er to build an even stronger Museum in our sec-
ond century.” For all of these reasons and many
more John McCarter is an inspired choice to be
the President of The Field Museum. He knows
that people not structures make a great museum.

NEW PRESIDENT...

(Continued from page 1)
— community-based policing is work that we
did with the Mayor’s office. In my time with
state government [he was budget director in the
administration of Gov. Richard Ogilvie] I spent
a lot of time in Chicago and of course with
Channel 11 I’m out in the community a lot.”

Bill Kurtis, a Field Museum trustee whose
documentary production company produces
many programs for Channel 11, observed that
the Sunday before the announcement of
McCarter’s appointment as president of the
Museum, “he was out at a little Channel 11
fundraiser in Hinsdale — even though he’s
going to have to resign [as chairman of
WTTW]. He makes a practice of attending
almost every event that WITW participates in.”

McCarter said that when a recruiter for
Spencer Stuart, the search firm engaged by the
Museum, called him late last year “she was very
wise, because she said, “I don’t want you to say
No out of hand and I’m leaving the country; I'll
be back in four weeks.’ So she left me stewing
and I started to go to the Museum and prowl and
look at exhibits and watch people. I checked to
see what was on the Internet at the [World
Wide] Web site and read the materials that
Sandy [Boyd] had sent over. And by the time
she got back four weeks later I was very
intrigued... .

“T was fascinated by the exhibits. We had
made a program at WTTW on the making of the
‘Africa’ exhibit, so 1 was well aware of that one.
I'd been through ‘LIfe Over Time,’ and the one
where the prairie and the deer are, the ‘Nature
Walk’... . ’d been through those recently. I had
not been through the reconstructed Egypt
[‘Inside Ancient Egypt’] which I found to be
fascinating. I just thought that is an elegant
exhibit. Some of the others I said to myself I
would have done this differently and that differ-
ently. But I really spent more time watching the
people go through the exhibits, to try to under-
stand the kind of impact they were having on
families and kids.”

One of his conclusions, McCarter said, is
that while the Museum is “a terrific place,” he
thinks “‘there’s a lot that can be done in making
it more user-friendly. I know [the staff] are
working on the signage, which I think is critical.
I think people have done interesting things on
thinking about cur-

riculum. I think
repeat visits are
essential, I think

comfort is important.

I think avoidance of May/June 1996
3 viiAes Vol. 67, No. 3
fatigue is important.
‘When I 80 into Editor:
a museum, if ’mnot —_ Ron Dorfman
. . d
selective I get tire Art Director
walking through gal- Shi Yung

leries. I was in the
Metropolitan Muse-
um before Christmas
in New York and was
with a friend; we had
a set of specific

Editorial Assistant:
Rhonda Jones

In the Field

things that we
wanted to see.
And it was terrif-
ic. We were there
for two hours, we
had lunch, and
saw a _ couple
more things on
the way out and it
was a wonderful
visit. By contrast,
on occasion I will try to see everything.

“You know, one of the ways of trying to
think about the relation of the Museum to the
community is, how often would we aspire to
have families come to the Museum and how
could we make it an attractive destination for
them? And particularly now, with what’s going
on with the development of the campus for the
three museums there. /See below left.] How do
you mix and match going one day to the ‘Egypt’
or ‘Life Over Time’ exhibit, say two exhibits at
the Field, with an Oceanarium [at the Shedd
Aquarium] and a Planetarium [visit]? That
could be enough, with feeding people and mak-
ing sure they have [a structured experience].”

At Booz Allen, which specializes in strate-
gic-planning consultation for corporations and
government agencies, McCarter is among the
senior strategists. The Field Museum has recent-
ly completed a years-long planning process,
issued a Strategic Plan document, and begun a
$60-million campaign to support the plan.
McCarter sees it as a plus that he will not have
to engage in this kind of planning at the begin-
ning of his tenure.

“Clearly the Museum is strong in terms of
its outreach, in terms of its academic and scien-
tific base, its relation to the community. So I
think my first-year challenges are two: One is to
understand the institution and get to know the
people. The second is to work on the implemen-
tation of those efforts that are already under
way, and clearly the fund campaign will be cen-
tral to that. ve already had an opportunity to
meet with the team on the “Life Underground’
exhibit [which will explore soil sciences and
organisms] . . . and that would be about as far as
I’ve taken an agenda for the first number of
months that I'll be there.”

John W. McCarter, Jr.

The Field Museum
Exploring

The Earth And Its
People

In the Field (ISSN #1051-4546) is published bimonthly by The Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive,
Chicago IL 60605-2496. Copyright © 1996 The Field Museum. Subscriptions $6.00 annually, $3.00 for schools. Muse-
um membership includes /n the Field subscription. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not neces-
sarily reflect policy of The Field Museum. Museum phone (312) 922-9410. Notification of address change should
include address label and should be sent to Membership Department. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to In

the Field, The Field Museum, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60605-2496. Second class postage paid

at Chicago, Illinais,

FROM THE FIELD

WILDERNESS...

(Continued from page 1)

formerly the Joliet
Arsenal, the area
encompasses more
than 200,000 acres of
protected natural
land. The small plots
that currently exist
will be expanded by
restoring surround-
ing lands in natural
areas, and managed
for their value in
maintaining biodi-
versity. Where possi-
ble, these plots will
be connected to form
a continuum of
native ecosystems along the region’s waterways
and in its parks and forest preserves. Education-
al outreach efforts will encourage private
landowners and developers to transform their
own properties into prairies, savannas, and
woodlands.

At Swallow Cliff Woods, which covers 800
acres of the Sag Valley portion of the Cook
County Forest Preserve District in the south-
western part of the county, clearing of non-
native brush and controlled burning are well
under way to restore native prairies and savan-
nas. At the site, Field Museum scientists are
leading a group of researchers from the Illinois
Natural History Survey, the Nature Conservan-
cy, and the Forest Preserve District in docu-
menting, for the first time, the impact of current
management practices on different groups of

John Weinstein / GN87790.26c¢

MULTIDISCIPLINARY
SYMPOSIUM ON THE ANDES

he Andes Mountains are among the

richest regions on the planet in their

diversity of organisms, human cul-

tures, climates, and geology. The
interactions among these elements also make
the Andes one of the most dynamic and impor-
tant global eco-regions to study. The Museum’s
Spring Systematics Symposium on Saturday,
May 11 will examine the ontogeny of the phys-
ical structure of the Andean Cordillera and asso-
ciated climates in relation to their impact on the
evolution and biogeography of Andean flora and
fauna over time.

Similarly, the Symposium will integrate the
human perspective: How humans have changed
the physical topography and local environments
in ways that have influenced patterns of biodi-
versity, as well as how climate, geology, and bio-
tic diversity have influenced human activities.

The essential goal of the Symposium is to
integrate the biological with the physical and the
human elements to shed light on the dynamics
of the entire system: inferring processes from
past and present patterns over a variety of time
scales (thousands, tens of thousands, millions,
and tens of millions of years).

These insights will also generate more real-
istic predictions of the range of future changes
possible as humans and the remaining biota
interact dynamically with the physical environ-
ment. Although a synthesis has never been
attempted for this complex region, much new
information is available. When this information
is assembled, it will pave the way for future
research in this crucial region.

The Andes have long been the focus of
research by Field Museum scientists, inspiring
the interdisciplinary nature of this event. The
symposium will bring together colleagues from
throughout the United States and South Ameri-
ca, and will provide a vehicle for highlighting a

Diane Alexander White / GN87785.35Ac

critically significant but overlooked region for
the educational communities that typically
attend the Spring Systematics Symposium
(from the Chicago area, the surrounding Mid-
west, and elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad).
The general public is invited; cal (312) 922-
9410 ext. 293 or e-mail symposia@fmnh.org.
This symposium builds on last year’s
extremely successful event focusing on environ-
mental and biotic change in Madagascar.
Among the scheduled speakers are:
Victor Ramos, Universidad de Buenos Aires
John Flynn, The Field Museum
Paul Colinvaux,
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Lonnie Thompson, Byrd Polar Research Center,
Ohio State University
Michael Bin ford, Harvard University
Anna Roosevelt, The Field Museum
Charles Stanish, The Field Museum, and
Alan Kolata, The University of Chicago
Michael O. Dillon, The Field Museum
Shannon Hacked, John Bates,
and Doug Stotz, The Field Museum
John Lundberg, The University of Arizona

organisms, including vital soil-associated
species, in order to gauge the success of the
restoration effort. The biologists are inventory-
ing populations of fungi, insects, birds, and
other groups in a fire-suppressed oak-woodland
community before and after management
through brush removal and burning. The project
will identify species that can serve as reliable
ecological indicators for rapid assessment of the
restoration and management efforts.

More than 5,000 private citizens are vol-
unteering in a variety of capacities to support
Chicago Wilderness projects. Persons wishing
to volunteer with Field Museum components of
the Project may call Anita Morgan, the Muse-
um’s Searle Volunteer Coordinator, at (312)

922-9410, ext. 360.

A special Andes
exhibit, highlighting
The Field Museum’s
collections and
research programs in
paleontolgy, botany,
anthropology, and
zoology, is on view
in the Museum’s
Searle Lounge on the
north mezzanine
level.

Diane Alexander White / GN87785:24Ac

— Ron Dorfman

Top: Field Museum curator Greg Mueller, a spe-
cialist in mushrooms and related fungi, explains
some of the Chicago Wilderness research work
to journalists on the bus to Swallow Cliff
Woods. Left: A Forest Preserve worker shows
off the District’s new Seppi Midiforst mower,
capable of turning a seven-foot-wide swatch of
brush, weeds, and small trees to mulch. Below:
At a reception for Chicago Wilderness in Stan-
ley Field Hall, President Boyd (center) chats
with Harry Chandler, a member of the
Founders’ Council, and Wendy Paulson, a mem-
ber of the Board of Governors of the Nature
Conservancy.

John Weinstein / GN87792.19¢

During Members
Night, Friday, May
3, the main store
will again hold an
Amber Trunk Show
featuring new 14k
gold designs by
Elizabeth Ford who
will be on hand to
help with your
selections. Mrs.
| Ford will also cus-
| tom design amber
pieces for you.

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

ASIAN EXPERTS HIGHLIGHT CERAMICS MEETING

pecial presentations by authorities on

ceramics from China and Japan will

mark the second annual conference on

“Asian Ceramics: Functions and
Forms.” The May 24-26 conference, co-spon-
sored by the Museum’s Department of Anthro-
pology and the Asian Ceramics Research
Organizations, focuses on the effect of daily life
activities, ritual, and collecting on the design of
Asian ceramics over the years.

Wang Qingzheng, deputy director of the
new Shanghai Museum and author of the defin-
itive Underglaze Blue and Red, will deliver a
paper May 25 on “Chinese Ceramics and Tea-
and Wine-Drinking Customs.” He has previous-
ly served on the National Committee on Art
Authentication and as adjunct professor at
Shanghai University and Fudan University, also
in Shanghai. His research interests include Chi-
nese coins, ceramics, and calligraphy.

Shinichi Fukagawa of Koransha Inc. in

Japan, a leading Asian ceramics factory, will
present a luncheon lecture in the Founders’
Room on May 26. The Fukagawa family has
been producing ceramics since the 17th century
in Kyushu when porcelain was introduced to
Japan. The family established Koransha Inc. in
1875 and was soon earning gold medals at
expositions in the United States and Europe.
One of the company’s distinctions is that over
the years it has adapted international art styles
to the design of both traditional Japanese and
Western table wares and altar pieces.

Other speakers at the conference include
scholars and collectors from Thailand, the
Philippines, the Netherlands, Korea, Hong
Kong, Canada, France, and the U.S.

For information and reservations, call the
Department of Anthropology at (312) 922-9410,
ext. 832 or 444, or fax a message to (312) 427-
7269.

MEMBERS’ PROGRAMS

‘SPIDERS!’
VIEWING NIGHTS

Two special Members’ Viewing Nights to see
“Spiders!” have been scheduled for Wednesday,
June 19 and Thursday, June 20 from 5 p.m. to 8
p.m. (These are the only times that members
can see this fascinating touring exhibit without
paying the special admission fee of $1 per person.)

Because we expect record crowds, the
Membership Department requests that members
attend the Members’ Viewing Nights alphabeti-
cally by surname, if possible.

Surnames beginning with:

A-Lon June 19, 1996

M - Z on June 20, 1996

Individual members may bring one guest.
Family members may bring members of their
immediate households. All entrances to the
Museum will be open. Visitors will be asked to
present their membership cards or invitations at
the door, and will be issued a ticket for timed
entry to the exhibit.

The Spider Store will be open from 5 p.m.
to 7:45 p.m.

Disabled persons may make special
arrangements by calling (312) 922-9410, ext.
453. Bus service to the Museum from the north
is available on the CTA Marine/Michigan No.
146 and from the south on the CTA Jeffery Ex-
press No. 6. Parking is free in the Museum lots.

MEMBERS’ WINE TASTING SERIES

THE WINES OF ITALY

Join us on June 12, 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., for a
tasting of Italian wines led by Mary Ross, direc-
tor of The Wine Academy of the North Shore
and a nationally recognized authority on wine
and food. The modern wines of Italy — the
fastest-growing import category in the U.S.
today — are direct descendants of wines tasted
by Michaelangelo and Galileo. Taste six wines
from prominent regions and discuss Italy’s col-
orful culture of winemaking.

Paid reservations are required. Tickets are
$20 for members and $25 for guests. Charge by
phone at (312) 922-9410, ext. 453 or mail
checks to: Membership Department, The Field
Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Dr.,
Chicago, IL 60605. Space is limited.

EM TSSUCTE IS BUSI

Acc, #1986.1,917

| COLLECTIONS COMMITTEE
TOURS SAUDI TROVE

_ Virginia Heaven, curator of the Haifa
_ Faisal Collection of Traditional Saudi Ara-

__bian Arts, hosted a fascinating tour, lec-

__ ture, and reception for members of the
Museum’s Collections Committee on Feb-
ruary 27. The Collection is housed at 1255 ©
5. Wabash Avenue in Chicago and may be
viewed by appointment. Shown above is a
woman’s headdress ornament from Nadj,
made of gold-plated metal, set with
turquoise stones, and edged with seed
pearls.

SPECIAL THEATER OFFER

The Shubert Theatre is offering Field Museum

-Members a discount of $10 off thesprice of tick-

ets for three performances of How to Succeed in
Business Without Really Trying at The Shubert
Theatre, June 11 and 12.

Ralph Macchio (of Karate Kid fame) stars
in the role of J. Pierrepont Finch, a young win-
dow washer at a giant corporation who climbs
from the mailroom to the boardroom. Along the
way, he gets the girl, the money, and nearly gets
the boot — all the while following the instruc-
tions of a guidebook
entitled “How to
Succeed in Business
Without Really Try-
ing.”

Performances are
Tuesday, June 11 at
(0 epee wear
Wednesday, June 12,
at 2 p.m. and 7:30.
To receive a $10 discount on tickets, visit the
Shubert Theatre box office or call Ticketmaster
at (312) 902-1500 and ask for a T-Type Ticket.
Offer expires May 30, 1996.

WITHOUT Really) PETING |

The Shops of The Field Museum

May/June 1996

Enhance your Mother's Day gifts this
year with FREE gift wrap from the
Museum Shops. We'll give you a pastel
shopping bag and printed tissue at no
charge on an array of selected items pur-
chased in the main store from April 29

through May 12.

Included are:

* A variety of hand-made Japanese wal-
lets

* A collection of very special hand-made
inlaid soapstone and papier-maché boxes
from India (pictured at left)

e Hand-strung African multi-colored
“Christmas” bead necklaces

e Amber heart pendants on silk cords
* Hand-carved soapstone animals

¢ Hand-tooled and -painted leather
boxes and purse accessories from India

For Mother's Day, graduation, bridal
shower and wedding gifts, you'll find the

unusual, the unique, the exotic in:
The Shops of The Field Museum

Open daily from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.
Members receive a 10% discount on all purchases

Copyright © 1994 William Burger

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

By Rhonda Jones

he special summer exhibit, “Spi-
ders!,” examines the lifestyles of
one of nature’s most fascinating and
feared creatures and traces its role
in nature as well as its relationship
with humanity. The exhibit puts spiders on a
level playing field with other organisms, show-
ing how arachnids deal with the universal basics
that all living creatures face—finding food, mat-
ing, producing offspring, and defending them-
selves against predators.

The first four days of the exhibit’s opening
(May 24-27) carry a full schedule of perfor-
mances and activities —- including a visit from
the superhero, Spider-Man, in person. During
Green Light Theater’s presentation, audience
members will explore and decipher some of the
wonders of spider life. Spiders will be the sub-
ject of folktales, passed along by storyteller,
Shanta, in her story about Anansi the spider-
hero. “Spiders!” will illustrate how different

The late Clifton Che-
nier, the “King of
Zydeco,” is among
the musicians, fans,
clubs, and scenes of
the southern
Louisiana Cajun and
Zydeco worlds pho-
tographed by Philip
Gould over the past
20 years. “Cajun”
music refers to the
music of white for-
mer French Canadi-
ans who settled in
the area in the 19th
century; “Zydeco” is
the music of black
creoles in the same
communities. Over
the decades, each
has influenced the
other and both have
enjoyed popular
revivals since the
1950s. Gould’s pho-
tographs are on
exhibit through
August 4.

cultures view arachnids. Julia
Brownwolf will explain the
world of spiders according to
the Lakota people of North
America.

Using information from
research conducted by the
Museum’s spider specialist,
Petra Sierwald, and the Muse-
um’s vast spider collection,
“Spiders!” is sure to add to
the public’s knowledge of the
eight-legged creatures.

Sierwald’s work will
become public knowledge in
the exhibit’s Spider Lab,
which chronicles the steps
she takes in researching and studying spiders.
“Spiders!” visitors will follow Sierwald (or life-
size cut-outs of her) in a recreation of her labo-
ratory, as she goes from collecting actual spider
specimens from their natural habitats to separat-
ing, sorting, classifying, and storing them at the
Museum.

The Museum has also planned a full sched-
ule of summer programs, including daily spider
activities and special weekend programs.

The dinner-plate-size Madagascar orb
weaver will be on display along with the poiso-
nous brown recluse and black widow spiders.
The latter two are found in the Chicagoland area.

The carnivorous creatures that man loves to

At left, the garden orb weaver spider.

hate are actually harmless — except, of course,
for the infamous black widow and funnel web
spiders. The black widow is notorious for her
deadly romantic ways of killing her male coun-
terpart. But, on the whole, spiders are beneficial
in that they eat billions of disease-laden insects
like flies and cockroaches.

Spiders have a unique way of getting
around in their world. The hairs on their body
serve as their primary sensory faculty, helping
them to see and to feel. Spiderize!, an element of
the exhibit, will look at life from a spider’s per-
spective.

A spider’s web is a critical tool used to help
sustain itself. Unknowing insects walk right into
a spider’s web and the spiders inject the “catch”
with venom to immobilize it and secrete special
proteins which liquefy the prey; later the spider
sucks the insect up. Whether or not a spider uses
its web-weaving talents to catch prey or to pro-
tect its eggs depends on its sex and species. The
silk it uses to create the web is a liquid protein
stored in the spinning glands of the spider’s
abdomen. As it comes out of the spinnerettes,
the silk hardens and elasticizes.

Although the webs are strong, they are eas-
ily damaged so spiders will rebuild new ones
every day. All arachnids produce and secrete
silk, but not all of them spin webs. The “Poi-
son!” segment of the exhibit features two live
examples of the most treacherous species of spi-
ders: the brown recluse and the black widow.

Using dioramas, “Spiders!” shows the
range of spider sizes and habitats, a spider fam-
ily tree, and freezed-dried spider specimens.
There is also a 18-foot-long photomural of a
meadow, shown first in natural daylight and
then at night. This spider’s-eye view divulges
the creature’s work schedule: day, night, — and
swing shift.

The Museum worked with Marvel Enter-
tainment Group to bring the traveling exhibit to
Chicago. “Spiders!” provides an entertaining
experience that curbs arachnophobia and dispels
myths.

E SMART WAY TOHAVEFUN.

Tuesday
Friends of the Library

5:30-7:30 p.m. Museum scientists Dr. Dou-
glas F. Stotz, Conservation Ecologist, and
Dr. Debra Moskovits, director of Environ-
mental and Conservation Programs, will
present a program about their new book,
Neotropical Birds. Call (312) 322-8874.

3/ Vir

Syipos a
e Andes Region

8 a.m-5:15 p.m. The Andes Mountains will
be the topic of discussion at the 19th Annu-
al Field Museum Spring Systematics Sympo-
sium. The symposium brings together
colleagues from throughout the U.S. and
South America to examine the region's
physical, biological, and anthropological
interactions over time. The symposium will
comprise two four-hour sessions of presen-
tations, culminating with a reception for
attendees. Open to the public. For registra-
tion and other information contact the Geol-
ogy Dept. at (312) 922-9410, ext. 293 or
e-mail to symposia@fmnh.org.

5/ 1 5 Wednesday

Founders’ Council
Luncheon

Noon-1:30 p.m. Dr. Scott Lidgard of the
Geology department will present a slide lec-
ture about trilobites at a Loop Luncheon for
Council members. For information about the
Founders' Council or this event call the
Founders' Council office at (312) 322-8868.

5/18-19.....

Geography Festival

Travel the world over with Museum scien-
tists at the Geography Festival. The Field
Museum's Dr. Meenakshi Wadhwa and Dr.
Greg Buckley will share information on
their research on meteorites and fossil
mammals of Madagascar, respectively. See
opposite page for details. Call (312) 922-
9410, ext. 658 for more information.

5/18 sui

Lecture: The Song of
the Dodo

2 p.m.
Join
author
David
Quam-
men as
he dis-
cusses
his
recently
published
book, The
Song of
the Dodo:
Island Bio-
geography
in an Age of
Extinctions,
using a
unique com-
bination of
science, historical narrative and travel com-
mentary. Copies of the book will be avail-
able for purchase and signing after the
lecture. $10 ($8 members). Call (312) 322-
8854 for information.

5/24-26

Friday thru Sunday
Ceramics Conference

How did eating and drinking customs affect
ceramics? What was the role of ceramics in
the religious and secular rituals of Asia?
What influence have collectors and con-
noisseurs had on the work of potters? The
Asian Ceramics Conference will explore
these ideas and more. The conference will
feature papers and discussions by interna-
tional specialists that will focus on func-
tional and other influences on the design of
Asian ceramics during the last two thou-
sand years. For more information call (312)
922-9410 ext. 832 or 444. This conference
is open to the public.

5/24-27

Friday — Monday
Exhibit Opens: Spiders!

Come face-to-face with live spiders and a live Spider-Man! The Marvel Group superhero
will be at the Museum for four days to greet visitors, sign autographs, and explain
everything you’ve wanted to know about spiders. Discover how spiders use
their venom and the amazing way they eat their food. There is an addition-
al $3 ($1 members) admission charge for this exhibit. See “Spiders!” on the
previous page for more details or call (312) 922-9410 for more informa-
tion. These private showings are scheduled for Museum members and
donors:

FIELD DONORS

Wednesday, May 22 — 5:30 p.m.—7:30 p.m.

All donors at the Field Contributor, Adventurer, Naturalist, and Explorer
levels are invited, Call (312) 322-8874.

WOMEN’S BOARD AND FOUNDERS’ COUNCIL

Tuesday, May 28 — 4 p.m.—8 p.m.

This is an opportunity for members of both groups to bring their chil-
dren and grandchildren. Call the Women’s Board at (312) 322-8870 or
Founders’ Council at (312) 322-8868 for further information.

THE CENTENNIAL CLUB

Tuesday, June 4 — 2 p.m.—4 p.m.

The Club hosts a reception and special viewing by invitation only for

members of 30 years or more. For more information call (312) 322-8871.

INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY MEMBERS: See schedule, page 4.

Friday & Saturday
Family Overnight

5:45 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Saturday. Expe-
rience a night of discovery and exploration
at the Field Museum! In addition to the
usual activities, enjoy the summer exhibit
“Spiders!” after hours. Registration is limit-
ed. Adults accompanied by children
grades 1-6. $43 per participant ($38 per

member participant). Call (312) 322-
8854 for registration information.

6/9 ss

Nature Network

8:30-11 a.m. Nature Network mem-
bers will go behind the scenes of
the “Spiders!” exhibit. View the
Insect Division's collection of spi-
ders and get a first-hand account of Muse-
um spider-lady Petra Sierwald's research.
For more information contact the Nature
Network office at (312) 322-8881.

6/12 ssc

The Italian Vineyard

6:30-8 p.m. Join Mary Ross, director of The
Wine Academy of the North Shore, for a
taste of Italian wines. Learn why Italian
wines are praised the world over for their
unique character. $25 ($20 members) Con-
tact the Membership Dept. for more infor-
mation (312) 922-9410, ext. 453.

6/27-30

Thursday — Sunday
Japan Festival

In addition to the wide variety of exhibitions
showcasing the exquisite craftsmanship of Japan-
ese artists and artisans (see opposite page), the
following is a schedule of live performances:

Thursday June 27

2-4 p.m. A film show for children will run in the
Simpson Theatre in conjunction with Kid’s Corner,
which features special events for children.

Friday June 28

11 a.m. Mikoshi Bearers, a popular group from
Osaka, Japan, will stage street performances with a
450-pound Mikoshi, a portable shrine. The group
will carry the shrine from the Museum to Grant Park
for the Taste of Chicago. Performances also at 2:30
p.m. and 3:15 p.m.

11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Film show for children

Noon and 3 p.m. Minato-Kappore, a 10-member
dance troupe, will perform modern street dances
that are featured at Japanese festivals. Performances
also at the Taste of Chicago.

Saturday June 29

11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Film show for children.

11 a.m Mikoshi Bearers. Performances also at 2:30
p.m. and 3:15 p.m.

Noon and 3 p.m Minato-Kappore

Sunday June 30

11 a.m Mikoshi Bearers. Performances also at 2:30
p.m. and 3:15 p.m.

Noon and 3 p.m Minato-Kappore

Friday thru Sunday enjoy two daily performances in
Stanley Field Hall by Yzen Han Taiko, a group of
five women playing the Taiko (japanese drum); and
Koto and Shyakuhachi, traditional Japanese music,
with Wakayagiryu, traditional Japanese dance.

For further information, call (312) 335-1263.

GET SMART

GEOGRAPHY AT THE FIELD, MAY 18 & 19

eography is more than memorizing

state capitals and national exports.

An understanding of physical and

human geography is essential to
grasping the evolutionary processes, environ-
mental issues, and the social and political issues
that impact today’s world. On a more personal
scale, an understanding of geography can help
us get from here to there, and once we are
“there,” will help us appreciate the local land-
scape and culture.

The Field Museum is a perfect place to go
globe-trotting. A short walk can take you from
the urban bustle of Dakar, Senegal in Africa to
the icy Arctic, home of the polar bear. Museum
scientists also travel the globe in their research.
Dr. Meenakshi Wadhwa will talk about her
research on meteorites, and Dr. Greg Buckley
will show some of the fossil mammal specimens
he collected in Madagascar.

Live performances take you on a musical
tour of the world. Raices del Ande plays music
with its roots in Europe and the Americas. The
wind and percussion instruments of the Andean
people combine with stringed instruments
brought from Spain. African-American musi-
cian Musa Mosley will demonstrate how
African rhythms traveled to the Americas and

are now imbedded in many types of “American”
music.

Families can explore the world with map
games, including computer games. Visitors of
all ages can learn a string game, then journey to
an area of the world where that game is played.
String games are found among such widely
scattered groups as the Inuit peoples of Alaska
and the Maori people of New Zealand. Visitors
can pick up “passports” which help them
explore the halls through a self guided tour.
Highlight tours of the exhibit hall will also be

given.

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE FIELD MUSEUM

the-scenes exploration focusing on the

Americas by visiting scientific collections
and research areas at The Field Museum. Hous-
ing over 21 million specimens and artifacts that
illustrate the world’s cultural, biological and
geological diversity, you will see the collections
first hand and talk with scientists about how the
collections are prepared, managed and used for
scientific research and interpretation in exhibits.
The Museum’s new behind-the-scenes tours for
adults will take place on Tuesday, June 11 and
Thursday, June 13 from 10 — 11:30 a.m. or 1:30
—3 p.m. each day, accompanied by light refresh-
ments. Group size is limited to 15 to allow for a
personal and in-depth experience. Preregistra-
tion is required. The fee is $20 per person for
members; $25 for non-members. To register call
(312) 322-8854. Your reservation will be con-
firmed by mail. As botany curator William
Burger has put it, “Collections are the data base
that allow us to make statements about species

J oin Museum scientists for a special behind-

concepts, species distributions, species richness,
and biogeographic relationships. Without these
collections, we could not really understand the

living world.”

JAPAN FESTIVAL JUNE 27-30

of Commerce and Industry of Chicago (JCCC) has organized a

2 $ pant of as 30h-anniversary celebrations, the Japanese Chamber

apan Festival at the Museum from Thursday, June 27 through

Sunday, June 30. The Festival will feature a variety of cultural events,
including music, dance, and art exhibits.

Beginning at 2 p.m. on Thursday in Montgomery Ward Hall, the fes-

Below left, a work by
famed calligrapher
Yukoku Nozaki, a
master of the 3,000-
year-old art form.
Japanese calligraphy
has taken a new turn
due to a movement
towards expressing
modern sensibilities.
Below, the Mikoshi
Bearers of Osaka
carry their 460-
pound shrine during
a street festival.

tival will open with a symposium to examine
ways that Japan and the U.S. can cooperate to
deal with global problems. The opening day
will conclude with a gala dinner from 6-9 p.m.
in Stanley Field Hall. Admission to the dinner is
by invitation only.

There will be performances and exhibitions
for every age level, including children. A sched-
ule of performances is on the opposite page.
The exhibitions will showcase the exquisite
craftsmanship of Japanese artists and artisans.

The Field Museum is co-sponsoring this
event with the City of Chicago. Mayor Richard
M. Daley is honorary chairman of the festival.
The festival is free with regular admission to the
Museum.

Become a Member
of The Field Museum

and receive these benefits:

Free general admission
Free priority admission to “Life Over Time”
Priority admission to special exhibits
Free coat checking and strollers
Invitation to Members’ Night
Free subscription to Jn the Field
10% discount at all Museum stores
10% discount at Picnic in the Field
13-month wall calendar featuring exhibit
photographs
Reduced subscription prices
on selected magazines
Use of our 250,000-volume
natural history library
Discount on classes, field trips, and seminars
for adults and children
Members-only tour program
Opportunity to attend the annual
children’s Holiday Tea
Children’s “dinosaur” birthday card

vv OV VE CVD Ree yore ray

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
New Members only. This is not a renewal form.

C) Please enroll me as a Member of

The Field Museum
Name
Address
City
State___ Zip

Home phone

Business phone

GIFT APPLICATION FOR
Name

Address

City

State__ Zip

Home phone

Business phone

GIFT FROM
Name
Address,

City

State__._ Zip
Home phone

Business phone

MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES

C) Individual — one year $35 / two years $65

QC) Family — one year $45 / two years $85
(Includes two adults, children and grand-

children 18 and under.)

O Student/Senior — one year $25
(Individual only. Copy of I.D. required.)

() Field Contributor — $100 - $249
C) Field Adventurer — $250 - $499
C) Field Naturalist — $500 - $999

C) Field Explorer — $1,000 - $1,499

All benefits of a family membership
— and more

a) Founders’ Council — $1,500

Send form to:
The Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake
Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605

Diane Alexander White / GN87675.14

Musa Mosley demon-
strates how African
rhythms traveled to
the Americas during
Geography Festival,
May 18-19.

Wednesday, May 1

Yam - 12 noon Owl Pellets activity.
Learn about the dissection process
that scientists use to discover the
contents of a predatory bird’s diet.

Thursday, May 2

9am - 12 noon Arthro-Cart activity.
Discover arachnids, bugs and other
arthropods during a visit to the
Arthro-Cart.

12:15pm The Aztec, The Maya and
Their Predecessors tour, Learn about
the diverse and complex Pre-
Columbian cultures of Mexico and
Central America.

Friday, May 3

10am - 1pm Rocks and Minerals
activity. Try and match minerals with
the familiar products they produce.

Saturday, May 4

11am - 3pm Amazing Maize activity.
The Miracle Crop! a mano and
metate have been used for hundreds
of years to grind corn. See how it is
done and then try it yourself!

1p.m. The Early Maya Civilization
tour. Explore the Maya’s ancestors’
art, architecture, technical innova-
tions, math and writing systems, and
find out more about the two million
people in Mexico, Guatemala,
Belize, El Salvador and Honduras
who still speak the Mayan language
and maintain Mayan traditions.
1:30pm Tibet Today and Bhutan,
Land of the Thunder Dragon slide
lecture. A slide presentation where
you will learn more about the plants
and animal life of this semi-tropical
island whose only native mammals
were bats!

Sunday, May 5

10am - 1pm African Metals activity.
Learn about the ancient African art of
metallurtgy.

11am & 2p.m. Highlights of the Field
Museum tour.

11:45am Inside Ancient Egypt tour.
Explore the mysterious empire of
Ancient Egypt that has fascinated the
world for hundreds of years.

1:45pm Into the Wild tour. Visit clas-
sic dioramas of animals. Learn their
history and techniques of mounting
by the great Carl Akeley, and consid-
er what message this legacy of natur-
al history has for us.

Tuesday, May 7
Jam - 12noon Owl Pellets activity.

Wednesday, May 8
9am - 12 noon Arthro-Cart activity.

Thursday, May 9

11am - 2pm Tlingit Weaving demon-
stration by artist Teri Rofkar of Sitka,
Alaska. A modern Northwest Coast
artist demonstrates traditional basket
weaving and an ancient technique of
Ravens’ Tail weaving.

12:45pm The Aztec, The Maya and
Their Predecessors tour.

Friday, May 10

10am - 1pm Pareus activity. Try out a
Pacific Island style as you wrap a
pareu-style dress.

VISITOR PROC

Saturday, May 11

11am Stories from Around the
World. Travel to distant lands through
the magic of storytelling.

1lam & 2pm Highlights of The Field
Museum tour.

11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec, The
Maya and Their Predecessors tour.

Sunday, May 12
11am & 2pm Highlights of The Field
Museum tour.

Tuesday, May 14
9am - 12noon Owl Pellets activity.

Wednesday, May 15
9am - 12noon Arthro-Cart activity.

Thursday, May 16
12:15pm The Aztec, The Maya and
Their Predecessors tour.

Friday, May 17

10am - 1pm Lava activity. Now that
they’re cool, touch some of the sub-
stances produced by a volcano.

Saturday, May 18

11am Highlights of The Field Muse-
um tour,

11am - 3pm Geography Festival.
Ongoing demonstrations, activities
and performances. An understanding
of physical and cultural geography is
essential to understanding the evolu-
tionary processes, environmental
issues, and the social and political
issues that impact today’s world.
Performances:

12 noon Raices del Ande. Music of
the Andes and other Latin American
countries.

1pm Musa Mosley. African Drums

Sunday, May 19

10am - 1pm Adinkra activity. Tradi-
tional designs from Ghana represent
different African proverbs. Stamp
your favorite!

11am - 3pm Geography Festival see
Saturday, May 18.

Performance:

12noon Raices del Ande. Music of
the Andes and other Latin American
countries.

11am & 2pm Highlights of The Field
Museum tour.

11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec, The
Maya and Their Predecessors tour
12noon & 1:30 p.m. Fireballs &
Shooting Stars tour. Explore the
secrets locked in meteorites that hold
keys to understanding our universe.
1:00pm. Los Aztecas, Los Mayas y
Sus Predecesores tour (en espafiol).

Thursday, May 23

12:45pm The Aztec, The Maya and
Their Predecessors tour. Aprenda mds
sobre la complejidad y diversidad de
las culturas precolombinas de Méxi-
co y Central América.

Friday, May 24 - 27
“Spiders!” Exhibit opening programs
See “Calendar of Events” page.

Saturday, May 25

llam & 2pm Highlights of The Field
Museum tour.

11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec
Empire and Their Predecessors tour.
Find out about the diversity of lan-
guages and cultures from this region
and how these cultures built a mighty
empire founded 3,000 years ago.
1:30 p.m. Tibet Today slide lecture
and a Field Museum Tibet exhibit
Tour. A slide presentation which
takes you to Lhasa and other places
now open to tourists in Tibet. A guid-
ed tour through the Tibet exhibit will
be offered after the lecture.

Sunday May 26

lam & 2pm Highlights of The Field
Museum tour.

1pm Fireballs & Shooting Stars tour.
11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec
Empire and Their Predecessors tour.

Tuesday, May 28
9am - 12noon Owl Pellets activity.

Wednesday, May 29
9am - 12noon Arthro-Cart activity.

Thursday, May 30
12:15pm The Aztec, The Maya and
Their Predecessors tour.

Friday, May 31

10am - 1pm Terrific Teeth activity.
Can teeth tell you what an animal
eats? Take part in this fun activity and
find out!

Saturday, June 1

11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec, The
Maya and Their Predecessors tour
(English.)

lpm Los Aztecas, Los Mayas y Sus
Predecesores four (en espafiol).

Sunday, June 2

10am - 1pm African Metals activity.
11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec, The
Maya and Their Predecessors tour.

Tuesday, June 4
9am - 12 noon Owl Pellets activity.

Wednesday, June 5
9am - 12noon Arthro-Cart activity.

Thursday, June 6
12:45pm The Aztec, The Maya and
Their Predecessors tour.

Friday, June 7

10am - 1pm Sea Shells activity. Did
you know that shells were “left-hand-
ed” or “right-handed”? Discover
more about different types of shells in
this informative activity.

Saturday, June 8

10am - Tpm Adinkra activity,

11am Stories from Around the World
storytelling.

Sunday, June 9
11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec
Empire and Their Predecessors tour.

Tuesday, June 11

9am - 12noon Owl Pellets activity.
Wednesday, June 12

9am - 12 noon Arthro-Cart activity.

Friday, June 14
Rock and Mineral Match activity.

Saturday, June 15

10am - 1pm African Metals activity. ©
1:30pm Tibet Today, and a Faith in
Exile slide lecture. Learn about
Tibetan refugees in India, Nepal and
elsewhere. Witness the dedication
ceremony of a Himalayan Buddist
chorten in Indiana by His Holiness,
the Dalai Lama.

Sunday, June 16
11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec, The
Maya and Their Predecessors tour.

Tuesday, June 18
9am - 12noon Owl Pellets activity.

Wednesday, June 19
9am - 12noon Arthro-Cart activity,

Thursday, June 20
12:45pm The Aztec, The Maya and
Their Predecessors tour,

Friday, June 27
10am - 1pm Pareus activity.

Saturday, June 22

10am - 1pm Adinkra activity.

11am Stories from Around The
World storytelling.

11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec, The
Maya and Their Predecessors tour
(English.)

1pm Los Aztecas, Los Mayas y sus
Predecessors tour (en espanol).

Sunday, June 23
11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec
Empire and Their Predecessors tour.

Tuesday, June 25
9am - 12noon Owl Pellets activity.

Wednesday, June 26
9am - 12noon Arthro-Cart activity.

Thursday, June 27
12:15pm The Aztec, The Maya and
Their Predecessors tour.

Friday, June 28
10am - 1pm Lava activity.

Saturday, June 29
1:30pm Tibet Today & Bhutan, Land
of the Thunder Dragon slide lecture.

Sunday, June 36
11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec, The
Maya and Their Predecessors tour.

Daniel F. & Ada L. Rice=> = == ¥ Ss —
Wildlife Research Station
Learn more about the animal king-
dom through videos, computer pro-
grams books and activity boxes.
Open daily 10am-4:30pm

Webber Resource Center

Native Cultures of The Americas
Use books, videos, tribal
newspapers and activity boxes to
learn more about native

peoples.

Open daily 10am-4:40pm

Place for Wonder

Touchable objects let you investigate
fossils, shells, rocks, plants, and
items of daily life in Mexico.
Weekdays: 1-4:30pm

Weekends: 10am-4:30pm

Pawnee Earth Lodge

Visit a home of mid-19th century
Pawnee people. Learn about these
Native Americans and their tradition-
al life on the Plains.

Weekdays: Program at 1pm
Weekends: 10am-4:30pm

Ruatepupuke:

A Maori Meeting House

Discover the world of the Maori peo-
ple of New Zealand at
the treasured Maori
Meeting House.

Daily 10am-4:30pm

Shanta tells the story
of Anansi the spider-
hero during opening
days of “Spiders!”
May 24-27

AMAZONIA...

(Continued from page 1)

mals, and human-animal combinations, along
with geometric and possibly astronomical
designs. According to Roosevelt, they may be
among the oldest cave paintings yet found in the
Americas.

“Our findings suggest that we need to
rethink the Paleoindian radiation,” Roosevelt
says. “Paleoindian” refers to the first people who
populated the Americas, beginning about 11,200
years ago and lasting nearly 3,000 years.

The traditional view has held that the first
migrants came across the Bering straits from
Asia, settled in the North American high plains
and southwest, then moved into South America
down the Andean mountain chain. According to
this theory, the Paleoindians were specialized big
game hunters who lived in open, temperate habi-
tats; they did not penetrate the tropical rain
forests, Paleoindian experts believed, because
plant food and game were too scarce.

Other scholars believed they had found even
earlier Paleoindian sites, representing a less spe-
cialized subsistence, in the Andes and in sub-
tropical areas east of the Andes. Though their
views have not yet been widely accepted, the
new site tends to support some aspects of their
thinking.

“We found strong evidence that a culture
quite distinct from the North American Paleoin-
dian culture, but contemporary with it, existed
more than 5,000 miles south, in this humid, trop-
ical habitat,” Roosevelt explains. “This culture
didn’t emphasize big game hunting. The charred
food remains we found point instead to broad-
spectrum foraging.” The meticulously dated

~s Manaus ~~

200 Miles.
200 Kilometers

Copyright © 1993 Anna Roosevelt

remains include many fruits and woods from
common tropical forest trees and palms, along
with fragments of bone from large forest game
and fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, smaller fish
and game, and shellfish from the Amazon fiood-
plain.

Overall, the evidence from Caverna da
Pedra Pintada suggests that Paleoindians visited
the cave regularly for 1,200 years. While there
they foraged food from the rain forest and river,
produced distinctive, finely made spear points
and wood-working tools chipped from stone,
and painted stylized images on the walls. “We’ ve
drawn this picture from a wide range of evi-
dence,” Roosevelt notes.

“We worked with colleagues in laboratories
around the world, using a variety of dating tech-
niques on the different biological and cultural
material, and the 69 resulting dates fall close
together between about 11,200 and 10,000 years
ago.”

Some scholars believe that humid tropical
environments were an insurmountable barrier to
early human cultural development, which they
believe took place only in cooler or drier habi-
tats. The new research suggests that it’s time to
reconsider this assumption.

The plant remains from Caverna da Pedra
Pintada include Brazil nuts, palm seeds, and
fruits from a variety of other trees common in the
humid tropical forests and woodlands of the
Amazon. No remains of grasses or trees special-
ly adapted to the temperate habitats or arid areas
were found in the cave. The animals, too, were
typical of the humid tropics. And yet, the early
hunter-gatherers flourished here for a Jong time.

“Tt seems Paleoindians were able to adapt to
a broader range of habitats than has been
thought,” Roosevelt says. “Amazonia, far from a
dead end, fostered a dynamic cultural trajectory
over thousands of years.”

Foraging bands, she explains, gave way to
fishing villages where pottery-making devel-
oped, Indeed, the pottery found in the cave and
nine other nearby sites, dating back as far as
7,500 years, is the earliest yet found in the Amer-
icas. Later, Roosevelt says, agriculture was
adopted, the use of pottery spread, and complex
societies were established in the area — until
they were decimated and dispersed by the Euro-
pean conquest.

Roosevelt believes it’s time to reevaluate
the role of tropical forests, submerged coastlines,
and other neglected ecological zones in early
human evolution around the world. “Unless we
look at the whole range of habitats,” she points
out, “we'll find only what confirms existing the-
ories.”

The reason Paleoindian cultures hadn’t been
confirmed in the tropical rain forests is simple,
Roosevelt posits: No one looked hard enough.

Roosevelt first realized the potential impor-
tance of this area while
looking through museum
collections. Initially, she
noticed finely made spear
points that didn’t fit the
later cultures with which
they were identified. She
also discovered references
to finds of other tools and
cave paintings in the area.
The sites, first described
by natural scientists in the
mid-nineteenth century,
had been explored more
recently by archeologists
and speleologists. But no
one had yet dug there.

“When I went to
Monte Alegre, I found
that people were very.
familiar with the spear
points, the caves, and

Copyright © 1993 Anna Roosevelt

other rock art sites,” Roosevelt recalls. “Nelsi
Neif Sadek, an ecology teacher who is now Sec-
retary of Culture, brought us to the cave. There
Lazaro Ribeiro, a ‘forest savant’ from a small
village near the cave, helped identify most of the
species that we excavated from the layers.”

Another assumption being re-evaluated,
says Roosevelt, is the theory that the North
American Paleoindians were primarily big-game
hunters. Some scholars now suggest that these
early North Americans, like their South Ameri-
can contemporaries at Monte Alegre, had broad-
er economies, including plant collecting, fishing,
and small game hunting. The evidence may have
been biased toward larger species, Roosevelt
speculates, because earlier archaeologists didn’t
use the specialized finescreening techniques
needed to recover the remains of plants and
small bones.

“The emphasis on big game hunting has
some serious implications,” Roosevelt notes.
“For example, sociobiologists have used our
supposed descent from hunters to support a
genetic basis for human behaviors such as
aggression and certain gender roles — men
bringing home the food, women tied to domestic
chores.”

But, she says, these theories are often based
on backward extrapolation from recent cultures.
“Tf you really want to know about early cul-
tures,” she says, “you have to go back and look
at those cultures, not just at modern people.”

The food remains in the cave, for example,
include not only small but very young animals
—an indication that women and children, as well
as men, could have participated in food-getting.
One more lesson Roosevelt draws from the
Amazon — and perhaps the most important for
today’s policy makers — concerns the interac-
tion between human settlements and tropical
forests.

“Much recent research in the Amazon
shows that so-called ‘virgin’ tropical forests
were in fact settled and cultivated for many thou-
sands of years,” she says. “They are actually
anthropogenic forests. Look at the diversity pat-
terns we see today, like the clustering of
cashews, Brazil nuts, certain palms — species
with great economic importance. Some of these
patterns came about precisely because prehis-
toric human activities altered the topography and
the soil and changed the vegetation.”

What this tells us, Roosevelt contends, is
that it doesn’t necessarily make sense to move
native people out of the forest to make a nature
reserve. People on a small scale, she says, have
long been part of the landscape, an integral com-
ponent of the ecological processes we value.

“It’s only when outsiders subsidize exploita-
tive activities on a large scale that we see the
type of destruction that’s eradicating tropical
forests in some areas today,” Roosevelt says.
“Native people and their ancient occupation sites
hold a great deal of knowledge about tropical
ecosystems. Their continued presence on the
land is critical for the survival of the habitat.”

Above: A rock paint-
ing at Serra da Lua
(Mouniain of the
Moon) in Monte Ale-
gre, Brazil, depicting
concentric circles
and an inverted fig-
ure with a rayed
head. Left: Another
rock painting at
Serra da Lua depicts
human figures. The
Monte Alegre paint-
ings portray animals,
humans, and com-
posite creatures
along with geometric
and possibly astro-
nomical designs. The
paintings appear to
date back more than
11,000 years.

Funding for Anna
Roosevelt's project
was provided by the
John D. and Cather-
ine T. MacArthur
Foundation, the
National Endowment
for the Humanities,
and the National
Science Foundation.

9 May/June 1996

FROM THE FIELD

Ball State U. Photographic Services / 35 AD 70,75 / UR212 No.27

Top right: Petra Sier-
wald, Field Museum
spider specialist,
introduces young vis-
itors to the Mexican
red-kneed tarantula.
A replica of Dr. Sier-
wald’s lab is part of
the “Spiders!” exhib-
it. At right: the com-
mon orb weaver,
Araneus cingulatus.
Among other live
creatures on exhibit
are the Madagascar
orb weaver, a spider
the size of a dinner
plate; a fishing spider
from South Carolina;
the venomous brown
recluse and black
widow spiders; and a
selection of common
garden and house
spiders.

SPIDER RESEARCH AT THE MUSEUM

By Rhonda Jones

ield Museum scientists along with
trained volunteers will share infor-
mation with “Spiders!” exhibit-
goers about how the Museum
collects and preserves spiders for its
own collection and research activities. Curators,
scientists, and museums all over the world bor-
row trom The Field Museum’s spider collection.

The Museum’s collection is worldwide in
scope and includes specimens collected by Mar-
shall Field I, himself. Among the myriad types
of spiders the Museum has amassed over the
years is a family of tropical spiders, Tetra blem-
madie, and the armored spider (so named for its
heavy exoskeleton, in relation to other spiders’),
It was The Field Museum that found the world’s
smallest mature tarantula— about 3mm long.

Scientists have discovered more than
30,000 species of spiders with as many as
300,000 specimens from those species repre-
sented in the Museum’s collection.

One element of the “Spiders!” exhibit is a
recreation of Petra Sierwald’s Field Museum
laboratory. She is the Museum’s arachnid spe-
cialist. The interactive tour of “Spider Lab,” as
it is called, puts the audience side-by-side with
Sierwald, via life-size cut-outs, as she goes from
collecting spiders in the field to publishing new
research findings.

Sierwald’s current spider work includes
classifying the different species of brown
widow spider by their behavior patterns during
courtship and mating. The brown widow per-
forms the same act as the notorious black widow
spider. The female of both deadly species kills
the male after courtship and mating. The male
brown widow is’as much.as ten. times smaller
than’the femalé. In her lifetime; the female will
mate several times whereas the male will die
after mating only once, living for only a few
short weeks. In her research, Sierwald is trying
to figure out whether the brown widow’s mating
system, contrary to that of most spiders, is guid-
ed by male choice. She is also looking to dis-
cover how the male brown widow makes his
mating choice and the relationship of his choice

to the evolution of the male widow spider’s
astoundingly complex sexual organs.

Catching spiders and other insects is not
very difficult, considering that there can be as
many as two million spiders per acre of land.
Field Museum collectors generally use the
Berlese method for collecting spiders and other
insects. With this technique, the collectors take
leaf litter and place it over the mouth of a spe-
cial funnel. Then they shine a bright light on the
litter to draw the insects out. The insects fall
through the funnel and into a container filled
with alcohol. Spider specimens preserved in
alcohol will last for centuries. While spiders
were always among the insects that Museum
curators gathered in the field, interests in sorting
and separating them from Berlese samples did
not mount until some 10-15 years ago. This col-
lecting method has produced some of the most
scientifically interesting spiders.

Spiders are everywhere. They can be found
scaling along mountain tops, burrowing deep
within caves, crawling through deserts and
marshlands alike. In fact, some of the spiders in
the Museum’s collection come from the
Chicagoland area and can be found atop some of
the area’s tallest “peaks” like the Sears Tower
and John Hancock Building. Dan Summers,
manager of the insect collection, said these
“high-rise” spiders, as they are so aptly called,

George Papadakis / GNB7706.27¢

can out-number the Chicago population 200,000
to 1 in the summer time. Lillian Ross posthu-
mously bequeathed her collection of Chica-
goland spiders to the Museum 30 years ago.
One former Field Museum curator Hank Dybas
spent much of his service time during World
War II collecting spiders for the Museum.
Some of the species in the Museum’s col-
lection are now extinct, and Sierwald considers
these to be all the more valuable. The extinct
species can serve as guides for comparison and
as resources for
DNA analysis that
can add limbs to the
tree of evolution.
Even though a spi-
der’s body doesn’t
fossilize easily, there
have been fossils of
spiders found in
rocks that date back
300 million years.

Jonathan Coddington

KIDS IN FOUR STATES VISIT
THE MUSEUM ELECTRONICALLY

By Rhonda Jones

ith the use of interactive, two-way
telecommunications technology, Ball
State University and the Indiana
Academy for Science, Mathematics and

Humanities (both in Muncie, Indiana) took
more than 8,000 elementary school students on
a trip to the Field Museum on January 16, with-

out the students having to leave their schools.

Children from 266 schools in California,
Texas, Indiana, and Illinois journeyed through
the Museum’s evolution exhibit, “Life Over
Time,” with a group of first-graders from Burris
Laboratory School, also in Muncie, as they all
experienced “Dinosaurs and More,” the theme
of a distance learning, electronic excursion. The
Burris students were the only group actually at
the Museum. The other students tagged along
via satellite. This was the Museum’s first expe-
rience with distance learning.

The innovative trip comprised a one-hour
program featuring the first-graders, turned
“Time Spies,” who made believe they had dug
up a bone during an excavation near their school
and brought it to the Museum to investigate
whether or not it was a dinosaur fossil. The field
trip was broadcast live from the Museum.

The students at the remote sites watched as
Field Museum geologist and program host Peter
Laraba answered questions from the “Time

The Museums Peter Laraba (right) and Muncie,
Indiana schoolteacher Renée Huffman leading a
class of first-graders through the scientific
method. Students in four states participated via
interactive video.

Spies” and, in some cases, used items from the
“Life Over Time” exhibit as his aids. Step-by-
step, Laraba took the group of first graders and
the viewing audience through the scientific
method, which involves gathering evidence,
formulating a hypothesis and drawing a conclu-
sion, in trying to decipher what prehistoric crea-
ture the bone belonged to. Ultimately, the “Time
Spies” figured out that the bone was not from a
dinosaur.

A special 800-number was set up for stu-
dents to call in to Laraba during the broadcast.
Students who could not get their questions
through to Laraba were given his e-mail address
so that they could contact him after the program.

Any school that had satellite capabilities
and could download the program was able to
attend the field trip. The field trip complements
strides made in distance learning technology.

It was made possible, in part, by a grant that
the Indiana Academy received from the Corpo-
tration for Educational Communications.

The remote television production crew at
Ball State provided the camera operators and
other equipment to put the Museum on the air
live.

“Dinosaurs and More” captured first prize
from the U.S. Distance Learning Association for
its innovative partnership with business and
education telecommunications.

VOLUNTEER HONORS DINNER

By Anita Morgan
Searle Volunteer Coordinator

he Field Museum honored its 1995 vol-

unteers on Tuesday, March 26 at a dinner

marking the twenty-eighth year of the
volunteer program. Begun in 1968 with a force
of 30, the program now includes more than 450
volunteers.

At a buffet dinner in Stanley Field Hall cel-
ebrating the volunteers’ accomplishments, Pres-
ident Willard L. Boyd and Trustee Hugo
Melvoin commended them for a job well done.
Mr. Melvyoin introduced President-elect John
McCarter who thanked the volunteers for their
generous contribution to The Field Museum.
Boyd presented awards to volunteers who con-
tributed 400 hours or more, and to volunteers
who have been in service for ten and fifteen
years. The Searle Award for Twenty Years of
Service was given to five recipients: Gwen Bar-
nett of Visitor Services, Dodie Baumgarten of
Anthropology, Margaret Martling of Botany,
Sheila Reynolds of Zoology, and William Roder
of Tours — an engraved crystal box from
Tiffany’s.

The value of volunteer service at The Field
Museum cannot be overstated. From varied
backgrounds and ages, the volunteers play a
vital role in the life of the Museum, They work
with paid staff to meet our growing demands for
effective programming in research, collections
,and public learning.

In the Department of Education, 300 of our
425 volunteers were responsible for staffing the
resource centers of Africa, Rice and Webber;
they gave programs in the Maori Meeting
House and the Pawnee Earth Lodge; school
tours in the exhibit halls of Afnca, Egypt,
Native American Peoples, Maritime Peoples of
the Arctic and Northwest Coast, the Aztec and
Maya exhibits, and the environmental halls.
Volunteers provided information for visitors in
“Life Over Time,” the Place for Wonder, and in
Stanley Field Hall with hands-on activities.

In our behind-the-scenes areas, volunteers
assisted with collections management and
research in the departments of Anthropology,
Botany, Geology, and Zoology. They identified
and labeled specimens, accessed reading
sources, prepared study skins, generated com-
puter data, catalogued accessions, and
processed loan materials. Other volunteers lent
their talents in the departments of Computing,
Exhibits, the Library, the Museum Store, Pho-
tography, Public Relations, Tours, and Visitor
Services.

With responsible attentiveness to The Field
Museum’s research and public learning, our vol-
unteers have shown their commitment by con-
tributing over 67,000 hours in 1995 — the
equivalent of 37 full-time staff members.

John Weinstein / GN87782,21Ac

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

John Weinstein / GN87780.36Ac

John Weinstein / GN87780.19Ac

SPECIAL ANNIVERSARIES

Twenty Years
(Searle Award for Twenty Years)

Gwen Barnett, Visitor Services
Dodie Baumgarten, Anthropology
Margaret Martling, Botany

Sheila Reynolds, Zoology
William Roder, Tours

Fifteen Years

Lucia Barba, Education
Halina Goldsmith, Education
Carol Kacin, Education
Zinette Yacker, Education

Ten Years
Robert Gowland, the Library
Dennis O’Donnell, Education

2
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Volunteers With 400 Hours Or More:

Name Hours Department and Supervisor
LaVerna Evans 932 Education, Mara Cosillo-Starr
John Ososky 735 Zoology, William Stanley
George Wolnak 700 Education, Peter Laraba and Anita Morgan
Irene Broede 670 Education, Peter Laraba
Geology, Lance Grande
Robert Gowland 608 Anthropology, Christine Gross
Library, Kenneth Grabowski
Jack MacDonald 602 Anthropology, Robert Welsch
Leonore Levit 600 Education, Rosaura Boone
Rosemary Kalin 589 Education, Mara Cosillo-Starr
Dennis Kinzig 570 Education, Peter Laraba
Catalina Larios 564 Anthropology, Alaka Wali
Zoology, John Slapcinsky
Warren Valsa 562 Education, Peter Laraba and Rosaura Boone
Ross Chisholm 560 Education, Peter Laraba
Debbie Jargstorf 545 Education, Mary Ann Bloom and Rosaura Boone
Joan Conner 533 Education, Rosaura Boone
Grace Takata 512 Education, Mara Cosillo-Starr and Peter Laraba
Margaret Martling 506 Botany, William Burger
Halina Goldsmith 500 Education, Mary Ann Bloom
Carolyn Moore 493 Anthropology, Bennet Bronson
Armand Littman 463 Zoology, John Slapcinsky
Teressa Hicks 451 Education, Carolyn Blackmon
Botany, John Engel
Beth Spencer 438 Education, Mary Ann Bloom and Peter Laraba
Mildred Frank 436 Education, Mary Ann Bloom and Mara Cosillo-Starr
Robert Brunner 434 Zoology, Alan Resetar and Kevin Swagel

Sophie Ann Brunner 434
Fui Lian Inger 412
Ingrid Fauci 408

Zoology, Alan Resetar and Harold Voris
Zoology, Robert Inger
Zoology, Alan Resetar and Harold Voris

11

Above: Volunteers in
“herps,” the Division
of Amphibians &
Reptiles, with cura-
tor Robert Inger,
right. From left,
Sophie and Bob
Brunner, Ingrid
Fauci, Michelle
Brown, and Fui Lian
Inger. At far left with
flower arrangement,
Halina Goldsmith, a
15-year veteran.
Receiving his Tiffany
box from President
Boyd, middle, is 20-
year man Bill Roder.
Volunteers Laura
Dunlap and
Stephanie Roman,
left, decided to make
the evening a festive
fancy-dress occasion.
Below left, Gwen
Barnett, who was
unable to attend the
dinner, received her
Tiffany award for 20
years’ service from
President Boyd in his
office.

TRUSTEE HUGO MELVOIN’S
REMARKS TO VOLUNTEERS

want to identify one special aspect of your

work that may not have occurred to you.

That aspect goes beyond the specific jobs
you have performed and relates to your com-
mitment, your loyalty, and, above all, to what I
call your validation of Field Museum’s mission.
As I see it, the fundamental work of our Muse-
um is measured and reinforced by your pres-
ence every time one of you enters the Museum.

It takes nothing away from the work of the
Trustees and the outstanding staff of The Field
Museum to emphasize that your validation of
their work is critical to the well-being of the
Museum. . . . It takes guts and lots of hard
thought to make the changes needed to stay on
the cutting edge of science and exhibition. But
who can tell us whether we’re still on the right
track? I say it’s our volunteers who provide this
vital function. By your willingness to come
back week after week, year after year, your
presence and your comments tell us when we
are stumbling as well as when we are doing
something right. Collectively, you comprise a
unique group. You don’t come for the pay; and
we can’t force you to come if you’re not satis-
fied with what you are doing. To all of the
publics to whom we owe an annual accounting,
you are the most important in my book.

May/June 1 996

SMITHSONIA)

(A010

1 5677

ll

ee. or

Islands of
the Gods:

A Voyage in the Aegean

he Aegean is the birthplace of the gods. Zeus was born on

Crete while Apollo and Artemis were born on Delos. Helios

was celebrated at Rhodes with the Colossus, one of the

wonders of the ancient world. Naxos was a center of the
cult of Dionysus. The hero Perseus, slayer of the Medusa, grew to
manhood on Serifos. And out of Crete’s labyrinthine Palace of
Knossos emerged the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Now you
can experience these legendary sites on a magnificent autumn voyage
aboard a beautiful new yacht.

To begin this extraordinary voyage, we spend two nights in
Athens. The entire history of Greece is reflected in the temples, agora,
and museum collections of this ancient capital. If you have never
been to Athens, you may be overwhelmed by the astonishing number
of magnificent classical treasures it possesses, And if you are a return
visitor, here is an opportunity for you to re-acquaint yourself with the
Parthenon and the Agora, or perhaps to strike out on your own and
see something new.

Then board the Lady Caterina, a magnificent new 48-passenger
yacht launched in September 1995, and begin an unforgettable
voyage to the great islands that have always been the stellar
attractions of the Aegean, as well as those unspoiled, undeveloped,
out-of-the-way islands that only fishermen and yachtsmen know.

You'll explore the perfect medieval town of Rhodes, see 900
years of Byzantine treasures at the Monastery of Khosoviotissa on
Amorgos, enjoy spectacular views from the village of Phira on
Santorini, and wander through King Minos’ Palace at Knossos.

But you'll also explore traditional villages onKarpathos that have
not been spoiled by tourism. On little Astipalea, you'll be the guests
at a glendi, an island feast with traditional food and drink. And you'll
be one of the very few visitors ever to visit the delightful villages on
the islands of Siphnos and Serifos

In keeping with its theme, Islands of the Gods: A Voyage in the
Aegean, the tour ends on the legendary island of Crete. Here you will
settle in for three nights at the superb Hotel Porto Elounda Mare, the
best hotel on the island, where you'll enjoy beautiful views of
Mirabello Bay from your private bungalow.

From the moment you step aboard Lady Caterina, you'll know that
you have found something special. This lovely yacht was designed
especially for private cruises. With only 48 guests accommodated
aboard, Lady Caterina is like chartering your own private yacht—but at
a fraction of the cost. Lady Caterina is an ocean-going vessel equipped
with state-of-the-art stabilizers and is certified for world-wide
cruising.

Here is a rare opportunity to return to the islands where Greek
mythology was born. Join us aboard Lady Caterina during the golden
days of autumn on a handcrafted voyage to the lands of gods and
heroes.

MOU RS

312 / 322-8862

Special Announcement:
National Parks of the West

Our original trip is sold out, but we have obtained more
space on another luxury train departure. August 28 —
September 6, 1996. $3,990 — $6,450 per person depending on

accommodations,

Adventures in Yemen & Oman

October 8— 22, 1996. A stunning tour of some of the mast
remarkable architecture in the world — plus a night on the
Wahiba Sands, an inland desert traversed by Bedouin; we'll
dine under the stars around a fire, then settle down for the
night in carpeted tents. $6,395 per person

ae TI EN TTP SG BSR LS a St ee re
Watch for: Antarctica and the Falklands aboard the MS Hanseatic

January 30 —February 13, 1997