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Full text of "Bulletin"

Volume 39, Number 7 January, 1968 

BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



The Museum Trademark' 



i^ 



by Patricia M. Williams, Field Museum Press 

Steve Kovar, on this month's cover, has been with the Museum maintenance staff 
for nearly forty years. Twice a year or so, he has vacuumed the elephants in Stanley 
Field Hall. Mr. Kovar and the elephants are going strong, but the Museum buys 
a new vacuum cleaner every four or five years. In the following story, Patricia 
Williams tells the story of the elephants and the man who produced Field Museum's 
most familiar exhibit. 



Engaged in mortal combat, they loom in massive majesty 
over awestruck children, footsore parents and clusters of 
toursts happily posing for snapshots. The African elephants 
dominating Stanley Field Hall serve as an unmistakable 
"trademark"' of the Museum and have appeared on Mu- 
seum stationery and checks, publications, postcards, souve- 
nirs and paper bags. 

This "trademark" is largely the product of the talents of 
Carl .\keley, both as a hunter and a taxidermist. In 1896 
Akeley joined the Museum staff as Taxidermist and in Feb- 
ruary, 1905, Marshall Field approved Akeley's planned ex- 
pedition to East Africa, providing the expense would "not 
exceed say S5000." 

Following a physical examination at the Chicago Home 
for Incurables, the physician deemed Akeley to be expedi- 
tion-worthy in that he was "free from any organic trouble. 
His lungs and heart are sound, and strong, and although he 
is not robust nor muscular in appearance, his vitality is good. 



and his muscles are firm." The doctor went on to say that 
he also thought that the long ocean voyage would do Ake- 
ley's nervous temperament good. 

On August 13, 1905 Akeley's British East African Expedi- 
tion left Chicago. In addition to Akeley, the party included 
Vernon Shaw-Kennedy, Edmund Heller and Mrs. Akeley. 
They arrived at the port of Mombasa on October 8, 1905, 
and by November 7 Akeley had written to the Museum re- 
questing an additional $5,000, stating that "something over 
Four thousand dollars of the original appropriation has been 
expended and your decision can scarcely reach me before 
the entire amount (Five thousand dollars) is gone." In 
addition to the hiring of porters, gun bearers and personal 
servants, Akeley explained that he had "received practi- 
cally no concessions from the government without paying 
handsomely for them. . . ." 

The following day, November 8, Akeley wrote to the 
President of the Museum, H. N. Higinbotham, enlarging 





Vernon Shaw- Kennedy, who accompanied the Akeleys, buying a 
sheep from a Wakamba native. 

Akeley took nearly a thousand photos during the 1 906 expedition. 
Many of the glass negatives remain on file in Field Museum. 



Carl Akeley in Somaliland. He was mauled by the leopard before he man- 
aged to bring it down. 



Page 2 JANUARY 



upon the difficulties of the expedition as follows: "For several 
weeks, while I realized that the funds were melting away 
twice as fast as anticipated and prospects were uncertain, 
I often regretted having undertaken the trip. My state of 
mind caused by the uncertain conditions has made it im- 
possible to decide anything in regard to future movements. 
Now that we are well under way, have had splendid success 
for the three weeks here with every prospect of a continua- 
tion of the good work, I make this recommendation (for 
funds) unhesitatingly and in full confidence that the returns 
will more than justify the expenditure. 

"Mr. Shaw-Kennedy has been as greatly disappointed 
with the necessity of heavy expenses as I, but he is "game" 
and will see the trip through to the end and I feel that the 
least we can do is to keep our end up. 

"In material the country is rich far beyond my fondest 
hopes and our working force is efficient." 

In Akeley's own words, the expedition proved to be "a 
good return for the money invested." This "good return" 
totalled, in 12 months of active field work, over 17 tons of 
natural history material. This included 400 mammal skins 
ranging in size from that of a rabbit to that of an elephant, 
about 1200 small mammal skins, 800 bird skins and a "fair 
number" of mammal and bird skeletons. Collection of 
large mammal skins included material for groups of about 
20 species of antelopes; a buflfalo group of six; a fine series 
of eight lions; two large male elephants, complete; one rhi- 
noceros; one hippopotamus. There were also about 1000 
photographic negatives as well as other studies of collected 
material, such as plaster casts, measurements, leaves, etc. 
The two elephants included in this listing are those now on 



display in Stanley Field Hall. One was shot by Akeley on 
July 27, 1906 in the Aberdare Mountains and the other was 
shot by Mrs. Akeley on August 31, 1906 on Mt. Kenya. 

In describing the elephant hunt, Akeley wrote, "The 
trans-Tana trip had been indefinitely postponed on account 
of trouble with the natives at the base of Mt. Kenya, where 
the government had sent troops that were at this time, 
July 10th, engaged in warfare, but as it seemed likely that 
the trouble was nearing the end, the services of Mr. R. J. 
Cunningham, professional hunter and safari runner, were 
secured, and we headed for Fort Hall and the Tana River, 
with the intention of looking for Elephants on the way; 
three weeks were spent on the Aberdare Mountains, during 
which time we prepared the skin of one Elephant, a series 
of Duiker, and a number of other specimens. . . . the edge 
of the forest at the base of Mt. Kenya was reached, and here 
work with the Elephants was begun. The five weeks spent 
among the Elephants was eminently satisfactory in point of 
experience, and knowledge gained of the habits of these in- 
teresting animals, but disappointing in that we failed, for 
want of time, in securing all the specimens required for the 
group. The return from Mt. Kenya to the Tana River was 
distressingly slow and tedious, owing to the difficulties en- 
countered in securing porters to move the material, but the 
Tana was finally reached on October 2nd, and a few days 
later we proceeded down the river in search of BufTalo. 
. . . The three months in trans-Tana country were months 
of hard work and bitter disappointments, but results, on the 
whole, were satisfactory, in that the material obtained was 
eminently desirable, and difficult to secure. We returned 
to Fort Hall on November 22nd, and with 175 porters pro- 



The Wakikuku people gathered at a joint camp of the 
Governor of British East Africa, Sir James Hayes-Saddler, 
and the members of the Field Museum Expedition, in 
Trans-Tana Province. 





I 



-v 



'it. *-|i.:r*- 






The expedition coming down from Mount Kenya, where 
one of the elephants was shot. 

JANUARY Page 3 



ceeded to Nairobi with the collections. Mr. Cunningham 
returned by way of the Aberdare, to bring in the Elephant 
and other skins that had been left on the summit of the 
mountains, nearly four months previously." 

The elephants, with the rest of the collection, were packed 
in Nairobi, shipped by rail to Mombasa, trans-shipped at 
Naples, arrived at New York on January 28, 1 907 and then 
proceeded to the Museum to await the next stage in their 
evolution as the Museum's "trademark." 

When Akeley entered the field of taxidermy the methods 
used were far short of ideal. As Akeley described them, 
these methods consisted "of first treating the skin, then wir- 
ing and wrapping the bones, which were inserted in the legs 
of the animal while the body was hung upside down and 
stuffed with straw until it would hold no more." The ani- 
mal was then endowed with a pair of Raggedy Ann-type 
eyes and popped into a display case. 

Apparently, the crudeness of the procedure did not 
bother Akeley as much as the stiff and unlifelike result. 

The first elephant Akeley worked on was Barnum's fa- 
mous Jumbo. In mounting Jumbo, Akeley was under the 
direction of J. William Critchley, and the elephant was 
mounted much after the fashion of the specimen in the 
Museum of Natural History, Paris, which had been done 
more than a century earlier. 

Critchley was a most proficient taxidermist "who had few 
equals in mounting birds and few superiors with the average 
mammal." However, before Jumbo was finished, Akeley 
had become the dominant member of the team. 

It became apparent at this time, about 1885, that Ake- 
ley's "superb neuromuscular organization seemed to have 



been specially designed to give plastic expression to the re- 
factory hide of the huge quadruped, and the successful ac- 
complishment of the task furnished the inspiration for his 
later work in Africa, the Field Museum, and the American 
Museum." 

It was basic to old-time taxidermy that skins be tanned 
in a salt and alum bath, both to "set" the epidermis and to 
dry hard, so that the skin would retain shape. Unfortu- 
nately, specimens, particularly the larger quadrupeds, pre- 
pared by this method soon went to pieces when exposed to 
the changing atmosphere of museum halls. Akeley, how- 
ever, discovered a vegetable tan that fullfilled all the necessary 
conditions and yet permitted the hide to remain soft and 
flexible for many days without losing any epidermis. This 
discovery was essential to Akeley's revolutionary technique 
of taxidermy. The Museum's pair of African elephants rep- 
resent its first application to such large animals. 

Although Mr. Akeley described his method in detail in a 
speech before the American Association of Museums in 
May, 1908, no written record of his speech can be located. 
Carl Cotton, the present Museum taxidermist, can only 
assume, therefore, on the basis of his own professional knowl- 
edge, that the following steps are those that Akeley must 
have followed in the mounting of the African elephants. 

First, the elephant's skin was tanned and shaved. Akeley 
then sculpted a life-sized clay figure following accurate and 
detailed measurements made from the actual animal. That 
Akeley was a talented and able sculptor was most evident 
in this second step. Next, the skin, which was in precisely 
numbered sections, was applied directly to the clay model 
and carefully worked into all the musculature, curves and 







^s/' 



Porters carrying an elephant skull. Animal skins were 
treated with salt and wrapped in matting for the journey 
back from Mount Kenya to Nairobi. The collections went 
by the newly completed Uganda Railway to Mombasa, 
thence by ship to the United States. It was on the Uganda 
Railway, a scant eight years before, that the famous man- 
eating lions of Tsavo terrorized the construction parties, 
killing 1 35 workmen over a nine month period and actually 
halting construction for three months until they were killed 
by Colonel J. H. Patterson, a contruction engineer. Years 
later, Patterson presented the skins to Field Museum, and 
they are now on display in Hall 22. 




Akeley relaxing at day's end. The drink is cognac. 



Page 4 JANUARY 



wrinkles. Then plaster was applied over the entire skin- 
covered model. After the plaster had hardened, the joined 
plaster and skin sections were removed from the clay model. 
(The clay model had now served its purpose and was dis- 
pensed with.) These sections were now reinforced on the 
inside. At this stage, the sections were composed of three 
fused layers — reinforcement, on the inside, skin, in the mid- 
dle, and plaster, on the outside. These layered sections were 
next reassembled and joined together with the reinforcing 
substance. When assembled, they were further strength- 
ened as a imit. Finally, the outer plaster shell was removed 
and the seams in the skin were covered. Last, the finishing 
touches, such as the application of a gluten coating and the 
insertion of tusks and artificial eyes were accomplished. 

This pair of elephants was noteworthy not only because 
they were the product of this remarkable new technique, but 
because they were posed in such a dramatic and life-like 
manner. The static, vmimaginative eflforts of earlier taxi- 
dermy seem particularly lifeless when viewed in contrast to 
this pair. They are an excellent testimony to the statement 
that Akeley "did more for taxidermy than any other man, 
and but for him, museum exhibits would not be what they 
are today." 

The elephants were placed on display in 1909 in the cen- 
tral rotunda of the Field Museum, then located in Jackson 
Park, where they remained until April 26, 1920 — the Muse- 
um's moving day. It had required three years of work by the 
entire Museum staff to dismantle exhibits and pack collec- 
tions preparing them for the move. This move was un- 
doubtedly one of the largest transfer operations ever seen 
anywhere, involving 321 freight car loads, 354 five-ton 



truck loads and a total cost of just under $70,000. 

The pair of elephants travelled by rail and the Museum's 
Annual Report for 1920 states that, "The African elephants, 
after removing the head of the one mounted with its trunk 
elevated, were placed on an open flat-car and came through 
without mishap." 

The move was completed on June 1, 1920 and the staflF 
began the huge task of arranging and reinstalling material. 
A year later, May 2, 1921, the Museum was opened in 
its present location and the elephants were again on display 
to the public. 

It seems incongruous that so noble a pair should be in- 
volved in anything so prosaic, but the elephants are dusted 
regularly and vacuumed with an ordinary household vacuum 
cleaner. They are periodically checked for signs of wear or 
damage and are patched and treated as necessary, insuring 
their continued standard of quality. 

Even being crushed by a charging elephant in 1912 ap- 
parently never dimmed Akeley's enthusiasm for the great 
beast. In a tribute to the taxidermist, Henry Fairfield Os- 
born said, "Akeley's first love was perhaps for the elephant. 
. . . Often did he dwell upon the nobility of the elephant, its 
courage in the charge, its sympathy in removing the wounded 
comrade. . . . Little wonder that, in the confines of the . . . 
city ... he longed for the sweep of the African plains and 
savannahs, for the unspoiled beauty of the African forests, 
for the majestic march and trumpeting of the elephant. . . ." 

These sentiments were eloquently expressed by Akeley in 
the superbly mounted pair of African elephants which re- 
main a unique, impressive and enduring "trademark" of 
the Museum. 



E^ 



Lake Elementeita, a small lake just west of the Aber- 
dare Range, where Akeley shot one of the elephants. 





Christmas in Kenya, 1 906. 



JANUARY Paged 



a fossil comes 




to life 



by William D. Turnbull, Associate Curator. Fossil Mammals 

The mammal Burramys was known only from fossil remains until 
1966, when Dr. K. Shortman of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute 
of Medical Research, Melbourne, discovered and collected a liv- 
ing specimen. Identification was made by Mr. R. M. Warneke, 
Senior Research Officer of Fisheries and Wildlife De- 
partment, Victoria. The photos of the living animal 
are by Mr. James Cooper of the same agency. 



In august 1966, in the hut of a ski lodge 
at Mt. Hotham, Victoria, Australia, a 
most unusual and unexpected zoological 
discovery was made. The appealing 
little animal shown here, a small pha- 
langerine possum, was seen and cap- 
tured. When put into the hands of sci- 
entists of the Victorian Fisheries and 
Wildlife Department, the animal was 
recognized to be the first living repre- 
sentative of the genus Burramys, which 
heretofore had been known only from 
fossil remains. It is indeed remarkable 
that an animal as distinctive in its den- 
tition as Burramys has survived so long 
without zoologists being aware of its 
presence. However, its small size, wary 
nature and outward similarity to other 
related small possums can account for 
this oversight. Nevertheless, in this day 
of world-wide, extensive alteration of 
natural environments by man, it is truly 
astonishing to discover a living repre- 
sentative of a mammalian genus previ- 
ously thought to be extinct. 

Burramys is a familiar name in the Ge- 
ology Department, since fossils of this ge- 
nus have been studied for many years. In 
1895, the paleontologist Robert Broom 
(who subsequently became well known 
for his work on South African Permian 
fossils from the Karoo) gave the name 

Paged JANUARY 



Burramys parvus to a few cave fossils from 
a travertine deposit from the Wombeyan 
Caves of southeastern New South Wales, 
Australia. This material consisted of six 
jaws and three or four skull fragments of 
animals characterized by the form of 
their high, serrate, grooved and ridged 
last premolar teeth. For over 50 years 
Broom's original description and other 
brief notes published in 1896 were all 
that was known about the genus Bur- 
ramys. In the 1950's two advances were 
made. The first of these was made by 
W. D. L. Ride (presently the director 
of the Western Australian Museum at 
Perth). He restudied Broom's original 
materials and prepared and studied 
other materials which Broom had col- 
lected but not worked on. 

In Broom's day, the preparation tech- 
nique for exposing travertine-encased 
bones was to scratch away the lime rock 



to expose the contained bones. This 
procedure could only be done after the 
presence of bone was ascertained, by 
breaking the rock or seeing suggestive 
surface irregularities. Ride began to 
restudy Broom's materials, using an acid 
preparation technique which enabled 
him to recover more of the contained 
bones with minimum damage to the 
small, delicate fossils. The reports on 
Ride's findings, including a redescrip- 
tion of Burramys parvus, appeared in the 
Proceedings of the Zoological Society (Lon- 
don) in 1956 and 1960. 

At about the same time that Ride was 
working on the New South Wales fos- 
sils, another discovery of Burramys re- 
mains was made in southeastern Victoria 
at the Buchan Caves. There, Norman 
Wakefield (presently associated with 
Monash University) discovered numer- 
ous remains of Burramys which he re- 




ported in 1960. This fossil deposit con- 
tains a mixed sample, as far as time of 
deposition is concerned. Some of the 
bones are reddish, and these Wakefield 
believes to be the older specimens, pos- 
sibly several thousand years old. Other 
bones are white, and Wakefield gives 
evidence that they are very recent, per- 
haps only a few hundred years old or less. 
This evidence led to informal specula- 
tion on the possibility of the existence 
of a living Burramys. 

The first Burramys materials obtained 
for the Field Museum collections consist 
of three tooth fragments and a complete 
molar tooth from the Late Pliocene of 
the Grange Burn, Hamilton Fauna that 
Dr. E. L. Lundelius and I collected in 
1963-64. This material is insufficient 
to form the basis of a new species, but 
nevertheless it is adequate to show the 
unique ridging of the premolar teeth 
which suggest that the material repre- 
sents an undescribed species. The fauna 
to which these four teeth belong has 
been dated at 4.35 million years by the 
potassium-argon method. Hence Bur- 
ramys now has a time range of nearly 
four and one-half million years, and a 
geographic range that extends in an arc 
from within 100 miles of Sydney in the 
East to within about 150 miles of Ade- 
laide in the West — a straight line dis- 
tance of about 500 miles. 

In 1963 it was arranged through Mr. 
Harold Fletcher, then the Assistant Di- 
rector of the Australian Museum, Syd- 
ney, that 185 unprepared Wombeyan 
Cave travertine blocks belonging to that 
institution be loaned to Field Museum 
for preparation and study by Dr. Lun- 
delius, myself and associates. Frederick 
Schram and I have completed a prelim- 
inary report on the first of the rodent re- 
mains recovered from that fauna. Work 
is going ahead on the other groups. The 
entire lot of travertine blocks has been 
acid prepared, leaving us with thousands 
of bones, teeth and fragments for study. 
Among these are additional unreported 
specimens of Burramys parvus. 

Thus, the Museum is in a unique po- 
sition of involvement with the work on 
this little-known inammalian genus, and 
the 1966 discovery gives us the great ad- 
vantage of working from a live specimen 
in addition to fossil remains. 




Pleistocene fossil Burramys 
larvus known since 1895 
redescribed in 1956 



Living Burramys found in 
1966 



Post-Pleistocene fossil 
Burramys reported in 
1960 



Pliocene fossil Burramys 
collected in 1963-1964, 
reported in 1965 and 1967 




~1 




Each of the fossil Burramys specimens shown here are mounted on pins {the rough shafts 
beneath the teeth). They are not all to the same magnification, but the common pin mount- 
ings will serve to scale them. Top Row; Three of the oldest teeth {If.SS million years) re- 
covered from a fossil soil near Hamilton Victoria. Two of them (left and center) are 
partial lower premx>lars seen in side view, and the third is a complete upper molar seen in 
crown view. Bottom; A left lower jaw of a Burramys parvus specimen from the Wom- 
beyan Caves of New South Wales, the locality that yielded the original materials upon 
which the genus was based. The relatively large incisor tooth and the distinctively ridged, 
serrate premolar are clearly shown. 




JANUARY Page? 



ONE DAY ADDED TO TOUR, 

RESERVATIONS STILL OPEN 

Places still remain available on Field Museum's Mexican Tour, which now 
will include an additional day in Mexico City and a day's earlier departure — 
April 3-21. The shift from Thursday to Wednesday, the 3rd, as a departure 
date was made because of airline schedule changes and because an additional 
day in Mexico City seemed desirable — for those interested in seeing the new 
Museum of Modern Art and the new Museum of Natural History, and for those 
wishing a free day for independent activities. 

Price of the Tour will be raised to include a still undetermined charge for 
the extra day. All other Tour expenses are included in the Tour price, $975, 
including a $200 tax-deductible donation to Field Museum. 

Tour membership will close on February 4, due to the necessity of making 
reservations early for the usually busy Mexican Easter season. Those interested 
in taking the Tour should mail their $200 deposits together with their reserva- 
tions. Final payment should also be completed by February 4. 

The Tour will be the first to travel over the newly-completed highway from 
Villahermosa, capital of Tabasco, to the ruins of Palenque, in Chiapas, which 
according to many archaeologists, artists and photographers are the most beau- 
tiful of the ruins of ancient Mexico. The Maya ruins are deep in tropical 
jungle, a setting which adds much to the impressiveness of the temples and the 
unique palace building. 

Other major stops of the 1 9 day tour include : Mexico City, Villa Guadalupe, 
Teotihuacan, Colonial San Angel, University City, Cuicuilco, Xochimilco, 
Cuernavaca, Xochicalco, Taxco, Merida, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Oaxaca City, 
Monte Alban, Mitla and Santa Maria del Tule. 

For reservations or further information, write Field Museum's Mexican 
Tour, Field Museum. 



CALENDAR OF EVENTS 



January hours: Open from 9 a.m. to 
4 p.m. daily and until 5 p.m. on Satur- 
days and Sundays. 



January 1 Field Museum is closed. 

Through January 21 Exhibit: New Guine.\: Birds, Books .\nd Stamps, show- 
ing the variety and color of the avifauna in the jungles and mountains of 
New Guinea, including birds of paradise, parakeets and bower birds. Ac- 
companying the exhibit are color slides and commentary, a collection of 
postage stamps featuring birds from 52 countries, and a set of first-day postal 
covers of parrot stamps issued by the Government of New Guinea. The 
exhibit also announces the American release of the Handbook of Birds of New 
Guinea by Dr. Austin L. Rand, Chief Curator, Zoology and the late Dr. 
E. T. Gilliard of the American Museum. Hall 9 Gallery. 

Through February Winter Journey : Magic, Medicine and Minerals. 

February 1 -25 23rd Chicago International Exhibition of Nature Photo- 
graphy, bringing hundreds of wildlife photographs to the Museum. 

February 6 Indiana University's Chicago Showcase of Music: Alfonso Mon- 
TECiNO, Pianist. Mr. Montecino, famed Chilean pianist, is a professor at 
I. U. School of Music. He has just returned from a triumphant tour of 
Russia and Hungary and has been re-engaged to return to Russia and 
Czechoslovakia in 1969. Mr. Montecino made his debut in Carnegie Hall 
in 1950. In 1954 he received the Bach Medal, granted by the Harriet 
Cohen International Foundation, for his outstanding interpretations of Bach 
in London. Complimentary tickets to this concert are available to Members 
by request to the Museum. 8:15 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 
Nature Camera Club, Jan. 10, 7:45 p.m. 
Chicago Shell Club, Jan. 14, 2 p.m. 

MEETINGS: Sierra Club, Great Lakes Chapter, Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m. 

Orchid Society, Jan. 21, 2 p.m. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Roosevelt Rd. & Lake Shore Drive 
Chicago, iliinois 60605 

Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 
BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

Lester Armour 
Harry 0. Bercher 
William McCormick Blair 
Bowen Blair 

William R. Dickinson, Jr. 
Joseph N. Field 
Marshall Field 
Paul W. Goodrich 
Clifford C. Gregg 
Samuel Insull, Jr. 
Henry P. Isham 
Hughston M. McBain 
Remick McDowell 
J. Roscoe Miller 
William H. Mitchell 
James L. Palmer 
John T. Pirie, Jr. 
John Shedd Reed 
John G. Searle 
John M. Simpson 
Gerald A. Sivage 
Edward Byron Smith 
William Swartchild, Jr. 
Louis Ware 
E. Leland Webber 
J. Howard Wood 

HONORARY TRUSTEE 

William V. Kahler 

OFFICERS 

James L. Palmer, President 
Clifford C. Gregg, First Vice-President 
Joseph N. Field, Second Vice-President 
Bowen Blair, Third Vice-President 

Edward Byron Smith, 

Treasurer and Assistant Secretary 
E. Leland Webber, Secretary 

DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM 

E. Leland Webber 

CHIEF CURATORS 

Donald Collier, 

Department of Anthropology 
Louis 0. Williams, 

Department oj Botany 
Rainer ^angerl. 

Department oj Geology 
Austin L. Rand 

Department of Zoology 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



Pages JANUARY 



Volume 39, Number 2 February 1968 

BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 




Local Universities and Field Museum in joint project 

NEW GRADUATE CENTER OPENS 



by Robert F. Inger, Curator, Reptiles and Amphibians 



The x«ajor natural history museums in this country are well 
known for their exhibit halls and the educational programs 
tied in with these exhibits. They are perhaps less widely 
recognized by the general public as institutions that are en- 
gaged in research. Probably their least publicized function 
is their direct contribution to the formal training of univer- 
sity students. Although it is easy to arrange these three func- 
tions or activities of museums in order of their public ac- 
knowledgment, it is difficult to say which is most important. 

To carry out the last function more effectively, Field 
Museum of Natural History in cooperation with Northwest- 
ern University and the University of Chicago recently or- 
ganized a Center for Graduate Studies. At present the 
scope of the Center is limited to systematic zoology and 
paleontology, which involve problems in classifying organ- 
isms and in evolutionary biology. We hope eventually to 
include the other scientific areas of interest to the Museum's 
staff. The next few paragraphs will outline the purposes, 
program and organization of the Center. 

The purpose of the Center is to provide for the graduate 
training of university students. Museum scientists will par- 
ticipate in the supervision of the research done by gradu- 
ate students for their advanced degrees and the Museum 
will provide laboratory space, library facilities, and speci- 
mens for those students. Museum staff may also conduct 
graduate classes as the need arises. (As of this writing, 
eleven members of the Museum's staff are giving such 
a course at the Museum, for the University of Chicago.) 
The universities will provide the remainder of the training 
and instruction necessary for the Ph.D. degree and will 
award the degrees. 

The program of the Center is regulated by an Advisory 
Committee consisting of three curators from the Museum, 
Drs. Zangerl, Wenzel, and Inger, and two faculty members 
from each of the universities, Drs. Peter Bretsky and Or- 
lando Park from Northwestern and Drs. E. C. Olson and 
Ronald Singer from Chicago. The Advisory Committee is 
also responsible for admission of students to the Center. 

In mid-1967 the Museum received a grant from the 
National Science Foundation to help support the activities 
of the Center for two years. Funds from the grant will be 
used for two main purposes: to provide support for students 
in the form of fellowships, equipment, and supplies, and to 
hire additional supporting staff at the Museum. The last 
is essential if curators are to be relieved of certain duties in 
in order to devote time to students. 

This grant represents a new venture for the National 



Science Foundation. It is the first research training grant 
made to a non-university museum from the Foundation's 
research funds. The Museum's monetary contribution to 
the Center, largely in the form of the time of its staff, facil- 
ities, and money from its Dee Fund, is approximately 35% 
of the total budget. 

All of the preceding is the bare bones skeleton, so to 
speak. What is the motivation for initiating the Center? 
What do we hope to accomplish through it? 

The principal motivation is the desire to contribute to 
the development of an area of science with which the Mu- 
seum and its staff are concerned. One of the most effective 
ways of advancing any scientific or professional field is by 
providing better training for the young men or women en- 
tering the field. One man trains two and thereby enlarges 
the field. If, in addition, he gives them better training than 
he had as a student, the growth of our knowledge proceeds 
at an even faster rate. \Ve hope through the Center to im- 
prove and increase the opportvmities for professional train- 
ing in systematic zoology and paleontology. 

Beyond our hope to advance these academic fields, there 
are several more "practical" motives. Our nation, through 
several major scientific-technological programs, has uncov- 
ered a shortage of persons trained in these fields. The big 
push in exploring the oceans has come up against a hard 
fact — there simply are not enough people with the training 
required to identify and classify the animals collected by the 
great oceanographic programs. Many ambitious medical 
projects concerned with insect-borne diseases, projects being 
conducted in Vietnam and other tropical areas, require the 
services of systematic zoologists and again the demand ex- 
ceeds the supply. As a nation we are becoming increasingly 
concerned with a variety of environmental problems at 
home and abroad: the active participation of systematic 
zoologists is needed if we are to solve these problems. The 
Center can help relieve this manpower shortage. 

There is still another motive for the Center. Good grad- 
uate students ask stimulating, sometimes embarassing ques- 
tions. The attempt to answer them helps keep university 
professors and museum scientists mentally alive. Our third 
motive, then, boils down to the selfish desire for an intellec- 
tual fountain of youth. 

It would be misleading if this article gave the impression 
that the Center represents an entirely new approach for the 
Field Museum. It does not. On an informal, individual 
basis museum curators have been working for years with 
graduate students from our great local universities. In fact. 



Page 2 FEBRUARY 



several members of our present staff are the intellectual 
products of university-museum cooperation. These arrange- 
ments, which had previously been formalized at the institu- 
tional level, will be much more effectively implemented by 
the availability of the special funds. 

The Center, because of its funds, will make it possible to 
expand the Museum's professional training activities. Ex- 
pansion is especially important in view of the shortage of 
systematists. Tuition and fellowship funds for systematic 
biologists have never been adequate on either an absolute 
or a relative scale. The funds now available to the Center 
for these purposes should help attract good students to this 
area. It is not that students are more mercenary now than 
they were. It simply costs a good deal more to go to grad- 
uate school than it used to. Ask any parent. 

The establishment of the Center for Graduate Studies 
as a formal administrative entity has another advantage 
that, though difficult to measure, is significant. It will force 
Museum staff and members of the faculties of the two uni- 
versities to meet more often and talk about shared problems 
and interests. In effect, we have here another manifestation 
of the two-heads-are-better-than-one phenomenon. The 
staffs should get together oftener. But biologists, like all 
other people, get caught up in day-to-day affairs. The dia- 
logue, which the Center will generate, will benefit each in- 
stitution and thereby improve higher educational and scien- 
tific activities in the Chicago area. 

Although at present only the University of Chicago and 
Northwestern University are participating with the Mu- 
seum in operating the Center, it is understood that other 
Chicago-area universities may join in the near future. We 
hope, for example, that the University of Illinois (Chicago 
Circle) will become an active member of the Center after 
the Circle Campus is authorized to award the Ph.D. degree 
in appropriate areas of biology and geology. 

The pooling of resources on a regional basis, which is 
what the Center signifies, is not only highly desirable but 
absolutely essential. No city, state or nation is so rich in 
scientific resources that it can afford to duplicate facilities 
endlessly. The Center for Graduate Studies represents a 
formal acknowledgment by these three institutions and the 
National Science Foundation of this economic truth. 

The Center also represents the recognition by these in- 
stitutions that systematic zoology and paleontology are 
fields that have played and will continue to play impor- 
tant roles in the history of science and human thought. 




recent acquisilion — zoology 

COELACANTH 

A THREE-FOOT-LONG fomialin-fixed specimen of the "liv- 
ing fossil" Lalimeria chalumnae, caught on August 25, 1967 
at a depth of about 1000 feet off the Comoro Islands near 
Madagascar, has been added to the scientific collection 
of the Museum through the courtesy of the Department 
of Anatomy, University of Illinois College of Medicine. 



The coelacanths are members of the fringe-finned 
fishes, the Crossopterygii, which made their first appear- 
ance in the Devonian some 300 million years ago. 

One group of the Crossopterygii, the Rhipidistia, used 
their limb-like fins and their ability to breathe air to 
scramble ashore and move on land to fresh waters when 
the pools they had lived in started to dry up. As they 
became progressively better adapted to live on land, their 
paired fins evolved into true legs. When this dramatic 
evolutionary stage was reached they were no longer fish, 
but the first primitive amphibians. 

The second air-breathing group among the fringe- 
finned fishes, the lung-fishes (Dipnoi), did not evolve 
further. Lung-fishes are still found in parts of Austra- 
lia, Africa and South America. 

The third crossopterygian group, the coelacanths, are 
related to our distant ancestors, the Rhipidistia, but they 
have never been the direct line of evolution. However, 
since the first coelacanths were related to the ancestral 
line of all land vertebrates and since they have changed 
so little in 275 million years, they may have preserved 
some of the primitive features they shared with our far-off 
ancestors. A careful study of Lalimeria may, therefore, 
throw light on our very remote ancestry. Functional 
anatomical studies by scientists of Field Museum and 
the University of Illinois will be made on the endocrine 
system, the respiratory apparatus, the brain tracts, the 
reproductive apparatus and the sensory apparatus. 

— By Karel F. Liem, Assistant Curator, Vertebrate Anatomy 

FEBRUARY Page 3 




by Ida L. Thompson, Geology Department 

cuttlefTs 






This month's cover shows Geoteuthis, t 
years ago. The original was drawn in i 
reproduced it here in a sepia to give y( 
is on display in Stanley Field Hall durir 
Here is the story of Geoteuthis and its I 
in the age of the great dinosaurs, whe' r 
predators in warm shallow seas that c ' 



l^/CT SUN and other stars have been photographed by 
their own light; many animals leave tracks on their trail. 
Why not, we of the Geology Department thought, a picture 
of a Jurassic cuttlefish drawn in its own 170 million-year- 
old brown ink? 

The Museum's Geology Department had a specimen of 
the well-known fossil cuttlefish, Geoteuthis, from the Jurassic 
Period 1 70 million years ago. This cuttlefish was preserved 
with its inksac intact. We also had a squid-like fossil from 
the Pennsylvanian Period, about 100 million years earlier. 
This squid-like fossil had a small amount of black material 
adhering to it in approximately the position the inksac 
should have been. Several members of the Geology De- 
partment were curious to know if this dark substance was 
the fossilized remnant of an inksac. Our plan was to dis- 
solve some of the known cuttlefish ink, then see if the same 
solvent would dissolve the black material on the squid. This 
would have given us circumstantial evidence that the squid 
fossil also contained ink. "Project Cuttlefish"' informally 
established itself to carry out this experiment. 

The ink of the cuttlefish, Geoteuthis, was preserved in a 
glassy solid that was soft enough to be cut away with a knife. 
The next step was to immerse some flakes of the inky-looking 
substance in the "universal solvent," water. Failure! Next, 
we tried the other standard solvents : xylene, acetone, alco- 
hol, hydrochloric acid and ammonia, .\gain failure. A bit 
of research on the chemistry and preparation of cuttlefish ink 
produced the needed information. Fresh cuttlefish pigment 
is melanin, the same brownish substance that comes to the 
surface of your skin when you tan in the sun. Melanin does 
not dissolve to produce ink; rather it must be prepared in a 
suspension, tiny particles in an alkaline solution. 

At this point we realized that "Project Cuttlefish" was 
going to fail in its original goal. There just was not enough 
black material on the squid fossil to try to make a suspen- 
sion. But there was plenty of the cuttlefish fossil ink, so the 
project continued out of curiosity to discover what could be 
done with this ink. 



We applied mortar, pestle and elbow grease to the fossil 
ink flakes, then mixed the resultant powder with ammonia. 
We were startled to discover a deep brown mixture that 
looked like artists' sepia pigment. It even flowed like ink 
in a quill crow pen. 

Could it be used? We consulted Mr. Lido Lucchesi, an 
artist with the Harris Extension of the Museum. He con- 
firmed that it was not only sepia ink, but so fine in quality 
that he agreed to immortalize the ancient cuttlefish, Geo- 
teuthis, by drawing it in its own ink, 170 million years old. 
The drawing, shown on the cover, was based on a recon- 
struction of the Jurassic Age cuttlefish made by Naef, a 
German fossil-cephalopod expert, and on the Museum's 
photographs and drawings of extant cuttlefish. 

W"hile Mr. Lucchesi worked on the drawing, "Project 
Cuttlefish" continued its research. Geoteuthis is a mollusk 
of the class Cephalopoda, which also includes nautiloids, 
squids and octopuses. Cuttlefish are easy to confuse with 
squids, since both have similar body shapes, eight arms and 
two long tentacles. The shell of the cuttlefish, though, is 
oval and broad, while the squid's is long and narrow. The 
shells of both animals are internal, although homologous to 
the navitilus' external shell. 

The present cuttlefish evolved from an earlier cephalo- 
pod with an external shell, perhaps similar to the straight- 
shelled ammonites commonly found fossilized in Paleozoic 
rocks. In the course of evolution the cuttlefish shell was 
reduced in size and eventually enclosed within the mantle, 
gaining the animal two important advantages, speed and 
maneuverability. However, the price of increased swim- 
ming capability was the loss of protection for many of the 
animal's soft parts. To compensate for this vulnerability, 
somewhere along the evolutionary line cuttlefish ancestors 
developed an inksac. 

When a cuttlefish is alarmed, it shoots out a jet of ink as 
a decoy. After discharging the ink, the cuttlefish changes its 
color from sepia-brown to pale beige, almost white. The 
brown ink in the water looks like a cuttlefish to witless pred- 



Page4 FEBRUARY 



V^vstpry^ 



ttlefish from the Jurassic Age, 170 million 
animal's own fossil ink, and we have 
1 idea of the original color. The drawing 
ibruary. 

probably the same color now as it was 
cephalopod used it to befuddle 
3d Bavaria. 



ators, while the real cuttlefish gets safely away. 

There is speculation that the melanin ink may also have 
an anesthetizing effect on the olfactory nerves of the cuttle- 
fish's predator. The decoying ink, and its possible anesthe- 
tizing qualities, have proved extraordinarily successful as 
adaptations go; cuttlefish and squid are abundant through- 
out most of the salt water on the Earth. 

Melanin is an organic compound and almost all such 
compounds decay. Until recently, scientists did not attempt 
to recover organic materials from fossils, but now it is known 
that such chemicals can indeed be recovered. Experiments 
have been done on shells more than 100 million years old, 
and the amino acids of the original proteins are found to 
correspond to those composing the protein in shells of living 
species. Amino acids have been been found in fossils with 
an age as great as 300 million years. 

Preservation of organic material requires protection from 
attack by oxygen and bacteria. If the body of an animal is 
deposited on a quiet lake or ocean bottom with little cur- 
rent and an abundance of organic material already present, 
then the water may be acid enough to prevent both oxida- 
tion and bacterial growth. Cuttlefish are not exceptions. 
The inksacs of fresh cuttlefish decay readily and must be 
dried quickly if they are to be preserved. The Geoteuthis 
specimen must have fallen in a place where conditions were 
optimal since the organic inksac was preserved. 

At one time, most of the dark brown and black inks used 
in writing and drawing came from cuttlefish. Cicero wrote 
his Orations and other works in sepia, the Roman name for 
cuttlefish and now the name for brown ink. 

Cuttlefish ink, like Geoteuthis, eventually lost out in the 
struggle for survival. Although sepia is quite permanent 
in the dark, prolonged exposure to sunlight fades it. A 
longer-lasting ink can be made from lampblack, and there- 
fore the market for cuttlefish ink is much reduced today 
from its popularity of the last century. Nevertheless, sepia 
is still prepared and sold in England. 

Cuttlefish themselves still have great commercial value. 



^^^^^H v^vj 


^^B^ 1  '^^^K'^svi^^^^^^H 







Fossil Geoteuthis. The inksac is clearly visibU in black, and the 
outline of the internal skeleton of the squid is somewhat less distinct. 

especially in the Far East and Mediterranean countries. 
Italians, following their Roman forebears, dry and sell the 
sacs for ink, eat the flesh and use the cuttlebones for pumice 
and bird feed. 

While "Project Cuttlefish" continued its research, find- 
ing that melanin is a protein attached to a complex carbon 
molecule of unknown structure, Mr. Lucchesi finished the 
drawing. Everyone was surprised at the result. The 170- 
million-year-old ink had flowed as smoothly and beaiuifully 
as the best modern ink. The most startling aspect of the 
drawing was the warm brown color of the ink, the true color 
of fresh cuttlefish ink. 

The first man to make ink from fossil specimens was 
Dean William Buckland, who was describing Geoteuthis for 
the geology and mineralogy volume of The Bndgewater Trea- 
tises. The year was 1849, and artists still made regular use 
of a pigment prepared from cuttlefish for brown tones. 
Buckland chipped off some fossil ink from a specimen, had 
it prepared, and handed it over to his artist as a medium 
for the Geoteuthis illustration. The quality of that ink was 
excellent, too, according to Henry Lee's report of the inci- 
dent in his 1875 classic The Octopus. 

Fortunately for the safety of museum collections of fossil 
sepia, the use of fossil ink did not continue in vogue. As far 
as we can determine, Field Museum's "Cuttlefish Project" 
is the first in 118 years to prepare a drawing of the fossil 
cuttlefish Geoteuthis iro\\\ its own ink. C'onsequently, accord- 
ing to caiuious extrapolations, not until the year 2085 will 
the cuttlefish be so immortalized again. 



FEBRUARY Page 5 




YAQUI DEER DANCE, taken by Envin Bach, Chicago 
Tribune Camera Editor, at the Ballet Folklorico at the Palacio 
de Belles Aries in Mexico City. The photograph was taken 
with a Pentax 35 mm. single lens reflex camera from the wings 
of the opera house. The Ballet is included in Field Museum's 
Mexican Tour itinerary. 



speak on "How to Photograph the People and Ruined 
Cities of Mexico." 

On March 18, Mexican art — from its distinctive begin- 
nings in pre-Spanish Mexico to its climax in the mural 
movement — will be discussed by George Schneider, staff 
lecturer specialized in Mexican art, of the Art Institute. 
He will show slides of art from the major sites included on 
the Tour. 

Phil Clark, Field Musuem Public Relations Counsel 
and Tour Leader, on March 22 will discuss Mexico's revo- 
lutionary example to Latin America and will show slides 
of flowering trees in blossom at the time of the Tour. 

On March 29, Dr. Donald Collier, Chief Curator of 
Anthropology, will prepare the group for confronting the 
cities of ancient Mexico by describing the peoples who 
inhabited them and their histories. A motion picture on 
Mexico will be shown that same evening. 

In addition to Mr. Clark, the Tour will be accompanied 
by Mexican archaeologists who will supply background 
and answer questions about the ancient sites included in 
the Tour — Cuicuilco, Teotihuacan, Xochicalco, Monte Al- 
ban, Mitla, Palenque, Uxmal, Kabah and Chichen Itza. 
The Tour will also visit private homes and gardens. Short 
motor coach trips will be made in each major area, but 
long distances will be covered by plane. The Tour will 
see Taxco's famous Passion processions on Holy Thursday 



MEXICAN TOUR BRIEFINGS 

For reservations and information write: Mexican Tour, Field Museum 



Members of Field Museum's Mexican Tour, April 3-21, 
will participate in a series of programs preparatory for 
their South-of-the-Border travels. Talks will be given at 
evening gatherings in Museum President James L. Palmer's 
office during March, on photography, archaeology, art, 
current affairs and flowering plants, with discussion peri- 
ods following. The get-togethers will also acquaint Tour 
members with each other. 

There is still room for a few inore members on the Tour. 
Tour price is $975, which includes a tax deductible $200 
donation to Field Museum. All expenses are covered by 
the price except those for an extra day, which was added 
after the Tour budget was completed. Tour membership 
will close when the full complement is reached or by March 
4. Full payment should be made for any reservations made 
after February 4. 

Enthusiasm about Mexico and its people, a practiced 
artist's eye and specialized knowledge of photography will 
characterize the discussions led by Erwin Bach, the Chicago 
Tribune's Camera Editor. Mr. Bach is widely known as 
an experienced traveler, writer and commentator on cul- 
tural matters, and his photographs are distinguished for 
their clarity, expressiveness and beauty. He will show some 
of his photographs of Tour sites and of people typical of 
Tour areas at the gathering on March 15, when he will 



and Good Friday, will be in Oaxaca's ornate Church of 
Santo Domingo for Easter, and will visit the unique out- 
door museum of Olmec monuments in botanical garden- 
zoo setting at Villa Hermosa and the great new National 

Museum of Anthro- 
pology in Mexico 
City. We will stay 
at hotels in Mexico 
City, Cuernavaca, 
•%^ ^^B l^sxco, Oaxaca 

City, Villa Her- 
mosa and Merida. 




Erwin Bach, Camera Editor of the Chicago Tribune who will show 
slides and discuss photo problems in Mexico al a gathering of Field 
Museum's Mexican Tour, on March 15. 



Page 6 FEBRUARY 



O FILM -LECTURES 

The Museum is offering its 129tfi series of Saturday afternoon programs starting Marctt Z 
These illustrated lectures, open to adults and the children of Museum Members, are 
held in James Simpson Theatre at 2:30; reserved seats are held for Members until 2:25. 

CMLAOS BY KENNETH ARMSTRONG 

w From Vientiane, the administrative capital, to Luang Prabang, the royal capital, and right 
#%up to the Red Pathet Lao headquarters at Khang Khay, Kenneth Armstrong has filmed 
tr paradoxical Laos. Inhabitants of a warm, green land, with a taste for fried river moss and 
^ toad stew, Laotians simply refuse to see the world as a whole. An area of steep chasms, lime- 
2 stone cliffs and rich alluvial plains, Laos can grow enough rice, bamboo, flowers and toads 

to keep its people happy forever. But outsiders are interested in their rice if not their toads; 

and in their strategic geographical position. Laos is in crisis, and Ken Armstrong shows us 

a gentle, dreamy-eyed, flute-playing, explosive Laos. 

OOUTDOOR YEARBOOK BY KARL MASLOWSKI 

_ Here is a rare combination of the usual and unusual — albinos of catfish and red-tailed hawk; 
f^ a patternless copperhead; a blond meadow mouse and a blue bullfrog. Normal wintertime 
lY* activity of gray foxes, snowy owls and Cooper's hawks contrast with the exceptional behavior 
^ of the bright-colored Baltimore oriole that wintered in snowbound Ohio. Lives of humming- 
2 birds, eagles, cricket wasps and whitetailed deer are portrayed against time lapse sequences 
of blossoming tulip trees, autumn foliage and snow and ice. 

^ALASKA BY HARRY R. REED 

The name "Alaska" was derived from an Aleut word meaning "great land" and every inch of 
Z Alaska lives up to its name. It is an incredibly big, beautiful land of sharp contrasts. There 
O are massive, snow-capped mountain ranges and vast flat tundras, towering forests and ancient 
~ glaciers, picturesque villages and modern cities, steep-walled fjords and expansive ice fields, 
^ meandering Arctic streams and plunging waterfalls, and much more that makes Alaska a 
^ Fantasyland of the North. Alaskan wildlife is well represented by shy caribou, giant moose, 

bothersome black bears, rare Toklat grizzlies, busy beavers and little Parka squirrels. 

OTWO WORLDS OF POLYNESIA BY STANTON WATERMAN 

W Of the two worlds of Polynesia, one involves an island people, both gentle and beautiful, with customs and 
qI skills and a way of life that has resisted the impact of Western man. Their land environment includes 110 
^ islands, ranging in size from populous Tahiti to the tiny atolls of the Tuamotu Archipelago. The other world 
2 of Polynesia is the underwater world of the lagoons and the barrier reefs, abounding with life, color, and action. 
In this world the fight for survival is constant and unchanged. 

OTHE CONGO BY LEWIS COTLOW 

wThe key to Africa is the Congo. The key to the Congo is its tribal system. There, Africa is fragmenting. 
flC Blacks are at sword's point; whites are on the run. Economy is in jeopardy. Leadership is a sometime thing. 
^ Crisis in the Congo affects the future of all Africa. For more than 25 years sub-Saharan Africa has been 
S Louis Cotlow's specialty, primitive people his focus, animals his joy and the Congo's fate his concern. 

(OMEXICO BY GENE WIANCKO 

I After centuries of colonial rule, followed by violent revolutionary upheavals, Mexico now builds upon the 

■~ vast potential and native intelligence of her own people. These people, for the most part, had their origins 

jr in the Indian cultures of Mexico. This outstanding motion picture tells their story: the story of the capa- 

^ cities and potentials of the Mexican people and their ways of life. For those unable to take the Museum's 

Mexican Tour that leaves April 3, this film is a good alternative for seeing that fascinating country. 

(continued on page 8) 

FEBRUARY Page 7 



< 



1968 Spring Film-Lectures continued 
C2THE HOLY LANDS BY RICHARD LINDE 

The Holy Lands are sacred to three great religions : Judaism, Christianity 
_ and Islam. Here the Israelites lived; here Christ walked; here Mohammed 
CC ascended into the seventh heaven. Today this region is divided, with Arab 
^ guns and Israeli barbed wire adding to the paradox of the lands called 
^ "holy." These are the hallowed places that live in the hearts and minds 

of men throughout the world . . . Bethlehem, Galilee, Nazareth, Jerusalem 

and Jericho. Richard Linde presents the Holy Lands as they are, a dramatic 

blend of the past and present. 

O INDIA BY FRAN WILLIAM HALL 

™ India is less than half as large as the U. S., yet she holds within her borders 
>J nearly three times as many people, restless and extremely religious. She 
fr encounters great odds in her race to modernize and create a living for her 
(^ populace. Beset on the north by external dangers and internally by age- 
^ old problems, today India looks to both East and West for solutions to sur- 
vival. See India, land of countless temples and colorful people, as filmed 
by Fran Hall. 

NTHE BAHAMAS BY HARRY PEDERSON 

CM The lives of Bahamians are centered on the sea. Nassau waxes wealthy from 
_1 visitors beckoned by sun and surf. People in Abaco build boats, mend nets. 
Above the surface is a friendly society, gentle and genteel. Below is another 
world. There, in the many-hued waters, a different climate prevails. 
Neighbors eye each other hungrily. Survival depends on being quick as a 
trigger fish, tough as a sea turtle, clever as a shark, elusive as an eel. Harry 
Pederson has filmed the people along the shores as well as life in the waters 
below. 

February Hours: Open from 9 a.m. to 
CALENDAR OF EVENTS 4 p.m. daily and unnl 5 p.m. on Satur- 
days, Sundays, February 12th and 22nd. 

February 1—25 23rd Chicago International Exhibition of Nature Pho- 
tography brings hundreds of the world's top wildlife photographs to Field 
Museum, Hall 9. The exhibit features black and white photographs, color 
transparencies and prints selected from thousands of entries received from 
the United States and abroad. Awards will be made by the show's sponsors, 
the Chicago Nature Camera Club and Field Museum. Winning color trans- 
parencies will be projected at two Sunday showings, 2:30 p.m. February 4 
and 1 1 in James Simpson Theatre. 

February 6 Indiana University's Chicago Showcase of Music: Alfonso Mon- 
TEGiNO, Pianist. Complimentary tickets to this concert are available to 
Members by request to the Museum. 8:15 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

February 18 Audubon Wildlife Film: Nature's Plans and Puzzles by G. P. 
Lyons. A story of plant and animal adaption in the Northwest. 2:30 in 
James Simpson Theatre. 

Through February Winter Journey: Magic, Medicine and Minerals. 

March 2 Spring Film- Lecture Series: Laos by Kenneth Armstrong. 2:30 in 
James Simpson Theatre. 

Chicago Shell Club, Feb. 11,2 p.m. 
MEETINGS: Chicago N.^ture Camera Club, Feb. 13, 7:45 p.m. 

Illinois Orchid Society, Feb. 18, 2 p.m. 



NEW 
TRUSTEE NAMED 

Nicholas Galitzine, Vice President of 
the Commonwealth Edison Co., has re- 
cently been appointed to the Board of 
Trustees of Field Museum. He has been 
with the Commonwealth Edison Co. 
since 1923. In past years, Mr. Galitzine 
has been associated in numerous capaci- 
ties with the Crusade of Mercy, serving 
as its Campaign Vice Chairman in 1961 . 
He is Vice President and Director of 
Passavant Memorial Hospital, a Direc- 
tor of the Hartford Plaza Bank, the Sears 
Roebuck Foundation, the Lyric Opera 
of Chicago, the Better Business Bureau 
of Metropolitan Chicago and the Ster- 
ling Hydraulic Co. In 1958 he was 
presented an achievement award by the 
Immigrants Protective League for his 
civic and charitable activities. 



February 6 8:15 p.m. 

Indiana University's 
Chicago Showcase of Music 
presents 

ALFONSO MONTECINO, 
Chilean Pianist 

at Field Museum 

Beethoven 

33 Variations on a Theme by Diabelli, 
Opus 120 

Albeniz 

El Albaicin (from Iberia) 

Schoenberg 

5 Piano Pieces, Opus 2S; 

GiNASTERA 

Sonata {1952) 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 60605 A.C. 312. 922-9410 

FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



Page 8 FEBRUARY 



PRINTED BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS 



BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Volume 39, Number 3 March 7968 






f^^* 



hyena 




hunt 



by 



Dale J. Osborn 

Mammologist, Department of 

Medical Zoology, United States 

Navy Medical Research Unit 

Number Three. Cairo Egypt; 

Field Associate, Field Museum 



This month's cover shows 

the author and his party 

in March, 1966 

on the desolate plains of 

Umm Shilman in the 

Nubian Desert, in search of 

the hyena. 



%- 



For three years, 1964 to 1967, I ex- 
plored the Egyptian deserts, working 
for the Naval Medical Research Unit 
Number Three, a group which has been 
studying the role of animals and ecto- 
parasites in the dissemination of human 
and animal diseases for the past 20 years. 
I collected mammals, plants, and what- 
ever else might be useful to our research. 
With a small crew of Egyptians, I lived 
like a Bedouin for weeks at a time, 
camping at wells or carrying precious 
water hundreds of miles into the desert. 
We traveled in trucks and jeeps, not 
on camels, but our fare was often little 
better than that of the nomads. If Allah 
and the desert provided wood enough, 
we sat cross-legged around campfires 
at night reminiscing on the pleasures 
and hardships of past journeys. To my 
Egyptian associates, for whom hunting 
is a favorite pastime, pursuing hyenas 
had been particularly thrilling. I shared 
in that excitement, of course, but to me 
the fact that we had collected for the 
first time a study series of hyena speci- 
mens {Hyaena iiyaena) from Egypt was 
of greater importance. Furthermore, 
the expedition provided me many spe- 
cial memories of desert people and a 
part of Egypt that few foreigners had 
ever seen. 

Wadi Allaqi drains from the moun- 
tains of southeastern Egypt and north- 
ern Sudan, westward across Nubia and 
debouches into the Nile Valley about 
100 miles south of Aswan. Around the 
turn of the century Wadi Allaqi was 
famous for an abundance of good pas- 
ture and high quality camels. The last 
"year of plenty" was 1907; then fol- 
lowed a succession of dry years until the 
1930's. The ensuing years of drought 
brought drastic changes; however, re- 
ports of local rains in 1 965 suggested a 
favorable climatic cycle had come again. 
With hopes of seeing the desert "bloom- 
ing" we decided to explore Wadi Allaqi. 



Aswan was our port of exit from civ- 
ilization. The High Dam Project had 
transformed this once sleepy village into 
a bustling town, and on the architects' 
drawing boards it was already a city 
with a university. Behind the new ave- 
nue and modern buildings along the 
river, the heart of Aswan remained — 
narrow, dirty streets lined with tiny shops 
jammed one upon the other where piles 
of cheap trinkets, cooking ware, fruits, 
vegetables, sweets and bolts of brightly 
colored cloth collected dust and flies. 
Crowds of Nubians and fellahin in flow- 
ing galibeyas, dapper engineers, grimy 
laborers and sturdy Russians pushed 
their way past honking trucks and taxis, 
donkeys, carts, and wagons. We joined 
the shoppers and bought food, tea and 
sugar for our expedition. 

During the hours that it took to pur- 
chase supplies and obtain desert passes, 
the men who stayed to guard the vehi- 
cles were treated to glasses of tea and 
"informed" by friendly passers-by about 
VVadi AUaqi. Our men were told it 
was a verdant valley full of gazelles, 
wild sheep, ostriches, ibexes, jackals, 
oryxes, and wild asses. A geodetic sur- 
vey party, it was rumored, had killed 
up to 12 hyenas near the mouth of Wad i 
Allaqi. Another less encouraging story 
from the townspeople, many of whom 
fear the desert, was that Wadi Allaqi 
was full of dangerous animals and thieves 
who waited beside wells and water holes 
to pounce on unsuspecting travelers. A 
soldier told of a French expedition that 
had gone into Wadi Allaqi a few months 
before and had not been heard from. 
I surmised that that expedition, if there 
were one, had been en route to Sudan. 
But strangely enough, we were never 
told about the legendary good spirit 
who presided over Wadi Allaqi and to 
whonl the desert Arabs ceremoniously 
sprinkled an offering of dhurra (sorghum) 
on the ground upon entering the wadi. 




After obtaining a guide named Ab- 
dullah Ali Hamid, who claimed to know 
the most direct route into Wadi Allaqi 
and the location of a dependable source 
of good water, we were ready and eager 
to enter the desert. Before the sun rose 
on March 1, we were moving along in 
the deep dust of a truck road east of the 
Aswan-High Dam Highway. Here and 
there were open areas between the low 
hills of granite where waste from the 
dam project had been dumped — acres 
of trucks, machinery, tires, scrap metal 
and wood. 



As the sjieedometer indicated 1 05 miles 
from Aswan, we coasted down a soft 
slope into Wadi Allaqi. There was no 
green grass to satisfy our expectations; 
only the desiccated stubs of senna bushes, 
long dead. I recalled the record that 
the last great flood to reach the Nile 
flowed past here in 1 830. As we looked 
across this broad, desolate streambed 
and scanned the low cliffs on the far 
side, a grayish haze moved over and 
beyond us. Thus warned of an ap- 
proaching sand storm, we proceeded 
immediately on up the wadi. South- 




The route of the expedition. 
Asthe waters of Lake Nasser 
slowly back up behind the 
High Dam at Aswan, much 
of this country will be in- 
undated. In years to come, 
Wadi Allaqi will be flooded 
as far back as Umm Qa- 
reiyat. 



Beyond this lay about 30 miles of 
open desert, and then we followed a 
narrow pass that wound for 12 miles 
through precipitous mountains of gneiss. 
Beyond the pass our route was south- 
ward through a type of landscape we 
had not seen before, the Nubian Des- 
ert — broad sandy plains and clusters of 
steep pyramidal and flat-topped hills 
of reddish sandstone. Once the cry of 
"dubbah" rang out, and we stopped to 
examine the huge dog-lLke tracks of a 
hyena that zig-zagged over the sand. 



eastward for the next 20 miles we raced 
over hard gravel terraces and plowed 
through wide, shallow channels of soft 
sand and silt. After a few miles, sculp- 
tured sandstones had been replaced by 
round, dark hills of granite and schist. 
Patches of annual plants grew here and 
there where months before local showers 
had wetted the mud flows. There were 
eight or ten acacia trees in this grim, 20- 
mile piece of Wadi Allaqi. 

Abdullah bade us stop beside a pile 
of stones on a gravel delta that emerged 



MARCH Pages 



from a narrow tributary. He also pointed 
to two cairns on the top of a black, 
barren hill to the north. Here was our 
destination, a branch of Wadi Allaqi 
called Wadi Umin Qareiyat (The Valley 
of the Mother of the Village). A short 
distance inside this wadi was shaft 
number nine of the deserted Umm Qar- 
eiyat gold mine. Two of us walked into 
the drift carefully, looking for vipers 
in the dust and rubble of the floor and 
along the ledges. About 20 yards in- 
side was the shaft, or well. We got a 
rope and bucket and drew water from a 
depth of about 90 feet. After sampling 
the water, we congratulated Abdullah. 
Then we set to work establishing a base 
camp — two tents connected by a fly. 

The next few days were spent ex- 
ploring Wadi Umm Qareiyat and the 
adjacent parts of Wadi Allaqi. As I 
was checking the cliffs for signs of ani- 
mals, I noted the wash of mud several 
feet high that marked the local flood 
waters of 1902. We trapped jirds (Meri- 
ones crassus) and gerbils {Gerbillus gerbil- 
lus) that were living on the bitter seeds 
of handal or ground gourd {Colocynthis 
vulgaris) and senna {Cassia italica), which 
grew abundantly in this area. Sand 
foxes (Vulpes ruppellii), which lived in 
the vicinity, readily entered live traps 
for the sardine baits, and we eventually 
caught six. 

Abdullah shared our desire to explore 
and gave freely of his knowledge of the 
country. One day he suggested we go 
northeast about 40 miles to Bir Haimur 
and visit a Bishari friend of his. Gar 
el Nabi (Neighbor of the Prophet) who 
might know the whereabouts of hyenas. 
A few days later we set out for Bir 
Haimur via the wadi of the same name. 

Gar el Nabi's camp, typically Bisha- 
rin, was three low, round, palm-mat 
shelters that stood on a rise just beyond 
a canyon where several wadis merged. 
We stopped at the west side of the can- 
yon while Abdullah went to the camp 
to arrange our meeting. At the base 
of the cliff was an open, shallow, brack- 
ish well; one of the few watering places 
for the thousands of market camels and 
the caravans that pass each year over 
the ancient road from Sudan. This, 
I suddenly realized, was the last of the 
old caravan roads still in use. 



Piles of charred remains of dead cam- 
els were scattered about the well area. 
They had been burned, we found out 
later, because the people believed that 
the odor of rotting flesh gave the water 
a bad taste. Before we realized it, cam- 
el ticks {Hyalomma dromedarii) were climb- 
ing up our legs and clothing. Hundreds 
more were crawling out of the gravel 
and racing toward us. We moved to 
the shade of the eastern cliffs and got 
free of them. 



Preparations for the trip to Bir Murra 
began early the following morning. A 
barrel was filled from the well. The 
cook pre-cooked a quantity of rice and 
beans and the rest of us made a batch 
of Bedouin bread. Unlevened dough 
was rolled into thin sheets the size of 
a plate and baked on a hot piece of 
sheet iron. Abdullah shared in this 
operation and was most proficient. Af- 
ter rolling the dough out thin he kept 
it on the stick and deftly turned it off 





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The camel road between Umm Shilman plain and Bir Haimur 



Gar el Nabi arrived and unlike most 
Arabs, wasted little time with greetings. 
He began almost immediately to tell 
us about hyenas. He said they lived 
in the Shilman mountains and fed upon 
the dead camels along the road. He 
told us that they sometimes came to 
drink at his well, but right now they 
were drinking every night at Bir Murra 
(Bitter Well), 15 miles to the east. He 
thought that would be the best place 
to shoot them, and he sounded so con- 
vincing that we decided to return the 
next day prepared for a two day hunt- 
ing trip. Before leaving we gave Gar 
el Nabi five gallons of fresh water from 
Bir Umm Qareiyat and a promise of 
more upon our return. This token se- 
cured the bonds of friendship and the 
obligations of business. 



onto the baking iron. About noontime 
everything was in order. We took our 
lunch to Bir Haimur and ate in the 
shade of the cliffs. 

After the heat of the day had passed 
we left for Bir Murra via the Umm Shil- 
man plains. The ways in and out of the 
latter were not easy, we found, even for 
four-wheel-drive vehicles. For the first 
seven miles we crawled along in low gear 
through narrow wadis choked with 
steeply-sloping piles of sharp, angular 
rubble. Suddenly, the wadi we had been 
following opened into the Umm Shil- 
man plains. When we saw that vast 
spread of sand strewn with mountains, 
all thoughts of bad roads were forgotten. 
We followed camel trails that meandered 
across that fantastic land, criss-crossed 
with tracks of gazelles and hyenas. Dead 



Page 4 MARCH 



camels seemed to be everywhere, and I 
coimted 20 half-eaten carcasses in a five- 
mile stretch. Hyena tracks encircled al- 
most every one. Gar el Nabi remarked 
that when a hyena finds a camel car- 
cass it eats the fatty hump out first. 
Every camel I saw had the hump miss- 
ing. Rocks in the vicinity of dead cam- 
els were smeared with the bleached ex- 
crement of vultures. Probably these di- 
urnal scavengers feasted after the hyenas 
had torn open the dead bodies. 

As we left Umm Shilman via a crooked 
pass that led down into Wadi Murra, 
some elongated piles of stone and a great 
number of camel bones caught our at- 
tention. Gar el Nabi told us that a year 
ago five people and thirty camels be- 
came lost in a sandstorm and died there. 
He found the bodies partly eaten by hy- 
enas and put the remains under stones. 

Wadi Murra was a winding, graded 
bed of coarse gravel 100-200 yards wide, 
bounded by low, steep hills and cliffs of 
disintegrating schist that looked like piles 
of rotting wood . Acacias, the only vege- 
tation, grew sparingly along the edges of 
the wadi and on the terraces. Bir Murra 
was another shallow well and easily en- 
tered by animals. Hyena, gazelle and 
fox tracks were all around it. Gar el 
Nabi mentioned that he had seen a large 
herd of ostriches here in this wadi 30 
years before when there was vegetation 
on the ground. 

We placed five steel traps beside the 
water and then drove north one mile to 
another well. There we made our camp 
by spreading a canvas on the gravel and 
rolling out our sleeping bags. We were 
around a big bend in the wadi and 
out of sight and hearing of Bir Murra. 
Before sundown we put a large, live trap 
baited with sardines in a side wadi about 
50 yards from camp. A few rodent live- 
traps were put under acacia trees and 
beside holes in cliffs. As the twilight 
deepened and evening prayers began, I 
had a sip of zibib, the Egyptian equiva- 
lent of the anise-flavored drink of the 
eastern Mediterranean. 

We ate an early supper and then two 
of us and Gar el Nabi walked to Bir 
Murra. We carried shotguns loaded 
with buckshot and wore headlamps. Gar 
el Nabi was certain that we would see a 
hyena with the lights and that it would 




Abdullah baking bread 

stand and let us shoot it. No hyena was 
in sight, but a sand fox was in one of the 
traps by the well. 

When we returned to camp tea was 
ready. We lounged around sipping tea 
and listening to Gar el Nabi and Abdul- 
lah talk about hyenas. We learned that 
the bravest Bishari fears the hyena and 
considers it to be very dangerous be- 
cause of the belief that there is one hair 
from the lion on the back of the hyena. 
When questioned, Gar el Nabi knew no 
case of a hyena attacking a man or a liv- 
ing camel. He told of hyenas being at- 
tracted by sick or weak camels and hang- 
ing around while the owner kept guard. 
He told us that two months before, two 
hyenas had fought near the well and one 
was killed and partly eaten. He believed 
that when there are no dead camels to 
feed upon, the stronger hyenas kill and 
eat the weaker ones and the babies. I 
merely listened without comment. 

I had read the hyena lore in the writ- 
ings of earlier explorers in Egypt. Guides 
such as mine had warned them to be 
careful when sleeping out in the desert 
not to let a limb protrude from the blan- 
kets lest a passing hyena snap at it. The 
hyena was regarded as a wicked en- 
chanter, metamorphosed by the anger 
of God. For this reason the hair, teeth, 
bones and flesh of the hyena were thought 
to possess miraculous powers and were 
in great demand. Lying on a hyena skin 
was supposed to eliminate pains in the 
back. The skull was believed to bring 
good luck to the household under whose 
doorstep it was buried. Certain parts 
were boiled and swallowed by barren 



women who wished to become fertile. 
Many were the stories of hyenas preying 
on dogs, donkeys, men and especially 
children. No wonder primitive people 
live in awe of this beast. 

That evening I determined that if we 
were going to get a hyena we had better 
drive down to the well and shoot one 
before it could escape into the hills. Be- 
fore leaving we checked the live-trap 
near camp and found that while we were 
talking a hyena had dragged it about 25 
yards. Four excited men climbed into 
the car; two carried shotguns and one, a 
spotlight. We hugged the eastern side 
of the wadi until we were around the 
bend, and then raced in the direction of 
the well. There was nothing in sight so 
we drove a few miles on down the wadi, 
frightening two gazelles that had been 
feeding in acacia bushes. At 10:30 we 
made another run down the wadi. As 
we approached the well, the lights re- 
flected white from the eyes of a hyena. 




Dead camels. The dry desert air mum- 
mifies the carcasses, after the hyenas 
and other scavengers take their toll. 

It stood still for a moment, and when I 
accelerated, it turned and ran across the 
wadi. We came within range just be- 
fore it reached the hills and killed it with 
three quick shots. This was a long- 
awaited occasion. Gar el Nabi plucked 
a whisker from it and tucked it under 
the thong which held the small leather 
box of prayers above his right elbow. 
This charm from a freshly-killed hyena 
he considered to be very strong protec- 
tion against the "evil eye." About every 



MARCH Pages 



hour and a half during the night we 
drove down the wadi. Several times we 
saw a hyena, and once more we brought 
one down. 

At dawn we began the work of skin- 
ning. Gar el Nabi pulled a double- 
edged knife from a sheath on his left arm 
and helped us. It was no easy job, for 
each animal had a thick layer of fat un- 
der a rather thin skin. The fur of these 
hyenas was very clean. One smelled 
only slightly of dead camel. The stom- 
achs contained small pieces of bone and 
camel skin. Gar el Nabi took the eyes 
of the hyenas, saying that he would dry 
them and hang them around the necks 
of his yoimg boys to make them brave. 
He informed us that this amulet re- 
quired about one month to take full ef- 
fect. He wanted the canine teeth, too, 
because he believed they transmitted 
strength and virility to the wearer. He 
said that men hang a tooth around the 
neck and women hang one in the arm- 
pit. I asked him if he ate hyena meat. 
He did not, but he told me that the Nile 
f>eople ate the flesh as a cure for rheu- 
matism and the heart to give them cour- 
age. Had I known then that the ancient 
Egyptians fattened hyenas and ate them, 
I would certainly have tried the clean- 
smelling meat myself. 

When the skins had been prepared we 
drove halfway to Umm Shilman plains 
and spent the remainder of the day eat- 
ing and resting in the dense shade of an 
acacia, .^fter eating the last of our beans 
and rice, I fell asleep listening to the 
bubbling of a Bedouin's water pipe. 



Though we spent the night routinely 
hunting the plains, we saw nothing. The 
following morning a search in the boul- 
der hills indicated that hyenas were no 
longer living there; they had undoubt- 
edly moved to Wadi Murra. Taking 
stock of what we had seen, we figured 
we could count on three more hyenas in 
Wadi Murra, and decided to return. 




Gar el Nabi making coffee 

We followed the main camel road out 
of Umm Shilman. The individual trails, 
diverging and converging between wind- 
rows of stones made driving the slowest 
I had ever encountered. It took us two 
hours to go eight miles. Gar el Nabi re- 
marked to one of the Bedouins in my 
crew that he had lost a sandal on this 
road two years before (and we wondered 
if that was the reason we had been guided 
this way), .\nyway, our frustration ended 
at Gar el Nabi's camp when glasses of 
tea were placed in our hands. 

Several days later, when we returned 
to Bir Haimur, a large herd of camels 



Watering Camels at Bir Haimur 




was being watered at the well. Three 
fuzzy-haired Bisharin with swords hang- 
ing down their backs came to meet us. 
They had heard of the "hyena hunters" 
and held us in esteem. Gar el Nabi 
stood by looking very proud. 

Before we left for Bir Murra, Gar el 
Nabi honored us by making coffee. 
Through a hole in one end of an old 
water skin he withdrew an odd assort- 
ment of coffee-making implements. First 
he put some beans in a sardine tin fitted 
with a handle of twisted wire and roasted 
them over the fire. Then he pulverized 
the beans in a wooden mortar with the 
end of his cane. The coffee was boiled 
in a small, globular tin pot with a nar- 
row spout. A bit of ginger was added, 
but no sugar. When the brew had boiled 
to his satisfaction, a wad of palm fiber 
was stuffed into the spout for a filter and 
coffee was poured into China demitasses. 

While we sipped coffee, we discussed 
the likelihood of finding hyenas this trip. 
Gar el Nabi told us that the previous 
evening his young boys had seen a hyena 
beside the well. They had thrown stones 
and the dog had barked at it, but it had 
not run away. This hyena, he said, 
could be expected to return, so we de- 
cided to go to Bir Murra as planned and 
hunt near Bir Haimur the next night. 

This time we detoured the Umm Shil- 
man plains and took a route that was 
sand and gravel all the way to Bir Murra 
— 20 miles in only 45 minutes. Traps 
were set and the night hunting routine 
was carried on as before. We saw the 
three hyenas and succeeded in shooting 
one. The following night we shot an- 
other near Bir Haimur. This one was 
an old female with her teeth worn to the 
gums; yet, she was as fat as the others 
we had shot. 

In our conversations with Gar el Nabi 
we learned of a place where the wabr or 
hyrax {Procavia syriacus) lived. This is a 
rabbit-sized animal with small ears and 
no tail and called coney or dassy in the 
Bible. Being an opportunist and a col- 
lector I decided a few days sf>ent in 
search of this animal would be well worth 
the time. Our guide took us north of 
Bir Haimur over 12 miles of wretched 
camel road into a wadi where there were 
prehistoric carvings of ostriches in the 
rocks. (continued on page 14) 



Selections from the 23rd 
Chicago International 
Exhibition of Nature 
Photography 

February 1968, Sponsored by 

Chicago Nature Camera Club 
AND Field Museum 




FERN TREE - INCC MEOAL AWARD FOR BEST PLANT PRINT 
EUGENE M. SIRE/WICHITA, KANSAS 



I AM FREE - INCC MEDAL AWARD FOR BEST ANIMAL PRINT 
CHONG PO CHOI/NOVO, MACAU 





GHOST PIPES - PSA BEST PRINT OF SHOW 
R. H. KLEINSCHMIDT APSA/ROCHESTER, N.Y. 



SNOW SHADOWS SOFT - HONORABLE MENTION 
LARS N. BOISEN/PELHAM MANOR, N. Y. 



1 







SEA FURY - INCC MEDAL AWARD FOR BEST GENERAL PRINT 
T. V. WHITEHOUSE ARPS/SAN DIEGO, CALIF. 





SKUNK CABBAGE - HONORABLE MENTION 
DONALD L. LAMBDIN/LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 




LONE CLIMBER - H< 
S. K. GAJREE ARPS 



DANDELION SILHOUETTE - HONORABLE MENTION 
RUSSEL K. KOMEN/WARSAW, INDIANA 



CARACAL LYNX - HONORABLE MENTION 
RICHARD CAPPS/CLARENDON HILLS, ILL. 




:w,SS 





SCREECH OWL - WALGREEN BOWL FOR BEST COLOR PRINT 
PAUL D. YARROWS FPSA, ARPS/ROCHESTER, N.Y. 



ISLE MENTION 
f'BI, KENYA 




I N THE past two summers archaeological excavations have 
been carried out at the Horton Site, located in suburban 
Flossmoor, just south of Chicago. These excavations were 
part of the Field Museum's Summer Training Program in 
.Anthropology. This program, which receives its financial 
support from the National Science Foundation, is directed 
by Miss Miriam Wood, Chief of the Raymond Foundation. 

Each summer for one week the 25 students of the class 
have been given the opportunity to learn archaeological 
theory and field methods by participating in the excava- 
tions of a local Indian camp site. This week of field work 
is the climax of a six-week course introducing the students 
to the field of anthropology. The course is open to all High 
School Sophomores and Jimiors who live within commuting 
distance of Field Museum. Selection of the 25 students 
is based on their academic achievement, recommendations 
by their teachers, and personal interviews of the highest rat- 
ing applicants with members of the staff of the Raymond 
Foundation. Since anthropology is otherwise unavailable 
in a high school curriculum, this course provides these high- 
ability secondary school students from the Chicago metro- 
politan area with an opportimity of receiving an introduc- 
tion to this field before they enter college. 

Raymond Foundation anthropologists Edith Fleming 
and Harriet Smith are the instructors for the course. The 
program is intended to provide a general survey of the field 
of anthropology, from lectures on Fossil Man, through a 
series of lectures on the archaeology 
of the Mediterranean region, Mex- 
ico, South America, and midwest- 
ern United States. The students are 
also given lectures on the peoples of 
.Africa, North America, China and 



other parts of the world. Research specialists in each of 
these fields come to the Field Museum to lecture to the 
students. 

After several weeks of lectures and discussions of the vari- 
ous aspects of anthropology, ranging from human evolution 
to the social life of various peoples, the students participate 
in actual archaeological field research. The intensive train- 
ing in anthropology in the weeks preceding the excavations 
helps the students to grasp the relationship between archae- 
ology and anthropology. They are taught to understand 
the kinds of questions about culture that the archaeologist 
tries to answer when he goes into the field to excavate a pre- 
historic site. An archaeologist does not dig to collect mate- 
rials primarily for their esthetic value or for display, but to 
gather information which, when analyzed by the archaeol- 
ogist with training in the science of culture, provides a re- 
construction of the life patterns of an extinct people. The 
students are taught that archaeologists are not the collectors 
of things, but of information about prehistoric cultures. The 
pieces of pottery, arrow points and other artifacts which the 
students excavate are valuable as clues to the behavior of 
the extinct people. The scientific value of the specimens 
can only be retained by collecting this information using 
rigorous excavation methods. Before the students began 
excavation of the Horton Site they were given lectures on 
the methods of scientific archaeology so that when they 
picked up a shovel, they knew how to dig and why. 






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Page 10 MARCH 



The Horton Site 

The Horton Site lies in a small meadow near Butterfield 
Creek. On the southern edge of expanding metropolitan 
Chicago, this area is being rapidly converted into subdivi- 
sions and shopping centers. Parts of the Horton Site had 
already been destroyed by the construction of a road and 
sidewalk for a subdivision. The site was discovered by Ver- 
non Grubisch, a high school student and amateur archaeol- 
ogist from nearby Chicago Heights. Grubisch had closely 
followed the gradual destruction of the ancient settlement; 
he collected artifacts in the areas disturbed by power ma- 
chinery. Realizing that Horton represented an ideal loca- 
tion for its excavation project, and that the total destruction 
of the site was imminent, Field Museum contacted Mr. 
Michael O'Malley, who granted permission to excavate 
portions of the site situated in his subdivision. 

The first class of the Anthropology Summer Training 
Program, under Struever's direction, began excavations at 
Horton in 1966. During the ensuing winter no further de- 
struction occurred at the site, and Mr. O'Malley granted 
permission for a second season's work. During this second 
year of excavation, Rackerby continued the line of excava- 
tion units begun the previous summer. By doing so, the 
plan of a former Indian house was almost fully exposed, as 
well as several storage pits and other types of subterranean 
constructions, called features by archaeologists. These fea- 
tures reflect the kinds of domestic activities that occurred 
at this location some 500-600 years ago. 

Excavation Strategy 

The purpose of the Horton Site dig was twofold — to 
demonstrate to the students proper archaeological excava- 
tion methods, while retrieving valuable information on a 
prehistoric community before its destruction by the housing 
development. On the basis of the pottery fragments — or 
sherds — which were found on the surface of the disturbed 
area of the site, it was determined that the occupation be- 
longed to the cultural tradition known to archaeologists as 
Upper Mississippian. The strategy for the excavation the 
first summer was primarily to determine the limits and depth 
of the occupation, as well as to collect information on the 
village plan. A topographic survey map was made of the 
area, and a grid system of 10-foot squares was staked out on 
the surface of the site. The students were grouped into 
teams of three and assigned to excavate one of these squares. 
All of the soil from each square was screened and the arti- 
facts were bagged and labeled separately for each square 
and for each level which the students dug. In this way both 
horizontal and vertical relationships of all types of cultural 
debris screened from the soil were recorded. 

Earlier in the 20th century the entire surface of the site 
had been plowed, thus disturbing the cultural remains to a 
depth of 8 inches. This level was carefully shoveled off and 
screened, and the material recovered was kept separate from 
the underlying, undisturbed level. The Horton Site proved 
to be very shallow, running to a depth of no more than 1 2 
inches. In the second level many larger pieces of pottery. 



stone tools, and the tops of pits and post holes were first 
encountered. 

The first season's exploratory excavation revealed sev- 
eral dark, circular stains, 7-8 inches in diameter that are 
interpreted as the remains of former house posts. The sec- 
ond season's work focused on this area and thereby exposed 
the pattern of the house and its associated pits. This part 
of the site extended into a lot owned by Mr. William Sik- 
kema, who kindly gave permission to continue the excava- 
tions on his land. 




Author Frank Rackerby shows Andy DePeder the square he will dig. Drawing 
on page 12 was done by Artist Roxanne Pearson-Rackerby, the Author's wife. 

Each student learned to keep his own notes and to re- 
cord detailed observations as the work progressed. These 
notes, together with the archaeologists' drawings of the fea- 
tures, and the artifacts and natural material (unworked 
stone and bone), are the evidence from which archaeolo- 
gists reconstruct former cultural activities. 

The information recovered by the Horton excavations 
can be grouped into three classes: artifacts, features, and 
debris. Debris includes such food evidence as discarded 
animal bones and shell, as well as items like hearth stones 
or waste flakes chipped off" in the manufacture of stone tools. 
Features are the observable remains of former building ac- 
tivity, such as house construction or the digging of storage 
or cooking pits. The artifacts themselves provide clues to 
much of the behavior of the extinct people. Artifacts may 
be tools which functioned in the technology of the culture, 
such as arrow points or flint knives. Other artifacts, such 
as ornaments or smoking pipes, functioned in their social 
life, either as items for recreation or as symbols to commu- 
nicate status. 

Cultural Reconstruction 

The following reconstruction of the Horton Site occu- 
pation is based primarily on the field observations of the 
authors. Some preliminary washing and sorting of the arti- 
facts from the site was accomplished during laboratory peri- 
ods with the class, but the bulk of the material collected 



MARCH Page 11 



remains to be analyzed. These conclusions illustrate how 
archaeologists go about their task of cultural reconstruction 
after the excavation is completed. 

The Horton Site was found to be primarily a single com- 
ponent site; that is, it was only occupied during one prehis- 
toric culture period. This occupation belongs to the Upper 
Mississippian Period, beginning about 1400 a.d. and ex- 
tending into the historic period in this area. This dating 
is based upon similarities between pottery from the Horton 
Site and from other Upper Mississippian sites of known age. 
A few sherds from an apparent earlier occupation period 
were observed the first season. Within the Upper Mis- 
sissippian period there are several local variations known to 
archaeologists, such as the Langford Tradition which is cen- 
tered in the Upper Illinois River Valley. A second Upper 
Mississippian tradition, similar to the Oneota of Wisconsin, 
is the "Blue Island Culture" localized in the southern Chi- 
cago area. The Horton pottery places this site in the Blue 
Island Culture. The Anker Site, located on the Little Calu- 
met River four or five miles away, is very similar in ceramic 
and projectile point styles to Horton. 

All of the observed Upper Mississippian ceramics from 
Horton were shell- tempered. There were few sherds with 
incised and punctuated shoulder decorations, and many 
rim fragments were notched. Most of the sherds were frag- 
ments of plain globular vessels approximately 6 inches or 
more in height. 





On right, sherd found at Horton Site; on left, complete pot of similar ceramic 
tradition from nearby Fisher Site 

Although the ceramic remains tell us where to place the 
site in time, interpretation of particular activities carried out 
at the site is based on other kinds of evidence. 

Quantities of large mammal bones were recovered. Most 
belonged to the white- tailed deer; buffalo bone was rare or 
absent. The archaeologist observed few bird bones, while 
fish remains and fresh water mussel shells occurred in small 
amounts in different areas of the site. 

These observations in part reflect the animals exploited 
by the Horton residents, and when correlated with the arti- 
fact evidence they enable us to infer a prehistoric subsistence 
pattern of which the Horton occupation was part. Projec- 
tile points occurred in high frequencies. These reflect a bow 
and arrow technology used to hunt the deer and other mam- 



mals documented by the Horton bone assemblage. While 
there are abundant projectile points on the site, little flint 
debris was recovered except for tiny chips of the kind pro- 
duced by sharpening and reshaping a tool. It appears that 
finished chipped stone tools were being brought to Horton 
with only minimal tool maintenance preformed there. 

The excavators also recovered an abundance of chipped 
flint tools interpreted as scrapers and apparently used in pre- 
paring animal hides for tanning. Several flake knives were 
also recovered. The arrow heads, scrapers and knives, to- 
gether with the mammal bones, comprise a hunting-butch- 
ering assemblage indicating that the killing and processing 
of large mammals (particularly deer) was a major activity 
carried out at the site. 

Seed-grinding tools, such as manos and metates, were 
absent at Horton. The combined evidence suggests that 
this site functioned differently from Anker and other Upper 
Mississippian sites in the area. Seed grinding and agricul- 
tural tools, along with charred corn remains, are often found 
in abundance in these other sites. 

Also lacking in the Horton Site artifact assemblage are 
"tools to make other tools," such as hammerstones, bone 
awls, flint working tools, etc. Therefore, tool manufactur- 
ing was not a major activity at the site. This indicates that 
all the recovered artifacts were carried to the site in their 
finished state. Nor was Horton an agricultural settlement 
since farming tools and evidence of corn was not recovered. 
Instead, the Horton community focused its attention on the 
exploitation and processing of wild food. The hunting of 
large mammals was most important, and the collecting of 
fish, mussels and birds provided additional food. 

The 1966 and 1967 excavations recovered quantities of 
hearth stone, attesting to the importance of cooking and 
perhaps household heating to the settlement. Some of the 
pit features contained quantities of this stone and appear to 
be undisturbed hearths. Unfortunately many other hearths, 
and other constructions at or just below the ground surface, 
have been destroyed by plowing. Their presence is reflected 
only by the cooking stones and charcoal dispersed through 
the plowed soil of the site. Analysis of this charcoal will tell 
the archaeologist what woods were being selected for fuel. 
This same charcoal will also allow us to accurately date the 
site by the radiocarbon method. 

Bone artifacts are notably rare at Horton. In the other 
Upper Mississippian sites in the Chicago area many bone 
tools were recovered. Since the majority of bone artifacts 
serve manufacturing purposes, their presence in some sites 
and absence at Horton points up an interesting contrast in 
the activities performed in different Upper Mississippian 
settlements in one region. 

No beads or other ornaments were recovered by the 
Horton Site excavators, although a fragment of a tobacco 
pipe with a design reminiscent of a stylized bird was exca- 
vated by one of the students. 

A particularly interesting contrast between Horton and 
other Upper Mississippian sites in the area is the lack of 
burial mounds or cemeteries associated with the living area. 



Page 12 MARCH 



Three fragments of human bone were screened from the dis- 
turbed upper level which suggests that at least one burial 
took place there, but the important difference between the 
sites is the degree to which human remains are lacking at 
the Horton Site. 




Debbie Loeff and Marlene Dubas remove the plow zone down to undisturbed 
occupation level, while Terry Patten sifts out the mixed cultural content. 

A total of 23 10-foot squares was excavated by the stu- 
dents during the two seasons of excavation. Besides the 
several thousand pot sherds and hundreds of stone artifacts, 
fragments of animal bone, and flint chips, 53 post impres- 
sions and 13 pit features were recorded. Most pits appeared 
to be filled with water-laid silt, suggesting that the pits were 
refilled by the natural process of erosion. Two large pits, 
both located within the walls of the house, contained many 
large pieces of pottery and animal bone and appear to have 
been filled in rapidly with this refuse material. These pits 
undoubtedly were used as storage containers in the floor of 
the house, probably for food and tools. Most of the other 
pits were shallow basins and appeared to be roasting ovens 
or disturbed hearths rather than storage containers. 

Thirty-one of the recorded post molds form part of an 
oval-shaped house. The larger posts, which form the out- 
side perimeter of the structure, are 8-12 inches in diameter, 
while the internal supporting posts are only 4-5 inches in 
diameter. This framework of wooden poles was then cov- 
ered over, probably with thatching or animal skins. Similar 
oval houses have been found at other Upper Mississippian 
sites in the area. The post size of the Horton house indicates 
that it was a fairly substantial structure, approximately 30 
feet wide. Post molds recorded in other squares suggest that 
additional houses existed on the site, but these areas were 
not sufficiently exposed during our excavations to determine 
their size and shape. 

On the basis of all the evidence at hand we suggest that 
the Horton Site was a hunting settiement occupied by a 
small group of people during the fall and winter months. 
At this time of year deer hunting is most successful in the 



sheltered secondary valleys like the Butterfield Creek area. 
In the spring and summer these people might join with 
others to form a larger agricultural villages during the corn- 
growing season. The Anker Site has been interpreted as 
such a summer agricultural settlement. At sites of this type 
the inhabitants would manufacture tools and grow corn 
which would then be stored there for consumption the fol- 
lowing spring. Part of the corn crop might also have been 
taken to winter himting camps, like Horton. 

The fact that the recorded house appears to have been 
of substantial construction, when combined with the abun- 
dant evidence for deer hunting and the lack of agricultural 
tools, argues for a repeated winter occupation of the Horton 
Site for several years during the Upper Mississippian Period. 

Diminishing Archaeological Resources 

Numerous prehistoric sites, like Horton, have been and 
are being destroyed as a by-product of the residential and 
industrial expansion of Chicago. These sites, and others like 
them throughout North Ainerica, are the only "books" that 
record the history of man's occupation of this continent be- 
fore the time of Columbus. Once destroyed, these sites can 
never be replaced and the historical information contained 
in them is lost forever. This makes the science of archaeol- 
ogy truly a race against time. Today, Chicago and other 
cities are expanding rapidly over the areas formerly occu- 
pied by prehistoric peoples. In most cases the historical 
record is destroyed without being investigated. 




Lunch 

The opportunity to carry out the urgently needed exca- 
vations at the Horton Site was fortunately provided by the 
Field Museum's Summer Anthropology Program. This pro- 
gram begins — earlier than is customary — the process of in- 
troducing students to archaeology as the scientific study of 
man's past. From their experience at the Horton Site, Field 
Museum's students all learned the critical reason for exca- 
vating sites in urban areas. Only by carrying out excava- 
tion programs now can archaeologists hope to reconstruct 
the prehistory of these metropolitan areas. 



MARCH Page 13 




A boulder hill on Umm Shilman plain 



(continued from page 6) 

With the feelings of men who have 
looked upon isolated oases in the Sa- 
hara, we gazed at the grandeur of Wadi 
Nagib. Scattered along the few miles of 
this winding, clifT-bordered valley were 
luxuriant shrub acacias, salam {Acacia 
ehrenbergiana) and huge spreading trees, 
sayaal {A. raddiana). The fresh foliage and 
yellow blossoms of the salam were bril- 
liant in the morning sun. Scattered 
clumps of araa (Aerva persica) stood out 
snow white against the sand and the 
glandular leaves of the cushiony mashta 
(Cleome droserifolia) glistened as though 
covered with dew. Sinuous drifts of 
golden sand swept down from the lees 
of the eastern promontories. 

White streaks from hyrax urine on the 
broken western cliffs indicated several 
active colonies. Fresh tracks followed the 
cliff bases and trails out to the trees. We 
shot a young hyrax that was watching 
us from a crevice, then waited, as usual 
but no more appeared. 

We went to the base camp for sup- 
plies and returned the following morn- 
ing to Wadi Nagib. There were no 
signs of hyrax activity from the night be- 
fore. For two days we waited patiently 
for them to appear. Late the second 
evening, nine were seen bounding over 
the rocks far out of range of our guns. 
Though we had placed traps in every 
trail, we caught only one other young 
one. We had been outwitted and out- 
waited and had not the time to remain 
longer. However, the specimens we had 
were valuable since the nearest localities 
of previous collections were Gebel Elba 
in southeastern Egypt and in Sudan. 

Next morning farewells were expressed 
over many glasses of tea at Gar el Nabi's 
camp. We made him a casual gift of 

Page 14 MARCH 



several kilos of sugar, a tin of tea, and 
a bag of rice; knowing he would refuse 
and quite possibly be insulted if we of- 
fered him money for his help. 

Two days later we had established a 
new base camp on the shore of the grad- 
ually rising water of the Nile, now known 
as Lsike Nasser. There we enjoyed a 
cooler campsite and a bathing beach on 
a bay that extended into what was for- 
merly the mouth of Wadi AUaqi. We 
were in the land called Nubia, a name 
that usually brings to mind narrow strips 
of green along the Nile, waving palms, 
and gaily-decorated mud houses. All 
these were gone; inundated. Of Allaqi 
village, all that remained above water 
was the minaret of the town mosque. 
The palm logs that once supported 
thatch roofs were scattered along the 
shore. The gay and colorful Nubians 
had been relocated to Egyptian designed 
compounds near Kom Ombo. Between 
the water and the desert there was noth- 
ing now except a thin contour of pioneer 
vegetation (mostly Hyoscyamus muticus and 
Pulicaria crispa) that marked the high 
water level, about five feet above the 



present. In the future, Lake Nasser will 
creep gradually eastward nearly 50 miles 
into Wadi .Mlaqi and up to our old 
campsite at Umm Qareiyat. 

The first night on the Nile a hyena 
passed within 25 yards of camp while 
we slept. Next day we found the tracks 
of hyenas and jackals {Canis aureus) which 
crossed the plains at night to drink from 
the Nile and to eat dead fish thrown out 
by fishermen. We spent several days 
following hyena trails into the sandstone 
mountains but never found an occupied 
den. At night we hunted back and forth 
over the plains, eventually shooting two 
jackals and four more hyenas. One hy- 
ena was killed as it carried the body of 
another which we had left on the plain. 
I regret to say that in spite of our close 
contact with hyenas, we never heard 
them. Our traps on the barren sands 
and sterile rocks took a small catch of 
gerbils and spiny mice. 

The last day in Wadi Allaqi, under 
a scorching afternoon sun, we followed 
the tracks of two gazelles until we cor- 
nered the beautiful creatures in a canyon. 
Thus, two more valuable specimens were 
added to the collection. That night the 
carcasses were turned slowly over a deep 
bed of coals and as the meat sputtered 
and roasted we feasted. 

Having eaten and stirred up the fire, 
the sounds of our own tea drinking and 
the bubbling of a water-pipe lulled ev- 
eryone into meditation. I guessed the 
thoughts of all were the same — we were 
reliving those exciting nights of the chase, 
and we were all wondering if we should 
believe our own observations of the shy 
and retiring hyenas or the intriguing 
tales of the Bisharin. 



From Research Project NR005.09-0013, Bureau oj Medicme and Surgery, Navy Department, Washing- 
ton, D. C. The work was supported in part by Office of Naval Research Contract Nam 4414 (00) 
NR 107-806 with Field Museum oJ Natural History, Chicago, Illinois. The opinions and assertions 
contained herein are the private ones oj the author and are not to be construed as official or rejecting the 
views oj the Navy Department or the naval service at large. 

The camp at Lake Nasser 




PLAN GEOLOGY TRIP TO OZARKS 

Field Museum, in cooperation with the University of Chicago, will sponsor 
a Geology Trip to the Ozarks, April 21-27. The Ozark region is a diversified 
geological area that consists of igneous and sedimentary rocks. The oldest 
igneous rocks and granites were once molten, and are at least one billion years 
old. The area was many times under the sea, and into it sediments — domi- 
nantly limey — were deposited. These later became sedimentary rocks. Other 
geologic processes produced deposits of minable ores, particularly lead and iron. 
A wide variety of geological phenomena will be studied in the field and will be 
supplemented with the evening lectures. Fossils and minerals will be collected 
in the mines and quarries. 

The group will depart by train to St. Louis on Sunday, April 21. From 
St. Louis the group will continue travel on a chartered bus. The return to 
Chicago is scheduled for Saturday evening, April 27. 

Tuition including all transportation and hotel accommodations is $85. For 

those wishing private facilities an ex- 
tra fee will be assessed. The trip will 
include four long hikes, for which 
hiking clothes are strongly recom- 
mended . 

Matthew H. Nitecki, Assistant 
Curator of Fossil Invertebrates will 
conduct the tour. For further infor- 
mation and application forms, please 
phone Miss Barbara O'Connor, at 
the University Downtown Center, 
Photo by S. Silverstein FI 6 - 8300. 




CALENDAR OF EVENTS 



March Hours: Open from 9 a.m. to 
5 p.m. daily. 

March 1—31 Chicago Shell Club's Annual Shell Fair. Displays of hun- 
dreds of shells reveal the fantasy of form and color in the shell world. Ex- 
hibits are arranged to show the development of shells and their geographical 
distribution. 

March 2 Film-Lecture Series: Laos by Kenneth Armstrong, 2:30 p.m. in 
James Simpson Theatre. 

March 9 Film-Lecture Series: Outdoor Yearbook by Karl Maslowski, 
2 :30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

March 16 Film-Lecture Series: Alaska — America's Frontier State by 
Harry R. Reed, 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

March 23 Film-Lecture Series: The Two Worlds of Polynesia by Stanton 
Waterman, 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

March 26 Indiana University's Chicago Showcase of Music : Baroque Cham- 
ber Players, one of the nation's outstanding groups, presents the final con- 
cert in this series. Free tickets are available upon request. 8:15 p.m. in 
James Simpson Theatre. 

March 30 Film-Lecture Series: The Congo by Lewis Cotlow, 2:30 p.m. in 
James Simpson Theatre. 

March 31 Audubon Wildlife Film: Galapagos — Wild Eden by Roger Tory 
Peterson. This is a rare field trip to equatorial volcanic islands inhabited 
by some of the strangest creatures in the world — giant tortoises, sea-going 
lizards, penguins. Waved Albatrosses and the beautiful Fork-tailed Gull. 
2 :30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

Through May Spring Journey: Plants that the American Indians Used 
Chicago Mountaineering Club, March 14, 8 p.m. 
Sierra Club, Great Lakes Chapter March 19, 7:30 p.m. 



MEETINGS: 



METEORITE 

TALKS SET 

.\ course consisting of three informal 
talks on meteorites is offered for the first 
three Saturdays in April (Apr. 6th, 1 3th, 
20th). The talks will be given by Ed- 
ward Olsen, Curator of Mineralogy and 
will cover all aspects of meteorites, mete- 
orite work, and theories about them. 
First hand examination of specimens will 
be included. Each session will be ap- 
proximately two hours long, starting at 
10:00 a.m. The course is limited to 25 
adult Members of the Museum. Reser- 
vations must be made by mail on a first- 
come-first-serve basis. Write: Dr. Ed- 
ward Olsen, Curator of Mineralogy, 
Field Museum of Natural History, Chi- 
cago, Illinois 60605. 

FINAL BRIEFINGS 

Members of Field Museum's Mexican 
Tour will view a unique motion picture 
on Mexican archaeology and on the de- 
velopment of pre-Hispanic civilizations 
on March 29. "The Ancient New 
World" illustrates its commentary with 
museum artifacts which are given a life 
of their own. 

Speaker of the evening will be Dr. 
Donald Collier, Chief Curator of An- 
thropology, who will discuss the peoples 
who created the great cities of Indian 
Mexico. Other programs for the Tour 
include: March 15 — Erwin Bach, Cam- 
era Editor of the Chicago Tribune; 
March 18 — George 
Schneider of the Art 
Institute of Chicago, 
and March 22 — 
Phil Clark of the 
Museum staff. 



George Schneider 




FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 6060! A.C. 312. 922-9410 

FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



MARCH Page 15 





^^-^'^f^-rvjs.. 





Volume 39, Number 4, April 7968 

BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



Members' Night, May 3 



A preview of the special exhibit, "Masada — 
King Herod's Fortress," and a program of music, dance, 
motion pictures and a slide lecture related to the 
exhibit, will highlight the Museum's 1968 Members' 
Night on May 3. The music and dance events, 
including songs by the Amranim Brothers, Shalom and 
Barak, third generation Israelis of Yemenite descent, 
and performances by the Habonin Israeli Folk Dance 
Troupe will be in Stanley Field Hall. 

The Masada Exhibit is of deep significance to archa- 
eologists. Middle Eastern historians and scholars of the 
Old and New Testaments. Some of the scrolls found at 
Masada have added important information to what is 
known about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the life of Jesus. 

These finds, plus large scale photo murals, coins, 
weapons and a diorama in miniature of Roman 
legions laying siege to Masada, make up the 
display. The Exhibit opened in London and has 
been complimented in the continental and national 
press for its graphic design as well as its archaeological 
impact. Organized by the Jewish Theological 
Seminary of America and the Israel Exploration 
Society, the Exhibit enjoyed a successful United States 
premiere at the Jewish Museum in New York. 

Built in 36 B.C. by King Herod the Great, Masada 
was a luxurious retreat and strong fortress against a 
feared attack from the armies of Cleopatra of Egypt. 
It was in this rock fortress in 73 A.D. that 960 
Jewish men, women and children gave up their lives 
rather than go into slavery, when 7 years of revolt 
against the Romans ended in defeat. 

A slide lecture, "Masada, A State of Mind," will be 
given by Marc Michaelson, former Travel Editor 
of Chicago's American and Director of Publicity for 
the Tourism Council of Greater Chicago. Michaelson, 
who visited Masada last year, will speak at 7^30. 
and 8:30 p.m. A film on the Masada excavations 
by the British Broadcasting Company and a motion 
picture on the Bar-Kokhba Caves, where the Jewish 
resistance contined after the fall of Masada, will be 
shown continuously from 7 to 10 p.m. Two half-hour 
music and dance programs will be given at 7 and 9 p.m. 

Research and exhibit preparation areas of the 
Museum, including some special exhibits related to 
Field Museum research, explorations and acquisitions, 
will be open on the third and fourth floors from 7 to 
10 p.m. "Tibet — Highland of Monk and Nomad," 
the Museum's new permanent exhibit on the second 
floor, will be illuminated and open for the evening. 

The special Members' preview of "Masada" will 
continue from. 3 to 10 p.m. Refreshments will be 
served from 7 to 10 p.m., and the cafeteria will be open 
from 6 to 8 p.m. 



Masada 




Photo by Yigael Yadin. 



The nearly sheer walls of Masada rise 1,300 ft. above the 
western shore of the Dead Sea in Israel. 




Volunteers came from as fai 
as the U. S. and Australia tc 
work on the Masada exca- 
vation. 



Photo by The Jewish Museum, 




Photo by The Jewish Museum 



Chartered buses will leave at frequent intervals 
throughout the evening from State and Jackson Streets, 
and return trips from the Museum's south entrance 
will continue until 10 p.m. 



Page 2 APRIL 







"\im\^i^^^'\s^ 



by Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



U^» 



k% JAMES HOOKS, who delivers the mail at Field Museum, 
has delivered many thousands of interesting, curious — even 
bizarre — letters and packages over the years. Field Mu- 
seum scientists are called to give advice in many fields, some 
of them quite unexpected. Hymen Marx, Associate Curator 
of Reptiles and Amphibians, for instance, recently gave some 
advice to a young lady employed as a "Go-go" dancer in 
Texas. The lady used a Boa Constrictor in her act. She 
wanted to know how to tame it and keep it from biting. 
Mr. Marx was able to recommend a popular book on snakes 
by a former staff member, Clifford Pope, and also suggested 
that a reticulated python, which "will reach coverage size, 
and has a much milder and gentler disposition," would be a 
better candidate for work in the performing arts. 

Articles in the Bulletin often prompt letters of great in- 
terest, and few have provoked more comment than a story 
by Eugene Richardson, Curator of Fossil Invertebrates, 
called "The Tully Monster" (Bulletin, July, 1966). Rich- 
ardson told of a worm-like fossil of uncertain relationships 
which had been found in the Pennsylvanian (280 million 
years old) deposits of Mazon Creek, Illinois. He had previ- 
ously described it scientifically in the weekly journal Science. 
with an official name, TuUimonstrum gregarium, named for 
Francis Tally, Lockport, Illinois, who had brought in the 
first specimen. It was such a strange animal that the 
author was unable to assign it to a phylum, which disturbed 
his sense of order — it would upset any systematic biologist. 

The aniinal ranged in size from 2J^ to 14 inches, "at 
one end of the dirigible-like body was a spade-shaped tail; 



from the other extended a long, thin proboscis with a gap- 
ing claw; across the body near the base of the proboscis was 
a transverse bar with a little round swelling at each end, 
outside the body." 

The response to this little animal, which may have eaten 
fossils so indistinct that Richardson could not even assign 
them to a kingdom and simply termed them "Blobs," was 
immediate and extensive. Many of Gene Richardson's 
friends took the time to write with helpful comment. One 
doctor noted the Tully Monster's "impish benevolent, al- 
inost Schmoo-like, expression on its cuddly frame." An- 
other correspondent insisted that Gene had the animal 
backwards, and that what appeared to be fins on the tail 
were in actual fact ears on the head. "This view is rein- 
forced by the obvious resemblance of TuUimonstrum to a 
certain black dog I know who has ears like that." A Nor- 
wegian woman pointed out that the whole thing sounds 
funny to Norwegians because "tull" means "nonsense" in 
that language. 

One of the most interesting exchanges was with Mr. 
F. VV. Holiday, of Pembrokeshire, Great Britain. Mr. Holi- 
day has been a student of the Loch Ness Monster for more 
than thirty years. He has watched the Loch Ness Monster 
become, from what appeared at first to be myth, the object 
of serious scientific research. Mr. Holiday wrote, "I think 
I was the first to suggest {Field magazine, 1st. Nov., 1962) 
that the Loch Ness Monster was probably an invertebrate. 
Last year I narrowed the gap still further by stating my 
belief that the LNM was a worm — a view which I still hold." 



APRIL Page 3 



Holiday enthusiastically suggested a close relationship 
between Loch Ness Monster and Tullimonstriim. Richardson 
replied that a time lag of 280 million years and a difference 
in size of one foot (TM) versus 40 feet (LNM) made such 
a relationship unlikely. 

The correspondence provided Gene Richardson with a 
close view of the present state of the Loch Ness Monster. 
Holiday clearly thinks it a worm. Professor Mackal of the 
University of Chicago is inclined to the idea of a very large 
. mollusc. There is still support for the sea snake, and other 
vertebrate, explanations. The Adventurers' Club of Chi- 
cago has provided support for some of the research on the 
monster. Holiday himself says he has seen the thing four 
times in a span of sixteen weeks at the Loch. He also men- 
tions some strange creatures living in the Loughs of western 
Ireland, being investigated by Captain Lionel Leslie, a 
cousin of Sir W^inston Churchill. Holiday remains con- 
vinced of a relationship between TM and LNM. 

In early September of 1 966, Mr. James Hooks delivered 
the first of a series of letters which were to launch Gene 
Richardson on the Quest for the Dancing Worm. It was 
an airlettcr, postmarked Nairobi, Kenya, and it read: 



Dear Dr. Richards: 



1/9/66 

O. Box 30009 

Nairobi 



A recent issue of the East African Standard con- 
tains an illustrated article describing a curious 
prehistoric creature you discovered. This jogged 
my memory, carrying me back some forty years, 
of a tale I once heard that may be of some interest. 

In 1926 having been seconded to the Kings 
(now Kenya) African Rifles from the Indian 
Army, I was in northwestern Kenya dealing with 
some border incidents. Passing through the 
administrative centre of Lodwar on my return 
journey, I took the opportunity of calling upon 
Mr. A. M. Champion, then D. C. Turkana Dis- 
trict. In addition to being a keen shikar. Champ- 
ion was a naturalist of the first rank, and during 
the two evenings I passed in his company he 
regaled me with many a fascinating yarn about 
the fauna of the area. Among these was one 
about a remarkable worm reputed to live in the 
swamp country to the southeast. The local tribes- 
men told fantastic stories about its dancing and 
and giving milk, if I remember correctly. Such 
nonsense aside. Champion did give me a descrip- 
tion of the creature which he had obtained from 
various natives (he never succeeded in getting a 
specimen) and this curiously enough has remained 
in my memory when much else has been forgotten. 
His account agreed remarkably well with the 
illustration of your "Tully Monster," even to the 
"paddles" and the long snout. Your mention of 
sharp teeth, incidentally, does agree with a 



Turkana tale that the creature bites. On this 
account they are deathly afraid of it, believing that 
it is poisonous. But then nearly all natives believe 
everything of the creeping or crawling kind to 
be venomous. 

I hardly dare to suggest that a relation of your 
extinct "Monster" still survives in one of the re- 
motest parts of East Africa, but it might just be 
worthwhile to pursue the matter. 

Yours faithfully 

R. G. L. Cloudesley 

(Lt.-Colonel, ret.) 




Artist's impression of Tullimonstrum in its natural habitat. (Draw- 
ing was used as cover of the July, 1966, BI'LLETin. 

Richardson's original BuliIetin article had already been 
picked up by a Boston newspaper for its Sunday Supple- 
ment; now, it appeared, the story had also been used in the 
East Africati Standard, perhaps the best known newspaper in 
the countries of former British East Africa. We began to 
hope it would make the Straits Times in Singapore, as well. 
What world coverage ! As happens in many newspapers on 
rare occasions, the facts were a little bit garbled, and the 
author's name appeared as Dr. Richards, of Field's Mu- 
seum. A forgivable mistake. 

Intrigued and flattered by the attention, Richardson 
was penning a reply to Colonel Cloudesley (ret.) when a 
second airletter arrived, postmarked Nakuru, Kenya. Na- 
kuru is a town about a hundred miles northwest of Nairobi 
on the Uganda Railway. Turkana District, Gene learned 
from the Times Atlas, is more than 400 air miles north- 
northwest of Nairobi on the Kenya-Sudan border. The 
letter was written in an even, graceful hand suggestive of 
the mysterious East. It read: 

P. O. Box 568 

Nakuru 

Honoured Sir: 13 September 1966 

I have now seen in an old copy of the Standard 



Page 4 APRIL 



the account of a wonderful monster you have 
found in your country. Sir, I behcve that it also 
lives here in Kenya ! My cousins Aowind and 
Manu have often told me of the dancing worm of 
Turkana, and what they say is very like your 
article. What triumph it would be to catch one. 

Turkana is far from here and full of naked men 
with spears, but my uncle Motibhai has a duka 
business there, and his sons, my cousins, adventure 
with lorries into that savage land. With their 
help I, even I, might catch one for you. The 
price would be very cheap. But, Honoured Sir, 
tell me how I catch it as it lives in a great swamp. 
This is a new thing for me. Do I keep it, do 
I kill it. I await eagerly your orders and 
instructions. 

Believe me, honoured Sir, 

Your hopeful servant 

Purshottam S. Patel 

Richardson's interest grew. Was there something in all 
this? He began to consult some expert opinion. Alan So- 
lem. Curator of Lower Invertebrates (living) knew of no 
such animal in the area, but it certainly wasn't impossible. 
The area has been little studied. And imknown species of 
animals continually turn up all over the world. Certainly 
size was no problem. There is a leech in southeast Asia 
which grows to a foot and in northern Queensland, Austra- 
lia, there is a worm which varies in length from eight to 
twelve feet, as it contracts and expands. 

Replies went oflfto Cloudesley and Patel. A few discreet 
inquiries were made to friends and associates who might 
have some knowledge of the area. It was clear that Mr. 
Patel had dollar signs in his eyes and was looking out for 
Number One. The Indian small businessmen of East Africa 
tend to be fairly hard-headed, however, so Patel might be 
on to something. Weeks went by with no news. Finally, a 
letter arrived. It had been posted September 13, but had 
traveled by siuface mail. 

Lokori 
P. O. Kampi ya Moto 
via Nakuru 
Dear Sir: 9 September 1966 

I must ask your pardon for writing to you, a stranger, 
which happens in this way. I am temporary 
teacher at the intermediate school here where I 
teach elementary English among other things. 
Whenever I can I show the pupils newspapers 
which is not often as this is a far away spot. 
The other day I was lucky to get a Sunday 
Standard which is bigger and often has repeats 
from English and American papers. The class was 
soon in a buzz and I heard repeated a Turkana 
word which means dancing worm roughly. 
On looking I see an article and drawing about an 
animal found by you and the children say they 



hear of it from their fathers. One pupil Akai, a 
bright boy, was so moved that he later brought 
me a letter for sending to you. He was so 
proud I had not heart to refuse and so enclose. 

As regards the subject of the letter, I can say 
nothing. Most Turkana are very primitive people 
and have many talcs in which sometimes is a grain 
of truth. 

Yoiu- faithfully, 
Joseph N. Ngomo 

Attached to the letter was a penciled note, in the painful 
crabbed style of a small boy, showing the same careful 
attention to spelling that all Ixjys have : 

Today techer show us paper and ther is anmal 
my pepels knows i not know name tuly moster 
but call ekurul loedonkakini it live ayangyangi in 
rains at moon fill all dance wave hands give 
milk ekurut leodonkakini very dangery anmal 
bite man die 

akai s/o [son of] ckechalon 

As the testimonial evidence accumulated. Gene, and a 
number of others, myself included, became increasingly ex- 
cited about the Dancing Worm of Turkana. More inqui- 
ries went out. A note was inserted in the Newsletter of the 
East Africa Natural History Society, asking local naturalists 
for information about the worm. No one, apparently, had 
ever heard of the legend except Richardson's foin- corre- 
spondents. 

Touched by young Akai's note. Gene replied to both 
Ngomo and the little boy, and waited for an answer to his 
previous letters to Cloudesley and Patel. And as he waited, 
belief and hope grappled with reason and training. Was 
there a worm in the swamps of Turkana? The evidence 
was slim indeed : the word of four people of whom he knew 
nothing, and two were themselves dubious. On the other 
hand, the writers were from quite different walks of life, and 
were separated by many miles. Surely, what appeared to 
be a widespread folk tale might have some basis in fact. 

The possibility of an expedition to search for the worm 
began to insinuate itself in conversations among staff mem- 
bers. The evidence was still far too tenuous to justify a 
field trip, but if more turned up, serious consideration would 
have to be given to the idea. The general feeling was one 
of cautious optimism. 

That optimism received a blow when the letters to 
Cloudesley and Patel were both returned, stamped "Ad- 
dressee itnknown." But a second letter from Patel, indicat- 
ing that he had moved and was still eager to be of service 
cleared up part of the mystery. 

Box 600.S 
Rongai 
2 August 1967 
Honoured Sir, 

I have been hoping so much to hear from you 
in answer to my letter but only silence has 



APRIL Page 5 



come. But I venture to write again. One, be- 
cause the post here has become very slack. Only 
last month iny cousin Motilal nine years senior 
in Posts and Telegraph got the sudden sack 
and was substituted by an inexperienced person. 
Oh, Sir, these days are hard for us. Your 
eagerly expected letter may have come and got 
lost. I have now you see moved. 

Two, because I hear that in a little paper a 
man Solem asks news of the worm. Sir, there is 
now a rival and you should beat him. I am 
always you know ready to help. I think the time 
is good for the worm. There is much rain 
and the great swamp is full. With your instruc- 
tions we might get one. 

Believe me honoured Sir, 
Your hopeful servant, 
Purshottam S. Patel 

Next a letter came from Joseph Ngomo, who could no 
longer help, but whose evident dedication to his students 
should be a fine example of the new spirit of Africa. 



Dear Sir, 



P. O. Box 1432 

Gilgil, Kenya 

23 February 1967 



I thank you for your kind letter of 18 November 
which has taken so long time to catch me up. 
I can no longer be of help for you with the danc- 
ing worm as I am transferred from Lokori and 
will I hear soon be transferred also from here. 
As a senior teacher I am moved about where 
needed and moved on again when things 



Th(x«li dimisaiirs aiul Dinothcres 
May long ago ha\« disappeared. 
Despite tix'\oiunies rK>v\- innrint 
Sonx" cn-atiires just d»>n't take thi' hint. 
Tbtixtse who sav it cannot be 
Tlx" DaiK iiicWtirni savsconieand see, 
While in its nonx' with 'dance and pomp 
h rules the vast Ayangyangi Swamp. 



m aioor iw am 



kSCh u.1. oi 



Above, "Christmas Greetings." 

This month's Cover shows old Kenya hand Bryan Patterson and 
prey. He apparently bagged the little fellow tvith the shotgun in his 
right hand. Hunter Patterson brought down several Field Mtiseum 
staff members with the same shot. The Editor of the Bulletin feels 
the Cover is appropriate for an issue published in April. 



are going well. 

Before I left Lokori Akai had gone as far as 
was possible for him in the school. His family 
has no money for further education and he is 
with his father's goats again. This is sad 
for a teacher but Akai knows more than his 
father and his son will know more again and so 
we build. Harambee! 

I am sorry your name was wrong in my letter 
but so it was in the paper. This time you see 
I use air letter. 

Yours faithfully, 
Joseph N. Ngomo 

A most welcome visitor to Field Museum was able to 
add a tiny bit of corroboration. Bryan Patterson, formerly 
Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at Field Museum, and 
now Agassiz Professor of the same at Harvard University, 
stopped to see his former associates early last year. Patter- 
son, who had been in Kenya recently on field work, which 
resulted, incidentally, in some remarkable discoveries about 
hominid evolution, knew of Patel's uncle, whom he consid- 
ered something of a rascal. A witty and charming man, he 
read the letters with delighted interest but he had never 
heard of the Dancing Worm of Turkana. 

Professor Patterson had every reason to be delighted with 
the letters, for they represented a job well done. There were 
perhaps ten people in the Paleontology lab as he read the 
letters, but only one man knew that the letters had sprung 
from the same hand, their writers from a single brain, and 
that the Worm inhabited not the Ayangyangi Swamp but a 
similar habitat, the mind of Professor Bryan Patterson. 

The collective leg of Field Museum had been thoroughly 
pulled. The hoax, admitted finally by a geologist in Pat- 
terson's confidence, although not yet by the author himself, 
was elaborate, satisfying and structurally magnificent. The 
delicate weave of hint and doubt, of fact and myth, of virtue 
and vice in the correspondents is convincing, but, in the 
final analysis, Patterson's greatest ally was the human will 
to believe. All of us wanted a Dancing Worm. We will 
miss it. 

In fact, we will miss all of them — Colonel Cloudesley, 
in the sunset of a distinguished military career; the acquisi- 
tive Indian merchant, Mr. Patel; the devoted school teacher, 
Joseph Ngomo, and bright little Akai, back with his father's 
goats. But most of all, the Worm, who danced with waving 
arms by moonlight in the depths of the swamp, who gave 
milk, whose bite killed men. We mourn its passing. 

One final message closes out the file: A card came to 
Gene Richardson last Christmas. On the cover was a photo 
of a well-known Agassiz Professor of Paleontology looking 
with obvious distaste at a Dancing Worm, which he has 
clearly just bagged with the shotgun in his hand. Inside 
the card, a short verse and a page headed "The End of The 
Hunt" and signed by our old friends. 

The end of the hunt, yes. But not the end of the season. 
It is now open season on Mr. Bryan Patterson. 



Page 6 APRIL 




About forty years ago the postmaster of Spargo, Colo- 
rado, Mr. Courtney Dow, wrote that he would Hke to show 
me a large and unique ruin, perched on the rim of Cow 
Canyon in southwestern Colorado. 

I visited the site in the company of Mr. Dow and found 
that it was large, interesting and untouched. I also noted 
that it included a Great Kiva — which made it unique for 
this area for, at that time. Great Kivas were known mostly 
from an area called Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. And here 
was one some 200 miles away from the homeland of such 
great ceremonial structures! 

That fact aroused my curiosity about this site. Many 
questions came to mind, the most obvious one being "was 
there a relationship between the Great Kiva at Lowry 
Pueblo and those to the south and east?"' 



Left, Lowry Pueblo as it appeared forty years ago, when 

the author began to dig. Below, restored Lowry Pueblo, 

a National Historical Landmark. The two photographs 

were taken from nearly the same spot. 

We spent four seasons at Lowry Pueblo, 1930-34, and 
excavated 37 dwelling rooms, eight kivas and the Great 
Kiva, or about 95 percent of the site. We were shot at by 
a homesteader who thought we were stealing his gold treas- 
ure (sic) ! We endured snows, rains, floods, and droughts; 
we operated on a budget that was modest indeed (one 
year it was $1,000); we weathered a depression; and yet 
we got a lot done. During our last season, we received 
heaven-sent help in the form of labor from the County 
Emergency Relief Administration (later W.P.A.). 

What are some of the results of those four years of 
digging and research: 

The site on which the pueblo was built is a knoll over- 
looking a small canyon at the bottom of which was formerly 
a small, permanent stream fed by springs. On clear days, 
to the southwest one can see the odd formations of sand- 
stone that give their name to Monument Valley. 

Sometime about A. D. 500-700, a group of farmer In- 
dians settled on this knoll and dug their abodes, called pit 
houses, in the virgin clay. Several such subterranean struc- 
tures were encountered beneath the walls and floors of the 
later town and below the floors of kivas, which are them- 
selves also subterranean. Pottery and tools of stone and 
bone were found still present on these most ancient and 
earliest floors. 

It seems likely that these first comers remained at the 
site, for it had many advantages to an incipient farmer folk 
and would not lightly be relinquished. 



Lowry Pueblo 



Then and Now 

by Paul S. Martin, Chief Curator Emeritus, Anthropology 




APRIL Page 7 



About the year a.d. 900, the pit house inhabitants 
embarked on a program that was eventually to alter radi- 
cally their way of life. They built a cluster of four rooms 
or so with contiguous walls of stone masonry on top of the 
ground. Thus came into being a "pueblo," which means 
"village" and implies the so-called honeycomb structure of 
adjoining rooms, with stone-masonry partitions that served 
as a common wall for two rooms. This arrangement is 
a great economy in efTort. The old-time subterranean 
abodes were retained as places of worship and rituals and 
still are today, called "ki-va" — or, literally, "house-old" — 
a most appropriate appellation. 



Canyon, New Mexico, about 100 miles southeast of Lowry. 

Eventually, the pueblo encompassed 50 rooms, and was 
two stories high. If all the rooms were simultaneously 
occupied, Lowry may have housed a population of about 
60 to 100. 

About A.D. 1200, the town was abruptly abandoned. 
Personal and family items were left behind when the people 
moved out. 

Why was this pueblo abandoned? Why were hundreds 
of other towns also forsaken- mostly in the 13th century? 
Many explanations have been suggested, although none 
of them has been set up as a hypothesis to be tested. I 




These two photos show the Great Kiva as it was when first found and as it looks today. 

Nearly 50 feet in diameter, the Great Kiva was the religious center of the Pueblo, and may 

have served the same function for nearby satellite communities. 



I am unable to give the explanation for this great change, 
but I am fairly sure it was brought about by a modification 
in some aspect of their culture, svich as a shift in the econ- 
omy, in the sociology, in the religion, or in all three. It 
was certainly an adaptation to a changing environment. 

As the families extended through marriage, more rooms 
were added. When a daughter married, she brought her 
husband (from a nearby village) to live with her and 
her family, and more rooms were added to make space 
for the additional people. Family "suites" can be clearly 
observed by noting architectural featiwes, connecting doors, 
and similiarities in masonry styles. 

Staple foods were beans, corn, and squash, phis meats 
obtained by hunting deer, antelope, mountain sheep, elk, 
and smaller mammals. 

As the town grew in size, it became gradually more 
important. A Great Kiva some 47 feet in diameter was 
built, which is twice or three times as big as the smaller 
kivas. It is possible that this feature, the only one in the 
immediate area, also served nearby satellite communities. 

The Great Kiva and much of the pottery are stylis- 
tically similar to great kivas and the pottery found in Chaco 



think we can definitely rule out epidemics, invasions, or 
meteoritic showers. 

Two possibilities remain: a change in the pattern of 
rainfall so that moisture came at the wrong time of year to 
make possible the successful raising of crops. If farmers 
cannot grow crops, they cannot eat — and one solution is 
to move on. Where they moved is not known. 

The second possible explanation is that the people had 
progressed as far as they could. Without a new technology 
for growing crops or new source of energy, they were 
doomed. 

After we finished ovir work, Lowry Pueblo was again 
abandoned — the first time, about a.d. 1200, and the second 
time, in 1934. .'Knd there this ancient village stood, un- 
tended, unwanted, unnecessary. 

It remained in obscurity until just three years ago. In 
1965, Dr. Robert Lister, Professor of Anthropology, Uni- 
versity of Colorado, Boulder, in cooperation with the United 
States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Manage- 
ment, recommended that Lowry Pueblo be set aside as a 
"National Historic Landmark." 

I am indebted to the Colorado State Director of the 



Pnse S .APRIL 



Bureau of Land Management, Mr. E. I. Rowland, who 
informs me that "... the Historic Landmark program is 
handled by the Park Service. Designation of a site is made 
by the Secretary of the Interior. The Historic Sites Act 
of 1935 directs the Secretary of the Interior to make a 
nation-wide survey for the purpose of determining those 
of exceptional value. The survey is conducted by National 
Park Service historians and archaeologists. Their recom- 
mendations are screened by a Consulting Committee and 
by the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historical Sites, 
Buildings and Monuments. The Board then submits its 
recommendations to the Secretary who has final rcsponsi- 



In two seasons' time (1966-1967) and with the help of 
excavators, masons, and bulldozers, Mr. Lancaster finished 
the imposing job. 

On Octoger 17, 1967, Lowry Pueblo was dedicated by 
the members and more than 300 guests of the Colorado 
office of the Bureau of Land Management. After an invo- 
cation given in Navajo by a Navajo Indian, some Hopi 
children from a nearby school (Fort Lewis) put on a brief 
sacred dance, perhaps reminiscent of ancient ceremonial 
dances. A few remarks by guests, and a dedication an- 
nouncement and the brief ceremony ended with Lowry 
Pueblo now a Xationol IImIoik Landmark. 




Left, Paul Martin's party excavating the small kiva at Lowry, in 1931. At right, Paul Martin atop a 
1926 Pierce-Arrow touring car. Martin filmed the area and the site from this vantage point. 



bility for declaring sites eligible for the Registry of National 
Historic Landmarks." 

Mr. Rowland also advised me of some of the criteria 
used in selecting Landmarks. The site must have excep- 
tional value in American history and must have produced 
information of major scientific importance by revealing new 
cultures or shedding light upon periods of occupation over 
large areas of the United States. 

Lowry Pueblo passed all requirements. All that re- 
mained was to implement the decision of the Secretary by 
reopening and repairing the site. A team was organized 
to draw up plans for the re-excavation and stabilization 
of the pueblo, kivas and Great Kiva. This group consisted 
of Lister and experts from the Bureau of Land Management, 
William E. Claycomb, R. F. Noble, James H. O'Connor, 
E. I. Rowland, VV. Reynolds, and A. VV. Zimmerman. 

Mr. Allan Lancaster, famous in the National Park Ser- 
vice for his excavations and restorations at Mesa Verde 
National Park, was placed in charge of the work. By a 
happy coincidence, Mr. Lancaster was my chief assistant 
at Lowry ruin and others from 1928-1932. No person 
more eminently fitted for the job of rehabilitating Lowry 
Pueblo could have been found. 



I was invited to be present at the ceremony, which 
was simple and moving. It seemed strange to be sitting 
on a platform with Al Lancaster and other notables and 
to realize that some 30 years earlier, I had partially earned 
my spurs by excavating this site. 

Today, Lowry Pueblo is reached by good roads in less 
than an hour from Cortez, Colorado. All the wind-blown 
dirt that had accumulated against the outer walls of the 
building during 10 centuries has been removed. I saw walls 
and other features that I had never before seen, since wc 
could not afford to move such masses of dirt (thousands of 
tons). The Great Kiva has been completely restored except 
for the roof. The rooms are easily viewed from many key 
spots and at these spots the Bureau of Land Management 
has erected informative, easily-read signs that give the tour- 
ist a clear idea of what he is looking at. A bronze plaque 
denoting national ownership and other addenda greet the 
visitor as he walks toward this great and ancient town. 

Today, Lowry Pueblo is an impressive and noble sight. 
I was awed, because I realized that here Man had lived, 
worshipped, adapted to an arid ecological environment and 
had at last been forced to relinquish his heritage — because 
corn no longer would grow? 



APRIL Page 9 



A Tropical Spring 

by William C. Burger, 

Assistant Curator, Vascular Plants 

The skies have been clear for almost five months, with only 
an occasional cloud formation and a rare shower or two. 
The earth is parched; almost all the plants are leafless. 
The wind, dry and dust-laden, has blown steadily from 
the north and east. But now there is a change : the winds 
are shifting, and soon they will sweep in from the south. 
Fluffy clouds begin to form and then develop into thunder- 
heads. The air is becoming sweet with moisture. The 
monsoon has begun, and with the advent of this rainy 
season there comes a tropical spring. 

Many people think of the tropics as a steaming jungle 
where luxuriant vegetation prospers throughout the year; 
however, these areas are in the minority. Most tropical 
regions experience a dry season for at least part of the year. 
The duration of the dry period determines whether an 
area has a tall evergreen forest, a deciduous forest, or a 
sub-desert thorn-scrub. The area in eastern Ethiopia that 
I am familiar with has a dry period of nearly six months, 
and here the rains support a vegetation of deciduous trees. 
These are trees like our own that lose their leaves at the end 
of the growing season. 

In a way, the monsoon, seasonally wet and dry or 
tropical climate, is similar to our own in the temperate zone. 
The dry season is comparable to our winter, and our sum- 
mer is similar to the growing or wet period of the seasonally 
dry tropics. In these areas even the size of trees and density 
of vegetation may look similar to ours. For plants, winter 
and the dry season are very much alike : periods when physi- 
ological processes stop or are severely limited . Cold weather 
prevents the plant from moving water rapidly through its 
tissues, producing a physiological drought not unlike a cli- 
matic drought. For animals, too, winter and the dry season 
are the times of food scarcity. 

The end of the dry period and the coming of the rains 
usher in a new cycle of growth and activity, it is a tropical 
springtime. Like our spring it heralds the blooming of 
flowers and leafing of trees, the nesting of birds and the 
emergence of insects. The comparison of temperate and 
tropical "spring" is not an unreasonable consideration. 
Plants and animals have adjusted in much the same fashion 
to the exigencies of winter and of drought. When the cold 
period or the dry period ends, the responses of living things 
are also similar. For plants, as for animals, survival through 
a long cold or dry period requires the storage of food. 
Whether in seeds, underground bulbs or roots, the plant 
must have food to carry it through the dry period and per- 
mit the resumption of active growth in springtime. Perhaps 
the most spectacular plants of springtime are those that ex- 
hibit this point best: plants such as the tulip, hyacinth and 
iris. These have an abundant undergroimd store of food 
which permits them to produce a large and brilliant floral 

Page 10 APRIL 




Crinum in flower. Photos taken in eastern Ethiopia 
by the author. 

display at the beginning of the growing season. Energy is re- 
quired to produce a large cluster of flowers, and this energy 
comes from the food produced during the previous growing 
season and stored over the winter. Similarly, some of the 
most spectacular flowers of the seasonally dry African trop- 
ics are those related to tulips and irises. These, too, have 
underground storage organs, and they also have the ability 
to produce an extraordinary floral display in a short period 
of time. In only two weeks Haemanthus, Crinum, and many 
lily-like plants can produce a cluster of flowers remarkable 
in size and number. Likewise, many trees of the tropics will 
come into flower at the beginning of the rains, not unlike 
our redbuds, dogwoods, and fruit trees. These, too, have 
food stored in their roots from the previous growing season. 

Haemanthus multiflorus, a blood lily, in full flower while 
ntker plants around it have only begun to sprout. 





Pancratium, a spider lily, has cracked the bare earth in 
sending up its flower stalk. 

A problem that these plants encounter, both in the tem- 
f)erate and seasonally-dry tropic zones, is timing. A warm 
period in midwinter does not cause apple trees to blossom, 
nor does Haemanthus burst into flower after an unusually 
heavy rain in the middle of the dry season. Obviously, 
these plants have internal mechanisms that usually prevent 
premature flowering. These internal mechanisms, called 
dormancy requirements, have been extensively stvidied for 
temperate plants such as the tulip, but they have scarcely 
been investigated in tropical plants that pass through a long, 
dry season. I collected a terrestrial orchid in an acacia 
thorn-scrub vegetation that was flowering in April at the 
beginning of the rains. This is a very dry habitat for or- 
chids, and only one orchid species is known from this par- 
ticular area. This plant was taken to a greenhouse at much 
higher elevation where the temperatures were cooler and 
quite consistent throughout the year. It was watered regu- 
larly, and in the two following years produced inflorescences 

The Crinum plant. Only the leaves and flower 
stalks are seen above ground. The large bulb stores 
jood underground during the long dry season. 




only in .April-May. The only reasonable explanation for 
this precise flowering behaviour is to assume that the plant 
was sensitive to changes in day length: that the lengthening 
days of April triggered flower production. But since this 
plant was living about ten degrees north of the equator it 
had to respond to a change in day-length of less than 40 
minutes. In this region the longest and shortest days differ 
by only that amount. There are probably many other 
ways in which plants of seasonally-dry areas are stimulated 
to resume growth at the proper time. 

While the trees and flowering herbs in the seasonally dry 
tropics give the advent of the rainy season a spring-like 
aspect, animals also behave as if it was spring. Many birds 
court and begin to nest at this time. Reptiles that have 
withdrawn into deep crevices for a period of inactivity 
during the dry season begin to move about again. This 
is the time of year when the roadways take their great- 
est toll, when snakes rarely encoimtered in the bush are 
found the victims of a passing car. Frogs and even fish 
that have survived under a hardened roof of mud becoine 
active once more as ponds refill and rivers start to run. In- 
sects hatch from eggs or chrysalids, and a new cycle of activ- 
ity begins. Where only the dry wind could be heard before, 
there is now a cacophony of sounds; singing birds, buzzing 
insects and at night the frogs and toads join in. 

For men too, the beginning of the monsoon is a spring- 
time. In areas with sufficient rainfall the farmer tills and 
plants his fields. In more arid areas the pastoralist, after 
many lean months, finds abundant food for his livestock; 
this is the time for calving and milk is in abundance. For 
many people the dry period is a time of hardship, for others 
simply uncomfortable with its dust and desiccating air. In 
these periods of long drought the skin becomes parched, lips 
chap; the discomfort sets nerves on edge and teinpers flare. 
There is no water for washing, it is too precious. In some 
areas there may not be enough to drink. Arguments for 
water rights are serious, sometimes fatal, and the nomads 
with their livestock wander in constant search. But with the 
coming of the rains, with water, browse and food again 
available, people change. They relax their wanderings, 
and it is easier for all to get along. For the nomadic herds- 
men living in areas too dry to plant a crop, springtime is a 
time for marriages, feasts, and settling debts. For these 
people it is a short spring, a rainy period that ends soon and 
then the wandering search for water and browse again be- 
comes a serious task. 

With the continuance of rain and growth, spring passes 
into summer. The rainy period with its cloudy weather and 
cooler temperature is often called winter by English-speak- 
ing people in the tropics, even though it is the growing sea- 
son. In areas with a long and consistent wet period many 
plants will flower at the end of the rains and into the short, 
dry season. These areas do not exhibit the burst of flower- 
ing foimd in regions with a short and less reliable wet season. 
This sudden renaissance of growth that takes place in as 
little as two weeks is characteristic of the drier tropics. It is 
what I have called a tropical spring. 

APRIL Page II 



WEEKEND FIELD TRIPS SET 

Three weekend trips are planned to explore the botany and geology in and 
around Galena. May 18-19, (with a mine visit), Starved Rock State Park, 
May 25-26, and Devils Lake State Park, \Visconsin, on June 8-9. These 
overnight trips are conducted by Botanist Gabriel Edwin and Geologist Mat- 
thew Nitecki, Curators at the Museum. The objective of these field trips is 
the investigation of the correlations between the rocks and spring flowers, 
especially the effects of the geologic history on flowering plants. The field 
studies will be supplemented by evening discussions and demonstrations on 
plants and rocks collected during the day. The cost for three trips is estimated 
at S50.00; or S20.00 for individual weekends. The preliminary lecture for 
all three trips will be held on Saturday, May 4th at 10 :00 a.m. at the University 
of Chicago, Downtown Center, 65 E. South W'ater Street. For further infor- 
mation phone Barbara O'Connor, Financial 6-8300. 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Aprilhours:0penfrom9a.m.to5p.m. 

April 6 Spring Series of Saturday Morni.ng Programs for Children be- 
gins with Museum Traveler Day and presentation of awards to children who 
have successfully participated in the Museum's Journey Program conducted 
by the Raymond Foundation. A color film, "The Journals of Lewis and 
Clark," depicting the historical trek across the Northwestern United States 
from 1803 to 1809, will be shown. 10:30 a.m., James Simpson Theatre. 

April 6 Meteorite Course Dr. Edward J. Olsen, Curator of Mineralogy, 
lecturer. 10 a.m. First of three lectures, second floor meeting room. 

April 6 Film-Lecture Series: Mexico by Gene Wiancko, 2:30 p.m. in the 
James Simpson Theatre 

April 13 Meteorite Course Dr. Edward J. Olsen, Curator of Mineralogy, 
lecturer. 10 a.m. Second of three lectures, second floor meeting room. 

April 13 Film-Lecture Series: The Holy La.nds by Richard Linde, 2:30 p.m. 
in the James Simpson Theatre. 

April 20 Spring Series of S.'^turd.w Mor.ning Progra.ms for Children 
Camp Fire Girl Day program will feature early history of the State of Illi- 
nois, with emphasis on the Indians of the area and plants and animals they 
used. 10:30 a.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. 

April 20 Meteorite Course Dr. Edward J. Olsen, Curator of Mineralogy 
lecturer. 10 a.m. Final lecture of series, second floor meeting room. 

April 20 Film-Lecture Series: India by Fran William Hall, 2:30 p.m. in the 
James Simpson Theatre. 

April 21 - 27 Geology Ozarks Trip Field Museum, in cooperation with 

the University of Chicago, will sponsor the trip which will include a study 

• of geological phenomena in the field, collection of minerals and fossils, and 

evening lectures. Matthew H. Xitecki will conduct the tour. Tuition is 

S85. To apply call Miss O'Connor, FI 6 - 8300. 

April 27 Spring Series of Saturd.ay Morning Programs for Children 
Cub Scout Day will center its theme around life forms found in the sea. 
10:30 a.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. 

April 27 Film-Lecture Series: The B.\ham.as — From Top to Bottom by Harry 
Pederson, 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. 

Through May: Spring Journey: Plants that the .\meric.vn Indi.\ns Used. 

Illinois Audubon Society, .April 3, 7:30 p.m. 

Chicago Shell Club, April 7, 2 p.m. 

..r-r-r-.i.^^ N.^TURE Camera Club OF Chic.\go, April 9. 7 :45 p.m. 

MEETINGS: „ ., „ * -7 n o 

Chicago Mount.\ineering Club, -April 11, 8 p.m. 

j Sierra Club, Gre.\t Lakes Chapter, April 16, 7:30 p.m. 

I Illinois Orchid Society, .\pril 21, 2 p.m. 



GEOLOGY FILMS 
MADE FOR TV 

Two new educational television pro- 
grams, "Down to Earth" and "From 
Fish to Mammal," written by Ernest 
Roscoe, Raymond Foundation Lecturer 
in Geology, are now available for use by 
teachers and schools served by the New 
Trier Township Instructional Television 
system. 

Robert Pirsein, NTT-IT\' Coordi- 
nator, and the Raymond Foundation of 
Field Museum have coojjerated in the 
production of the programs, which in- 
volved many hours of preparation and 
filming, some done in the Museum. 

Emphasizing that these programs give 
students only a small sampling of the 
material available at Field Museum, 
Roscoe said, "It is hoped that the student 
will visit the Museum many times in the 
future to augment classroominstruction. 
The fjotentialities of reaching large num- 
bers of students and teachers through 
this medium, of carrying the Museum's 
educational efforts far beyond its walls, 
is one of the most exciting challenges we 
have faced." 

Roscoe wasjoined on the programs by 
Mrs. Penny Knepper, a sixth grade 
teacher at Logan School in Wilmette. 
NTT-ITV reaches more than 17,000 
students and 1,000 teachers in 25 par- 
ticipating schools in the New Trier High 
School district and .Avoca, Glencoe, Ken- 
ilworth, Sunset Ridge, ^Vilmette and 
VVinnetka school districts from the trans- 
mission site at New Trier High School 
East in \Vinnetka. 

Programs are developed and produced 
by cooperative efforts of curriculum ex- 
perts, school administrators, teachers, 
T\^ specialists and subject-matter ex- 
perts, said Pirsein. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVE1.T ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS tOMS A.C. 312. 922-9410 

FOUNDED BY MARSH ALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



Page 12 APRIL 



PRINTED BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS 



LLETIN FIELD MUSfE^M OF NAtCdMVI^^HI^TOR 



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THIS MONTH'S COVER 

2 May, 73 A.D. 

The Tenth Legion, Flavius Silva commanding, 

advances on Masada, in the last engagement of 

the Jewish War. Josephus, a Jewish commander 

who earlier in the war went over to Rome, 

wrote the history of the desperate rebellion of 

the Jews against Imperial Rome. 

In the last book of his History, he describes the 

morning of 2 May 

The Romans, still expecting opposition, were in 

arms at daybreak. Having planked bridges 

from the mounds to the fortress, they advanced 

to the assault. When they saw no enemy 

but only fearful solitude on every side, flames 

within, and silence, they were at a loss 

to conjecture what had happened. ... In an 

attempt to quench the flames, they 

quickly opened a passage through them and 

reached the palace. Here they encountered the 

mounds of the slain. Instead of rejoicing 

at the death of their foes, they admired 

the courage of their resolve and the intrepid 

contempt of death so many had shown by such 

a deed as this. 



The diorama on the cover, which in its entirety 
shows over five thousand military miniatures 
of Roman legionaries, is part of a major 
Special Exhibit, opening at Field Museum on 
5 May. 

Masada, King Herod's Fortress, shown with great 
acclaim in London and New York, will be at 
Field Museum through 15 August. The exhibit 
was organized by the Jewish Theological 
Seminary of America and the Israel 
Exploration Society. 

In connection with the exhibit. Field Museum 
is sponsoring a lecture series on the significance 
of Masada. Four evening lectures will be 
held on consecutive Tuesdays in May and 
June. Details on the series and the 
distinguished speakers are on page 7. 
The Exhibit tells the story not only of the heroic 
struggle and brave end of the zealot 
stronghold, but also the arduous and pains- 
taking work of Archaeologist Yigael Yadin 
and more than 5000 volunteers from 
28 countries who dug the site in 1963-65. 
Mr. Yadin tells the story in the following 
pages. 

Page 2 MAT 



by 

YIGAEL YADIN 

Professor of Archaeology, 
Hebrew University of Jerusalem 




MASADA 



The rock of masada, at the eastern edge of the wilderness 
of Jiidea, with a sheer drop of more than 1,300 feet to the 
western shore of the Dead Sea, is a site of gaunt and majestic 
beauty. It is also the location of one of the most dramatic 
episodes in Jewish history. 

In the first century c.E. (Common Era — .'V.d.), Palestine 
was under the occupation of the Romans, who had over- 
thrown the Jewish Kingdom in the middle of the previous 
century. Periodic rebellions by the inhabitants, who sought 
to regain their freedom and sovereignty, were quickly 
crushed. But in the year 66 c.E., the Jewish rebellion flared 
into a full-scale country-wide war which raged with fierce 
bitterness for four years, with the Romans having to bring 
in legion after legion of reinforcements. In 70 c.E., Titus 
conquered Jerusalem, sacked the city, destroyed the Temple 
and expelled many of the Jewish survivors from the country. 

One outpost alone held out, Masada. At the beginning 
of the rebellion, a group of Jewish zealots had destroyed the 
Roman garrison of Masada and held it throughout the war. 
They were soon joined by a few surviving patriots from 
Jerusalem who had evaded capture and expulsion and made 
the long, arduous trek across the Judean wilderness, deter- 
mined to continue their battle for freedom. With the fortress 
of Masada as their base for raiding operations, they harried 
the Romans for two years. In 72 c.E., Flavius Silva, the 
commander of the Tenth Roman Legion, resolved to crush 
this outpost of resistance. He marched on Masada with a 
legion and auxiliary troops, with thousands of prisoners of 
war carrying water, timber and provisions across the lengthy 
stretch of barren plateau. The Jews at the top of the rock, 
commanded by Eleazar ben Yair, prepared to defend them- 
selves, making use of the natural and man-made fortifica- 
tions, and rationing the supplies in their storehouses and 
cisterns. 

Silva's men tried to storm the fortress. They were beaten 
back. Denied swift victory, they prepared for a lengthy 
siege. They established camps around the base of the rock; 
the remains of eight are visible to this day. They built a 
circumvallation around the fortress. And, on a rocky site 
near the western approach to Masada, they constructed a 
ramp of beaten earth and large stones. On this they threw 



up a siege tower and, imder covering fire from its top, they 
moved a battering-ram up the ramp and directed it against 
the fortress wall. They finally succeeded in effecting a 
breach. The defenders countered by rapidly building an 
inner wall consisting of a double stockade of wood filled 
with earth. Silva's reply was to set this ablaze with fire- 
brands. This was the beginning of the end. What hap- 
pened next we know from the writings of the contemporary 
historian, Josephus Flavius. When "the whole of the wall" 
was in flames, "the Romans . . . returned to their camp full 
of spirits, and with a fixed determination to attack the enemy 
at the break of day. . . ." 

That night, at the top of Masada, the Jewish leader, 
Eleazar ben Yair, reviewed the hopeless position. The de- 
fensive wall was now consumed. The Romans would over- 
run them on the following day. There was no hope of relief 
and none of escape. Two alternatives remained: surrender 
or death. He resolved "that a death of glory was preferable 
to a life of infamy, and that the most magnanimous resolu- 
tion would be to disdain the idea of surviving the loss of their 
liberty." Rather than become slaves to their conquerers, 
the defenders — 960 men, women and children — thereupon 
ended their lives at their own hands. When the Romans 
reached the height next morning, they were met with silence. 
Then two women emerged, the only two who had not gone 
through with Eleazar's plan and had hidden themselves. 
It is their story that Josephus recoimts. 

The top of Masada, scene of this drama, is shaped like a 
boat, measuring some 1,900 feet from its northern to its 
southern points and 650 feet from east to west. 

It was Herod the Great, King from 37 b.c.e. to 4 b.c.e., 
who turned Masada into a formidable fort in the early years 
of his reign, creating a citadel of potential refuge from the 
threat of Cleopatra of Egypt. He built a casemate wall 
around the top, defense towers, storehouses, barracks, ar- 
senals, palaces and also a magnificent palace-villa, built on 
three terraces of the cliffside just beneath the northern edge 
of the summit. He also dug large cisterns linked ingenu- 
ously to dry riverbeds which occasionally filled with rain 
water. It was these fortifications and buildings that served 
the last band of Jewish fighters in their struggle against the 



MAY Page 3 



Romans some 75 years after Herod's death. 

All this was known, from Josephiis' minute descriptions, 
to travellers, explorers and archaeologists who were drawn 
to the site since its rediscovery by the American, Edward 
Robinson (father of biblical geography), more than 130 
years ago. Those interested in Roman siege-craft could 
study the easily accessible and uniquely preserved remains 
of Roman circumvallation, assault rampart and camps at 
the foot of Masada. But classical archaeologists, interested 
in these Herodian structures, could do little more than look 
at the surface remains. After a strenuous climb to the top 
of the "snake path" on the eastern face, they could experi- 
ence a sense of achievement simply at having viewed the site, 
while all thought of excavations was piu out of their minds. 




Rectangular Roman camps are still visible after nearly 
2000 years. 

The Englishman, Captain Condor, in 1867, describing his 
ascent by the dangerous path with delight wrote, "A false 
step here would have been destruction : we arrived at the top 
at 5:20 p.m. and gave three cheers, re-echoed from below." 
But it was only after the establishment of the State of 
Israel that more became known of Masada through ama- 
teur research by the youth of the country. This led in 1955 
and 1956, to soundings on the top of the rock by an Israeli 
archaeological expedition. These showed that Masada could 
be excavated only by a large-scale expedition camping on 
the site for a protracted period. It fell to me to direct this 
archaeological exploration. We imdertook two campaigns : 
seven months in 1963-4 and five months in 1964-5, and by 
May 1, 1966, we had excavated 96 per cent of the built-up 
area of Masada. The remaining three per cent was left 
unexcavated intentionally so that future visitors could get 
a before and after picture. 



We faced enormous administrative and logistic problems. 
The Israel army bulldozed a 15-mile track over the Judean 
wilderness so that we could reach Masada by the easier, 
western approach, leaving us only a gentle 10-minute climb 
to the top. The Israel water authority laid a pipeline. We 
pitched 40 tents for the expedition close to Silva's camp; 
we had to select an inferior site since Silva had made the 
strategic choice. From there we built cable-ferries to lift 




Volunteers from many countries joined in the excavations 

the equipment to the summit. To these difficult conditions 
were added uncommonly hard winters, with heavy rains 
and storms. 

In addition to teams of professional archaeologists, we 
had the usual avalanche of applications from Israeli volun- 
teers whom we took for two-week periods. We then decided 
on an unusual step and opened our lists to volunteers from 
overseas. The response was extraordinary. Throughout the 
two seasons of digging, we were joined by thousands of 
volunteers from 28 covmtries, who came at their own 
expense and put in an exciting two-week stint, often 
extended to many months. If we managed to achieve all 
we did in 12 months of excavation it is due only to the en- 
thusiasm of these volunteers from home and abroad, the 
Israeli youth movements and the Israel ariny. 

Our finds are of immense importance to archaeologists, 
historians, numismatists, Scroll researchers, Talmudic schol- 
ars and students of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic. We were 
able to clarify the nature of the architecture, art and stra- 
tigraphy of all Masada's buildings, from Herod's time up to 
the Byzantine period. We uncovered magnificent first cen- 
tury iTiosaics, the earliest ever found in Israel. We unearthed 
the buildings of the Zealots — and gruesome evidence of their 
last stand. Rare coins were found of the period of the Jew- 
ish revolt — from 66 to 70 c.E. We discovered extremely 



Paged MAT 



precious documents, including biblical scrolls, and scrolls 
of the Dead Sea Sect, which can be absolutely dated from 
before 73 c.e., the first time that ancient scrolls can be spe- 
cifically and absolutely dated. And we have been able to 
recreate the patterns of life on the top of this rock during its 
various periods of occupation. 

The most spectacular building on Masada was Herod's 
three-tiered palace-villa (hitherto inaccessible except by the 
use of stakes and rope ladders, but now served by permanent 




King Herod's three-tiered palace. 

staircases installed for us by the army). On the upper ter- 
race are remains of a rectangular building used as living 
quarters, with a magnificent semicircular porch bounded 
by the cliff. The rooms were adorned with frescoes and 
simple black and white mosaic floors. The middle terrace, 
60 feet below, boasted a circular pavilion and colonnade. 
The bottom terrace, 40 feet lower, was the outstanding area 
of the villa, and the best preserved. It contained a double 
colonnade surrounding a large patio, with wall paintings of 
colored panels. Though some of these paintings show a 
naive attempt to imitate marble and precious stones, they 
are well executed, in the style popular during that period 
throughout the Roman Empire. This villa is the only spot 
on Masada which enjoys constant shelter from the searing 
desert winds. This, in fact, was the structure described by 
Josephus as Herod's palace. This description, until re- 
cently, was erroneously taken to refer to the large build- 
ing in the middle of the western part of the plateau. That, 
we discovered, was indeed the official palace, but the north- 
ern terraced structure was Herod's private retreat. 

When we excavated Herod's palace, we foimd it com- 
pletely covered with a thick layer of ashes, and it was in the 
ashes of the lower terrace that we came across gruesome 
evidence of the fate of the Jewish defenders. Lying among 



coins of the Jewish revolt, a letter in Aramaic, a mantle, 
arrows and hundreds of silver-plated scales of armor, were 
the remains of skeletons of a man, a woman and a youth. 
Dark brown braids were still attached to the scalp of the 
woman and nearby were her leather sandals. Josephus had 
written, ". . . and the one man left till last, first surveyed 
the serried ranks of the dead, in case amidst all the slaughter 
someone was still left in need of his hand; then, finding that 
all had been dispatched, set the palace blazing fiercely, and 
summoning all his strength drove his .sword right through 
his body and fell dead by the side of his family." 

South of the hanging palace were the ruins of a large 
complex of buildings consisting of long, narrow halls. These 




Shaft of light pierces a giant cistern at Masada. 

were the famous storerooms built by Herod. We found the 
floors littered with huge piles of debris, mostly of stone, be- 
longing to the walls and roofs which had collapsed when the 
Zealots burned their stores before their suicide. We discov- 
ered hundreds of jars containing remnants of food, each food 
item kept in a separate room. Some of the jars had been 
made in Herod's time, but they were also used by the Jewish 
defenders, who replenished them, and wrote labels describ- 
ing their contents in Aramaic and Hebrew. These short 
inscriptions were of great importance for the history of 
Hebrew script, since they are unquestionably dated 66- 
73 C.E. They also told us much of the way of life of the 
defenders, for many of these inscriptions indicate that the 
contents of certain jars were tithes set aside for the Levites 
and Priests, and show how scrupulously they followed the 
laws of Moses, even under the harsh conditions of belea- 
guered Masada. 



MAr Pages 




Floor of the Roman bath's "hot room " once rested on 
these squat pillars. 

A great surprise awaited us when we started digging near 
the storerooms. As we went deeper, we came across a classic 
Roman-style public bath, which turned out to be the largest 
of its kind ever found in this part of the world, and definitely 
the best preserved, with all its installations and lavish adorn- 
ments. The walls of the hot, tepid and cold rooms were 
covered with frescoes, and their floors beautifully tiled. Also 
well preserved were the clay pipes for the circulation of hot 
air, and the numerous squat pillars on which the floor of the 
hot room rest. 

The western palace, the main palace of Herod, was the 
largest structure on the rock. It was a royal residence com- 
plete with throne room, reception room, service quarters, 
and workshops, all very well laid out. Two large, multi- 
colored mosaics were uncovered here. They are exquisitely 
executed, and perhaps the finest ever found in Israel. Cer- 
tainly, they are the most ancient. This palace, too, was 
covered by a thick layer of ashes in which were found many 
coins of the revolt bearing the inscription, For the freedom of 
^ion. Several small palaces were found near the main pal- 
ace, obviously built for Herod's family. 

Northeast of this palace are the ruins of a small Christian 
chapel erected by a group of monks in the fifth centurx'. 
(They also built small cells in various places on Masada.) 
The structure consists of a rectangular hall oriented toward 
the east, with an inner apse. It had once been decorated 
with handsome mosaic paving, most of it long since re- 
moved. But we were lucky to find a beautiful mosaic still 
intact in the adjoining room, the vestry. 

Our greatest and most important finds were in the cham- 
bers of the fortress casemate wall which encircles the top of 
Masada. The Zealots had used these chambers as living 
quarters, and here we found large quantities of domestic 
utensils, as well as items made of perishable materials such 



as mats, shoes, clothing. In some of the rooms we found a 
small heap of embers in the corner, with remains of sandals, 
clothing, mirrors; mute witness for the Josephus record; 
"They quickly made one heap of all they possessed and set 
it on fire." Several rooms contained collections of stone 
balls which had been fired by the Roman catapults. These 
chambers also yielded numerous bronze and silver coins, 
including rare silver shekels of the revolt, some inscribed 
Jerusalem the Holy — Shekel of Israel, and others inscribed Tear 
Five, the last to be struck before the fall of the Temple. The 
total number of coins found during the excavation is 4,000. 
Among them are the equally rare silver half-shekels. This 
constitutes the biggest corpus of Jewish and Roman coins of 
the first half of the first century c.e. ever found in excavations. 
From the Jewish point of view, the four most important 
buildings we uncovered were a synagogue, two ritual baths 
{mikveh) and a religious schoolroom, all added by the Zealots 
to the Herodian buildings. They confirm that the Zeal- 
ots were strict observers of the Jewish Law; for these three 
institutions are the most important for a religious commu- 
nity. The synagogue, abutting the northwestern wall, is a 
rectangular hall with two rows of columns and mud benches 
all around. It is oriented toward Jerusalem. This is not 
only the earliest synagogue known, but the only one to sur- 
vive from the time of the Second Temple. (The original 
Herodian structure on this site was probably also a syna- 
gogue.) Of the ritual baths, the first was found in a case- 
made chamber in the southeastern section of the wall, and 
the second in the courtyard of a large administrative build- 
ing we uncovered just west of the storeroom complex. Both 
are identical in plan and construction, each having three 
basins or baths, one of which is supplied by rainwater as 
required by religious law. These, too, are the only surviving 
mikvehs from the period of the Second Temple. The school- 
room {beth midrash) was one of the first important finds of 
the excavation. It was located south of the western palace, 
and consists of a long hall, with benches on three sides and 
one in the center. 



Fragment of ancient T' ,V****" 



document was one ^ '•'C^ 
of the most impor- "- --^?^- 
tant finds. 




Page 6 MAT 



Our greatest prize was, of course, the collection of parch- 
ment scrolls that we unearthed, biblical and others. This 
was the first time such scrolls have been discovered outside 
caves and in proper stratigraphic contexts, which permits 
dating them to before the destruction of the Temple in 
70 c.E. They include chapters from Genesis, Leviticus, 
Deuteronomy, Pslams and Ezekial, and are identical in text, 
spelling and chapter division with the traditional Hebrew 
Bible. We also found a scroll fragment of the long lost orig- 
inal Hebrew manuscript of the Book of Jubilees, one of the 
most important apocryphal works, which is reserved only 
in Ethiopic, Greek and Latin manuscripts, but which was 
suspected to have been originally written in Hebrew. It 
was very popular with the Dead Sea Scroll Sect. Another 
important find, also in the Apocrypha, was a first century 
B.c.E. copy of the lost 200 b.c.e. Hebrew original of Eccle- 
siasticus, also known as the Wisdom of Ben Sira. Most 
astonishing perhaps of our finds was a portion of a scroll, 
identical with one of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments discov- 
ered in Qumran Cave IV, consisting of liturgies associated 
with the Heavenly Sabbath sacrifices. Since the Masada 
Dead Sea Scroll portion can be clearly and definitely dated 
for the first time as not later than the first half of the first 
century c.e., it conclusively disproves the views of a very 



small minority of scholars who hold that the Dead Sea 
Scrolls are either not genuine or date only from medieval 
times. 

I should add that in addition to scrolls, we also found 
no less than 700 ostraca (fragments of pottery bearing in- 
scriptions) which will be the object of fruitful future study. 
Among these the most important group, and certainly the 
most intriguing, consists of eleven small potsherds, each with 
a different name or nickname, and all written by the same 
hand. The most startling is the sherd bearing the name of 
Ben Yair, who may well be the very Zealot commander 
mentioned by Josephus. Could this group of ostraca refer 
to the ten or so last surviving men who drew lots among 
themselves to determine who would remain to kill the others? 
This is a tempting interpretation. 

Our excavations are over. We archaeologists now face 
the less romantic and more arduous scientific task of exam- 
ining, studying, and assessing the tensof thousands of sherds, 
deciphering the inscriptions, elucidating the scrolls, com- 
pleting our stratigraphic plans, and evaluating all our data 
both from the archaeological and historical viewpoints. 
When this material is classified and published, it will, I hope, 
help to present the scientific and spiritual reconstruction of 
the Masada that was. 



MASADA LECTURE SERIES 

"The Historical Context of Masada," by Prof. William F. 
Albright, W. W. Spence Professor Emeritus of Semitic Lan- 
guages at Johns Hopkins University, will open a series of 
four lectures related to the special exhibition on May 14. 

Other lectures in the series will include "The Dead Sea 
Scrolls and Early Sectarianism," by Prof. Norman Golb, 
University of Chicago, May 28; "Josephus and Masada," 
by Prof. Morton Smith, Columbia University, June 4; and 
"Israel, Crossroads of Empires and Civilizations: Archaeo- 
logical Evidence," by Prof. Helene Kantor, University of 
Chicago, June 11. 

Prof. Albright, the first 
lecturer, is an outstand- 
ing authority on the ar- 
chaeology of the Near East 
and is a past president of 
the International Associ- 
ation of Old Testament 
Scholars. 

He earned his doctor- 
ate in Semitic languages 
from Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity in 1916 and from 
1919 to 1936 was on the 
staff of the American School 
of Oriental Research in 




Professor Albright 



Jerusalem, twice serving as its director. 

Prof. Albright holds 27 honorary doctorates from insti- 
tutions in sev'cral countries and is a fellow or honorary mem- 
ber of many learned societies. 



.'\mong his many books arc several of general interest, 
including From the Stone Age to Christianity, Archaeology and 
the Religion oj Israel, The Archaeology oj Palestine, History, Ar- 
chaeology and Christian Humanism, and Tahweh and the Gods oj 
Canaan. With David Noel Freedman, he edits the Double- 
day Anchor Bible. 

Prof. Morton Smith, Professor of Ancient History at Co- 
lumbia University, earned his doctorate in theology at the 
Harvard Divinity School. His thesis, "Judaism in Pales- 
tine I, to the Reign of Antiochus Epiphanes," was recast 
as a series of lectures on the History of Religions of the 
American Council of Learned Societies. He is co-author 
of The Ancient Greeks and Heroes and Gods (with Moses Hadas) . 

Prof. Norman Golb and Prof. Helene Kantor are both 
on the faculty of the Oriental Institute and the Department 
of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 

Prof. Golb, Associate Professor of Medieval Jewish Stud- 
ies, made several discoveries and identifications of Jewish 
documents while secretary of the Institute of Jewish Studies 
of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. 

Prof. Kantor, Professor of Archaeology, is a specialist in 
comparative archaeology and art of the ancient Near East 
and formative stages of its civilizations. With P. P. De- 
lougaz, she directed excavations at the large prehistoric 
settlements and protohistoric urban centers of Beth Yerah 
(Sea of Galilee) and Chogha Mish (Khuzestan, Iran). 

The lecture series tickets are S5.00 for Museum Mem- 
bers and $7.50 for non-members. Lectures will be held on 
consecutive Tuesdays at 8:15 p.m. in the James Simpson 
Theatre. The "Masada" exhibit will be open on the eve- 
nings when lectures are held. 



MAT Page 7 



a Chicago original 



The Burnham Plan 



and Field Museum 



by Patricia M. Williams, Field Museum Press 




Right, The piers which support Field Museum, surrounded by fill. 
The piers, in turn, are built on piles, some of which go down nearly a 
hundred feet below lake level. Photo was taken looking northwest. 
It is interesting that the Michigan Avenue sky- 
line, after half a century, still has most of the 
buildings shown here, although many additions 
have been made. These were the great land- 
marks of the Chicago School of architectiire, 
buildings by Adler, Sullivan, Daniel Burnham. 




The arches oj ,;.« -t.t.iid floor gallery. I'u tin Ufl, between the 
arches, one now looks down into Stanley Field Hall. The area 
shown houses a remarkable collection of Chinese pottery and 
metal work. Photo was taken in January, 1919. 



Today downtown Chicago is in the midst of an enormous 
construction boom, and controversy rages over almost every 
building that goes up. The traditionalists call the new 
buildings glass boxes, the futurists decry the lack of archi- 
tectural imagination, and the average pedestrian complains 
about the mud all over the sidewalks surrounding construc- 
tion sites. 

The Columbian Exposition of 1893 created a lakefront 
building boom too, that was the subject of great dissension. 
At that time Chicago was an important force in modern 
architecture, and designers and writers maligned the neo- 
classical "White City" that was the fair. Not only did the 
Fair slow down the modern movements in architecture, they 
accused, but it "strangled the bustling Chicago style" as well. 

"But even that much-maligned World's Columbian Ex- 
position of 1893 was full of technological marvels; however 
fake the exhibition buildings looked on the outside, the great 
steel vaults of the Manufacturers Building were anything 
but fake. And the fantastic Ferris wheel in the amusement 



Pages MAY 




:i^ ^_ l2- 



rr- T> 'imirif '^^THfl PT • ff^-" tr* f  i V 



area, and such giant machinery as the huge Bethlehem 
steam hammer (the largest then extant) — all these were 
evidence of a continuing love affair between Chicago and 
technology in all its aspects."' 

The Field Museum was one of the marvels of this con- 
troversial fair. But when the Exposition was over and the 
fanfare died away, the Museum lived on to become a dig- 
nified and permanent resident of the lakefront. It did not, 
however, live on in the same building. The original build- 
ing in Jackson Park was constructed only for a summer's use 
and by 1897 was rapidly deteriorating. The roof leaked con- 
stantly, and the exhibits inside were exposed to damage. 
The steady disintegration and fall of the substance covering 
the outside walls made the building look a shambles. By 
1900 the Museum's Director stated that it had been neces- 
sary to reconstruct the roof almost completely, and in 1902 
he reported that the whole building had reached the limits 
of repair. 

' Architectural Forum, May, 1962, p. 125. 



In 1905 plans for a new building were considered, but 
before these plans were completed the Jackson Park build- 
ing suffered further collapse, and fences were erected to 
protect the public from falling mortar. Inside, the collec- 
tions were growing as the building died. In 1913 Director 
Skiff wrote, "If the pressure for space continues, as it seems 
likely it will do, some portions of the Museum must be closed 
off as an improvised warehouse where cases can be stored. 
... In some of the coiu-ts and halls the circulation provisions 
have been reduced to two-feet passageways which really 
almost prohibits an inspection of the cases."  

Before Marshall Field died in 1906, he worked closely 
with Daniel Burnham, the renowned designer and planner, 
on the plans for the new Museum building. Despite the 
critics. Field liked the design of the Jackson Park building 
and of the Exposition in general and wanted the new build- 
ing to follow this same tradition. 

The Exposition had been planned and built under Burn- 
ham's management, and it was this Fair that sparked his 



MAT Page 9 



interest in city planning and great civic enterprise. Burn- 
ham, who coined the slogan so dear to every city planner's 
heart — "Make no small plans, they have no magic to stir 
man's blood," rightly believed that Chicago would never 
again have the opportunity to devise a grand plan for the 
city, so he set about to devise such a plan. 

According to Architectural Foriim,^ "The 1909 Burnham 
Plan for Chicago'' is the classic American master plan. It 
was not the first of its kind. But in its time it was the most 



structure in the world has ever had a nobler setting than 
this would be." 

Burnham's plan placed the Museum at Congress Street, 
directly behind what is now Buckingham Fountain. The 
Museum's east steps were to lead right to the water's edge 
where Burnham envisioned a brilliantly-lighted yacht basin, 
surrounded by floating islands reachable only by boat. On 
the west, the Museum was to face the fountain and beyond 
that the Confjress Street axis reaching west to Civic Centre 




Corner slone ceremony, September 28, 
1911. The Staff of Field Museum of 
Natural History. 



thorough appraisal of a city ever made, and its proposals 
envisioned the most complete redevelopment of a city till 
then attempted. And looking at the Burnham Plan today, 
it is astounding that so much of it was realized. 

"Indeed, most of the major features of today's Chicago 
are products of the plan : the grand boulevard development 
of Michigan Avenue, the elegant foundations and the ter- 
races of Grant Park, the double-decked Wacker Drive and 
bridges across the Chicago River, the axial cut of the Con- 
gress Street Expressway, and the long string of lagooned 
parks to the north and south along the lake. Even the 90- 
degree turns on the Outer Drive at the crossing of the Chi- 
cago River mark an incomplete stage of the plan, which was 
faithfully followed up through World War II." 

However, as was to be expected, much of Burnham's 
plan was not realized. In a speech introducing his plan to 
the noted Merchants Club, Biu-nham said, "The principal 
feature of the Grant Park should be the Field Columbian 
Museum, which should lie in the center of it, leaving a 
parade ground on the north and a playground on the south 
of it." 

He went on, "Pictine to yourselves a stately white mu- 
seum, resting on the Grand Terrace called the Lake Front, 
and dominating all the elements of it; the lawns, the foun- 
tains, the monuments, all of which should be placed so as 
to have some reference to that particular building. No 

' .irchitfclural Forum, May, 1962, p. 108. 



Square at Halsted Street. 

Obviously, the location of the Field Museum was a facet 
of Burnham's plan that went awry. A provision in Marshall 
Field's will gave the Museum $4,000,000 "for a building to 
be erected upon a site to be furnished for that purpose, pro- 
vided a suitable one is procured within six years from the 
date of Mr. Field's death." The Board of Trustees, led by 
Stanley Field, who was the driving force behind the con- 
struction of the building, immediately began negotiations 
for the desired Grant Park site. However, opposition to 
placing any building in the park developed, and following 
extended legal negotiations, the central Grant Park site was 
abandoned. 

In 1911, after considering several proposed sites in vari- 
ous parts of Chicago, the Board accepted a site in Jackson 
Park immediately north of the old building for construction 
of the new building. A contract was entered into and prep- 
arations begun for construction. Steel was at the site, the 
marble was being quarried and collections of the Depart- 
ment of Geology were moved from the west annex, where 
they had been housed, to the central part of the building 
when, in 1914, the South Park Commissioners offered a site 
in the reclaimed area just south of Grant Park. 

The offer was accepted, the steel and marble transferred, 
and on July 26, 1915 construction work began. Rather than 
breaking ground, Thompson-Starrett, the builders, had to 
begin by filling ground. The natural elevation of the site 



Page 10 M.AY 



was some 30 feet below the floor of the projected Miiseimi 
basement, and it took over a year to accompUsh the filling. 

Although the technique used was not uncommon, the 
laying of the foundation was a lengthy part of the construc- 
tion job. The foundation consistsof clusters of wood pilings 
which start below the lake level and extend another 65-95 
feet down. Some of these pilings go to rock, others encoun- 
tered a hard substance before the rock level. 

These piles support 30 feet tall concrete piers which 
reach up to the groimd floor. The number of piles in a 
cluster is not uniform, but varies with the location of the 
cluster. For examply, there are 22 piles in the cluster that 
support the piers between the windows in the exterior walls, 
while the piers supporting the walls adjacent to Stanley 
Field Hall are atop 12-pile clusters.' 

The next step, the setting of the outside marble, began 
in May, 1917. The exterior walls are 21 inches thick and 
the outer six inches of that are white marble, making the 
marble a structural element as well as a beautiful facing. 
(This is in marked contrast to the current trend of using a 
curtain or veneer of marble solely as a decorative element 
with no structural function.) 

By the end of 1917, the east and west wings of the build- 
ing were practically complete, as was the basement work 
of the north and south entrances. Brick and steel work, 
plumbing, steam fitting, tile and glass work, and roofing all 
moved according to plan. Levels were taken constantly for 
any sign of settlement or movement. 

In 1918 the Museum was imsettled by an element that 
no level could predict. World War I was going badly, 
American casualties were heavy, and the national govern- 
ment found itself short of hospitals needed in the event of a 
protracted war. Therefore, the government contracted to 
use the new Museum building "for three years as a Govern- 
ment hospital." This change in plans speeded up construc- 
tion — until the Armistice was signed. With the war over, 
the government had no further interest in the Museum 
building and cancelled the contract. As Director SkiflT so 
nicely phrased it, all of this had a "confusing and disturbing 
effect upon the affairs of the Museum." 

Following lengthy negotiations, but "no serious dispute," 
the Museum accepted an allowance from the government 
"as full satisfaction of expenses incurred and additional cost 
imposed during the time the Government controlled build- 
ing operations." 

All the major contracts were closed and, except for the 
terrace, the building was complete on or about June 1, 1920, 
approximately five years from the date when construction 
began. 

' The data regarding the foundation and the thickness of the 
walls was provided by Harry M. Weese & Associates, Architects. 

Progress. Top, October 15, 1915: while pile drivers sink the pilings 
which support the building, fill is brought to the site on special railway 
spurs. Center, July 6, 1915: mortar men and brick layers working 
on the ground floor level. The open area now houses the Division of 
Reptiles and Amphibians and the Division of Fishes. Bottom, 
August 2!f, 1919: work has progressed to the second floor, and struc- 
tural steel roofing for the internal bay areas has been put in place. 
View is toward the Southeast. 





Ii sat alone in the midst of a sea of iniid. Tliere were 
no sidewalks or streets leading to it, only a few crude roads 
and footpaths crossing the newly-made land. A reporter 
for the Architectural Record poetically wrote that the Museum 
was "isolated on a dirt flat, from which its Georgian marble 
mass gleams like a white growth in black loam." 

This ''Georgian marble mass" was closely patterned on 
the Erechtheiiim, one of the temples of the Acropolis in 
Athens which are generally recognized as the finest ex- 
amples of the Ionic order. Contrary to the old temple 
form, however, the great area and especially the long ridge 
and attic lines tend to create an almost squat appearance. 



credit to a stevedore. Yet, in spite of this — or perhaps be- 
cause of it — they bear an unquestionable dignity. 

Above each caryatid porch there is a horizontal relief 
panel which represents one of the four divisions of the Mu- 
seum — Anthropology, Botany, Geology and Zoology. These 
panels are quite decorative, displaying an abundance of 
floating ribbon, flowing draperies and feathery wings. 

The four figures flanking the arches of Stanley Field Hall 
complete Hering's work. These figures are intended to be 
symbolic of the use and inspiration of the Museum : Science, 
Dissemination of Knowledge, Research and Record. 

Hering designed eight more figures — Fire, Earth, Air 




The most famous view of Field Museum 
is looking south from Lake Shore Drive 
at the North Door. Here is the North 
Door under construction, May, 1918. 
The supports under the columns give 
an idea of how deep the fill is around 
the Museum. Today, visitors climb 38 
steps to reach the columns and the North 
Entrance. 



Height restrictions laid down for structures in the lakefront 
area account in great measure for the architect's faihne to 
adhere to the Ionic form throughout. 

In addition to his passion for Greek and Roman archi- 
tecture, Daniel Burnham had a passion for cleanliness. His 
biographer, Charles Moore, relates, "To Mr. Burnham 
cleanliness seemed not next to godliness, but on a par with 
it. Hence his use of white marble and glass in corridors. 
He planned so that every spot should show, and hence the 
building must be kept clean." The Museum's maintenance 
staflfcan testify to the great eff"ectiveness of Burnham's plan- 
ning in this area. 

Henry Hering created the sculpture that embellishes the 
Museum inside and out. There are eight caryatids on the 
exterior of the building and, while at first glance they may 
seem to be identical, there are actually two types. These 
types are very similar in mass and movement, but vary in 
such details as hairstyle, neckline and drapery folds. The 
caryatids are ail alike, however, in that their feet are huge, 
their hips more than generous and their shoulders would do 



and Water; North, South, East and West — to be set across 
the attic (the area immediately above the columned doors), 
but these figures were never executed in marble and the 
attic remains devoid of statuary. 

All in all, the Museum building took over five years and 
more than $7,000,000 to build. A representative of Thonip- 
son-Starrett, the construction engineers that built it, esti- 
mates that to duplicate this building today would take at 
least three years and $24,000,000, assuming all equipment 
and material was readily available. However, as Mr. Wil- 
liam Dring of Harry M. Weese and Associates pointed out, 
it is inconceivable that anyone would contemplate erecting 
an identical building today. One could be built which to 
outward appearances would look much the same, but struc- 
turally it would be very different from the Museum building. 

Resting comfortably on its 30 feet of fill, the Museum 
building is a reminder, then, of the rising cost of living and 
Chicago real estate values, changing technology, a fantastic 
lakefront fair and an architect's dream, as well as a mag- 
nificent Chicago landmark. 



Page 12 .MAT 



Destination: 




Preparations are in the final stages for the third nianmial 
survey expedition to be led by Mr. and Mrs. William S. 
Street in cooperation with Field Museum. The expedition 
will do field research in Tiukey beginning in June. 

Against the background of the usual scientific work in 
the Division of Mammals, two yoimg mammalogists who 
will be members of the expedition have been involved for 
several weeks in the many details of obtaining and packing 
the necessary equipment and in the intense study required 
before the survey begins. 

The expedition leaders, William S. and Janice K. Street, 
formerly of Chicago and now of Seattle, Wash., have previ- 
ously made mammal surveys of Iran in 1962 and Afghani- 
stan in 1965. 

The mammalogists of the present expedition are Daniel 
R. Womochel, a graduate student from Texas Technologi- 
cal College, and Anthony F. DeBlase, a graduate student 
from Oklahoma State University. 

Womochel has had two separate field work experiences 
in the past year, one involving summer field work on lem- 
mings in Alaska in 1967 and the other in collecting ecto- 
parasites from southern hemisphere seals and birds in Ant- 
arctica in the winter of 1967-68. He also participated in 
two summer expeditions to Mexico from Michigan State 
University in 1962 and 1963 and earned his master's degree 
from Texas Tech with a thesis on a field study of eight native 
species of Texas rodents. 

Anthony DeBlase, a graduate of Earlham College in 
Richmond, Ind., has collected and banded bats in Indiana, 
Oklahoma and Texas and will use this experience to investi- 
gate the cave bats of Turkey. 

On the Turkish mammal survey, DeBlase will specialize 
in study of the native predator species, including small 
shrews, moles and hedgehogs, which prey upon insects, and 




William S. and Janice K. Street, 
leaders of the mammal survey of 
Turkey, have directed two previous expeditions. These photos were 
taken during their 7962 expedition to Iran, the most extensive mam- 
mal survey ever made in that country. 



medium-sized foxes, jackals, wildcasts and lynxes, which 
feed upon rodents, hares and birds. 

Womochel will concentrate on the prey species of Turk- 
ish mammals. Among the rodent species he expects to 
study in the field and collect for further study in Chicago 
are hamsters and gerbils. He also hopes to make observa- 
tions in Turkey on two hoofed species which also occur in 
Europe, the chamois and the wild sheep of the Mediter- 
ranean Islands, Corsica and Sardinia. 

Both young scientists plan to work for doctorate degrees, 
with dissertations on the scientific results of the expedition. 

Departure date for the expedition's mammalogists de- 
pends upon when the S. S. Neptune, the first ship from Chi- 
cago, reaches the eastern Mediterranean. Already aboard 
the Neptune are the Field Museum's two specially-outfitted 
International Harvester Travelalls. Forty wooden boxes 
full of camping gear and the scientific equipment for collec- 
tion of mammal specimens and for recording data in the 
field are also on that ship. 



MAT Page 13 




On the Mitseum's top floor, expedition mammalogists Daniel Womo- 
chel (left) and Anthony DeBlase itemize and pack some of the hun- 
dreds of items included in the equipment for the Street mammal 
survey of Turkey. The equipment filled more than 40 wooden crates. 



Mr. and Mrs. Street will be setting up expedition head- 
quarters in Ankara the second week in May and will cable 
for their young scientists to emplane when the Neptune 
reaches port in Istanbul. 

Lists of the expedition needs run into hundreds of items 
and a sampling of these gives an indication of the complex- 
ities involved in planning the survey. The items include 
two triple-beam balance scales, three animal predator calls, 
two camouflage nets, two alarm clocks, one collapsed cook- 
ing stove, one potato peeler, eight salad forks, two snake bite 
kits, three inflatable splints for legs, four cans of Ojf insect 
repellent, two cans of Raid, one 6 by 8-inch camp mirror, 
24 harmonicas and 1,000 balloons. The last two groups of 
items are destined for youngsters living in the villages near 
which the expedition will camp. 

The scientists who accompanied the Streets on the two 
previous mammal surveys to southwestern Asia have both 
contributed manuscripts now being published by the Field 
Museum Press. 

"A Study of the Mammals of Iran, Resulting from the 
Street Expedition of 1962-63," by Douglas M. Lay, was 
published in October, 1967, as part of the scientific series, 
Fieldiana: ^oologji. Lay and Mr. and Mrs. Street collected 
1,728 specimens of mammals from all parts of Iran and pro- 
vided the most comprehensive scientific study ever published 
on the mammals of Iran. Lay is now completing his doc- 
torate research which grew out of discoveries he made dur- 
ing the investigation of Iranian mammals. 

Jerry Hassinger left graduate studies at the University 
of California to accompany the Streets on their 1965 mam- 
mal survey in Afghanistan and his first 100-page work is 
scheduled for publication in Fieldiana: ^oology this year. He 
is currently completing another manuscript on the terrestrial 
mammals of Afghanistan. 



Page 14 MAY 



recent acquisitions — anthropology 

MRS. A.W.F. FULLER GIVES 
CARVED LUBA BOWSTAND 

A SCULPTURED bowstand from the Luba people of the Kin- 
shasa Congo Republic is among miscellaneous objects from 
the collection of the late Captain A. W. F. Fuller recently 
acquired by Field Museum as a gift from Mrs. Fuller. 

The bowstand, of carved wood except for a chisel-shaped 
ferrule at its base, has three prongs radiating from the han- 
dle. The figure of a woman, decorated with a pattern of 
body scars characteristic of the Luba, forms the body of the 
bowstand. 

Among this people of the Upper Lualaba River, sculp- 
tured items, such as the bowstand, play more than a utili- 
tarian role. Sculpture incorporating the human figure is 
believed to be associated with the Luba nobility. 

Some objects closely as- 
sociated with the Luba chiefs 
are regarded by the people 
as having supernatural qual- 
ities and are handed down as 
heirlooms to chiefs that fol- 
low. W. F. P. Burton, a 
missionary who spent 34 
years among the Luba, com- 
mented that "Every chief- 
tainship has certain objects 
of veneration, which may be 
considered as the expression 
of the very entity of the com- 
munity." He said that these 
objects were beyond price 
and, in addition, any Luba 
would rather risk his life than 
let an heirloom fall into the 
hands of an enemy. 
Limited information available on the use and social sig- 
nificance of the bowstand indicates it is set in the grovmd 
or wall near the bed, where bows, arrows and spears are 
held by resting them in between the prongs. Responsibility 
for the weapons and bowstand was given to one of the chiefs 
first wives, who may also have carried his weapons when 
he went to war. Among peoples descended from the Luba, 
bowstands are also kept and transmitted as heirlooms of de- 
ceased chiefs. 

The bow is the traditional Luba weapon for hunting and 
war and figures prominently in enthronement rituals. To 
receive one of the highly prized heirlooms is indicative of 
the highest esteem of the Luba nobility. Young men wish- 
ing to have a noble as a patron would present that person 
with an arrow. 




NEW CURATOR JOINS 
ANTHROPOLOGY STAFF 

Dr. stephan gasser, 29, a native of Basel, Switzer- 
land, was recently appointed Assistant Curator of 
Oceanic Archaeology and Ethnology in the Field 
Museum Department of Anthropology. 

He studied under Professor Alfred Buehler at 
the University of Basel and specialized in the eth- 
nology of Indonesia, a tradition at the university 
since the 19th century. Dr. Gasser received his 
doctorate in 1967, after completing his thesis, 
"Pottery Craft in Indonesia," which required re- 
search at museums in both Switzerland and the 
Netherlands. 

At Field Museum, Dr. Gasser will conduct research with the Museum's large 
Indonesian collections and he is also considering the possibility of investigating 
historical relations between Oceania and Middle and South America. 

Prior to joining the Museum stafT, he spent two months studying Mexican 
archaeological sites with several Mexican anthropologists. 




CALENDAR OF EVENTS 



May hours: May 1-4, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 
May 5-September 2, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.. 
Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; 9 a.m. 
to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 
and Sunday. 

May 3 Member's Night Special preview of temporary exhibit, "Masada, King 
Herod's Fortress," from 3 to 10 p.m. Two half-hour music and dance pro- 
grams, featuring the Amranian Brothers, Israeli Folk singers, and the Habonian 
Israeli Folk Dance Troupe from Chicago, will be held at 7 and 9 p.m. Lecture, 
"Masada, A State of Mind," by Marc Michaelson, Director of Publicity for 
the Tourism Council of Greater Chicago, at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. 

May 4 Latin Day in Illinois Sponsored by the Illinois Classical Conference, 
state high school Latin students will attend illustrated lectures in James 
Simpson Theatre and tour exhibit areas in the day-long program. 

May 5 "Masada" Exhibit opens to the public, through August 15. 

May 14 Tuesday Evening Lecture Series First of four lectures in conjunction 
with "Masada" Exhibit. Prof. William Albright, Johns Hopkins University, 
will speak on "The Historical Context of Masada." Subscription series also 
includes programs on May 28, June 4 and June 11, 8:15 p.m., James Simpson 
Theatre. See page 7 for details. 

May 1 8-1 9 Weekend Botany and Geology Field Trip to Galena, conducted 
by Botanist Gabriel Edwin and Geologist Matthew Nitecki, Museum Curators. 
The Curators will conduct two other field trips, to Starved Rock State Park, 
May 25-26, and to Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin, June 8-9. Cost 
is estimated at $20.00 for each trip or $50.00 for all three. Preliminary lecture 
for all three field trips will be held at 10 a.m. on May 4 at the University of 
Chicago Downtown Center, 65 E. South Water Street. Details are available 
from Barbara O'Connor, FI 6-8300. 

Through May: Spring Journey: Plants That The American Indians Used. 



MEETINGS: 



Chicago Shell Club, May 5, 2 p.m. 

Nature Camera Club of Chicago, May 14, 7:45 p.m. 

Illinois Orchid Society. May 19, 2 p.m. 

Great Lakes Chapter of Sierra Club, May 21 , 7 :30 p.m. 



OFFER SUMMER 
GEOLOGY COURSES 

Two non-credit courses in geology for 
elementary teachers and supervisors will 
be offered this summer by the Raymond 
Foimdation of Field Museum. 

"Fossils and the Geology of the Chi- 
cago Area," 8 sessions, will be offered 
from Jime 24 through July 3. Registra- 
tion fees: Non-members, $15.00; Mem- 
bers, $12.50. 

"An Introduction to Rocks and Min- 
erals," 10 sessions, will be offered from 
July 15 through July 26. Registration 
fee: Non-members, $20.00; Members, 
$17.50. 

Registration fees for both courses are 
$30.00 for non-members and $25.00 for 
members. 




Ernest Roscoe talks with teachers during a previous 
summer session in Geology 

Each class will begin at 10 a.m. and 
last about four hours on weekdays. A 
lecture-demonstration and laboratory 
periods for individual study will be in- 
cluded. Instructor for both courses will 
be Ernest J. Roscoe, Lecturer in Geol- 
ogy, Raymond Foundation. 

Registration is limited, and interested 
teachers are asked to write Raymond 
Foundation, Field Museum of Natural 
History, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore 
Dr., Chicago, 111. 60605, for applica- 
tions and further information. Regis- 
tration will close June 3. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAOO. ILLINOIS tOSOS A.C. 312. 922-9410 

FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



PRINTED BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS 



MAT Page 15 





BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTOR 

Volume 39, Number 6 June 1968 





Two-thirds of the students who have worked with Paul S. Martin, Chief Curator Emeritus of Anthropology, over the last 
several decades, have gone on to gain doctorates. In the last two years, Martin's work with students has been aided by 
grants from the Undergraduate Research Participation Program of National Science Foundation. These grants have 
enabled Martin to expand and formalize his Summer School of Archaeology at Field Museum's field station in Vernon, 
Arizona. At Vernon, each student works on a private research project, as well as on the general archaeological work. 
The Bulletin here presents one such report on a small structure found during a survey of Hay Hollow, Arizona. The author, 
Christopher Vi/hite, has worked with Martin for several years, and will, next year, go into graduate work in Anthropology. 



SUMMER REPORT 



by Christopher A. White 

Research Assistant, Anthropology 



A portion of Hay 

Hollow prior to the 

start of excavations. Hay 

Hollow Valley, in East 

Central Arizona, 

has proved to be the site of 

a prehistoric agricultural 

community. 




Since the beginning of the Hay Hollow Valley Project six 
years ago, we have been attempting to define and explain 
the total range of behavior of prehistoric man in this eastern 
Arizona valley. By viewing all patterns of behavior and 
changes in these patterns we will try to isolate meaningful 
regularities and factors of causality. 

An important aspect of the overall study deals with the 
investigation of the relationships existing between man and 
his total environment. This interest led us, last summer, to 
initiate an intensive archaeological survey of a little-studied 
region forming the eastern periphery of the valley. The 
area was a large and rugged ancient lava flow- that rises 
500 to 600 feet above the valley floor. W'e wanted to know 
what kinds of cultural activities were taking place in the 
area, where they were taking place, u/ien they were taking 
place, and hopefully, wh^ they were taking place. 



In the course of the survey we discovered a site located 
on the edge of a sandy terrace approximately 500 feet up 
the side of the moimtain. It appeared to reflect a specialized 
activity previously unknown to us in the valley. After de- 
veloping several working hypotheses on the possible func- 
tion of this site, we proceeded to excavate it. The primary 
feature consisted of a semicircular windbreak constructed of 
basalt boulders, each of the two segments being approxi- 
mately 5 feet long. At the time of occupation the structure 
may have been about 4 feet high. Inside the windbreak 
there was a single firepit w^hich contained large pieces of 
charcoal. The structure faces southwest, the direction of 
the prevailing, often stormy, winds. Without some protec- 
tion, maintaining a fire for warmth or cooking would be 
extremely difficult. In and around the structure we found 
small quantities of stone tools and a number of brown cor- 



Page2 JUNE 



rugated potsherds which appear to be from a single jar. 
The pottery would date the site at around a.b. 1000. The 
relative scarcity of artifacts is a significant factor in inferring 
the type of activity that may have been performed there. 
From other archaeological sources and from analogy 
with present-day Pueblo Indian agricultural practices, we 
have hypothesized that the site represents a temporary agri- 
cultural field camp used by people who maintained perma- 
nent residence at one of the pueblo villages in the valley 
bottom. During the short growing season the Hopi Indians 



appears that the Indians began to abandon their numerous 
small pueblos, coming to live together in larger and fewer 
villages. It has been suggested that this aggregation may 
have served to insure greater economic cooperation during 
the time of hardship. 

We hypothesize that it was during this time of significant 
changes in the habitat and social organization that the In- 
dians began farming the terrace adjacent to the site we exca- 
vated in addition to similar terraces on the mountain side. 
What we may be seeing is an agricultural pattern similar to 




Excavated basalt structure at Hay Hollow included sherd cluster (upper center of photo) 
and firepil and possible cobble ring (left of intersecting lines in right of photo.) 



often build small temporary shelters near their fields because 
the fields are not uncommonly located far from their homes. 
It is frequently necessary for the Indians to stay close to the 
field to keep away birds and other animals that might de- 
stroy the crop. Another feature related to the site and 
deserving comment was a number of small boulders in a 
pile near the edge of the terrace. The Indians may ha\e 
made this pile in the process of removing these stones from 
the terrace in order to make it more suitable for growing 
their corn. 

We have strong evidence to suggest that sometime about 
A.D. 1000 there was an apparently significant meteorological 
change in the area. There was a shift from a more or less 
even yearly distribution of rainfall to a pattern of summer 
maximum precipitation as is typical in the Southwest today. 
It is believed that this change made maize farming in the 
valley precarious. Simultaneous with change in habitat it 



that of the contemporary Pueblo Indians. To prevent wide- 
spread starvation, they plant their corn on a number of 
different types of land with varying slopes, and soils, so that 
if the summer thundershowers destroy the crop on one type 
of landform, the entire crop will not be lost. We suggest 
that a "cover-all-bets" agricultural practice similar to this 
may have been emerging in the Hay Hollow Valley at this 
time. There are additional data which tend to support 
this hypothesis. It appears, however, that this innovation 
in agricultural practices was not enough to sustain the pop- 
ulation. The valley was abandoned around a.d. 1300 and 
the Indians moved to areas with permanent streams. 

The small site that we excavated is in itself insignificant, 
but it provides us with additional information concerning 
modifications of subsistence patterns concomitant with 
with changes in the habitat and social organization in Hay 
Hollow Valley at approximately a.d. 1000. 



JUAE Page 3 



MEMORANDUM FROM THE DESK OF 
E. LELAKD WEBBER, DIRECTOR 

Field Museum's Natural History Tours are based, like the Museum 
itself, on the belief that, in this era of crowded concrete and steel 
cities, a balanced view of the world and its problems today requires 
keeping in contact with the basic realities of nature. 

For this reason, our program of natural history tours. 

The Brazil Tour, February lU-March 11, \i±ll emphasize the 
botany, geology, zoology and ethnology of that vast nation, so rich 
in natural history. The group, limited to 35 tourists, mil be led 
by Phil Clark, the Musexm's public relations counsel and an expert on 
plants and gardening. Field Musevun's Chief Ciirator of Zoology, Dr. 
Austin Rand, will accompany the tour as a specialist in fauna, 
particiilarly the birds. At various stops, the group -ivill spend time 
with such outstanding Brazilians as the naturalist Augusto Ruschi, the 
landscape designer and botanist Roberto Burle Marx and the geologist 
Francisco Mueller Basto. 

We have sought in the Tour's careful advance planning, not 
Just a superficial "tourist's eye" view, but to show Brazil in its 
many-dimensioned reality: the people and the history in their natural 
setting of plants and animals, mountains, plains and seas. 

This is Field Museum's third tour. The others, also led and 
planned by Phil Clark, were to Guatemala and Mexico. 




Page 4 JUNE 



The Many- Faceted Jewel: 

B 

R 

A 

z 
I 

L 




Rio's great bay, lined with beaches of dazzling white sand, and guarded by its 
incredible green, gently sloping mountains. 




V 




Above: Brazil's celebrated naturalist, Dr. Augusta Ruschi, watches 
a tuxedo hummingbird feed on sugar water. Thousands of them 
come daily to the Ruschi veranda. Below: Tiny egg of a Vene- 
zuelan hummingbird lies in a nest built in a small Bromelia spe- 
cies, Neoregelia punctatissima, which grow in a hanging linked 
series. 




Story and photos by Phil Clark 



Brazil, South American giant among nations, is a land 
of jewels of earth and air and water. Its brilliant diamonds 
and deep green tourmalines, its magnificent wildlife — 
gem-colored hummingbirds, iridescent macaws, jet-striped 
angelfish and pearl-toned piranhas — only begin to reflect 
the color and variety to be found in this country. 

Home of boundless varieties of plants and flowering 
trees, the face of Brazil ranges from cosmopolitan cities to 
jungle villages, from shimmering white beaches flanked 
by sugarloaf mountains to immense and mysterious rain- 
forests and rivers that flow thousands of miles, in places 
tumbling over waterfalls that dwarf Niagara. 

The people of Brazil are like their many-faceted coun- 
try. They encompass many of the world's races, mingling 
yet retaining diversity, vibrant and creative, yet gentle and 
easy-going, capable of both sustained artistic originality 
and the spontaneous joy of Carnival. 

Here is natural history in all its vitality and variety. 
This is Brazil, big, exciting, a nation of color and motion — 
the ideal site for a Field Museum Natural History Tour. 

Bahia 

Your first stop on the 26-day tour, is in Bahia. The 
trip begins on Friday, February 14, from O'Hare Field to 
New York where you board a Varig jet, arriving in Brazil 
early the next morning. 

In Bahia, in the white and pastel-painted colonial town 
of Salvador, where on Todos os Santos Bay Portuguese 
discoverers of Brazil first landed, your arrival coincides 

JUNE Paged 



with the climax of the Carnival season, the weekend before 
Ash Wednesday (see Cover). The Bahian Carnival over- 
flows with joyous, uninhibited dance, exciting music, fan- 
tastic costumes and open-handed friendliness. The un- 
sophisticated mood and the lack of out-of-town visitors 
contrasts with Rio's crowded Carnival. 

Besides exciting hours mingling with Carnival crowds, 
you enjoy sunny afternoons on the two principal beaches. 
You also explore the baroque splendor of some of the his- 
toric churches, taking particular pleasure in the 16th cen- 
tury art in Sao Francisco and Carmo. In this, the royal 
capital of Brazil for 214 years, you stay at the elegantly 
modern Hotel da Bahia. 

Espirito Santo 

Brazil's greatest naturalist. Dr. Augusto Ruschi, is 
famous for his discoveries about hummingbirds. You fly 
from Bahia south to Espirito Santo State to visit this scien- 
tist at his estate — Brazil's largest living museum. Your 
plane arrives in the state capital, Vitoria, on the Atlantic 
coast, and you are driven inland through palm-dominated 
jungles and rivers, up rugged mountains and past water- 
falls where velvet-purple Cleistes orchids, tree ferns and 
huge, brown-veined white Dutchmen's pipe flowers grow 
in profusion. During roadside stops, your tour botanist, 
Phil Clark, and tour zoologist. Dr. Austin Rand, Field Mu- 
seum Chief Curator of Zoology, point out interesting plants 
and birds and answer your questions. 

You arrive in time for dinner at the Espirito Santo Agri- 
cultural College where you spend the next two nights, 
February 18 and 19. On the first evening. Dr. Ruschi 
shows you slides and discusses his work with humming- 
birds. You visit him at his estate at Santa Teresa the fol- 
lowing day, seeing thousands of hummingbirds of 28 spe- 
cies flying freely in colorful gardens and woodlands near 
his house and museum buildings. In addition to the native 
species, dozens of others from places throughout the hemi- 
sphere are kept in large, enclosed garden areas. 

Dr. Ruschi's museum stresses the natural history of 
Espirito Santo. The state has an impressive botanical- 
zoological representation, including 14 species of mon- 
keys, 35 hummingbirds, 45 bats (of which Dr. Ruschi has 
discovered five), and 22,000 species of plants, including 
400 orchids and about the same number of bromeliads, 
families in which Ruschi has also done important work. 

Rio de Janeiro 

Rio, considered by many to be the world's most beau- 
tiful city, has its own special magic. Its natural setting is 
stunning: the great azure bay with its crescent of white 
sand and leaning palms and green, gently sloping Sugar- 
loaf and Corcovado mountains looming alongside it. The 
magic of Rio's landscape is matched by its human magic, 
warm, easy-going people who bring spirited friendliness 
to the mosaiced promenades, the broad city streets and 
Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. 

You spend three days here, beginning February 20, 
with half the time spent in sight-seeing, the remainder free 
for shopping or relaxing. You view the bay from the 
forested summits of Tijuca and Corcovado, where the 
famous statue of Christ the Redeemer stands, and visit the 
botanic garden and zoo, and the Raymundo Castro Maya 
Foundation, where a splendid colonial house, containing 
a rare collection of early engravings and elegant furnish- 
ings of the period, is set in a close-clipped formal garden 
overlooking the bay. Your hotel, the glass and concrete 
Excelsior, faces Copacabana. 

Paged JUNE 




Brazilian stops are numbered in the order they mill be visited. 






Above: Iguacu Falls, 20 times 
Niagara, spreads in two giant 
horseshoes in tropical forests; 
Ouro Preto, the source of tons of 
gold once shipped from Colonial 
Brazil to Portugal. Contains ex- 
cellent colonial architectural and 
art treasures. Left: The Monkey 
Puzzle Tree, Araucaris angusti- 
folia, typically Brazilian, still 
grows in forests near Vila Velha; 
Vila Velha, near Curitiba, pre- 
sents a strange landscape of red 
ajid yellow sandstone eroded in 
shapes resembling everything from 
cathedrals to eggcups. 



Petropolis 

You are driven from Rio this morning, February 23, 
through heavy forests, alight with flowering yellow Cassia 
and pink and blue Tibouchina trees, to the cool highland 
town of summer estates, Petropolis, where you stay at the 
Quitandinha Hotel. During the afternoon you tour Em- 
peror dom Pedro 11 's summer home and examine its rich 
furnishings and imperial crown jewels. 

But Brazil is also a land of exciting modern movements 
in the arts, and it is here that the first truly new ideas any- 
where in recent centuries of landscape design evolved. 
The guiding genius of this fresh originality is Roberto Burle 
Marx, who paints living landscapes with the swirling lines 
and vibrant colors of abstract art — creations completely 
appropriate set among the brilliance of tropical flowers 
and the unusual sugarloaf horizon. During a full day's 
tour of Petropolis gardens, you are shown through some 
of his most effective creations by the designer himself, 
dom Roberto, and are welcomed by the garden owners, 
some of Brazil's leading families. These include the Leite 
Garcias at Fazenda Samambaia, Senhora Odete Monteiro 
(whose fantastic garden was described by House and Gar- 
den magazine garden editor, Ralph Bailey, as "one of the 
most beautiful private gardens in the world"), the Carlos 
Somlos at Retire Panonia and Alberto Kronforth at Rancho 
Pedra Azul. 

You return to Rio and the following morning drive to 
dom Roberto's own home, south of the city, for a day in 
the country with this artist-botanist. His home is on a hill 
overlooking a vast beach area where weird plants have 
adapted to the dry sands. 

Sao Paulo - Curitiba 

You leave this morning, February 27, for Sao Paulo, 
where during a four-hour stopover between planes, you 
visit the Butantan Snake Farm, world famous for its col- 
lections of snakes and its scientific work with venoms in 
producing anti-venoms. Sao Paulo, you find, is a Portu- 
guese-speaking Chicago with palms, for its skyscraper- 
crowded skyline spreads for miles. 

By midafternoon, your continuing flight has reached 
Curitiba, deep in southeastern Brazil. After seeing the 
large collections of Brazilian animals in Curitiba 's zoo, you 
visit some of the strikingly original small private homes in 
this capital city of Parana State. You dine at your hotel, 
the Moderno. 

An all-day excursion on February 28 takes you from 
Curitiba to bizarre Vila Velha, where red-streaked yellow 
formations of eroded sandstone resemble a ruined city of 
cathedrals and skyscrapers. Plants of the area are as odd 
as the strange stone spires and include some which parallel 
African species and others belonging to the trumpet flower 
family with four-foot spikes of lavender-blue blossoms. 
There are forests of Brazil's strange monkey-puzzle tree, 
Araucaria angustifolia. Hot springs complete the eerie 
picture and a warm-water lake is so crowded with tetra 
fishes as to appear mottled with moving silver clouds. 
Your dinner is at Curitiba 's attractive Swiss restaurant, the 
Matterhorn. 

Iguacu Falls 

An astonished Eleanor Roosevelt murmured, "poor 
Niagara," on seeing Iguacu. In volume twenty times Ni- 
agara, Iguacu has 21 cataracts and the average fall is 210 
feet, though some are higher than 250 feet. The beauty 
of the massive falls is only partly in its tremendous flow 
and height and spread. Equally impressive is its tropical 
setting, where flocks of green and gold parrots bathe in its 
spray and colorful orchids, bromeliads, begonias and pas- 



JUXE Page 7 




dian on small stream of the Amazon system shoots fish with a bow and arrow, 
dians of the area use spears for catching larger fishes. Piranha and other 
nazon fishes are often very colorful. 



sionflowers grow in the tangled philodendrons, palms and 
flowering trees. 

You stay at the Casino Acaray, a new hotel on the 
Paraguayan side of the river, giving you a look at Para- 
guay. You cross to the Brazilian side for boating and 
hiking along the falls on March 2 and 3 and fly to Rio for 
an overnight stay on March 4, with an early morning de- 
parture the following day for Belo Horizonte, to Rio s 
northwest. 

Be/o Horizonte - Ouro Preto 

The Belo Horizonte area has great appeal for those in- 
terested in natural history. It is a rock hunters' paradise, 
surrounded by mountains of jagged, mineral-rich stone 
outcroppings, and a place where handsomely cut gems 
can be bought at bargain prices. The rugged countryside 
contains strange and varied flora and has extensive bird 
life. Belo Horizonte itself, the capital of Minas Gerais 
State, is a famous example of city planning and boasts an 
outstanding (Niemeyer-designed) church with tile murals 
by artist Candido Portinari. Sixty miles to the southeast 
is the picturebook town of Ouro Preto, with its baroque 
churches and their sculptures by the renowned Aleijadinho. 

You arrive in Belo Horizonte in the morning and after 
lunch at your skyscraper hotel, the del Rey, you tour the 
city and spend an exciting hour in the gem houses. Local 
gems on sale include diamonds, topazes, amethysts, aqua- 
marines, tourmalines, beryls, agates, kunzites, garnets, 
citrines, hiddenites and euclauses. You meet some of the 
city's leading gem cutters and the local geologist, Fran- 
cisco Mueller Basto at dinner. 

In Ouro Preto the next day you find the enchanting 
Portuguese colonial town of white-painted buildings and 
churches nestled in a green valley. Its narrow, cobbled 
streets and great architecture and works of art have made 
it a national monument and geology buffs find its Mu- 
seum of Mineralogy exceptional. The trip by car features 
many botanical thrills, including plants adapted to the 
singular environment of rocky mountains. 

Brasilia 

Brasilia is the city of the future come alive. It achieves 
this distinction both for its careful planning (Planner Lucio 
Costa even arranged that no streets intersect) and for the 
clean-lined modern buildings, most designed by Brazilian 
architect, Oscar Niemeyer. On the Brazilian plateau, 3,000 



feet above sea level, it has an ideal climate, and located 
500 miles inland from Brazil's coastally-oriented culture, 
it points the way to an expanding society. Its largeness 
of concept and daring architecture make it a capital ap- 
propriate for a nation with such vast potential. 

After an early morning hop northwest from Belo Hori- 
zonte, you arrive March 7 in Brasilia for a day of sight- 
seeing. Particularly striking is the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs with its surrounding water gardens, and the still 
incomplete crown-like cathedral and the saucer-form con- 
gress buildings with twin shafts containing the executive 
offices with the supreme court at their base. The zoo is 
remarkable for its collection of regional birds. Dinner is 
at your hotel, the elegant Hotel Nacional. Before the 
flight to Manaus the following morning, you take either 
a bird-watching walk by a small lake or a botanical stroll 
in an unspoiled woodland. 

IVIanaus and the Amazon 

You spend the afternoon of March 8 seeing Manaus 
itself — the opera house built in opulent Victorian exuber- 
ance during the boom period of the rubber industry, an 
agricultural experiment station with rare tropical fruits, the 
local Brazilnut "factory" and a small zoo. You spend 
the next two days on the great Rio Negro, a major river 
of the Amazon system, in the tour yacht, Selvatur, and 
explore smaller tributary streams in small boats. You find 
Indians catching fish with arrows and spears, piranhas 
with flashing silver and ruby-hued bodies and sinister 
rows of razor-sharp teeth, numerous waterfowl, the giant 
Victoria regia waterlilies with pale pink blooms and spined, 
enormous leaves sturdy enough to support the weight of 
a child, and a wide variety of flowering trees and vines. 
You return each evening to your hotel, the Amazonas, but 
you eat your lunches on the yacht. You fly on Varig, via 
Miami, on March 11, arriving in Chicago in the evening. 



A grand concept underlies Brasilia, the national 
capital. Below, water gardens surrounding the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 




Pages JIWE 






Left: Smirling lines in brilliant colors distinguishes this garden landscape of famed designer-botanist-artist Roberto Burle Marx. Dom Roberto 
mil personally guide tour members through five of the gardens he has designed, including this one at Alberto Kronsforth's Rancho Pedra Azul in 
Petropolis. Center: Giant spiny pads o/ Victoria regia, strong enough to support the weight of a child, float on a stream which enters the Amazon 
system. Right: Tour yacht, Selvatur, will make tour members on two days of sightseeing on the Rio Negro in the Amazon River system. Short 
trips up tributary streams will be made in small boats. 

Field Museum's Brazil Tour, with all costs — hotels, meals, gratuities, taxes and fees and including a tax-deductible 
donation to Field Museum of $500 — is only $2050. The 26-day tour features visits to private homes and gardens, special 
advance planning for a natural history emphasis, meetings with Brazilian natural history experts, a view of colonial and 
modern art and architecture, expert leadership in areas of plants, animals and birds and a wide-ranging survey of the 
nation and people as a whole, beginning with the Carnival in Bahia. It takes place during Brazil s late summer, Febru- 
ary 14 - March 11. 



CUP AND MAIL THIS COUPON TODAY 



I would like reservations for your Brazil Tour and I enclose my check for 

(HOW MANY) 

a $500 deposit for each reservation 



A giant quartz crystal in 
the Ouro Preto Museum of 
Mineralogy. 



Name 



Address 



City State Zip . . . 

□ Please check if single rooms are desired, at extra charge of $95.00. 



Please send information about this tour to my friends listed below: 
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JUJVE Page 9 



Summer Journey 



The FISHES 




Coko Salmon 



of LAKE MICHIGAN 



"The Fishes of Lake Michigan" is the Museum's Sum- 
mer Journey for children during June, July and August. On 
a self-guided tour, youngsters will be introduced to some 
of the different fishes foimd in the lake, with an emphasis 
on the changes in the abundance and species composition 
of the fish populations. 

There have been many changes in the fish life of Lake 
Michigan in the last century. The Lake Sturgeon (Aci- 
penser fulvescens), once abundant in the lake, is now rare, 
while other fishes have been introduced into Lake Michigan, 
either by accident or deliberately. 



about 1921 . Gradually moving into the other Great Lakes, 
it appeared for the first time in Lake Michigan in 1936. 
Since that time it has practically wiped out the Lake Trout 
{Salvelinus namaycush), once the foundation of the lake's 
commercial fishing industry. 

About this time, when the Lake Trout and other fishes 
were decreasing in number, the Alewife {Alosa pseudoha- 
rengus) moved into the lake. This fish is also found along 
the Atlantic Coast and since 1873 has been in Lake Ontario, 
where it was probably stocked by accident. Using the 
Welland Canal route, it moved into Lake Erie about 1931 




Carp (Oyrpinus carpio) were introduced into the lake 
before the turn of the century, flourished, and have provided 
commercial fisherman with catches as high as 7,000,000 
poimds in one year. Goldfish {Carassius auratus) first es- 
caped into the lake from lagoons where they were stocked 
for the 1893 Columbian Exposition. They were introduced 
many times later by fishermen and by people who simply 
released their pet fish in the lake. 

American Smelt (Osmerus mordax) eggs were planted in 
Crystal Lake, Michigan, in 1912. These hatched and the 
fish lived and spawned in that lake, escaping through an 
outlet into Lake Michigan about 1923. 

Rainbow Trout {Salmo gardneri) were stocked in the 
lake and streams of northern Wisconsin and Michigan that 
empty into the lake. This fish is also called the Steelhead. 
Other fishes extended their ranges and invaded Lake Mich- 
igan from the lower Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. 
In the past, Niagara Falls was a natural barrier between 
Lakes Ontario and Erie. Construction of the Welland Canal, 
completed in 1829 and enlarged about 80-90 years later, 
allowed ships from Lake Ontario to pass into Lake Erie. 
Fishes also used this canal for passage between the lakes. 

The Sea Lamprey {Petromyzon marmus) lived along the 
Atlantic Coast and was also found in Lake Ontario. It 
moved through the Welland Canal and into Lake Erie 



and was first found in Lake Michigan in 1949. With few 
fishes to eat it or compete with it. the Alewife thrived and 
became abundant. 

A control program has lowered the munber of lampreys 
in the lake and with the lampreys under control, popula- 
tions of other predator fish could make a comeback. To 
aid in building the populations of game fish in Lake Michi- 
gan Lake Trout and Rainbow Trout have been stocked 
in large numbers. 

In 1966, the State of Michigan released Coho Salmon 
{Oncorhynchus kisutch) in streams that empty into the lake. 
This native of the Pacific Coast will not only help in im- 
proving sport fishing in the lake, but will also aid in Ale- 
wife control. The trout and salmon stocking may also 
help to restore the lake's commercial fishing industry. 

The future for the fishes in Lake Michigan is difficult 
to predict. Lamprey populations will probably remain 
under control. Alewives will probably still be abimdant, 
but with a restoration of predators and the establishment 
of a commercial fishery for them, their numbers should 
decrease. 

Journey sheets and information on this program are 
available at either the North or South Doors and at the 
Information Desk. This is Journey No. 54 in the Raymond 
Foundation's Journey Program for Children. 



Page 10 JIWE 




Members' Night visitors watch a performance 
by the Habonim Israeli Folk Dance Troupe. 



MEMBERS' NIGHT 

ATTENDANCE SETS 

A NEW RECORD 

More than 4,500 Museum Members, 
their families and guests attended the 
1 968 Members' Night on May 3, a three- 
hour open house centering around the 
special exhibit, "Masada, King Herod's 
Fortress." The Captain of the Museum 
Guard estimated that at least half those 
attending visited the Masada exhibit, 
which was crowded throughout the 
evening. 

Two short motion pictures and a slide 
lecture supplemented the exhibit and 
visitors responded enthusiastically to a 
program of Middle Eastern folk singing 
and dancing in Stanley Field Hall. 

The Masada exhibit, which opened 



June hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday, 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Tuesday and Thursday; 9 a.m. to 8p.m., 

Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

June 11 M.^SAD.A Lecture Series "Israel, Crossroads of Empires and Civiliza- 
tions: .Archaeological Evidence," by Professor Helene Kantor, University of 
Chicago. Final lecture of series, 8:15 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. 

June 1 5 Egypt Through a Biologist's Eye. Photographic exhibit by Dale J. 
Osborn, Field Associate in Zoology. Emphasis on rarely seen aspects of life 
in the desert. Hall 9 Gallery. 

June 24 Non-Credit Geology Course "Fossils and the Geology of the Chicago 
,'\rea," will begin for elementary teachers and supervisors under sponsorship 
of Raymond Foundation. Eight-session course will end July 3. Registration 
fee: Members, $12.50; Non-members, $15.00. 

June 24 Summer Progr.am l\ Anthropology Six-week training program for 
high-ability high school students begins. Program will include lectures, semi- 
nars, workshops, study of Museum collections, individual projects and field 
studies. It is sponsored by a National Science Foundation grant. 

Through August 15: "M.\s.'>iD.'k, King Herod's Fortress" Archaeological finds 
from the Israeli stronghold where in 73 a.d., 960 Jewish Zealots took their 
own lives rather than surrender to the Roman conquerors. Museum Members 
and their families will be admitted free of charge. Admission fee for non- 
members is 75 cents for adults and 35 cents for children. 

Through August: Summer Journey The Fishes of Lake Michigan. Among the 
fish to be featured are the lake trout, yellow perch, sea lamprey, coho salmon 
and alewife. The Journey takes youngsters on a do-it-yourself tour of the 
Hall of Fishes (Ground Floor, Hall O). Any child able to read and write 
may participate in the free Journey Program conducted by the Raymond 
Foundation. Journey records sheets are available at the Museum's North Door. 

Illinois Audubon Society, June 5, 7 p.m. 
Chicago Shell Club, June 9, 2 p.m. 
Nature Camera Club of Chicago, June 11, 7:45 p.m. 
Chicago Mountaineering Club, June 13, 8 p.m. 



MEETINGS: 



to the public on May 5, was featured 
recently in several Chicago newspaper 
articles and received critical acclaim in 
its previous showings in New York and 
London. 

Archaeological treasures from Masa- 
da and historical data about the site and 
its excavation are included in the spe- 
cial exhibit. This clifftop stronghold, 
on the western shore of the Dead Sea in 
Israel, was built as a defensive retreat 
by King Herod in the first century B.C. 
It was chosen by the Jewish Zealots for 
their final stand against the Roman Le- 
gions from 70 to 72 a.d. Finally over- 
whelmed by the forces of Flavins Silva, 
the Zealots elected death at their own 
hands rather than surrender. The site 
was also occupied briefly in the fifth 
century by Christian Monks. 

Masada was excavated in two sea- 
sons, 1962-63, under the direction of 
Yigael Yadin, Professor of Archaeology 
at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. 
Thousands of volunteers from all over 
the world joined in the large scale ex- 
cavations. 

Members' Night also included the 
traditional tours of the Museum's scien- 
tific departments, which included many 
special displays depicting work being 
done in the various divisions. Hundreds 
of visitors took advantage of the oppor- 
tunity to meet Curators and other mem- 
bers of the scientific staff. 

E. Leland Webber, Museum Direc- 
tor, described Members' Night as a 
"thorough success, whether measured 
by attendance or by the enthusiasm of 
our guests." 

Attendance at the 1968 Members' 
Night exceeded last year's record by 
more than 600. Museum membership 
itself has grown from 12,279 in 1967 to 
more than 14,000 during the first part 
of 1968. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAOO. ILLINOIS (MOS A.C. 312. 922-9410 

FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



PRINTED BY FIELD .MUSEUM PRESS 



JUNE Page n 




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The young man on this month's 
cover, Johnny Kolias, U, of El- 
wood, Indiana, is obviously im- 
pressed by Field Museum's skele- 
ton of a Pleistocene mammoth, 
Mammuthus primigenius. The 
mammath occurred over much of 
North America and as late as 
ten thousand years ago, could still 
be found in the Great Lakes Area. 
Both mammoths and mastodons, 
a related elephant-like species, are 
featured in Field Museum's Ses- 
quicentennial Tour of Illinois nat- 
ural history. 

The corn snake (Elaphe guttata) 
at right is common near farms 
throughout Illinois. It is a harm- 
less, useful snake, feeding on mice. 
The corn snake, which has a dis- 
tinctive pale red-orange body with 
deep red markings, is one of near- 
ly fifly snake species in Illinois. 




Sesquicentennial Special 



HALF A BILLION YEARS 
OF ILLINOIS HISTORY 



Despite remarkable advances and changes in the life 
patterns of Illinoisans in the past 150 years, the history 
of our statehood is as brief as the flick of an eyelash in the 
hundreds of millions of years of Illinois' natural history. 
In observance of this Sesquicentennial year, Field Museum 
has arranged a special self-conducted tour to acquaint res- 
idents and visitors with the state's varied and complex past. 

Areas of geology, zoology, botany and anthropology are 
deeply interrelated in the history of Illinois, of course, but 
its story begins with the forces which shaped the earth. 
The area which would become Illinois was subjected to a 
variety of geologic and climatic changes but its position 
during two particular geological periods were of great im- 
portance in giving the state its significant agricultural and 
economic value in modern times. 

The bedrock of the Chicago area and the extreme north 
central part of the state is largely of the Silurian Period 
(about 420 million years ago) but almost the entire re- 
maining land area in Illinois dates to the Pennsylvanian 
Period (about 250 million years ago), the one geological 
period during which climate and plant life in combination 
permitted the formation of coal beds. 

Illinois was part of the continent that was partially 



covered by vast inland seas which retreated and advanced 
over several geologic periods. The most recent period on 
record of an inland sea in Illinois is in the Cretaceous 
Time (about 100 million years ago), although it is possible 
that parts of Illinois may have been undersea even later. 
A legacy of marine fossils testifies to the aquatic nature 
of life forms in Paleozoic Illinois. 

Between the advance and retreat of the Pennsylvanian 
sea, the Illinois landscape was frequently swampland, in- 
cluding extensive forests which died, decayed and were 
buried under the sediments. Millions of years later these 
dead forests became the rich coal deposits that were of 
such economic importance in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

The life in those ancient giant fern-tree forests included 
unusual and now extinct fishes, insects and invertebrates 
as well as many archaic plants. Amphibians were already 
diverse and the reptiles, later to dominate the animal world 
because of their great size and variety, were beginning 
their evolutionary ascent. Illinois has one of the world's 
three most significant fossil records of life in its Mazon 
Creek formation. Because soft parts of fossil animals and 
plants are preserved in concretions, scientists are able to 
do detailed studies of aspects of ancient life usually un- 



Pnge2 JULY 



available. Field Museum has become the major center 
of research on the fossils of the Mazon Creek area. 

A second important geologic period in Illinois was the 
Pleistocene, the Ice Age of the last million years. The 
advance and retreat of the great glaciers churned up and 
deposited a variety of rocks and minerals in most of the 
state. This glacial action also produced the rich farmland 
coveted later by homesteaders. 

Illinois has hosted a diversity of mammal residents but 
fossil records of mammals are scarce in the state, largely 
because rock of the periods which would bear these fossils 
has been eroded away. With the numerous glacial ad- 
vances and retreats and the resulting rapid climatic fluctu- 
ations, many forms of life that had become established in 
the area died out or migrated elsewhere. Among the ani- 
mals that did range here were the giant beaver, which 
measured about eight feet in length, and the mastodon. 
It was the presence of this ancient elephant-like creature 
that probably brought the earliest human residents to Il- 
linois. 

There is evidence in the form of stone spear-points that 
Paleo-Indians reached the Upper Great Lakes region in 
pursuit of the mastodon about 10,000 years ago. They 
were nomadic hunters and even as recently as 100 B.C. 
there were apparently Indians in the area whose cultures 
were based exclusively on hunting. 

Most of the later Indian residents of Illinois, however, 
combined agricultural and hunting activities. Indians of 
northern Illinois adopted the use of canoes, sleds, snow- 
shoes, made some pottery and built simple dwellings, but 
they never attained the high cultural level of those peoples 
living in the southern part of the state between about 
100 B.C. and 1600 a.d. Perhaps partly because of the 
more benign climate, the Indians of southern Illinois es- 
tablished stable agricultural communities and developed 
along nuich more complex cultural lines. 

The Hopewellian culture was predominant in Illinois 
from about 500 B.C. to about 700 .\.u. and may have origi- 
nated here. These Indians buried their dead in mounds 
and probably had a strong political or religious base to 
their mode of living. They evidently indulged in vigorous 
trade and developed their artistry in ceramics, sculpture 
and metalwork to the highest level attained by any abo- 
riginal residents of the state. 

That culture was gradually supplanted by the Missis- 
sippian, which was dominant in southern Illinois from about 
500 to 1600 .'^.D. Traces of this culture were reported by 
French explorers as late as 1700. 

Beginning in Louisiana and moving north, the Missis- 
sippian culture may have been influenced by the highly 
developed Mexican Indian civilizations, since the Missis- 
sippian peoples built terraces and flat-topped pyrainids 
and temples. The largest of these is the Monk"s Mound of 
the Cahokia Mound group in Illinois. It measures more 
than 1.000 by 700 feet and is 100 feet high. The clusters 
of temple sites indicate a far more elaborate civilization 
than the Hopewellian. Anthropologists generally believe 



this culture supported large comnuinities and had a very 
complex political and religious structure. Like the Hope- 
wellian culture, the Mississippian also developed a high 
degree of artistic achievement, particularly in ceramics. 

This advanced Indian culture gradually faded and when 
the first European explorers reached Illinois the predomi- 
nant Indians in the area were Miami, Sauk, Fox and Il- 
linois, who followed variations of the simpler Woodland 
cultures of earlier Indians. They combined agricultural 
activities and the seasonal pursuit of game, remaining in 
villages only temporarily. The Indians of Illinois were 
forced to abandon their traditional way of living in the 
wake of rapid westward expansion by settlers in the 1800s. 

The homesteaders who came here foimd good farmland, 
coal deposits, plentiful fish and game and good transpor- 
tation provided by numerous waterways and relatively flat 
prairie. It probably never occurred to them that this 
bountiful land was a gift of millions of years of evolutionary 
changes, sometimes violent, sometimes subtle, but ultimate- 
ly resulting in an adaptability to the needs of man that has 
seldom been equaled. 

The Sesquicentennial Tour takes a leisurely two hours 
and has been designed so that visitors can see the exhibit 
areas with a minimum of walking and stair-climbing. Spe- 
cial brochures for the tour, including specific exhibits stops 
and information, are available free of charge in Stanley 
Field Hall. — Story and cover photo by Elizabeth A'. Alanne, 

Field Museum Press 




Hopewell Man {Hall i) is an enlargement of a small Hopewell 
Indian figurine found in West Central Illinois. The male figure 
holds a digging stick used in planting corn and displays two dis- 
tinctive features of Hopewell adornment, large spools in the ears 
and the hair pulled back in a knot. Art forms of the Hopewellian 
culture were highly advanced. 



jULT Pages 



The Vanishing Tropical Forests 



By Louis 0. Williams 
Chief Curator, Botany 




■4^ 







Twenty years ago, when this photo was taken at Hoya Grande in Honduras, the forest on the mountaintops in the background was untouched and 
the pine forest (foreground) relatively unspoiled. Today, with the population in Central American countries increased by more than 50 per cent 
since then and growing by three per cent each year, much of the forest cover has been removed to open the land for agriculture and grazing, as 
in the center of the photo. Lack of conservation practices is leading to rapid destruction of the forests and ultimate damage to the soil through 

erosion, overgrazing, primitive agricultural practices, and neglect. 



The tropical world holds a fascination for most people, 
though there are perhaps more popular misconceptions 
about the tropics than any other region. Strictly speaking, 
the tropics is that part of the world extending 23 3^ degrees 
north of the equator to the Tropic of Cancer and an equal 
distance south of the equator to the Tropic of Capricorn. 
A quick look at a map or atlas will show that there are 
some tropical lands on all continents except Antarctica 
and that two of the continents. Soiuh .America and Africa, 
have more than one-half of their land area located within 
the tropics. 

The largest tropical rain forest area, and perhaps the 
least disturbed one in the world, occurs in the Amazon 
basin. This region extends from Belem do Para on the 
mouth of the Amazon River west and southwest across 
the continent to the foothills of the Andes, northwest to 
the table moimtains of the "Lost World," and south to 
southern Peru. (An Amazonian estuary is shown in a 
diorama in Hall 26). 

The great continent of Africa is largely within the trop- 
ics. The rain forests of the Congo basin are enormous 
in extent but not nearly so impressive as are those of the 
Amazon basin. Within the African tropics are great areas 
of desert; the Sahara at the north and the Kalahari toward 



the south. The Namib desert along the coast of South 
West Africa, due to the cold Bengala Current offshore, 
is one of the least "tropical" places within the tropics. 
In this desert grow some of the most curious plants to be 
found anywhere. IVelwitschia is one of those, shown in a 
diorama in the Museiun's Hall 26. 

The Eurasian continent has a relatively small portion 
of its area in the tropics, including parts of Saudi Arabia, 
India and southeast .Asia. The tropical forests of south- 
east Asia were, and perhaps still are, some of the richest 
in the world. However, the terrific population pressure 
in that region seems to indicate that most forests will be 
gone there within the century. Europe, if considered a 
continent separate from Asia, is wholly oiuside the tropics. 

Australia is seldom thought of as tropical even though 
nearly half of that great island falls within the tropics. On 
the other hand, Oceania, no continent but a name applied 
to that great mass of islands in the Pacific, is in man>' 
people's thinking a tropical paradise. 

To those of us who live in the Midwest the easily acces- 
sible regions of the tropics are those almost straight soiuh 
of us in Mexico and Central .America. The exuberance 
of the vegetation in these tropics attracts and often over- 
whelms the visitor or even the botanist whose experience 



Page 4 JULY 



has been with regions in the so-called temperate climates. 
We lived in a small valley in Honduras for a number of 
years, a valley perhaps six or seven miles wide and about 
15 miles long. There are more kinds of native flowering 
plants in that small valley than in the eastern U.S. of 
Gray's Manual of Botany. There are possibly more kinds 
of native trees on don Leo Salazar's Santa Marfa de Ostuma 
farm in the Cordillera Central de Nicaragua than there 
are in all the New England states. There is another great 
difference, too. A hillside in the Berkshires of New England 
may have relatively great numbers of individuals of two or 
three or [jerhaps a half dozen species of trees. A hillside 
covered with cloud forest on the Cordillera Central de Nic- 
aragua, or in the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica 
may have an almost bewildering aggregation of species of 
trees, but rdatively few individuals of any one species. 

It is a common experience in the tropics to find a tree 
and to never see another individual of it. Tropical climates 
have been and are more amenable to the development of 
numerous kinds of plants, than are the more severe tem- 
perate climates. The competition for space among suc- 
cessful kinds of trees in the tropics is very great. There 
are relatively few kinds of trees in temperate climates that 
have become really successful, covering large areas geo- 
graphically and abundant in appropriate habits. However, 
of the trees of temperate climates that may be said to be 
successful, some are outstandingly so. One of the con- 
tributing reasons for this may be that there may be fewer 
kinds of successful trees and consequently the competition 
for space is less among the kinds of trees. 

The old saw that "it is difficult to see the forest because 
of the trees" might be reversed in the tropics. The late 
Paul Allen, then associated with the United Fruit Company, 
collected specimens from a very large tree in the rain forest 
down in the southwestern corner of Costa Rica.* The 
late Paul Standley and I studied the specimens and, after 
showing them to many other botanists familiar with trop- 
ical floras, described a new genus and species based on 
them. A tree a hundred feet or more tall and 30 inches 
in diameter must be a rather conspicuous plant yet it was 
not discovered imtil 1951. How long it will be until another 
collector finds it and collects it I have no way of knowing, 
yet Allen said that it was a very conspicuous tree when in 
flower. 

The Museum has had a continuing interest in the flora 
of Central .America for more than 75 years. The knowledge 
so gained is useful and often essential in understanding 
any other branch of science. In particular, study of the 
flora and what is happening to it help us to understand the 
relation of man to his environment in Latin America, and 
what man is doing to his environment. 

What effect does vegetation have on the production of 

food and on agriculture and on the regional rainfall so 

essential to both plantation and subsistence agriculture? 

* Pentaplaris dorotcae. A design made Jrom the technical illustration 
of this plant ivas used as a cover design on ^^ Homage to Standley^^ a small 
book published by the Museum to honor a sta£ member who was one of America's 
best known botanists. 



What effect does a forest cover have on the climate, and 
what may be expected to happen if we remove that cover? 
.Are tropical forests as luxuriant as they appear? If the 
soil can produce such magnificent forests, why does it not 
produce an abundance of food? Why are there not paper 
mills where plant growth is so lush? What effect do tropi- 
cal diseases have on man in the tropics? Why do most 
people live in the highlands and shim the lowlands? \Vhy 
must 80 per cent of Central Americans depend on agri- 
culture? What about the utilization of water for agricul- 
ture? Is farm labor cheap or expensive at a dollar a day? 
Why not increase cattle raising and export meat? These 
and other questions deal with basic concepts of conservatinn 
oj natural areas; land tenure practices and the vegetation, and of 
agrarian laivs and the forests. 

There has been much written in recent years afjoui the 
population explosion. The rapid increase in the human 
population of Central .America during this century, and 
more especially in recent years is bound to have, and docs 
have, a very profound effect on the vegetation of Central 
.America and on all the kinds of living things that depend 
on the natural vegetation. 

It is my feeling, based on field experience in Central 
.America and Mexico extending through 30 years, that the 
natural forests of Central .America will all fje gone before 
the end of this century except in spots too rugged to have 
any value in agriculture or too difficult to get the trees out. 

The demand for land upon which to grow, or to try 
to grow, food crops increases in proportion to man's in- 
crease. The natural forests are being cut at an alarming 
rate to make way for siibsistance or for plantation crops 
to satisfy man's immediate need for food. 




Ancient volcanic soils on this mountainside in the Comayagua Valley 
in Hondtiras erode quickly when the protective forest cover is removed. 
Agricidtural yield of this type of soil is not high, does not warrant 
destruction of trees to permit cultivation. 



JULY Pages 




This area, near Lake Yojoa in central Honduras, shows the effects of 
primitive "milpa agriculture" practices on the forests. 

Lake Yojoa in central Honduras is a gem in the midst 
of a lush tropical setting. The broad-leaf forests are as 
beautiful as any on the continent. If one wishes to culti- 
vate this area lack of moisture is no problem for the rainy 
season is about eleven months long and during the short 
"dry" season rains may be frequent. The lands adjacent 
to the lake are relatively level and I suspect that perhaps 
a millenium ago the Maya cleared and planted here. Their 
descendants practice agriculture there today perhaps much 
as it was done then. 

A kind of agriculture described as "milpa agriculture" 
is traditional. To be successful it requires vast amoimts of 
land in comparison to the population living from that land. 
A bit of forest is cleared by fire, and the ax is also used now 
(that tool was unknown until after the Spanish conquest). 
The crop is planted among stumps and logs by making a 
hole in the fire-softened soil with a sharpened planting 
stick and dropping in a few seeds. The stumps and logs 
may be a nuisance but relative to the labor of removing 
them they are not. Harvest is done by hand and machinery 
was and still is mostly unknown or not used. 

-\ field, like that at Lake Yojoa shown in the photo- 
graph may be planted with three or four crops during a 
year, one after another. The cleared and unfertilized land 
under this regime is depleted rapidly and in the course of 
perhaps three years the crops become so poor that the land 
is abandoned and a new clearing is made, the process 
started over again. The old piece of land is let go back to 
forest for a varying number of years. The resting period 
always becomes shorter as population pressures increase 
and demand for food increases. Consequently the lands 
with shortened rest periods are able to produce less on each 
new clearing or rotation. 

The drier highlands and often the Pacific lowlands of 
Mexico and Central America, where the rainy season may 
be less, often much less, than six months long and alternating 
with a relatively harsh dry season the situation is very 
different and subsistence agriculture, also of the "milpa" 
type, along with grazing by excessive numbers of animals 

Page 6 JULY 



has degraded much of these highlands for generations to 
come. The pressure to produce foods is so great that culti- 
vation is carried out even when it is doubtful if the results 
warrant the time and labor involved. 

The highlands of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and 
a part of Nicaragua are covered with what would seem to 
be endless forests of "Honduras pine," Pinus oocarpa. It 
is an excellent timber tree and a rapidly growing one. It 
grows on lands mostly unsuited to subsistence agriculture 
but on lands where cattle grazing can be practiced. Never- 
theless, in times past and even now great areas of the pine 
is cut or burned to clear the land. Perhaps even today more 
is burned to clear land than is made into lumber. This 
pine is a renewable natural resource par excellence, and cer- 
tainly rational use of Honduras pine would provide lumber 
to Central America and perhaps to much of the Caribbean 
region in perpetuity. 

The photograph shows a new stand of "Honduran Pine" 
only six years after clear cutting of the pine forest. The 
"park-like" aspect of the forest indicates relatively heavy 
grazing. The control of grasses and herbs by grazing re- 
duces the fire hazard to the young pines. Mature trees 
will come from this forest in 30-40 years. 

At the invitation of the Mexican government about 
25 years ago, the Rockefeller Foundation began an ex- 
tensive research project into the potential of increasing the 
production of food plants used in the underdeveloped re- 
gions of the tropics. The plants involved were maize and 
wheat. The project, now sponsored by both the Rocke- 
feller and the Ford Foundations, has been extended to 
other food crops important in the tropics and enlarged to 
cover other underdeveloped regions of the world. 

While the increase in food production is only one of the 
problems of the underdeveloped regions of our continent — 
population control is perhaps the second in importance — 
I suspect that the "revolution" in tropical agriculture ini- 
tiated by Rockefeller Foundation will prove to be the most 
important development in food production since the devel- 
opment of maize culture in America and that of rice and 
wheat in the Old World. 

Valuable "Honduran Pine" forest areas are suitable for grazing but 
generally poor for crops, though many are destroyed for crops. 





NEW EXHIBIT CHIEF 
OUTLINES GOALS 

Better communication through imaginative museum exhib- 
its is the goal of Lothar P. VVitteborg, new Chief of Exhibition 
for Field Museum. 

In the past 20 years, Witteborg has travelled to nearly 
every part of the world as a museum exhibition consultant, 
and has often been disturbed by what he regards as static 
and unimaginative use of display areas in many museums. 

Although he originally 
graduated from college 
with a degree in civil en- 
gineering, the field did not 
hold his interest and he 
returned to school where 
he earned a' degree in art 
history and minored in 
anthropology. Interest in 
the latter field led to grad- 
uate study in anthropol- 
ogy, to which he added 
courses in drawing, paint- 
ing, sculpture and design. 

As an undergraduate, VVitteborg worked at the Detroit 
Children's Miiseiuii and the Museum of Anthropology at 
the University of Michigan, but he became permanently 
intrigued with the challenges presented by the problems of 
visual communication when he became curator of the Uni- 
versity Museum at Florida State University. 

He later served as an exhibition consultant for the Newark 
Museum and as assistant chief of art and exhibition and then 
department chief at the American Museum of Natural His- 
tory in New York City. While at the American Museum, 
VVitteborg was often "on loan" as a consultant to other in- 
stitutions which included the British Museum in London, 
the Department of Antiquities in Turkey, and the School of 
Classical Studies in Athens. He helped in the development 
of the new National Museum in India. 

Witteborg later joined the Museums and Monuments 
Division of UNESCO and helped set up the National Mu- 
seum of Malaysia and acted as consultant for other institu- 
tions in Southeast Asia. 

In 1960, he opened a private design firm, Witteborg and 
Williams, Inc., with L. A. Williams, who had been chief of 
exhibition at the American Museum after Witteborg. The 
firm's clients included museums in the continental United 
States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Canada. 

Throughout his involvement in museum exhibition work, 
he has stressed his belief that "an exhibition is more than 
just a collection of interesting objects and things. It is a 
way of organizing material to convey information, and of 
organizing traffic flow to achieve optimum comnmnication. 

He has expressed these views in several articles, includ- 
ing a paper, "Museum Design, A Logical Approach," which 
he read at the annual meeting of the American Association 



of Museiuns in 1964, later published in the .*\.\M journal. 
Museum J^'ews. 

In that article, VVitteborg said, "Besides its role as a re- 
search and social center, the main function of a museum 
should be education through the interpretation of its col- 
lections. Interpretation, the most important aspect of any 
museum, is achieved through scholarly monographs, popu- 
lar publications, guided tours, adult education programs, 
and all-day programs; but, primarily it is achieved through 
exhibits, because it is through them that the largest number 
of people is affected. 

"What to do with objects in a museiun sounds like an 
easy problem. You either hang them from the wall, set 
them on the floor, or build a case aroimd them. Actually, 
it may be simple if the designer is simply asked to create a 
context for objects taken out of their natural environment. 
It is unfortimate, but this has been the case rather than the 
exception. Most museums are dull, static, dead, three- 
dimensional text books. But what about the explanatory 
exhibit, the exhibit of ideas rather than of things? This 
type of exhibit is becoming more popular as a few museums 
discover that teaching involves more than arranging objects 
in a glass case. Within the explanatory exhibit the design 
possibilities are endless. Soimd, animation, models, charts, 
and supplementary graphic materials, or any method the 
designer may use, will aid in putting across ideas or con- 
cepts in the exhibit. 

"The designer has many useful tools, for example : in the 
combination of simple use of structure with well-thought-out 
use of color, the designer has at his disposal one of the strong- 
est of response-producing techniques. Above all, it should 
be the duty of the designer to free us from the fixations of 
tradition and symbolism usually associated with color and 
form by emphasizing the direct sensuous perceptual impact 
of color and form as well as motion upon the spectator. The 
exhibition visitor should be made to feel that his trip to the 
museum was a spatial and visual experience in which the 
process of learning came through an unconscious eflfort on 
his part. The careful use of color, motion, sound, and light- 
ing can be used to lead the exhibition visitor along a pre- 
determined path. Another consideration, usually forgotten, 
is that empty space can be lUilized to afford the visitor a 
visual and physical rest, a point that is extremely important 
in our larger museums. In exhibition design, where the 
transmission of a story, a concept, or facts is the immediate 
and explicit pmpose, ideas can be communicated by visual 
symbols: color, form, lighting, and motion, which act as 
subsitutes for words, thereby increasing their effectiveness as 
meaning-carriers. It is, therefore, important in conceptual 
planning that structure, space (both negative and positive), 
form, color, motion, and light be dealt with together, not as 
unrelated elements." 

As chief of exhibition for Field Museum, he is interested 
in the challenge offered in the muse\im's potential for devel- 
opment of increasingly effective displays. VVitteborg re- 
gards the Field Museum building, with its classic lines and 
spacious galleries, as one of the finest in the world. 



JULT Page 7 




Field Museum's Brazil Tour mill 
reach into private homes and gar- 
dens, including those of four prom- 
inent Brazilians in the Petrop- 
olis area. The group irill tour 
these gardens with Roberto Burle 
Marx, landscape architect, bot- 
anist and abstract painter, whose 
work has created a new school of 
landscape design. At left, the 
residence of Senhora Odele Mon- 
teiro, described by House and Gar- 
den editor Ralph Bailey as hav- 
ing "one of the most beautiful 
private gardens in the world." 
The tour, February H-March 11, 
will cost $2050, including all ex- 
penses and a $500 donation to 
Field Museum. It is limited to 
35 people. For details, write: 
Brazil Tour, Field Museum of 
Natural History, Roosevelt Road 
at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 
Illinois, 60605. 



July hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday, 
CALENDAR OF EVENTS Tuesday and Thursday; 9 a.m. to 8p.m.. 

Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

July 1 through August 31 Field Museum General Highlights Tour Free pub- 
lic tour of the Museum, conducted by the Raymond Foundation. Tour is fol- 
lowed by a film, "Through These Doors." Tour begins at 2 p.m., Monday 
through Friday; filiu at 3 p.m.. Lecture Hall. 

July 1 1 Thursday Film Series for Children Part of the Museum's free sum- 
mer activities for Chicagoland youngsters. A different film will be shown 
twice on each of four consecutive Thursdays. Adults may attend when accom- 
panying a child. First film of the series is "Nature's Engineer," a documentary 
about beavers. 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. 

July 18 Thursday Film Series for Children "Elsa, the Lioness," actual films 
of the heroine of the book Born Free. 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., James Simpson 
Theatre. 

July 25 Thursday Film Series for Children Third in a series of four films will 
be "Alaska." The final film, "Life .-Ml .Around Us," will be on August 1. 
Both will be shown at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. 

Through July 28 Egypt Through A Biologist's Eye A photographic exhibit 
by Dale J. Osborn, Field Associate in Zoology. An artistic approach to scenes 
in the Egyptian deserts rarely seen by tourists in that country. Osborn spent 
three and one-half years exploring the Egyptian deserts for the Naval Medical 
Research Unit Number Three. Hall 9 Gallery. Ti 

Through August 15 M.\sada, King Herod's Fortress .k special exhibit of his- 
torical data and archaeological treasures from the 1963^65 excavations at 
the Zealot stronghold in Israel. Exhibit includes scrolls found in the caves 
of Bar-Kokhbar on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Museum Members 
and their families will be admitted free. Admission for non-members is 
75 cents for adults and 35 cents for children. A free film on Masada is shown 
daily at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in the Lecture Hall. 

Through August Summer Journey: The Fishes of Lake Michigan With the 
aid of Journey sheets provided by the Raymond Foundation, boys and girls 
can learn about some of the fishes which live in Lake Michigan. Journey 
sheets are available free at the North and South Doors of the Museum. 

Half A Billion Years of Illinois History Museum do-it-yourself tour in 

observance of the State's Sesquicentennial celebration takes visitors on a capsule 

journey through the worlds of anthropology, botany, geology and zoology. A 

free brochure provides a guide to pertinent exhibits. 



SHINNER PROGRAM 
IN THIRD YEAR 

Eight college undergraduate and two 
graduate students have begun partici- 
pation in the summer scholarship-work 
program set up by the Ernest G. Shinner 
Foundation of Chicago and Field Mu- 
seum of Natural History. 

The ten Shinner Scholars were se- 
lected by Field Museum from 62 appli- 
cants studying at 39 different univer- 
sities and colleges. Under the guidance 
of Museum scientists in the fields of an- 
thropology, botany, geology, paleontol- 
ogy and zoology, Shinner Scholars ap- 
ply laboratory and classroom techniques 
to practical problems related to their 
areas of concentration in college. The 
program provides science students with 
summer employment necessary for con- 
tinuation of their studies. 

Shinner scholars for 1968 are: Miss 
Patricia Y. Fujimoto of the University 
of Illinois-LIrbana from Chicago, Illin- 
ois; Charles Gourd of Northeastern State 
College from Tahiequah, Oklahoma; 
Miss Mary C.James of Grinnell College 
from Washington, D.C.; David P. Janos 
of Carleton College from Chicago, Il- 
linois; Jeff E. Klahn of the University of 
Chicago from Forks, Washington; Miss 
Susan F. Mandiberg of Oberlin College 
from Highland Park, Illinois: Miss Mari- 
lyn D. Miller of Mount Holyoke College 
from Queens, New York; William L. 
Overal of Northwestern University from 
Chicago Heights, Illinois; Robert H. 
Wilcox of the University of Chicago 
from Wilmette, Illinois, and Steven J. 
Zehren of the University of Wisconsin 
from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. 

The Shinner Foundation was estab- 
lished by Chicagoan Ernest G. Shinner 
to aid deserving young students. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 60605 A.C. 312. 922-9410 
FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



Pages JULY 



PRINTED BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS 



BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Volume 39, Number 8 August 1968 




special Events Mark 

Field Museum's 

Diamond Anniversary Year 



This month's cover is a preliminary sketch of the new 
Stanley Field Hall, drawn by Harry Weese and Associates, 
Architects. Any Anniversary celebrates both past and 
future, and, in the months to come. Field Museum will 
consider its aims and hopes as well as its achievements. 



Dramatic changes in the appearance of exhibits in Stan- 
ley Field Hall and an active calendar of spmcial events are 
planned as Field Museum begins the celebration of its 
Diamond Anniversary this fall. 

An American Indian Festival will be the of)ening event 
of the 75th Anniversary Year. Opening ceremonies on 
September 23 will launch three weeks of live demonstra- 
tions of Indian arts and crafts, Indian dancing, sf>ecial 
films and illustrated lectures. A pow-wow, arranged by 
the Indians, will close the Festival on October 13. A 
special Member's Night on September 27 will enable Mem- 
bers to get an unhurried close-up of the activities connected 
with the Festival. Sf)ecial exhibits will focus on "New Di- 
rections in Indian Art," "Contemporary Traditional Amer- 
ican Indian Art," and "Indians of Chicago, 1968." 

The re -designing of Stanley Field is already underway. 
"Stanley Field Hall is the structural heart of Field Mu- 
seum," said E. Leland Webber, Museum Director. "Stan- 
ley Field was the real heart of the Museum for more than 
50 years. It seemed appropriate, therefore, that this major 
reinstallation during our 75th year be done in his memory 
in the hall that bears his name." 

When completed, the hall will feature fountains, fXMjls, 
live trees and plants and a rearrangement of the tradi- 
tional exhibits, the African elephants and the dinosaurs. 

The firm of Harry Weese and Associates, Architects, 
joined Lothar Witteborg, Field Museum's Chief of Ex- 
hibition, in working out the design for the hall's new look. 



Among the problems facing the Museum's exhibition 
and engineering staffs were the repositioning of the .\frican 
elephants and the rampant dinosaur. Assistance in the 
former case came from Leon L. Pray, a retired Museum 
preparator, who had worked with Carl Akeley in preparing 
the elephants for display nearly 60 years ago. No one on 
the present staff knew how the elephants were affixed to 
their base or what steps might be involved in attempting 
to move them. Mr. Pray was contacted and his answer 
not only allowed the Museum staff to breathe a sigh of 
relief but offered a tribute to the foresight of Carl Akeley. 

"Answering your letter, re: Akeley's African elephants 
in Stanley Field Hall: They are on separate frame bases, with 
casters, ready to move. Simply tear off the plaster and 
fiber surface of the overall ground-cover and there you 
are! Mr. Akeley figured that someone would want to 
shift them some day and that is the way he made them," 
Mr. Pray wrote. The elephants will be slighdy north and 
east of their present location in the hall and will stand on a 
new, higher platform. 

The other large display, featuring two dinosaurs, pre- 
sents a more difficult problem. The standing sf)ecimen will 
have to be partially disarticulated and reassembled at its 
new frosition, slighdy north and west of where it presently 
stands. It, too, will have a new base. 

The 20-foot New Guinea ceremonial masks, brought 
from the South Pacific by the Joseph N. Field Expedition 
of 1910, will be removed from the present glass cases and 



Page 2 AUGUST 



will stand freely in a more prominent position near the 
south end ef the hall. Two massive totem poles from the 
Canadian Pacific Coast will be added to the hall arrange- 
ment, near the dinosaurs. 

Two pools, one at each end of Stanley Field Hall, will 
be underlighted, have bubblers and central fountain jets 
sending water 20 feet in the air. Seating areas for visitors 
will border the pools, which will be 24 feet in diameter and 
about 15 inches deep. New benches will also be placed at 
the sides of the hall, offering the public an abundance of 
places to relax and rest during visits to the Museum. 

The impression of bringing the "outdoors" indoors will 
be enhanced by the addition of live fig trees and other 
plants at various points on the main floor of Stanley Field 
Hall. Hanging vines will also be used on the second floor 
balconies overlooking the main floor. 

New second floor public lounges at the north and south 
ends of Stanlev Field Hall will add to the "new look." 



lecture topics, "Hunting Monkeys in Thailand," "Search- 
ing for Economic Plants in Africa," and "Primitive Art 
in Melanesia." This series will end April 13 with a sum- 
mary tour of the Museum's scientific departments of An- 
thropology, Botany, Geology and Zoology. 

Several sp>ecial exhibits are being planned for the 75th 
Anniversary Year and will be announced in the Bulletin. 

Observance of the Diamond Anniversary will close with 
the Museum as host to the North American Palcontological 
Convention in September, 1969. 

The months of the 75th Anniversary Year coincide 
closely with those of the founding year during which the 
Museum gradually took shape. Incorporated on Septem- 
ber 16, 1893, Field Museum opened its doors to the public 
the following June 1 . During the same month the first 
exp>edition went into the field, beginning the worldwide 
explorations that have brought world renowned exhibits 
and research collections to Chicago in the ensuing 75 years. 




Ill 19M, the. recently completed Stanley Field Hall was empty. 

Now partially completed, these lounges should be ready by 
mid-September, in time for the American Indian Festival. 
The Service Club of Chicago made a major contribution 
toward their construction. 

Small exhibit cases are b)eing removed from Stanley 
Field Hall and no temporary exhibits will be placed there 
after the renovation. Witteborg explains the changes as 
creating an "elegant promenade," an area which serves as 
a focal point for visits to other Museum areas. 

Research by Museum Curators will be the basis for a 
three part Fall, Winter, and Spring Lecture Series, which 
will begin November 3 with "Introduction — Museum Sci- 
ence and Expeditions," a talk by Robert F. Inger, Curator, 
Amphibians and Reptiles. Subject matter will range from 
"Meteorites — A Poor Man's Space Probe" to "Land Life 
of Fishes" to "Strange Fossils of the Illinois Strip Mines." 
The broad reach of Museum research is shown in other 



In the I'JlfOx, crowded with c.rhilnts. 



A social highlight of the Museum's 75th year will 
be the 75th Anniversary Ball to be sponsored on Octo- 
ber 25 by the Women's Board of Field Museum. In 
Stanley Field Hall, guests will enjoy dinner and danc- 
ing to the music of Frankie Masters and his 1 5-piece 
orchestras. Three strolling violinists will play during 
intermissions. 

Committee members for the SlOO-a-couple event 
include Mrs. C. Daggett Harvey, chairman, Mrs. A. 
Watson Armour, Mrs. Philip D. Block, Jr., Mrs. Wes- 
ley M. Dixon, Mrs. Wesley M. Dixon, Jr., Mrs. G. 
Corson Ellis, Mrs. R. Winfield Ellis, Mrs. Harold F. 
Grumhaus, Mrs. Wallace D. Mackenzie, Mrs. Henry 
W. Meers, Mrs. John T. Moss, Mrs. James L. Palmer, 
Mrs. John G. Searle, Mrs. Gardner H. Stern and 
Mrs. Thomas S. Tyler. 



AUGUST Pages 



Original Tour Booked Solid 

NEW GROUP SCHEDULED 
FOR BRAZIL TOUR 





Above: Fishes and birds of Brazil 
often have varied and brilliant color- 
ing. This piranha appears in bright 
tones of pearl and ruby. Left: With 
20 times the water flow of Niagara, 
Iguacu Falls forms two giant horse- 
shoes in a tropical setting. Falls 
divarf boat at beach below. (Photos 
by Phil Clark) 



A second Field Museum Brazil Tour is being organized, 
with departure January 22, if a minimum of 15 persons 
subscribe. 

So great is the interest among Field Museum Members 
in this specialized natural history approach to Brazil that 
all 35 places on the February 14-March 11 Tour have 
been taken. In response to continuing requests for places, 
the new Tour was announced by Phil Clark, Field Mu- 
seum Public Relations Counsel and plant specialist, who 
will lead both tours. 

"The January 22 Tour is a mirror image of the Feb- 
ruary 14th," Mr. Clark said. "All the same places will 
be visited, but in opposite order. The January 22 people 
will tour Manaus and the Amazon first, the other group 
will end its trip there. Both groups will participate in 
the Carnival at Bahia, but this will be the end of the Tour 
for the January 22 group and the beginning for that of 
February 14th — the two tours will meet and enjoy a Car- 
nival Ball together on February 15, the first night in Brazil 
of one group and the final night of the other." 



Prices on the 26-day Tour are the same for both 
groups, of course. Including all expenses (even tips to 
guides) and a tax deductible $500 donation to Field Mu- 
seum, the tour costs $2,050. 

Stops on the Tour are: Manaus and the Amazon, the 
modern capital of Brasilia, the gem center of Belo Hori- 
zonte, the Portuguese colonial village of Ouro Preto, Rio 
de Janeiro and its beaches of white sand, Petropolis and 
its imperial museum and stunningly different private gar- 
dens designed by Roberto Burle Marx, the home of Burle 
Marx at Barra Tujuca, Sao Paulo and the Butantan Sanke 
Farm, Curitiba, Vila Veiha, Iguacu Falls, the Augusto Ruschi 
estate and hummingbird center in Espirito Santo and the 
excitement of Carnival in Salvador, Bahia. 

In addition to Mr. Clark, whose field is plants and 
gardens, each tour will also be accompanied by an emi- 
nent zoologist. Dr. Austin Rand, Chief Curator of Zoology 
and an expert on birds, will accompany the Tour which 
begins February 14, and another zoologist specializing in 
birds will be found for the January 22 Tour. With the 



Page 4 AUGUST 



Tour groups averaging about 30, each member will have 
ample opportunity to ask questions about the animals, 
birds and plant life encountered in Brazil. 

Brazilian specialists will also be available to talk with 
Tour members at various stops. Dr. Ruschi will discuss 
birds, orchids and bromeliads, his principal specialties, 
during the Espirito Santo stop, and Burle Marx will express 
his views on garden design and botany at Petropolis. 
There will also be a meeting with gem cutters and a talk 
by the geologist, Francisco Mueller Basto, at a dinner at 
Belo Horizonte. 

Guides familiar with the various local areas will join 
the Tour at all major stops. The Tour is designed so that 
members will be given a wide ranging and many-dimen- 
sioned survey of Brazil's natural history and people. 

Four Tour meetings will be scheduled during Decem- 
ber and January as preparation for the Tours. 

Further information or copies of the June Bulletin, 
with the Tour itinerary, may be obtained by writing: 
Field Museum Brazil Tour, Field Museum of Natural His- 
tory, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 
60605. A deposit of $500 is required and single room 
accommodations for the Tour are $95 extra. 




Royal palms in Kio's Botanic Garden make a dramatic fore- 
ground for the Christ the Redeemer figure on Corcovado Mountain. 




Roberto Burle Marx is the originator of a new school 
of landscape design based on abstract art. 




Above: Modern sculpture and landscaping add to the impact of 
Brasilia's startling impression. This work is on the first floor 
of the foreign ministry. 



Below: Blue and green hummingbird sits on her tiny eggs in a 
nest in a small hanging bromeliad, Neoregelia punctatis.sima. 




AUGUST Pages 



Fall Workshops for Members' Children 

A series of Saturday morning workshops for the children and grandchildren of Museum Members will be held 
for the fifth consecutive year by the Raymond Foundation this fall. Youngsters will meet Museum staff members 
and work with specimens and materials from scientific collections. The small group workshops, geared to dif- 
ferent age levels, are planned to stimulate and develop interest in the study of the natural sciences. The programs 
for younger children last about an hour, those for older children about an hour and a half. Extra time should 
be allowed if children plan to bring specimens for identification. 

Reservations arc necessary and an application is included in this issue of the Bulletin. Since it may not be pos- 
sible to accommodate all applicants, we urge that applications be sent in early. Each applicant will be scheduled 
into one program only and reservations will be accepted in the order they are received. Applicants accepted 
will receive a confirmation card which will serve as his or her admission to the workshop. 




October 5 

Life in an Old Dead Tree 

Marie Svoboda and George Fricke, Leaders 
For ages 5-7 1 0:30 A.M. 

Parents are also invited. 1 :30 P.M. 

This special program for family groups will show the dif- 
ferent kinds of animals that might make their homes in an 
old dead tree. Such a dwelling is not chosen for its beauti- 
ful setting, but for the protection it offers. 

October 12 

Indians of Woodlands and Plains 

Harriet Smith. Leader 
For ages 8-10 1 :30 A. M . 

For ages 11-13 1:30 P.M. 

Indian tribes have developed ways of life adapted to their 
environment and have also shown great skill in utilizing 
natural materials to suit man's purposes. In this work- 
shop, youngsters will handle various naturally-occurring 
raw materials and see how the Indians used them in making 
tools, weapons and household equipment. Movies showing 
the variations of Indian Life in the woodlands and on the 
western plains will also be shown. 



Page 6 AUGUST 



October 19 

Boneyard Menagerie 

Ernest Roscoe. Leader 
For ages 6-8 1 0:30 A. M. and 1 :30 P.M. 

This workshop will "rattle the skeletons in a few closets" 
by discussing the prehistoric relatives of familiar animals 
found in zoos and aquaria. Children should be accom- 
panied by at least one parent. Be prepared for a few 
surprises! 

Caveman to Civilization 

Edith Fleming, Leader 
For ages 10-1 3 10:30 A.M. 

A movie on the life of the cave men and how they hunted 
prehistoric animals opens this workshop. Boys and girls 
will also examine actual tools used by cave men thousands 
of years ago, learn how they were made and compare them 
with modern tools. 

October 26 

Find, Seek, Discover 

George Friclie, Leader 
For ages 6-7 10:30 A.M. and 1 :30 P.M. 

Parents are invited 
In this special program for family groups, the enjoyment 



of exploring natural phenomena is stressed. This will be 
a "treasure hunt" in the Museum halls to illustrate the 
fact that life is all around us if we will take the time to 
observe nature carefully. 

November 2 

Rock and Mineral Kingdom 

Ernest Roscoe, Leader 
For ages 9-1 3 10:30A.M. 

Parents are Invited. 

This is a slightly advanced program on rocks and minerals. 
After a talk on the qualities and characteristics of different 
rocks and minerals for their identification, youngsters will 
be sent to the exhibition halls with question sheets to answer 
independently. Children may bring their own specimens 
for identification. 

November 9 

Bones to Bodies 

Ernest Roscoe, Leader 
For ages 9-13 10 :30 A. M . 

Parents are Invited 

This workshop emphasizes the structure of the vertebrate 
skeleton. Specimens and Museum exhibits will illustrate 
the important points of the subject. 



if there Is more than one child In your family who wishes to attend a workshop, please make a 
duplicate application for each child. 



FALL WORKSHOPS FOR MEMBERS' CHILDREN 

SATURDAYS in the MUSEUM, 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. See article for details on programs. Please list the 
program you wish to attend in order of your preference. Sorry, only one program can be scheduled for each child. 



Program 



Date 



Hour 



1st choice 



2nd choice 
3rd choice 
4th choice 



Name 



Age 



Tel. 



Address 



City 



State 



Zip 



Membership in name of 



Cut along dotted line and mail to: 

Raymond Foundation, FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605 



AUGUST Page 7 



NEW PERMANENT COHO, ALEWIFE EXHIBIT 
OPENS IN HALL OF FISHES 

A new permanent exhibit opening Au- 
gust 1 in the Hall of Fishes features two 
of the most prominent fishes found in 
Lake Michigan, the Coho salmon {On- 
corhynchus kisutch) and the alewife (Alosa 
pseudoharengus) . 

The growth stages in the three-year 
life cycle of the Coho salmon will be 
depicted including two models of the 
adult male fish to show the different 
coloring pattern in the breeding male. 

The Coho salmon, a native of the 
Pacific Coast area, was raised in hatch- 
eries in Michigan and released in 1966 
into streams which feed in Lake Mich- 
igan. Since then, the Coho salmon has 
established itself well and has become 
a favorite of sport fishermen. This spe- 




Taxidermist Carl W. Cotton prepares a model 
of an alewife for the new exhibit in Hall N. 



August hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday, 
CALENDAR OF EVENTS Tuesday and Thursday; 9a.m. to 8p.m., 

Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

August 1 Thursd.w Film Series for Children Final film in a series of four 
movies shown free to youngsters. "Life All Around Us," will be shown at 
10 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. 

Through August 15 M.\s.\d.^, King Herod's Fortress Special exhibit of his- 
torical data and archaeological treasures from the 1963-65 excavations at 
Masada, led by Yigael Yadin. The Museum's largest special exhibit in several 
years includes scrolls found in the caves of Bar-Kokhbar on the western shore 
of the Dead Sea in Israel. Museum members and their families admitted free; 
Xon-members admission, 75 cents for adults, 35 cents for children. Free 
film on Masada shown daily at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p m. in the Lecture Hall. 

Through September 16 C.AMOUFL.JkCE in N.-vture Photographic exhibit in color 
by Edward S. Ross, an entomologist, demonstrates a variety of ways in which 
living things are protected by coloration. Three-dimensional Museum ex- 
hibits supplement the photographs. Hall 9 Gallery. 

Continuing in August Egypt Through .\ Biologist's Eye Photographic ex- 
hibit by Dale J. Osborn, Field Associate in Zoology. Moved to Hall J. 

Through August 31 Field Museum Gener.\l Highlights Tour Free public 
tour of the Museum, conducted by the Raymond Foundation. Tour is fol- 
lowed by a film, "Through These Doors." Tour begins at 2 p.m., Monday 
through Friday. Film will be shown at 3 p.m. in the Lecture Hall. 

Through August Summer Journey : The Fishes of Lake Michig.\n A do-it-your- 
self tour for youngsters which will acquaint them with some of the residents of 
Lake Michigan. Sponsored by the Raymond Foundation. Any child who 
can read and write may participate in the Journey Program. Free Journey 
sheets are available at the North and South Doors and the Information Desk. 

Half A Billion Years of Illinois History Do-it-yourself tour for Museum vis- 
itors in observance of the state's Sesquicentennial celebration covers aspects of 
anthropology, botany, geology and zoology. A free brochure, available in 
Stanley Field Hall, provides a guide to pertinent exhibits. 



cies may grow to a length of 32 or 33 
inches and weigh up to 25 pounds. 

The Coho salmon remains near shore 
during the spring but moves into deeper 
parts of the lake during the summer. 
In the fall of its third year, the fish 
moves inshore again and then goes up 
streams to spawn. 

This predator feeds on many fishes 
in the lake, including alewives. 

The alewife, a native of the Atlantic 
Coast, probably migrated to Lake Mich- 
igan through the other Great Lakes. 
It appeared in Lake Michigan about 
20 years ago and has flourished. 

Here the alewife has a three-year life 
cycle, although in its Adantic Coast hab- 
itat it may live from five to seven years. 

Toward the end of their life cycle, 
the alewives come close to the shore to 
spawn, usually in the late spring and 
early summer. The heaps of dead ale- 
wives which have been notorious on 
some beaches and shorelines occur at 
the time of this inshore migration. The 
alewives who spawn in July die some- 
time later, probably during the winter. 

The newly hatched alewives remain 
close to shore until the autumn after 
they are spawned. They feed on plank- 
ton which they strain from the water 
with very efficient "gill traps." When 
they are older they move into the mid- 
waters of the lake where they eat a type 
of small crustacean and the larvae of 
other fishes. 

Alewives also have some commercial 
value. More than 50 million pounds 
of these fish were caught and processed 
for pet food last year. 

Both the alewife and the Coho sal- 
mon are 'success stories" in terms of 
the Lake Michigan habitat. The brief 
life spans are indicative of the high rate 
of survival of the young of these two 
species. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVEI.T ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS S0«09 A.C. 312. 922-94t0 
FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



Pages AUGUST 



PRINTED BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS 



BULLETIN 

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Volume 39, Number 9 September 1968 




AMERICAN 
INDIAN 
FESTIVAL 



The American Indian Festival 



September 23 

to 

October 1 3 

By Lois Rubinyi 

Festival Coordinator, Raymond Foundation 



The symbol of the American Indian Festival 
is shown on this month's cover. The design, 
from a Pima basket in the Museum's Grier 
Collection, represents the house of Siuhu, a 
Pima legendary figure whose mountain home 
was so hidden by confusing trails that no one 
could find him. 




Rose Ayala, a volunteer at the American Indian Center, conducts a session of 
the Center's Community Services Day Camp. Photo by Orlando Cabanban. 



To BE ALONE in a large city — to be cut off from family, 
friends, land and, most importantly, from one's own iden- 
tity — this is often the situation of the Indian who comes to 
Chicago. Indians have been arriving in Chicago in increas- 
ing numbers, from a few hundred in the early 1950's to the 
present population of 16,000. Many come as family units, 
but the largest number come alone. Many have come to 
participate in Bureau of Indian Affairs vocational train- 
ing programs, biU a number also come on their own. 

Their existence largely unknown to the general Chicago 
public, these Indians from 99 tribes in 28 states and Canada 
have, nevertheless, a valuable contribution to make to the 
cultural and social life of this city. It was in this spirit that 
the idea for an American Indian Festival developed. A great 
deal of the creativity and ingenuity of mind, heart and hand 
that enabled these various Indian peoples to survive and 
flourish across much of the United States still remains. Since 
the culture of any people is often intimately related to the 
land where they live, it is not surprising that Indian cultures 
have changed even as the American landscape has been 
altered. 

Few people see any continuity between the Indian cul- 
tures of the past and the present. Our image of the Indian 
past comes largely from novels (often highly romanticized), 
television, and films. The generalized Indian stereotype 
takes little cognizance of the great diversity of Indian cul- 
tures on the American continent, including vast differences 
in language, religion, government, art and social organiza- 
tion. Few people have had any contact with the Indians 
of today. 

The American Indian Festival was conceived with the 
idea of providing a creative context in which person-to- 
person contact between Chicagoans — Indian and non-In- 



dian — could take place. In creating the festival, the Museum 
is working with the American Indian Center. The Center, 
a non-profit organization, has sought by its own activities 
to preserve Indian culture. Most importantly, it provides 
a focal point for Indian social activity in the large city. 

The Museum has long displayed some of the most beau- 
tiful creations of Indian cultures in its halls, but objects 
alone can never fully tell the story of their creation and cre- 
ators. The emphasis of the festival is on living people and 
their work and its major theme is American Indian culture 
from past to present: continuity and change. Daily activ- 
ities include demonstrations by Indian artists and crafts- 
men of skills from many cultures such as : totem pole carving 
from the Northwest Coast, basketry, beadwork, and costume 
making from the Plains and Woodlands, with related films 
on these crafts. Special events include performances by an 
Indian choral group, dancing, and a canoe race on Lake 
Michigan. Special exhibits will include a photographic 
essay on the Indians of Chicago and a display of traditional 
and modern Indian arts and crafts. The climax of the 
festival will come the last two days with a Pow Wow given 
by the Indians in which all Chicagoans — Indian and non- 
Indian — will participate. 

Many of the festival activities relate to some aspect of 
Indian arts and crafts, but, most importantly, these are re- 
lated to the total context of Indian life. Too often, Indian 
life both past and present has been devitalized by reducing 
it to a series of rudimentary skills and craft productions. 
The art of any people is a part of their culture and as such 
is intimately related to all aspects of their way of life. It 
reflects among other things, a particular view of the world, 
raw materials which are available, and the amount of leisure 
time a group of people has to pursue such interests. A 



Page 2 SEPTEMBER 



projectile poLnt can be admired solely because of its fine 
workmanship, but how much more meaningful to us if we 
can see it as the means of supplying a people with meat to 
keep them from starvation. A clay pot may appear imin- 
teresting until we realize that it has held life-giving water 
for the desert people who made it. We can then more 
deeply appreciate the meaning of the beautiful designs ap- 
plied to the pot: billowing rain clouds, falling rain, rain- 
bows, and tender young corn plants. The delightful juxta- 
position of the utilitarian and the artistic can be a constant 
source of pleasure to discover. Watching a craftsman at 
work gathering his materials and working with them, one 
gains an increased respect for the extensive knowledge re- 
quired for the production of these articles. 

Change is an important theme in the festival. The way 
of life of any people is a dynamic ever-changing process. 
This was true of Indian cultures long before the Europeans 
came. Designs on early Indian pottery show much ex- 
change of ideas between different groups of people. New 
techniques were also adopted — one very dramatic example 
being the art of weaving which was learned by the Navajos 
from the Pueblos. With the coming of the Europeans, 
changes came rapidly. New materials were adopted : glass 
beads were added to the traditional porcupine quill decora- 
tion of the Plains and Woodland Indians, silver was com- 
bined with the native turquoise to make Navajo jewelry, 
and wool from sheep brought by the Spaniards replaced the 
traditional cotton used in Navajo weaving. Shapes and 
uses of objects also changed. Rugs began to be made com- 
mercially by the Navajo as trade goods— design and color 
were often suggested by the trader. Metal containers were 
used by the Pueblo Indians for water storage and began to 
replace clay pots. Pottery began to be made more and more 
for tourists with new shapes and designs added to please the 
tourist's taste (which was often lamentable). Understand- 



ably, the meanings and function of many articles changed. 
Kachina dolls are regarded by some as toys rather than as 
representations of Hopi dieties. Iroquois false-face masks 
are used in interior decorating in addition to traditional 
curing ceremonies. 

Today it is not surprising to see an Indian dancer wear- 
ing moccasins with Woodland Indian beadwork, a Plains 
Indian costume, and a Navajo Squash Blossom necklace. 
The arts and crafts of many diverse culture areas in the 
United States are being brought together. There appears 
to be a search among many American Indians, as there is 
among other groups within the American population, for a 
common identity and the means to achieve this. Indian art, 
dance, and song have taken on new meaning in this search. 
It is important to stress, however, that this artistic heritage 
is only one aspect of the modern Indian self-image. As one 
young Indian expressed it: 

The culture I am talking about is not something 
like a war bonnet and a pow wow dance put on for 
tourists. It's something that the Indian has in the way 
the Indian lives. Not as he lived in the past, but as he 
lives now. That exists in his being an Indian. (Stan 
Steiner, The New Indians, 1 56) 
Chicago is fortunate that so many cultures and tradi- 
ditions are represented in her diverse population. It seems 
appropriate that the Museum which contains so much about 
people should be the major focal point for their meeting. It 
is our hope that the American Indian Festival will show the 
continuity through time of American Indian social life and 
culture and form a bridge between the past — represented 
by the articles on exhibit — to the present and future — rep- 
resented by the people you will meet in the Museum. 

The Illinois Arts Council, a stale agency; the Ernest G. Shinner 
Foundation; and the Wieboldt Foundation provided financial assist- 
ance Jor the American Indian Festival. 




Pow-wows are held periodically at the American Indian Center, providing Indians from many tribes 
living in Chicago with a focal point for social activity. Photo by Orlando Cabanban. 



SEPTEMBER Page 3 



They built; they did not destroy 

A REMARKABLE THING 



By Sol Tax 

Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago 

Acting Director, Center for the Study of Man, 

Smithsonian Institution 

From a luncheon address at the first annual meeting of the Foundation 
of North American Indian Culture, Bismarck, North Dalcota, Decem- 
ber 6, 196S. 




Wood earring of eagle and whale, by David Williams, Sr., Tlingit 
Indian. Loaned by Indian Arts and Crafts Board. 



Those of us who bring the European heritage often have 
feelings of guilt. We are proud that our fathers brought 
forth two new nations dedicated to liberty and to equality. 
But we know that it was not quite a virgin wilderness from 
which Canada and the U.S.A. were born. The American 
Indians who came thousands of years before had done a re- 
markable thing, relating human needs to the natural world 
in every corner of this continent. On the Pacific coast they 
learned how to live with salmon without destroying the sal- 
mon — and this required a marvelous technology. Just so 
Eskimos and Indians learned to live in the arctic, and made 
all of the inventions that were needed. In California it was 
acorns, which cannot be eaten unless men learn first to leech 
out the bitterness. In the Southwest the Indians learned 
to live with the desert, in the South and East with the great 
forests. Here on the plains the miracle was no less, for they 
showed us how the setded agricultural life of the river beds 
could combine with life on the high plains where man could 
live with buffalo. In every case they built; they did not 
destroy. They combined nature, man, and God into a har- 
monious whole. When Spaniards brought the horse to 
Mexico the Indians showed well how they could weave the 
new into the old. The horse almost instantly became in- 
tegrally part of the older life, part of the harmony of man- 
nature-spirit. In the days of their freedom the nations of In- 
dians not only thrived, but they thrived by discovering how 
to live with nature and with God without destroying either 
— or themselves. They changed readily and sometimes rad- 
ically, as their environments changed or they moved into 
new areas or with the new discoveries they themselves made. 
They were never lonely individuals because they belonged 
to communities and each community was a moral order 
built on a right way to live in harmony with fellow tribes- 
men, which meant to live in harmony too with the greater 
universe. We think now of these tribes having developed 
"genuine" cultures: customs and ways and deep feeling 
about the right way to live; beauty in everything made by 
men because what was made was made with love and came 
from and was part of the universe. 

Now, Europeans thousands of years ago took a different 
path. We discovered how to conquer nature. It was an 
act of will in our European tribal past that changed us 
from the way of tribal peoples. We invented something 
called "work," which is something from which we need 
vacations, as though what needs to be done must be sepa- 
rated from what we want to do. We also began to change 
the earth, and to glory in changing it; and to treat nature 



Page 4 SEPTEMBER 



like a thing, and the supernatural as something for Sunday 
— both separated from ourselves; and eventually we found 
ourselves treating one another as things also — each sepa- 
rated from the others, competing in a struggle to surpass. 
I am not glorifying the tribal way which was the Indian way 
or denigrating what we are. We too are marvelous to be- 
hold. In a few thousand years we have indeed conquered 
nature. When I first read that there now exists an atomic 
reactor that produces more energy than it consumes it 
crossed my mind that we seemed to be repealing some funda- 
mental law of physics, just as in the past few years we have 
repealed one of our oldest proverbs, that what goes up must 
come down. But no, we have repealed no physical laws. 
That atomic reactor, (I think it is called a breeder reactor, 
since it breeds energy) is simply turning matter into energy. 
Man has become so powerful that he has begun to reduce 
the total quantity of the matter that constitutes our planet. 
The mind calls up a picture of the earth getting smaller and 
smaller until it disapf)ears. But wait — as we transform our 
earth into energy, we shall use the energy to take us to other 
planets. If the universe is infinite, of course we can believe 
that progress can go on forever. In your minds is the ques- 
tion, "Is that progress?" But if you question progress at this 
point in our long history, you have to question it all the way 
back to the time, whenever it was, that we began our adven- 
ture in manipulating nature instead of relating to it, and in 
taking upon ourselves the role which we attribute every Sun- 
day to the Almighty. 



and excitement of their dance and their song, and the gran- 
deur of their thought and ritual, but because they are a 
living example of another way of life. We need the model of 
that way of life not because we ourselves can turn back his- 
tory and become again like tribal peoples, but because 
while they exist there is a chance to learn from them some of 
the basic values of life which (like matter) we have ourselves 
transmuted into energy. To the degree that we can regain 
these basic values we may learn to live with ourselves 
again. 

Friends of American Indians are fond of remembering 
the cultural debt that we owe to them — tobacco (which 
we misuse), chocolate, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, pumpkin, 
turkey, and so on — it is hard to imagine our world without 
these. We also know that Indian ideas of democracy, and 
the federations of tribes, influenced the birth of our nation 
and our Constitution. We know how much our language, 
our place names, our nature-lore, have gained froin Amer- 
ican Indians. I am suggesting that the cultural contribu- 
tion that the Indians offer to us — and which we reject — is 
far greater than these items which we have accepted. 

Many of us, particularly in the East, are surprised to 
know that Indians are not disappearing — indeed Indians 
who identify as Indians, who associate with Indian com- 
munities, and live in terms of Indian values — even if they 
half starve to do so — Indians in this sense are actually in- 
creasing in numbers every year. This is due biologically to 
modern medicine, the control of contagious diseases, and 




Walrus figure carved from loalrus ivory, by Eskimo Indian. Loaned by Indian Arts and Crafts Board. 



I am part of our European civilization, one of the mem- 
bers indeed of the very university where man first achieved 
his latest and greatest technical mastery over nature. I ad- 
mire the mind and the spirit which is ours; I do not deni- 
grate it. Nor do I say that the individuals of any popula- 
tion are better than those of another. We European Amer- 
icans have as far as I know as many noble spirits and warm 
and kind people as any other group; we also have our share 
of small and evil people. I am only trying to distinguish 
two ways of life, two paths for men and mankind. American 
Indian communities need to be sustained, not only or even 
mainly because of the beauty of their artifacts, and charm 



especially the saving of lives of children. But it is due 
equally to an act of will on the part of Indians. From the 
beginning of our history on this continent we have made it 
difficult for Indians to continue to live as Indians. We 
took away their means of making a living as Indians, of- 
fering them this difficult choice: "Maintain your commu- 
nities and live in terms of Indian values," we told them. 
"If you can't feed yourselves that way in our competitive, 
utilitarian, impersonal society, then change into white men. 
Leave your communities and your values; stop living in 
ways you think proper; and you can eat and have the things 
you need." It was an act of will that the American Indians 



SEPTEMBER Pane 5 



generally have rejected the choice — an act of will of which 
they should feel proud. They chose the way of our fathers 
who left Europe in small ships to face unknown hazards and 
hardships rather than submit to tyranny or violation of con- 
science. What is no less important is that we still offer them 
only the impossible choice — live like white men, or not at all 
— and that they still refuse. To resolve the problem which 
is our problem — we say, "keep your culture if you will, but 
not at our expense" — and impatiently we throw them into 
the water to sink or to swim, as we say. But the Indians 
stubbornly neither sink nor swim; they float. They retreat 
into themselves, unable to explain that they cannot and will 
not be like us — that would be discourteous and aggressive 
and not good Indian behavior. They plead silendy for 
understanding, patience, and help. And the help that we 
give them is offered as charity, in paternal spirit, forcing 
them in order to live they lose the independence which is 
their traditional heritage and the birthright of every com- 
munity. Outsiders manage their affairs; because they can- 
not pay for their community schools and hospitals, they are 
not allowed to manage them. And then we complain that 
they do not know how. Indian tribes have from time im- 
memorial managed the most difficult community decisions, 
and did so with consummate skill. Otherwise they would 
not have survived. They could do it now, if we let them 
do it in their own way. What needs to be done to protect 
Indian communities is to help them to protect their small 
remaining land base — which is their tribe — and to help them 
to provide means to earn a living and to maintain health and 
education; help them to do what needs to be done — help 
them with money and skills — ^but let them do it for them- 
selves. We shall prove ourselves wise enough to run their 
lives only when we find ways to let them run their own. 
But we have to provide some replacement for the continent 
which we took from them, until freely they as communities 
can invent means to adjust to this new environment of the 
white man as once they adjusted to changes in nature. 

If we can work this miracle of human relations as we 
have worked miracles of technology, our reward will be 
great. First, we shall have resolved a problem which weighs 
heavily on our hearts and consciences. Second, we shall 
have breathed new life into communities that are paralyzed, 
and we shall witness a rebirth of Indian culture. When we 
speak of the cultural heritage of the American Indians 
that we think to preserve, we are thinking of the arts and 
crafts and song and dance that have come to Indians from 
their forefathers. This is good. With encouragement and 
markets the traditional Indian products can continue to 
be produced in quantity, and the Indian powwows can 
be made attractive to tourists. This recognition of the 
value of Indian culture by the larger society is good, and 
helps American Indians both economically and psychologi- 
cally. But it is not enough. This living on the past is living 
off capital. Art is not art, and music is not music, if it 
comes ready-made. We appreciate the old masters, but we 
demand of our artists that they be creative so that our gen- 
eration, too, will produce those who will some day be old 



masters. Indian culture was changing and creative, devel- 
oped out of the fabric of community life. When we think 
of preserving Indian culture we do not think alone of the an 
and artifacts which are reflections of the Indian cultures of 
the nineteenth century, but of the potential for creation that 
exists also in the twentieth century. Only by freeing Indians 
to live as they wish as Indians can we expect that life will 
again be breathed into the Indian culture that we preserve. 
Creative arts — all culture — are reflections of communities. 
Our great reward, if we help American Indian communi- 
ties to develop freely in their own full directions — our great 
reward will be that we shall see a renaissance of Indian cul- 
ture, changing with the times but remaining Indian. Indian 
culture is the basic identification with fundamental values 
and beliefs that have come down from the past in each In- 
dian nation. These are fundamental values, and just as the 
values of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin are living 
guides to us today, in spite of the fact that we have moved 
from an agricultural horse-and-buggy style of life to one 
that is in many ways far richer. So the basic American 
Indian values so important to be preserved will be best pre- 
served if the Indian communities are protected by changes 
in outward things that will protect but not offend their inner 
values. With Indian community values preserved, the arts 
will be protected so that they can develop. Just as there are 
both museums to preserve the best of the old and also studios 
to create the new, without which our culture would dry up 
and die, so if we speak of preserving Indian culture we 
must plan first of all to help Indians to gain autonomous 
communities which will be their studios for the creation of 
a living culture in the spirit of the changing past. 




Necklace made of caribou hoof, by Eskimo. Loaned 
by Indian Arts and Crafts Board. 



Pao(6 .SEPTE.MBER 



The Edward E. Ayer 

Fall Lecture Series 1968 




Moose 
John Bulger's "Rivers" 



October 5 

Our Western Parks 



Arthur Dewey 

Our magnificent national parks in a film 
portrayal that covers the four seasons. The 
human element — sports and camping — is 
shown as well as the wildlife and natural 
wonders. 

October 1 2 

Florence and the Heart of Italy 
Eric Pavel 
Magnificent Renaissance treasures of Flor- 
ence serve as a backdrop for current artistic 
activity. Colorful celebrations and visits to 
famous scenic areas throughout Italy are 
also featured. 

October 1 9 

Nature's Plans and Puzzles 
C. P. Lyons 
Curious adaptations of animals to various 
environments are explored. Studies of 
birds, mammals, insects, reptiles and am- 
phibians are interwoven with studies of 
plant life and the earth's geology. 

October 26 

Skis Over McKinley Hans Gmoser 

The first ski traverse of Mt. McKinley and 
a skier's escape from an avalanche are 
among highlights in this tribute to the ad- 
venture of skiing in various areas of North 
America. 



The beauty and excitement of natural wonders and varying cultures fronfi the 
artistic centers of Italy to the skier's world on the mountain slopes of Alaska will 
be featured in this year's Fall Lecture Series. The films are prepared and presented 
by well-known travelers and lecturers, each stressing human interest factors as well 
as the natural appeal of different areas of the world. The nine films will be shown 
in the James Simpson Theatre of the Field Museum of Natural History at 2:30 p.m. 
on successive Saturdays from October 5 through November 30. Reserved seats 
for Museum Members will be held until 2:25 p.m. Attendance is limited to adults 
and children of Members. Admission is free. 



November 2 

Ireland Nico/ Smith 
Emphasizing the people of this "land of 
castles and cottages," the span of Ireland 
from metropolitan Dublin to vast estates 
and historic castles to quiet seacoast vil- 
lages is explored. 




Pageant 
Eric Pavel's "Florence" 



'zF 




Shrine 
Philip Walker's "Japan" 




Jaunting Car 
Nicol Smith's "Ireland" 



November 9 

Japanese Summer Phi/ip Wa/I(er 
The contrasts and blending of ancient and 
modern Japan are revealed in its people, 
its cities, its cultural traditions and arts, 
and its industries. 

November 16 

Sweden Raiph Gerstle 
Progressive, modern Sweden is viewed 
against a background of its traditional cele- 
brations and maritime history. The no- 
madic Lapps and their lives above the 
Arctic Circle are also featured. 

November 23 
Wild Rivers of North America 
John Bulger 

Wilderness waterways from Tennessee to 
the Arctic tundra lead travelers through 
furious rapids, into raging forest fires and 
on whale hunts, with glimpses of wildlife 
in unspoiled areas near these waters. 

November 30 

Four Worlds of Switzerland 
Alfred Wolff 
French, German, Austrian and Italian in- 
fluences in Switzerland are illustrated 
through regional festivals, crafts and un- 
usual local institutions in this small and 
beautiful country. 



SEPTEMBER Page 7 



Monday through Friday the buses roll down Museum Drive 
to the Museum's soiuh entrance, spill out their loads of chil- 
dren and park five abreast the lenght of the drive. The 
children rush up the steps, line up in pairs and wait to be 
checked in. Inside, Stanley Field Hall is criss-crossed by 
straggling regiments of wide-eyed children. Many of these 
children are taking part in what the Chicago Public School 
Board of Education calls a Selected Cultural Field Expe- 
rience. 

Thousands of children tour the Museum in a year and 
each year that number increases. \Vith the advent of the 
federal government's Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act, which, among other things, provides funds for buses 
for children in economically depressed communities, the 
number of school groups touring the Museum has swelled 
tremendously. Without this subsidy these children are un- 
able to afford the fare needed for a chartered bus. Head- 
start, settlement house groups, church groups, school classes, 
clubs and day camps continue to come to the Museum in 
ever-growing numbers. 

This is, of course, partially a reflection of increased effort 
to reach and aid the inner-city child in a constructive and 
progressive way. Museums across the country are taking 
part in this effort and the Field Museum is no exception. 

As I stood and watched the seemingly endless parade of 
children streaming through the Museum halls, I couldn't 
help wondering^how much do they get out of these tours? 
is the effort and expense justified or is this a well-intentioned 
but misdirected expenditure of energy and money? 

To answer these questions I took a tour with a group of 
third graders; I read books; and I talked to administrators, 
teachers, Museum personnel, social workers and children. 
As a result, I arri\-ed at the suspected conclusion for some 
unexpected reasons. 

This is in no way a comprehensive or statistical survey 
supported by sophisticated computer-tabulated data. It is, 
rather, a casual compilation of the views of experienced, in- 
terested and concerned people involved in the education of 
children. 

I began the project by consulting Miriam ^Vood, head 
of the Raymond Foundation, the Museum division con- 
cerned with booking, arranging and guiding tours, as well 
as conducting workshops, journeys, and many other special 
programs. 

Miss Wood is a petite, soft-spoken woman whose gra- 
cious manner and ready smile belie a mind crammed with 
facts and figures on civic, federal and private education pro- 
grams and data on how these programs relate to the Mu- 
seum. When questioned on these matters, she doesn't 
require time to gather her thoughts — they are seemingly 
permanendy gathered and ready for use. In addition to 
big, formal programs. Miss Wood is interested in small, in- 
formal efforts such as those of a secretary who devotes her 
weekends to enriching the life of one slum child by taking 
him to Museums and other such places, or a family that 
brings small groups of handicapped children to the Mu- 
seum in the family stationwagon. 



Ml 



The other time 



by Patricia M. Williams 
Field Museum Press 



Miss Wood is acutely aware of the role the Museum can 
play in aiding the inner-city child, the handicapped child, 
the problem student, as well as the average and superior 
students. However, she emphatically stresses the need for 
adequate financial support necessary to fulfill this role. 
There must be well-trained staff members available to guide 
these children, as well as facilities and equipment for spe- 
cial groups. 

Last year the Raymond Foundation registered an un- 
paralleled 6,214 groups, including 324,661 persons, and 
expects to top that figure this year. Miss Wood has six 
highly-trained and expert staff lecturers and nine volim- 
teer guides to handle this burgeoning number. The vol- 
unteers are members of a recently formed, enthusiastic group 
of women who have completed an intensive training period 
and who are now qualified to conduct a tour of Indian and 
North American mammal exhibits tailored to the third- 
grade curriculum of the Chicago public schools. 

Groups are, of course, welcome to tour independently — 
without Museum guides. However, the advantages of a 
guided tour are obvious and numerous, as pointed out in 
the following letter from Mrs. Yuji Kobayashi, a room- 
mother at Oscar Mayer School, Chicago. 

"As a room mother I have accompanied my children's 
classes on a number of field trips. During some of these 
museum trips I have noticed that the teacher experiences 
difficulty in explaining exhibits to the children in her 
group. The children at the head of the line can hear her 
talk quite well but those in the rear can hear very little. 
Those nearest the exhibit also are able to read the signs and 



Pages SEPTEMBER 



came on my birthday." 



fully see the display but those farther away are only able to 
catch a glimpse of the exhibit as they move on the next 
display. 

"The conducted tour is quite different. When my son's 
class went on the conducted tour at the museum, they were 
first given an introductory talk about the exhibits they were 
to see that day. They were then conducted to tlie various 
displays that were related to a specific subject which, in this 
case, was the American Indians and their masks. At each 
display the guide gave a little talk and then the children 
asked questions. The guide was able to answer them where- 
as a teacher would have had difficulty in doing so. 

"The children gained greater appreciation for the In- 
dian masks and their meanings. The class then was able 
to apply their new found knowledge in their classroom. I 
believe the conducted tours are a great benefit to the chil- 
dren in light of the limited time they are able to spend on a 
field trip." 

At Miss Wood's suggestion I arranged to join a group of 
third graders as they took a guided tour of the Museum. 
When I arrived for the tour Miss Wood and three volunteer 
guide-lecturers, Mrs. C. W. Sidwell, Mrs. Charles Fuller 
and Mrs. Robert Elmore — all from the Service Club of Chi- 
cago, were holding a hasty strategy meeting. The logistics 



of marshalling hundreds of children a day through the ap- 
propriate areas of the Museum are staggering and arc care- 
fully planned by the Raymond Foundation staff. This 
group's plans were being revised because instead of the 
expected 60 students, over 100 arrived. This meant that 
rather than each volunteer taking 20 students — a workable, 
controlable number, she would have to take over 30. The 
difficulties of maneuvering, making oneself heard and en- 
couraging discussion increase proportionately with the num- 
ber in a tour group. It was finally decided that the volun- 
teers would take 90 of the students and the others would 
have to tour on their own. 

The third-graders on this tour were from an area of 
Chicago that sociologists euphemistically term blighted or 
economically depressed. The common, accurate and pain- 
ful term for this area is slum — hard-core slum. Almost 
all of the children had been to the Museum at least once 
before. 

Ninety children, three volunteers, two teachers and I 
proceeded to the second floor meeting room to begin the 
tour with a movie. The movie prepares the students for 
the coming tour and, as an observant teacher pointed out, 
settles them down after the excitement of the bus ride. 

After the movie each volunteer took a group of children 












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SEPTEMBER Page 9 









and we began to tour the Museum. The teachers put all of 
the problem children into one group — Mrs. Sidwell's — and 
I tagged along after them. 

Inspiteof Mrs. Sidwell's friendliness and encouragement, 
the children had few questions regarding the Indians and 
were generally unresponsive. Their attention span was 
brief and, except for an exhibit of Indian children's toys, 
they were easily distracted. 

By the time we got to the animal exhibits the children 
were more relaxed and had apparently decided that I was 
no source of disciplinary action. As we crossed Stanley 
Field Hall a scrawny boy, who frequently broke into ener- 
getic dance steps, had pulled a cigarette in a long black 
holder out of his back pocket. He stuck it into his mouth 
in a manner strongly reminiscent of FDR, puffed out his 
chest and convulsed his buddy. 

It was this boy who asked the most observant questions 
about the animal exhibits. He and several of the other chil- 
dren were very interested in the deer and beaver, but when- 
ever one of them raised his hand to ask Mrs. Sidwell a 
question, the teacher passed behind him, placed a hand on 
his shoulder and frowned. They stopped trying to ask ques- 



problems. The teacher was young and cheerless. She 
seemed to know the children and their needs and was not 
indifferent to them, but seemed discouraged and tired. I 
asked her, "Have you been here before with a class?" 

"No, although we take many tours a semester — since the 
government money is available — we haven't been here be- 
fore. This is the first time we have had a g^iided tour of any 
of the places we have been." 

"Does it make a difference?" 

"Yes — the children seem to be getting something out of 
it and there is some point and organization to what they are 
seeing, instead of just wandering around. Besides, it's very 
hard to take 35 kids to a strange place with no one to help, 
except maybe one mother. Just maintaining discipline then 
is hard enough." 

"Is it worth the effort?" 

"Emphatically yes. If you could see them in the class- 
room — they twitch and wiggle and can't seem to sit still. 
They get so bored so easily. This helps to create a positive 
approach to school." 

"How much do you expect them to retain? Any of it?" 

"No — no facts. They will, hopefully, get a general im- 



M^^»>^ flti^ ^am{v mid^ :ii,M/it. 



tions and we moved along quickly, quietly and with dis- 
cipline. 

When we were in the Hall of Woodland Indians Mrs. 
Sidwell had pointed out a necklace of grizzly bear claws and 
commented on the bravery of the Indian who had such a 
necklace. Now, as we paused before an exhibit of grizzly 
bears, I said to the little girl next to me, "See — there are 
the grizzly bear's claws. Remember the Indian's necklace 
made of grizzly bear claws?" 

The girl looked at me and then looked at the grizzly 
bear. She examined him from snout to stern and then 
asked, "Where are the claws?" 

"On the ends of his feet — like toenails." 

"Oh, I didn't know what claws were." 

How much were they actually comprehending? I asked 
the teacher and she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Some 
of it — not all, but they understand some." 

These students were third-graders doing upper first grade 
work. Some were slow learners and some were discipline 



pression of what they have seen. They won't remember any 
facts specifically. If we come again — and then perhaps 
again — and took the same tour, then they would begin to 
remember facts and associate them with other things they 
have learned. It takes constant repetition — everything. 
Over and over and over." 

"Is this a good response for them?" 

"Yes — they're doing well. Better than some other 
times." 

The tour over, we returned to Stanley Field Hall, the 
children were reunited with the other two fractions of their 
group and the volunteers had a moment to rest and discuss 
this group. It's not easy to take a group on tour and, al- 
though new on the job, these women were good at it. They 
feel that they are doing something worthwhile and look for- 
ward to their tours — and it shows. 

Academic preparation for a Museum tour is as varied 
as the teachers who present it. .Some teachers give no intro- 
ductory material at all, apparently thinking that the Mu- 









Page 10 SEPTEMBER 






■f^^y-u) >6ea/Z jLJ-Qi nmoyif^ otSUyT-gi/i) cxOl<iluj6 juMojO 



seum is the best introduction to the study unit. Others 
bring their classes at the end of the study unit, using the 
Museum exhibits as a summary. The Chicago Board of 
Education recommends planning the "educational goals of 
the field trip carefully and cooperatively with the pupils in 
advance of the tour." Mrs. O'Connell, a successful and 
enthusiastic teacher at Oscar Mayer School, brings classes 
to the Museum often and prefers to come midway through 
a study unit. She finds that someone new — the guide-lec- 
tuer — rekindles the children's interest. In her view, the 
school and the Museum supplement one another. 

Follow-up is vital to reinforce the Museum experience 
and can be quite creative. Some schools and groups, such 
as the Ecumenical Institute of Chicago, simply engage in 
structured conversation, discussing in a casual way the 
things seen at the Museum and relating these things to other 
experiences. The Institute, a division of the Church Fed- 
eration of Greater Chicago, is not an elementary school and 
therefore has no set study units for children, but they are 
attempting to enrich the lives of inner-city children and 
encourage "image explosion" and "imaginal" education. 
The children draw pictures of things seen at the Museum 
and discuss them repeatedly in various contexts. 

The Chicago Board of Education lists a variety of follow- 
up procedures — making booklets, writing themes, reading 
stories, making checklists, etc. 

Mrs. O'Connell's class of above-average students sug- 
gested their own project. They made masks similar to those 
made by Indians and took great care to ensure "authen- 
ticity." The masks were featured in a student art exhibit 
and some months later, on a return tour, the children 
brought their masks to the Museum to show the staff- 
lecturer. 

Sullivan House, a settlement house in the inner city, has 
an effective and on-going follow-up program. Douglas 
Dillon, director of Sullivan House, brought nine boys rang- 
ing from 10 to 15 years of age to the Museum for a short 
visit. This visit was a flop. The boys, three of whom are in 
Educable Mentally Handicapped classes and all of whom 
have been involved with the police, paid little attention to 
the exhibits and ran around as if in a fun house. The rep- 
tile hall alone held their brief interest and the collared lizard 
intrigued them. 

The following summer on a camping trip to Utah, they 
caught a collared lizard and, on return to Chicago, asked 
to go back to the Museum to re-examine the Museum's dis- 
played lizard. This began a series of regular Museum visits. 



Mrs. Barbara Polikoff, of the Sullivan House staff, re- 
lates, "Mr. Dillon thought of the idea of taking a camera to 
the exhibit halls and giving each boy a chance to take a few 
photographs. This follow-up of photography was very im- 
portant because the boys were able to bring their museum 
learning right back to Sullivan House. They photographed 
the lizard, complete with the labeled information, and hung 
the best of the photographs on their bulletin board." 

This established the pattern for subsequent visits. When 
they wanted ideas for designs in art, they roamed the an- 
thropology halls with the camera. One of them photo- 
graphed a Chinese vase and, back at Sullivan House, an- 
other boy saw the photo and used a variation of the design 
to decorate a ceramic bowl he made. As Mrs. Polikoff 
states, "The museum had stimulated a desire to learn in 
these boys that school has never been able to rouse." 

Long-range retention of the Museum experience is, of 
course, greatly reinforced by a strong follow-up program. 
However, even when facts are forgotten, the positive im- 
pression of the Museum remains. This fact was stressed 
repeatedly by social workers, teachers and administrators 
who deal with children whose attitude toward education 
is negative. 

Mrs. Jean Feiler of the Ecumenical Institute explained 
that children from the Institute respond not just to exhibits, 
but to the total Museum. In the Museum they lose their 
passivity and are stirred by their surroundings. Mrs. Feiler 
says, "It is as though their environment had made them 
different. Remove the environment and the child is trans- 
formed." 

According to Mrs. Feiler, a group of three and four 
year olds from the East Garfield area was taken on a full 
summer of touring. They covered all the museums, parks 
and zoos possible. When they were asked what they liked 
best of the things that they had seen they repeatedly cited 
the neatness, order and cleanliness of the Field Museum. 

Of course, it is desireable that facts and insights gained 
at the Museum be retained as well and, although I was 
unable to discover any testing data to support this, they 
imdoubtedly are. One teacher was able to question a group 
of children who had toured the Museum two years pre- 
viously and reported that they had good and specific fact 
retention. I spoke to a man who described himself as 
having been a "slow learner and poor reader with litde 
interest in school," and who had taken a Museum tour in 
fifth or sixth grade — about 23 years ago. He specifically 
recalls the guide describing the Multi-levelled Hopi Indian 






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SEPTEMBER Page 77 



pueblos and asking, '"How would you like to climb all 
those ladders every time you went out of the house to play:" 
That's long-range retention! 

This man was typical of the kind of child who apparently 
receives very great benefit from the Museum tour — a slow- 
learner and/or poor reader. This kind of child is not unique 
to the inner city or lower economic levels. He is found in 
the most elite suburbs as well. 

A young, sixth-grade teacher in one of the far north- 
west suburbs has found the Museum experience so stimu- 
lating to the slow learners and poor readers in his classes, 
that he woiJd like to establish a small "museum" in his 
classroom. The idea is to provide visual, tangible experi- 
ences with the objects under study, for example, Indian 
tools and household items. The interest in these items is 
first stimulated by seeing them and, perhaps, handling 
them. The poor reader is then sufficiently interested to 
make a greater effort to read about Indian life in his text- 
book. 

This process was reiterated by Mrs. O'Connell who felt 
that, although because of their lack of eloquence they may 
not readily indicate this importance, the Museum tour 
may be more important to the slow-learning group than 
it is to the average and superior students. She continued 



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• lJ8*- ^IxftA =*^u*>a 'ttfi*^ i^ 



to State that the Museum tour encourages the poor reader 
to read extra-curricular books. These books may be at a 
much lower grade level, but the reading is voluntary and 
pleasurable. Due to the interest in Indian art stimulated 
by Museum exhibits, several books on the subject have 
been added to the library of Oscar Mayer School. 

In a letter the Sixth Grade Department of the Arling- 
ton Heights Public Schools stated, "The slower students 
could handle the museum displays easily in a structured 
situation. They do like to see items of some interest. We 
believe that the slower students need more concrete learn- 
ing situations. Your displays help fill a basic need for this 
type of student. They can get more from you (the Museum) 
than from countless books and teacher lectures." 

Further corroboration was provided by the following 
from Illinois Education, "Field trips which tie in with class- 
room instruction are viewed by nearly every teacher and 
and administrator as being an almost ideal learning ex- 
perience for the slow, reluctant learner. Because this young- 
ster usually has had limited positive contacts with the com- 
munity, field trips not only provide stimulating experiences 
but meet his needs for activity while removing him from 
the often non-stimulating environment of the school and 
classroom. And teachers have the opportimity to interact 
with him on a more personal, one-to-one basis." 



The Chicago Board of Education gives Museum field 
trips an unqualified boost when they state, "A visit to the 
Field Museum of Natural History is a valuable educational 
experience for every elementary school child." Further, 
with the insight gained from the tour, "the pupils are 
better able to observe knowledgeably how people have 
striven and continue to strive to improve their ways of 
living and to relate themselves to the improvement of com- 
munity and city life." 

Finally, I consulted the children themselves. Some of 
the older children gave parrot-like answers, saying what 
they thought I wanted to hear, but by sifting through 
garbled syntax, reading between the lines and collecting 
back-handed compliments, I amassed an impressive array 
of spontaneous and sincere solicited testimonials. 

I talked to one girl who remains unique and unfor- 
gettable. She was a skinny, Negro eight-year old from a 
poor neighborhood. She wore a red wool cap topped by 
an enormous multi-colored pom-pom and her teacher de- 
scribed her as an "uninterested student." I began by 
asking her, 

"Is this your first trip to this Museum?" 

"No. I was here two times already." 

"Did you see the Indians then, too?" 

"I don't remember." 

"Oh. Well . . . what did you like best on your other 
trips?" 

"Nothing. I don't remember nothing." 

After a long, disappointed pause, I asked, "Did you 
come with your school class both times?" 

"No — only one of the times." 

Again we endured a long pause. Then she volunteered, 

"The other time I came on my birthday." 

"Oh?" 

"My mother told me I could pick two presents for my 
birthday and if she could get them she would. I picked 
a doll and a trip to this Museum with my mother and 
father and brother." 

She liked and remembered something and whatever 
it was merited the sacrifice of a toy and was worth sharing 
with her family. That's a sincere tribute from any eight- 
year old. From this one it was a rousing ovation. 

The success and value of a Museum tour can be meas- 
ured in many ways, among them, the slow-learner's grasp 
of a previously unreachable concept; the anti-school child's 
pleasure in an educational institution; the appreciation of 
order by a child from a disordered environment; and the 
stimulation of the desire for knowledge in all children. 
By these standards, I found the tours to be valuable and 
worth all the effort and expense required. 



Page 12 SEPTEMBER 



Right: When living, "Joseph" prob- 
ably looked like this artist's recon- 
struction of a Mastodon. (From a 
painting by Charles R. Knight in 
Hall 38, Fossil Vertebrates.) 



Below: AiUhor cleans one of the mo- 
lars which probably troubled "Joseph" 
during his life. Shown is the roof of 
the mastodon's mouth. Titsks grew 
from the sockets below the teeth. 




''JOSEPH" == story Told By a Fossil 




by Gwendolyn Hall 

Preparator, Department of Geology 



Among the many specimens which come to the Mu- 
seum's paleontology laboratory for preparation are a few 
which emerge as distinct "personalities,"' by virtue of un- 
usual aspects of their fossil remains. Some of these speci- 
mens even get dubbed with names. 

"Joseph" is a case in point. He was a mastodon (Matn- 
mut americanum) and unique aspects of his fossil remains 
gave us an interesting insight into what he experienced as 
a living individual. 

Mastodons were common in the midwest 8,000 to 
10,000 years ago during the Pleistocene. "Joseph" was ap- 



SEPTEMBER Page 13 



proximately 10 feet tall at the shoulder and weighed about 
six tons, with 8-foot tusks. His appearance was generally 
that of a very large, stocky elephant. His fossil remains 
were discovered in 1960 in a bog in Medaryville, Indiana, 
by an excavator working on property owned by K. H. 
Hiippert of Chicago. Mr. Hiippert contacted Dr. Rainer 
Zangerl, Chief Curator of Geology, who, along with Dr. 
William TiirnbuU, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals, 
went to the site and inspected the bones which had been 
removed from the bog with a power dredge. 

For seven years, "Joseph's" bones, covered with dried 
mud, roots and burlap bags, were stored in the Museum 
before they were brought to the laboratory for cleaning 
and repair. The skeleton is very well preserved and has 
been restored into an excellent study specimen. 

"Joseph" lived to be very old and suffered from several 
infirmities of old age. He carried the additional burden 
of dental trouble. 

In the lower right mandible, there is the malformed 
stump of a molar which indicates a once painfully draining 
abcessed tooth. {See photo, A.) He also has a large cavity in 
his first lower left molar. Both left molars are very flat 
and worn down in contrast to the relatively unused teeth 
in the right mandible. The worn teeth on the left indicate 
he favored that side for chewing to avoid biting down on 
the abcessed tooth. It was the excessive wear that weakened 
the first left molar, leaving it susceptible to decay. 

At some point in "Joseph's" life, a two-foot portion of 
on tusk had been broken off, exposing the pulp cavity. 
This healed and the end of the tusk was worn smooth 
before he died. 

"Joseph's" jaws showed more than bad teeth. On the 
surfaces of the mandibular condyles (the part of the jaw 
that joins to the skull), especially the left, are heavy, rough, 
pitted calcium deposits, diagnosed as evidence of chronic 
arthritis. The heaviest calcium deposit is on the right glen- 
oid fossa (on the skull at its juncture with the jaw). {See 
photo.) With these multiple handicaps, eating must have 
been difficult for this huge animal. 

Evidence of arthritis is also present in the condyles at 
the base of the skull and the processes on the neck vertebra 
which show enough calcium deposits to indicate he could 
scarcely turn his extremely heavy skull from side to side. 
The sajyiie type of calcium deposits are found in the rest of 
the vertebral column and the heads of the ribs as well. 

Supporting his own body weight mvist have been another 
painful experience as the articulatory (moving joint) sur- 
faces of his limbs were also arthritic. His movement was 
probably very slow and restricted because of the swollen, 
stiff joints. This lack of mobility may well have caused the 
death of this aged mastodon since it is likely that he died 
in the bog where his bones were found. 

"Joseph" was a member of a former giant "race" that 
left no direct descendents. The modern elephants of Af- 
rica and India are related to the mammoth {Mammuthus 
primigenius), a contemporary of the mastodon and an ani- 
mal very similar in appearance. 




The large lighter area in the center of the photo is a calcium de- 
posit on the right glenoid fossa, emdence that arthritis was present 
where rear portion of the jaw joined the skull. The rough, pitied 
area is similar to calcium deposits found on articulatory {moving 
joint) surfaces throughoiit "Joseph's" skeleton. He suffered from 
extensive arthritis. 



Malformed stump of abcessed molar (A) shows extensive damage. 
Molar above (B) is intact except for a large cavity (dark area). 
The complete tooth measured about 5 inches long by 21^ inches 
wide. 




Page U SEPTEMBER 



Fall Journey: 

Hunt With The Cavemen 

by Edith Fleming, Raymond Foundation 

Mankind was probably cradled in Africa and from this 
birthplace gradually spread into Asia and finally into Eur- 
ope. Our own hemisphere was unpeopled until about 
25,000 years ago when the Paleo-Indians began to filter 
across the Bering Straits from Asia. This is recent com- 
pared to the antiquity of man in Europe, where more than 
500,000 years ago small bands of hunters roamed the coun- 
tryside foraging and hunting wild animals. Between 100,000 
and 35,000 years ago Neandertal people lived in Europe. 
Cartoonists have depicted them as slow-witted and bestial, 
but recent research and study indicates they were more like 
modern man than was formerly believed. They are now 
classified by many as a type of Homo sapiens, but the 
first truly modern man, called Cro-Magnon Man, did not 
migrate into Europe from the Middle East imtil the late 
Ice Age, about 35,000 years ago. 

The story of the early hunters of Europe can be followed 
on the Fall Journey, "Hunt With The Cave Men." Pre- 
historic man pitted his skills against animals like the woolly 
rhinoceros, woolly mammoth, cave bears, bison, wild horses 
and reindeer. These furnished the necessities of life — food, 
clothing, tools, fuel for fire, even oil for stone lamps. 

Gradually, these primitive people invented new and 
better tools and worked out improved hunting methods. 
Stone and bone tools as well as the bones of animals found 
in caves or at camp and hunting sites tell the story. Enor- 
mous piles of bones have also been found at the bases of 
cliflfs, leading some scientists to conjecture that organized 
hunting bands pitched camps near the trails the animals 
followed from winter feeding grounds to smiimer pastures 
and drove the animals over the cliffs to kill or immobilize 
them. 

Only the hunter's skill stood between him and starvation 
and he apparently resorted to magic to augment his own 
powers. In subterranean cave passages primitive artists 
drew lifelike pictures of great animals they hoped to kill. 
To make these drawings these people had to move through 
dark and dangerous tunnels lighted only by burning animal 
fat flickering in a stone lamp. Perhaps the early hunter 
braved the dangers of becoming lost or being attacked by 
an animal in the belief that this test of courage might work 
a stronger magic. 

Through thousands of years man worked out a way of 
life suited to the Ice Age. Then the glaciers receded and 
as the climate grew warmer, water from the melting glaciers 
formed rivers, lakes and marshes. New kinds of trees grew 
and forests eventually covered what had once been frozen 
tundra. The great animals of the Ice Age died off or moved 
farther north and the hunting life of that period came to an 
end. The cave art evidently disappeared about the same 
time. 




New animals, including deer and wild boar, roamed the 
land and man was forced to adapt his himting methods to 
this new environment. He developed new weapons — bows 
and arrows, spears with tiny flint points. Instead of large 
hunting bands needed to hunt the large cold weather ani- 
mals, single hunters pursued the smaller, more elusive game 
of the warmer period. 

New sources of food were available, too, including seeds, 
nuts and berries. Groups of families could live together 
where these foods were plentiful and there was abundant 
fish and game. There had been great changes in the cli- 
mate, in the character of the country, in the animals and 
food sources and in the way people lived. They were learn- 
ing to get the most benefit from their environment and ap- 
proaching a time when they would develop farming skills. 

The Fall Journey Number 55, will take boys and girls 
on their own or with their families through the Museum's 
Hall of European Prehistory (Hall C). Here they will travel 
through thousands of years, starting with early himters and 
completing their journey with the prehistoric farming sun- 
worshippers of Western Europe. 

A new journey is offered every three months by the Ray- 
mond Foundation. With the successful completion of four 
journeys boys and girls are awarded certificates naming 
them "Museum Travelers." After eight journeys tRey be- 
come "Museum Adventurers" and 12 journeys make them 
"Museum Explorers." After 16 successful journeys they are 
ready for a special journey, "The Voyage of the Beagle," 
when they study in the Museum exhibits the natural history 
described by Charles Darwin on his famous voyage. Young- 
sters successfully completing the special journey will be 
awarded certificates as members of the "Museum Discov- 
erer's Club." 

Journey question sheets and further information on the 
Journey Program may be obtained at the Information Booth 
in Stanley Field Hall or at the South Door of the Museum. 
The Fall Journey begins September 1, ends November 30. 



SEPTEMBER Page 15 



MEMBERS' FESTIVAL OPENS ANNIVERSARY YEAR 



AiN exciting evening is planned for Mu- 
seum Members on September 27 when 
the series of special events for the 75th 
Anniversary year ojsens with a Members' 
Festival from 4 to 9 p.m., in connection 
with the American Indian Festival. 

The Members' Festival will include 
demonstrations of weaving, moccasin 
beading, totem pole carving, porcupine 
quill working, leather work, Kachina 
doll carving and basketry by Indian ar- 



tisans representing several tribal groups. 

Hand games and use of sign language 
will also be demonstrated. A program 
of traditional dances by local Indian 
groups is also scheduled. 

Special exhibits of modern and tradi- 
tional Indian arts and crafts will be on 
display in addition to three stationary 
displays which will remain on view until 
mid-November. The major exhibits in- 
clude "New Directions in American In- 



CALENDAR OF EVENTS 



September Hours: September 7, 9 a.m. 
8 p.m.; September 2, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Sep- 
tember 3 through October, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 



Through September 1 6 Camouflage in N.-^ture Photographic exhibit in color 
by entomologist Edward S. Ross demonstrates a variety of ways in which living 
things are protected by coloration. Three-dimensional Museum exhibits sup- 
plement the photographs. Hall 9 Gallery. 

September 23 — October 1 3 American Indian Festival features demonstrations 
of traditional and contemporary arts and crafts by Indian artists, special ex- 
hibits, films, lectures, a canoe race, a special Members' Festival and coopera- 
tion in the celebration of Indian Day in Chicago. The American Indian Fes- 
tival activities will be presented in cooperation with Indian groups in Chicago. 

September 27 Members' Festival A special evening event to enable Museum 
Members and their families to get an unhurried look at the many demonstra- 
tions of arts and crafts, a program of American Indian singing and dancing, 
and exhibits, films and lectures related to the American Indian Festival. 

September 28 Indian Day in Chicago A full schedule of arts and crafts demon- 
strations will be featured. 

September 29 Lake Michigan Canoe Race Museum representatives will greet 
participants at the finish of this race, which will begin at Wilmette Harbor 
and end at Burnham Harbor on the Lakefront. The race, sponsored by the 
Chicago Indian Canoe Club, is an annual open invitation event. 

September 23 - November 1 5 American Indian Exhibits "New Directions in 
.American Indian Art," "Contemporary American Indian Art," and "Indians 
of Chicago — 1968" (a photo essay by Orlando Cabanban), will be part of the 
Festival and be continued following its close. 

Through November Fall Journey; A Hunt With The Cavemen The do-it- 
yourself tour introduces youngsters to the Museum's exhibit area dealing with 
Stone Age man. Any child who can read and write may participate in the 
Journey program sponsored by the Raymond Foundation. Free Journey sheets 
are available at the Museum entrances. 

Half A Billion Years of Illinois History Do-it-yourself tour in observance 
of the State's Sesquicentennial celebration takes visitors on a capsule journey 
through the worlds of anthropology, botany, geology and zoology. A free 
brochure provides a guide to pertinent exhibits. 



MEETINGS: 



Chicago Shell Club, September 8, 2 p.m. 

Nature Camera Club of Chic.\go, September 10, 7:45 p.m. 

Sierra Club, Great Lakes Chapter, September 17, 7:30 p.m. 



dian Art," "Contemporary Traditional 
American Indian Art," and "Indians of 
Chicago — 1968." The last is a photo- 
graphic essay on the present Indian resi- 
dents of Chicago and their lives here. 

Films related to various aspects of In- 
dian culture will be shown continuously 
in the James Simpson Theatre. All 
other activities of Members' Festival will 
be held on the main floor of the Muse- 
um. Light refreshments will be served 
during the evening. 

Program arrangements for the Amer- 
ican Indian Festival and the Members' 
Festival were made by Robert Rietz, 
executive director, and Miss Faith Smith, 
both of the Chicago Indian Center, Dr. 
Donald Collier, Chief Curator of An- 
thropology, Solomon A. Smith II, Co- 
ordinator of Temporary Exhibits, and 
Lois Rubinyi, Festival Coordinator for 
Raymond Foundation. 




Faith Smith of the American Indian Center 
examines a Hopi Kachina figure, one of 
many Indian art objects to be on display 
during the Festival. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAO AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHfCAGO. ILLINOIS 60605 A.C. 312. 922-9410 
FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



Page 16 SEPTEMBER 



PRINTED BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS 



BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Volume 39, Number 70, October 1968 









y 



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P 



;;^v* ., 




''•*tB«>ftn;ac . 



"Earth, Life and Man" 

75th Anniversary Lecture Series 



"Earth, Life and Man," a series of public lectures by Museum Curators, will begin October 27 as part of |the 
75th Anniversary Year special programs and events at Field Museum. 

The lectures will focus on research activities of the scientific staffs in the Museum's four departments, anthro- 
pology, botany, geology and zoology. They are designed to bring the Museum Members into closer contact with 
work being done in the departments and to broaden understanding of the physical and biological world and the 
nature, history and evolution of life on this planet. 

The lectures will be divided into three groups — fall, winter and spring — and will be held on Sunday afternoons at 
1 :00 p.m. in the Lecture Hall. The series is intended primarily for Museum Members but admission will be open to 
Interested members of the general public. 

The fall group of lectures will begin October 27 and end on December 1 . Details of the winter and spring lecture 
series will be given in future BULLETIN articles. 



October 27 
MUSEUM SCIENCE 
AND EXPEDITIONS 

Dr. Robert Inger, 

Curator, Amphibians 

and Reptiles 

Dr. Inger will introduce the series of 
talks to be presented and discuss goals of 
research activities in the Museum. He 
will explore the changing character and 
role of Museum expeditions and field 
trips over the years and new trends tak- 
ing shape in research. 

(Photos, right) Nanga Tekalii, Dr. Inger's 
expedition campsite in the Borneo rainforest, 
1962-63; Student Wayne King {now Curator 
of Reptiles, Bronx Zoo) works in the camp 
laboratory. 





November 3 

METEORITES: A POOR 

MAN'S SPACE PROBE 

Dr. Edward J. Olsen, 

Curator, Mineralogy 

Dr. Olsen will discuss what men have 
determined about the earth and solar 
system, based on research findings on 
meteorites over the past several hun- 
dred years. Of particular interest is the 
unique role played by museums in this 
research effort. 

(Photos, left) "Diablo" crater near Winslow, 
Arizona, is the largest known meteor crater in 
the world; the scene on this old woodcut is be- 
lieved to represent a meteor shower. 



Page 2 OCTOBER 




ii^ iiri^iTi 



November 24 

HUNTING MONKEYS 

IN THAILAND 

Dr. Jack Fooden. 

Associate, Mammals 

Dr. Fooden will discuss his 1967 trip 
into west-central Thailand to collect 
monkeys. Reasons for the trip, his col- 
lecting experiences and the exp)edition 
results will be included in the talk, as 
well as descriptions of various areas he 
visited. 

(Photos, left) Dr. Fooden's campsite near the 
village of Pong Nam Ron in Western Thai- 
land; leaf-eating monkeys {genus Presbytis) 
from an area near Thailand's western border. 



November 1 

CENTRAL AMERICAN 

MOUNTAINS AND FORESTS 

Dr. Louis 0. Williams, 

Chief Curator, Botany 

The Museum's history of intensive re- 
search on the botany of tropical America 
will be reviewed by Dr. Williams, who 
will also discuss the terrain and flora of 
the Central American countries. 

(Photo, right) Low clouds surround the Cen- 
tral Mountains rising behind this farm and 
forest in Honduras. 




December 1 

THE'AMAZON VALLEY FOREST 

Dor)ald R. Simpson. 

Assistant Curator, 

Peruvian Botany 

The westernmost region of the Ama- 
zonian jungle in eastern Peru has been 
little explored by scientists. Mr. Simp- 
son has made two field trips there and 
will describe some of the plants of this 
wild forest region and how they are used 
by both local inhabitants and in export 
areas for food, medicine, ornament and 
building. 

(Photo, below) Dr. Louis O. Williams and a 
Peruvian botanical collector examine flora in 
a small man-made clearing in the dense Ama- 
zonian jungle. 



November 1 7 

ESKIMOS AND RUSSIANS 

IN SOUTHWESTERN ALASKA 

Dr. James W. VanStone 

Associate Curator, 

North American Archaeology 

and Ethnology 

In the 19th century, the Russians pene- 
trated southwestern Alaska, exploring 
and trading with the Eskimos and estab- 
lishing missionary outposts. Dr. Van- 
Stone will describe the history of this 
period and relations between the Rus- 
sians and the Eskimos. 

(Photo, right) Present-day Eskimo women 
clean fish along the banks of the Nushagak 
River in Alaska. 




OCTOBER Page 3 




Anthracomedusa turnbulli 



Jellyfish 



in 



them 

thar 

hiUs 

by Eugene S. Richardson, Jr. 
Curator, Fossil Invertebrates 



The strip mines of Illinois are one of the two or three 
finest areas in the world for collecting invertebrate fossils. 
Behind the enormous coal mining machines of the Pea- 
body Coal Company come the geologists, amateur and 
professional, searching for animals dead a quarter of a 
billion years. In this article. Dr. Richardson tells of two 
important finds from Pit Eleven, near Wilmington, Illinois. 
In two photo reports that follow, the Bulletin presents the 
lively Museum field crew that worked the area during the 
past summer, and a survey of the Pit Eleven fauna. 



It's five million, six hundred thousand years to the mile. 
By the time you've driven fifty miles southwest from the 
modern center of Chicago, you step out of your car onto the 
280,000,000-year-old rocks of the Pennsylvanian period in 
the spoil heaps of a strip mine outside of Wilmington, Illinois. 

You have brought some peanut butter sandwiches (or 
other delicacy) and a jug of water, of course — and you're 
going to catch jellyfish. This is a field trip. Perhaps you 
are one of the Museum's field crew. Or perhaps you're one 
of the hundreds of amateur collectors who are drawn to this 
spot. In either case, you have come for fossils, the remains 
of prehistoric life. More importantly, you are helping in a 
nearly unique cooperative venture in which Museum scien- 
tists and amateur collectors pool their efforts to elucidate a 
part of the story of life in the vanished past. 

Working alone or as members of the Earth Science Club 
of Northern Illinois, the Des Plaines Valley Geological So- 
ciety or other such organization, a host of collectors pursue 
their hobby and the advancement of science at the same 
time. Returning home tired and happy after a day in the 
field, these enthusiastic cooperators wash their specimens, 
carefully identify them, catalog them, and put them ten- 
derly away in museum-style cabinets. Many an architect 
in this area would be startled, revisiting what he had thought 
was to be a recreation room or a utilitarian basement, to 
find it brightly lighted, lined with handsomely built hard- 
wood cabinets of shallow drawers, with perhaps a few glass- 
topped display cases or a work table with the latest stereo- 
zoom microscope. 

If this is your first field trip, you look a bit uncertainly at 
the steep and random spoil heaps with their slippery surface 
of clay and pebbles. The spiky xerophytic vegetation that 
is beginning to cover the hills bites you on the ankle. The 
unshaded sun hammers down on your head and shoulders. 
You look hesitantly at that dark line in the west, remember- 
ing that this is "Tornado Alley." You wonder why some 
people prefer strip mines to the corn fields that were here. 

But look now at some of those pebbles on the hillside. 
They are red, brilliant in the sunshine. They are sym- 
metrically shaped, rounded, somewhat flattened. These 
are ironstone concretions, a thing apart, something special. 
A drab gray when first dug up by the giant excavating ma- 
chinery, they redden — it's a kind of rusting — in a year or 
two as sun and rain and air attack them. When first 
dumped on the spoil heap, they were still encased in the 
drab gray shale where they grew an eon ago, formed by 
interaction of mineral-bearing water and an organic nu- 
cleus, an animal or a plant. The shale, exposed to weather, 
has now broken down to the clay of the hills, but the stxirdy 
concretions remain. Some, you note, have broken in the 
winter frost and summer sim. You pick one up, already 
neatly split along its equator. There, in its center, is a 



Page 4 OCTOBER 



neatl)- preser\'ed shrimp, the fossil remains of a creature 
that lived here more than a quarter of a billion years ago, 
a specimen unseen by human eyes imtil you picked it up. 
Forget the slippery hills, the prickle-bushes, the beating sun ! 
Forget the possible thunderstorm; you're out for fossils! 

The strip mine was not actually dug for the purpose of 
turning up fossils. From the point of view of the operator 
(a curious view, perhaps) the fossils are a by-product and 
coal is what they're after. Fifty to a himdred feet below the 
flat farmland lies one of the most extensive beds of coal on 
this continent. Known here as the Wilmington Coal, it is 
the Colchester Coal of western Illinois, the Lower Kittan- 
ning Coal of Pennsylvania, and has other names where it is 
mined in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Michigan and 
other states. 

Coal, as is well known, is made up of the carbonized re- 
mains of plants. Plants in such numbers as to make up this 
vast bed mean a forest of uncommon size. Study of the 
Pennsylvanian rocks and coals by many geologists in the 
century past enables us to visualize this forest of the Wil- 
mington Coal. Giant tree-sized ferns and horsetails and 
their allies, shallow-rooted, quickly growing, continually 
falling and accumulating on the sodden ground, lived in a 
vast flat swamp. Only under water can the fallen trees go 
through the proper chemical changes to become coal. 
Broad though that swamp forest was, it continually shifted 
its position, forming a broad band, probably hundreds of 
miles across, between an inland sea to the south and west 
and the modest uplands to the north and east. Trees on 
those uplands, falling on drier ground, decayed without 
trace while the trees in the great swamp built up the layer 
of substance that was almost coal. Sea level rose (or the 
crust of the continent sank) ; gently the sea advanced across 
Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois. Now the former swainp 
forest was buried under sea-floor muds; the broad belt of 
swamp moved on ahead into what had been the uplands. 
For a while, when the shoreline lay here near Wilmington, 
the advance of the sea was halted. 

This was the time when the fossils that we find were liv- 
ing. For you are walking now on that former shore. But 
how shall we define that shore? It was no sandy strand with 
land on one side and sea on the other. Back into the swamp 
forest ran countless intricate inlets, bays, bayous and chan- 
nels; far out to sea stretched a complex of islands, bars, 
peninsulas and shallows. Mud, carried through the swamp 
by sluggish streams, poured into the edge of the sea, build- 



ing a delta. Like all deltas, it was chiefly under water. In 
lime, before the sea resumed its march across the low and 
swampy land, the delta muds-built up to a hundred feet in 
thickness. Now, this seems utterly improbable in water that 
we have solenmly declared to be shallow. The answer lies 
in the behavior of the earth's crust. Under the center of 
Illinois during this Pennsylvanian period the crust sagged 
more than elsewhere. While the shoreline tarried at the 
strip mines, the inland sea floor slowly dropped at about the 
same rate as the mud accumulated, and the water remained 
shallow. 

Animals of many kinds lived on the flanks of the growing 
delta, drawn by the nourishing water near the swamp. 
Worms and snails, shrimps and clams, chitons and sea- 
cucumbers moved about on the mud surface, some in great 
numbers. Through the murky water swam Tully Monsters, 
sharks, bony fishes, shrimps, scallops and many others. The 
water draining from the land carried along fronds and pin- 
nules, spores, stems and seeds; insects, thousand-leggers, 
spiders and little amphibians drifted with them out onto 
the delta. 

All of these and more, falling to the sea floor, were 
quickly covered by the raining mud — so quickly on the 
whole that they had no time to decay before they were en- 
cased forever in the firm sediment. Before decay could 
attack, each little fossil-to-be was locked into place by a 
halo of iron mineral that soaked and hardened the shale it 
lay in. Teeth and bones remained unchanged as time went 
on; shells changed from one limy mineral to another or dis- 
solved, leaving a perfect mold. 

But what of the soft tissues of the animals? They broke 
down chemically after having left their impress upon the 
rock. All that remains today for the collector is the impres- 
sion, plus some invisible amino acids and other organic com- 
pounds that have soaked into the rock. Except in these strip 
mines, it is most extraordinary to find even an impression 
of a soft-bodied animal such as a Tully Monster or a worm 
— or a jellyfish. Many of these impressions, exposed on the 
broken equator of a split concretion, have almost no relief — 
no ups and downs. It is the organic leftovers that finally 
make them visible. When a concretion has been cracked by 
sun and frost, the inside surface is exposed to two powerful 
oxidizing agents, sun and air. Between them, they make 
the ironstone turn red, just as the outside of the concretion 
did before. But where the amino acids had soaked the rock, 
on the impression of the fossil, they take up the oxygen be- 
fore the iron gets it, and the impression remains pale. 



Drawings, by the author, of five different specimens of Octomedusa pieckorum. Invertebrate fossils may be preserved at 
any angle, and a series such as this provides a great deal of information about the animal. 




OCTOBER Pages 



Often we find pale markings of no definable shap>e. 
Those unrecognizable ones must represent some of the 
shapeless masses of jelly-like material that lie about on any 
sea floor. There was enough to them to start the chemical 
process that built a concretion, but they tell us nothing defi- 
nite. Others have a shape revealing some soft-tissued crea- 
ture gently buried while yet intact. Among these are bril- 
liantly visible jellyfish. 

Here and there about the world there have been finds of 
fossil jellyfish. The Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, which 
will occupy a four-foot shelf when fully published, devotes 
only 27 pages to an exhaustive surve\- of the world's fossil 
jellvfish. They are not abundant. But they are dispropor- 
tionately interesting because they represent imusual forms 
of preservation. Paleontologists, like other people, savor ex- 
ceptions. One treasures the improbable. We like jellyfish. 

A few years ago, one of the collectors cooperating with 
the Museum, Jim Turnbull of Libertyville and the U. S. 
Marines, dropped in to see us with a perfectly fine jelh-fish 
in one of the familiar ironstone concretions. Recognizing 
its significance, Jim kindly gave it to the Museum for per- 
manent deposit. We jokingly ordered some more. He re- 
turned to the strip mines, to the hill where he had found 
that one, and the following week was back with two more, 
which he also deposited with us. 

Jim's jellyfish are large and splashy specimens, four or 
five inches across the bell, with groups of tentacles almost 
that long hanging from four corners. Faint dark lines cross- 
ing the bell correspond to certain structures known as septa 
that similarly divide the bell of some modern jellyfish into 
four areas. When Professor Ralph Johnson saw the speci- 
mens, he recognized them as being very clearly members of 
a living group, the Order Carybdeida, but a species new 
to science. 

Somewhat earlier, I had the privilege of examining the 
collection of Mr. and Mrs. Ted Piecko of Chicago, collec- 
tors who also cooperate with the Museum. Among their 
fossils were several small concretions containing another 
kind of jellyfish. The Pieckos generously deposited several 
of them at the Museum. The Piecko specimens were tiny, 
less than an inch across, light pink against a darkly oxidized 
background. They had eight stubby litde tentacles evenly 
spaced around the edge, with a velum, or litde shelf, around 
the inner edge of the bell. But the clinching point was the 
mouth, a small x-shaped impression on a little mound in the 
center. Again, an undoubted jellyfish, but one not so closely 
modeled on the lines of any known modern form. 

Now we had two kinds of Pennsylvanian jellyfish from 
the strip mines. As Dr. Johnson and I visited collections in 
the homes of other cooperative strip-mines enthusiasts, we 
saw other specimens of the same two jellyfish, but no addi- 
tional forms. It was time to make them known to science. 

Thereupon, according to the time-honored practice of 
collaborating authors. Dr. Johnson wrote the descriptions 
and handed me the typescript. I made changes and addi- 
tions and subtractions in red pencil and handed him the 
miuilated remains. He rearranged it, keeping some of my 




Octomedusa pieckorum 

work and restoring some of his. This resulted in a nice, 
clean typescript; I made some more red hen-tracks. He 
weeded them out, the paper was re-typed, and we sub- 
mitted the result to the Chief Curator of Geology. From 
him it went off to a reader outside the Museum and re- 
turned with blue pencil marks. \Ve accepted some of the 
pencilling, re-typed the manuscript, and sent it again to the 
Chief Curator, from whom it went first to the Director and 
then to the Editor. Even so does a legislative bill pass from 
House to Senate to President to Printer. In due course the 
Museum Press produced a nicely printed little book on the 
jellyfish, the product of two authors and with the advice and 
consent of an adequate chain of authority. 

He who puts a fossil (or a living animal or plant) up)on 
the record for the first time, has the prerogative of devising 
its scientific name. Some of these names are frightful jaw- 
breakers and should never have been thought up; others 
may conceal a story or a joke. Often the scientific name is 
based on the collector's name. \\'e elected this latter course, 
in recognition of the collecting prowess of the donors of the 
:* jellyfish. Anthracomedusa turnbulli says in Greek {Anthracome- 
dusa) "Coal-Age Jellyfish" and in Latin "of Turnbull." 
Similarly, Octomedusa pieckorum means "Eight-sided Jelly- 
fish" (in Greek) "of the Pieckos" (in Latin). 

Soon after this little book appeared, copies of it came 
into the hands of our cooperating collectors. Mr. A. W. 
Kott, of Summit, Illinois, dropped in to see us one day and 
received a copy. 'So that's what the jellyfish look like, is it?' 
said he. 'Yes,' I replied; 'They're very rare.' Having stud- 
ied the pictures, Mr. Kott went forth into the sfxjil heaps 
and was back at the Museum again the following week — 
with four hundred specimens of the little Octomedusa. 

We are in a position to say that there are jellyfish in 
them thar hills. 



Page 6 OCTOBER 




Above, hammers raised in geological salute, 
the Mazon Creek Faunal Study Field Crew, 
known also as the Pit Eleven Players. 
Left to right. Professor Ralph Johnson, Charles 
Shabica, Peter Kranz, Ida Thompson, Arthur 
Zangerl, Paul Lund. 



The Hunters... 



the Pit Eleven Players 



The Mazon Creek Faunal Study project, 
supported in part by National Science Founda- 
tion, sent a field crew to Pit Eleven three 
days a week this summer. Led by 
Ralph Johnson, Associate Professor of Geo- 
physical Sciences, University of Chicago, the 
effort was the first intensive, large scale 
survey of the area by professional and student 
geologists. 

Johnson, who can use the carrot as well as 
the stick, quickly established ground rules for 
his brave band of assistants and graduate 
students. Discovery of sixty identifiable speci- 
mens on any given day in the field entitled 
the team to a party (a small one). 
Thus, a specimen was quickly tagged an 
M-P, or Micro-Party. 



Below, a view of the Peabody Coal Company 
mining operation at Pit Eleven. The 
enormous wheel excavator in the background 
is nearly fourteen stories tall, and the length' 
of a football field. It moves 3500 cubic 
yards of earth an hour, and in two sweeps dis- 
poses of the entire Pleistocene overlay, about a 
million years of geological history. 
In parts of northern Illinois, the Pleistocene 
rests directly on the Pennsylvanian and there is a 
geological gap of 250 million years. The 
middle machine, a thirty cubic yard drag line, 
scoops about fifteen feet of Pennsylvanian 
shale, and the final, smallest shovel, excavates 
the coal itself. The coal measure is 
generally from two to ten feet thick. 




Charles Shabica, a graduate stu- 
dent at the University of Chicago, 
in discussion with Melbourne 
McKee, a chemist with Peabody 
Coal. McKee 's advice and help 
have been invaluable to the Ma- 
zon Creek project. 





Field Museum International Scout 
gives an idea of the size of the 
30-cubic-yard drag-line shovel. 



OCTOBER Page 7 




One of the hazards of the strip mines is a 
peculiar, grey, exceedingly viscous mud. Shown 
here are two victims, below, a grasshopper, 
and above, a University of Chicago 
Travelall. The grasshopper was rescued by a 
geologist; the truck, up to its hubcaps in 
the stuff, was pulled out by tractor. 



With the exception of the sponges, nearly all 

the major groups (phyla) of the animals now 

living are represented in the strip mines. The 

coelenterates, the jellyfish, are shown on 

pages 4-6. Echinoderms, which today include 

the sea cucumbers, starfish and crinoids, are 

also in the area. 



Scientists grc 

different phyla. 

worms, 

"Oliver Hardy," sc 

qualities. Both are 

names are cor 

the species a 

them is a Tully 

animal. 






Jenny Coyle, a young Antioch College co-op 
student working at Field Museum, spent 
many hours collecting at Pit Eleven. 
Each member of the team had responsibilities 
other than mere fossil collecting. Miss Coyle 
was morale officer. 

Shabica waters the crew mascot, a "Pit Eleven 
Plant," or "Barbed Wire Bush." This 
nasty little plant was just one more hazard 
faced by the collectors. Most of their 
ankles are still scarred. 




Of the molluscs, collectors hav 

left, scallops, center, an 

ishingly, a squid. This find ai 

cover of the national journal, 

the earliest squid found so fc 




Hunter Johnson and his crew at sundown, 
before the long journey home. 






Page 8 OCTOBER 



...and the Hunted 



a Gallery of Fossils 



iworms into a number of 
wn at left are two annelid 
"Cooper" worm and the 
Tied for its round, bristly 
ychaetes. Their common 
lent for discussion before 
ctually described. Below 
ister, a strange worm-like 
yet assigned to a phylum. 



The arthropods, a large and very successful 

group, are very prominent in the strip 

mines. Shown here are a millipede, top, and a 

horseshoe crab; below left, shrimps, top 

and side views: a flying insect and, 

far right, a spider. 





Phylum Chordata contains all the backboned 
animals, including ourselves. Pit Eleven 
has iungfish, lampreys and other fish, one, 
baby coelacanth, is shown below. Collectors 
have found some amphibians, right. Amphib- 
ians are about as far as the vertebrates had 
gone during the Pennsylvanian Age. 



jnd clams, 
est aston- 
red on the 
7ce. It is 
y 100 mil- 
lion years. 






OCTOBER Page 9 




Carnival in Bahia is a delightful confusion, more 
provincial and spontaneous than in sophisticated Rio. 



From the vast Amazon rainforests in the north to the over- 
powering falls of Iguacvi in the south, Brazil, giant among 
nations, offers almost everything for the natural history en- 
thusiast. 

So great is Brazil's attraction that one 35-member tour 
leaving from Field Museum February 14 is fully subscribed 
and another 20-member tour departing January 22 is half- 
filled, according to Phil Clark, Field Museum's Public Re- 
lations Counsel who will lead both tours. 

Mr. Clark, a plant specialist, points out that the season 
chosen for the two tours is ideal, both in its comfortable 
temperatures and for the green and flowery countrysides. 
The most beaiuiful flowering plant during the tours, he said, 
is the flowering tree, Tibouchina, which usually bears purple 
blossoms but occasionally ones of brilliant pink. Known in 
English as "glory tree," it is called flor de Quaresma or 
Lent flower because the Lenten-purple blossoms open dur- 
ing the Lenten Season. In thrilling contrast with the purple 
in many forests and gardens are the bright yellow Cassia 
trees, again in various species and varying shades. 




Brazil Tours Popular 

A Few Openings Remain 
in Second Tour Group 




Ornate opera /(dk.vk ut Manuus was built during a rribber 
boom in the late 1800's. (Photos by Phil Clark.) 



Trees of Lent flowers, or Tibouchina, bloom deep 
purple to brilliant pink during Lenten season. 



The tours will visit outstanding private homes and gar- 
dens as well as stopping in wild areas. Both sections of the 
tour will be accompanied by specialists in plants and animals. 

Stops for the January 22 - February 16 tour, in reverse 
order from those of the February 1 4 - March 1 1 tour, will 
include: Manaus for a trip on the .Amazon-connected rivers; 
the ultra-modern capital city of Brasilia; the gem center of 
Belo Horizonte; the Portuguese colonial town of Ouro Preto; 
the white beaches of Rio de Janiero; Petropolis for the dra- 
matic gardens of the landscape abstractionist Roberto Burle 
Marx; the snake farm of Butantan in Sao Paulo; Curitiba 
for the red sandstone formations and Araucaria forests of 
Vila Velha; Iguacu with its many tremendous waterfalls; 
Espirito Santo for the hummingbird center and garden es- 
tate of naturalist Augusto Ruschi, and colonial Bahia for the 
joyous confusion of Carnival. 

Cost of the tour, including all expenses and a $500 tax- 
deductible donation to Field Museum, is $2,050. A $500 
deposit is necessary to hold a reservation. Extra charge for 
a single room is $95. 

Reservations or additional information may be obtained 
by writing: Brazil Tour, Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at 
Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 60605. 



Page ni OCTOBER 





^^^l^^^^r 


1 i^fci 


^^^^^^m 



The Commercial Press Model, the only Chinese 
typewriter actually produced for commercial 



use. 



luick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog 



CHINESE TYPEWRITERS; 

A case of stimulus diffusion 

now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of thej 



B/ Kenneth Starr, 

Curator, Asiatic Archaeology and 

Ettinology 



Anthropologists make common use of two terms in refer- 
ring to the process whereby cuhural elements, either mate- 
rial or non-material, diffuse or spread from one culture to 
another. These terms are diffusion and stimulus diffusion, 
which A. L. Kroeber, pioneer American anthropologist, dif- 
ferentiated as follows: 

In ordinary diffusion . . . both the principle and its 
mechanism are taken over by a receiving culture from 
the inventing one. Occasionally, however, there are 
difficulties about acceptance of the mechanism. . . . 
The idea or principle may then also fail to be accepted. 
But again, the idea may exercise an appeal that causes 
it to penetrate. An effort may then be made in the re- 
ceiving culture to devise another mechanism that will 
produce the desired result. Thus an invention, or rein- 
vention, is stimulated by contact transmission or [stim- 
ulus] diffusion.' 
The process of stimulus diffusion is quite strikingly illus- 
trated by the manner in which the basic idea of the Western 
typewriter spread to China and Japan, whose systems of 



visual linguistic symbolism, distinguished by the use of 
"characters" (as 4^ , for blue), instead of an alphabet (a 
symbol for each sound) or syllabary (a symbol for each syl- 
lable), necessitated an almost complete reinvention. 

Three variant forms of the Chinese typewriter have been 
produced: the several models produced in the late 1920's 
and the 30's by the Chinese publishing company, the Com- 
mercial Press, Ltd.; the experimental model introduced in 
1946 by the International Business Machines Corporation; 
and the exjserimental model invented in 1947 by Lin Yutang. 

The Commercial Press Model 

Based on a Japanese prototype, the earliest Commercial 
Press model was produced commercially in Shanghai in the 
mid-20's. During the next decade the company produced 
several other models, all based on the same mechanical 
principle, but differing slightly in operational details as the 
invention was refined. The model described here was mar- 
keted in the mid-30's and seems to have been the last the 
company produced. ^ 

Structural Features 

The Commercial Press typewriter consists of four main 
parts: the base, the frame, the grid and finder-chart, and 
the superstructure. 

Base. The heavy base is formed of two sturdy planks, 
spaced slighdy apart and set horizontally between two cast- 
iron side pieces. This base is 17J^ inches wide, 163^ inches 
deep and 2]4 inches high. 



OCTOBER Page 11 



Frame. The base carries a cast-iron frame that supports a 
mobile grid containing several thousand pieces of type, the 
superstructure, and a typing lever and associated ejector-pin. 

Grid attd finder-chart. The grid that holds the type fits 
into a tracked carriage that rides on the cast-iron frame. 
This grid of type moves from side to side on one pair of 
tracks, then, together with this first pair of tracks, backward 
and forward on a second pair of tracks and, by a combina- 
tion of these two separate movements, diagonally and cir- 
cularly. 

This grid contains spaces for 2,546 separate pieces of 
type (67 across, 38 from front to back). The spaces are 
open at the top and partly so at the bottom, with just a 
slight lip to keep the type from falling through. The pieces 
of type rest loosely, face up in their spaces, with the type 
faces, as seen by the operator, backward (mirror image), 
oriented to the right, and in reverse order, relative to each 
other. Thus, with Arabic numbers as examples, two verti- 
cal rows of type would appear as follows: 

rvJ O 

•4- <L> 

lO oO 

on 1^ 

Extending from the front of the grid is a short flat metal 
arm. This arm carries a wooden knob, by means of which 
the grid is moved, and at its free end, a finder-needle. It is 
with this needle, used in conjunction with the finder-chart, 
that one locates a specific piece of type in the grid, for grid, 
finder-needle and finder-chart are interrelated. 

The finder-chart, which in a wild sort of way corre- 
sponds to the keyboard of a Western typewriter, is vital to 
the operation of the machine, and carries the phoperly 
printed form of each of the 2,546 pieces of type in the grid, 
with the location of the character on the chart keyed to that 
of the corresjionding piece of type in the grid.' 

The characters on the chart and the corresponding pieces 
of type in the grid are organized by two principles, fre- 
quency of usage and the traditional "radical" system of 
classifying Chinese characters. The primary organization 
is based upon estimated frequency of usage. Thus, to re- 
duce lateral movement of the cumbersome grid, the most 
frequently used forms are located in the center of the chart 
and grid, while the less frequently used forms, divided into 
two groups, are relegated to the sides. There is also a small 
additional section containing special forms, including Chi- 
nese and Arabic numerals, the English alphabet, forms of 
address used in correspondence and forms of punctuation. 

Secondary organization is according to the traditional 
classificator>- system. Briefly, this system is based upon the 
fact that the great majority of Chinese characters are com- 
posed of two elements, a phonetic element and a meaningful 
element, the latter commonly called a "radical." Each of 
the several tens of thousands of characters in the language is 
subsumed under one or another of these radicals, which are 
set in number (214), fixed in their sequence and standard- 
ized in form and broad meaning. Thus, radical 9 /». is 
human, radical 75 :^ is tree or wood, and radical 140 ^^ , 



grass. The characters in both the central and peripheral 
groups are organized by this system of radicals, with the only 
difference being that the peripheral group of characters is 
divided into two parts, in much the same manner as a two- 
volume Chinese dictionary, with characters subsumed imder 
radicals 1-96 at the right of the central group and, along 
with the special forms, those subsumed under radicals 97- 
214 continued at the left. 

The characters on the chart are keyed to the corre- 
sponding pieces of type in the grid. The positions and ori- 
entations of the two relative to each other, however, arc 
directly opposite. Thus, the characters on the finder-chart 
are in prop)er classificatory sequence and are properly 
printed, while the pieces of typ)e in the grid are in reverse 
classificatory sequence, backward and oriented to the right. 
With Arabic numerals once again as examples, this rela- 
tionship is illustrated here. The usefulness of the chart is 
apparent. 



In construction and function, the carriage is crudely 
similar to that of a Western typ>ewriter. Thus, it moves 
from left to right and is equipp)ed with a carriage release. 
The paper is inserted in similar fashion and can be released 
by means of a key. Two other keys below and forward 
from the carriage allow for spacing and backspacing. There 
is also a ribbon and a single margin bell. 

-Along with the grid of type, the selector arm and the 
typing-lever and ejector-pin, are distinctive features of this 
typ>ewriter, for together they form the basic mechanical 
modification that allows the typing of a character-language. 
The Commercial Press typewriter operates on the basis of 
a selection of some 2,500 separate pieces of type set in a 
mobile grid. The mechanics of printing one of these char- 
acters is based on the joint action of the selector arm, the 
typing-lever and the ejector-pin. The selector arm is metal, 
pivoted at its inner end to the front center of the machine, 
immediately above the mobile grid. The free end of the 
arm extends out over the grid and is designed to move ver- 
tically in an arc upward and back toward the platen. Seen 
from three-quarter view the head of this arm is similar to a 
socket wrench, with the square hole of a size to accommo- 
date a piece of typ)e. This selector arm is op)erated by the 
typing-lever. 

Parallel to the selector arm, and on its left, is a second 
and more slender arm that supports a roller which as unit 
also moves in a small vertical arc. \Vhen the selector arm 
is at rest, this roller sits upon the wrench-like head of the 
arm, but when the selector arm travels upward, the roller 
is pushed forward and upward in a small arc, out of the 
path of the selector arm. 

Operational Features 
To type, for instance, the character for pear . ^ , a kind 
of tree and its fruit, the typist must first locate the piece of 
typ)e whose face bears the character for pear. Referring to 



Paof 12 OCTOBER 



the finder-chart that he has pulled out of its slot, the typist 
searches out the printed character (or pear. An experienced 
operator will know the precise location of the /)Mr-character 
on the chart. A less knowledgeable typist will look, first, 
in the central section and then, failing to find the character 
there, in one of the two peripheral sections. In either case, 
the operator will focus on those portions of the central or 
peripheral sections of the chart wherein are located all char- 
acters having the radical for tree :^ (radical 75) as their 
meaningful element. (Within the group having the same 
/r«-radical, subclassification is based on the number of addi- 
tional writing-strokes. Thus, the character for pear ^ , 
with seven additional strokes, would precede the character 
for kind, style or form ^ with eleven extra strokes.) The 
operator then grasps the knob on the metal arm and moves 
the entire unit in such way that the finder-needle at the end 
of the arm points to the character for pear printed on the 
finder-chart. By synchronization, the selector arm then lies 
immediately above, and the ejector-pin, immediately below, 
the corresponding piece of type for pear. 

By partially depressing the typing lever, the typist raises 
the ejector-pin and pushes the piece of type for pear upward 
into the waiting wrench-like head of the selector arm. 

This action locks the piece of type in the head of the 
selector arm and, at the same time, turns it a quarter-turn in 
counter-clockwise direction, so that the character will be 
printed in proper orientation, that is, standing on its feet. 
(The procedure outline here produces horizontal lines of 
characters, reading from left to right, in Western fashion, 
as 1-2-3. Setting a thumbscrew in the head of the selector 
arm prevents the piece of type from rotating and so produces 
lines of characters that still read from left to right, but that 
lie on their sides as ■^ - fN - ro . By turning the finished page 
of typing a quarter-turn in clockwise direction, the result is 
a page of characters printed vertically in columns and read- 
ing in traditional Chinese manner, from the top right corner 
of the page to the lower left corner.) 

At the same time the piece of type is turning, the hard- 
rubber wheel lying atop the head of the selector arm rises, 
releasing the selector arm. Final downward pressure on the 
typing-lever lifts the selector arm sharply upward, causing 
the piece of type, locked in the head of the arm, to strike 
against the ribbon and so print the character on the paper 
behind. As pressure on the typing lever is relaxed, the proc- 
ess is reversed and the piece of type is returned to its space 
in the grid. The cycle now is complete, and the operator is 
ready to repeat the whole incredible procedure for the next 
character. 

The Commercial Press typewriter, which is capable of 
thirty to thirty-five symbols a minute, may be likened to a 
miniature printing press. The two other character type- 
writers described more briefly below differ appreciably in 
both structural and operational principles, especially the 
method of character selection*. 

The IBM Model 

First exhibited in New York in 1946, at which time I 




observed it in operation, the Electro-Automatic Chinese 
Typewriter was built by IBM with the assistance of Mr. 
Kao Chung-chin, a Chinese engineer and communications 
expert. The machine was never produced commercially. 

Structural Features 

Although not so clumsy in appearance as the Commer- 
cial Press model, the IBM machine still is quite bulky, meas- 
uring 24^ inches wide, 17 inches deep and 13 inches high. 

Externally, an aluminum housing leaves open to view 
only the carriage and keyboard. The carriage, similar to 
that of a Western typewriter, consists of a platen to carry the 
paper and the several keys and levers for its operation. The 
keyboard, the salient external feature of the Electro-Auto- 
matic, consists of forty-three keys ranged in two parallel 
rows and divided into four groups. Thirty-six of the keys 
are numeral keys that serve directly in the typing, while the 
remaining seven keys operate allied mechanisms, as follows : 
543210 0123456789- 

9876543210 0123456789- 

Internally, the Electro-Automatic is distinctive and is 
based on a mechanical principle differing entirely from that 
characterizing the Commercial Press model, with its font of 
2,546 separate pieces of type. The IBM model uses as its 
"font" a drum, revolving continuously and capable of lat- 
eral motion as well, whose outer surface carries 5,400 type 
figures, arranged in vertical (running around the drum) and 
horizontal rows. These type figures, which include English 
letters and business symbols as well as Chinese characters, 
are grouped according to frequency of use. The first group 
of 1,000 characters is centrally located and includes 90% of 
the characters used in ordinary correspondence and 95% 
of those used in telecommunication. The second group is 
comprised of some 3,000 characters normally used less than 
10% of the time. The third group consists of characters 
used less than 1 % of the time. This grouping serves to de- 
crease the lateral movement of the drum, thereby increasing 
typing speed. 

Operational Features 

The operation of the IBM model is quite simple, but for 

the average Westerner, astonishingly clumsy, for requisite 

to the operation of the Electro-Automatic is the cold-blooded 

memorization of 5,400 four-digit numbers. Although gen- 



OCTOBER Page 13 



erally alien to Europeans, such massive memorization is inti- 
mate part of the Chinese and Japanese tradition. For 2,000 
)ears Chinese scholars committed Confucion classics to mem- 
ory, and even today Chinese telegraphers transmit memo- 
rized numbers assigned to characters rather than the char- 
ters themselves. The Chinese engineer, Mr. Kao, planned 
on a four- to six-month period for the memorization of the 
5,400 characters and the numbers assigned to them. 

Grouped according to the three usage categories de- 
scribed above, each of the 5,400 symbols has a designated 
four-digit code number. From here on the actual typing 
procedure is very simple, for it involves only the depression 
of four keys, one in each of the four groups. The six keys 
in the upper left group determine the thousands digit, the 
ten keys in the lower left group determine the hundreds 
digit, the ten keys in the upper right group, the tens digit, 
and the ten keys in the lower right group isolate the unit 
digit and, in addition, operate the typing mechanism. The 
first two of these number-keys define the lateral location of 
the character on the drum, and the second two, the vertical 
location within one line running around the circumference 
of the drum. 

Once the desired symbol has been mechanically located 
the typing mechanism prints it by the action of a hammer 
that slaps the paper against the type face. As the drum is 
in almost continuous motion, however, synchronization is 
not always perfect, and as a result, the printing sometimes 
is uneven, with either top or bottom of the symbol improp- 
erly printed. 

The Electro-Automatic prints in either horizontal lines 
(Western style) or vertical columns (traditional Chinese 
style), and in the hands of an expert ojjerator the machine 
theoretically is capable of typing 50 symbols a minute. 

The MiNGKWAi Typewriter 




i 


1 


1 

1 ii 


1 


(. 


-It 


' I'i 


2 


- 




^-- 


-- 


7 


ii 


' 11 


5 


i 


tt 


1 
1 


1 



The Mingkwai Typewriter was demonstrated early in 
1947 by its inventor, Lin Yutang, the well-known Chinese 
author and educator. As with the IBM machine the Ming- 
kwai differs from the Commercial Press model in both struc- 
ture and operation. It is in respect particularly to method 
of character selection that the Mingkwai has a major ad- 



vantage over the other two tyjjcwriters. 

In outward appearance the Mingkwai is more nearly 
comparable in shape and size to a Western typewriter. 
Thus, a hood covers the mechanical heart, and keyboard 
and carriage are patterned after the Western original. The 
machine measures 14 inches wide, 18 inches deep and 9 
inches high. 



Diagram of the "Magic 

Eye" viewer on 
the Mingkwai typewriter 



Despite their similarity in placement and arrangement 
to those on a Western typewriter the keys of the Mingkwai 
are labeled in quite different manner. Thus, there are sixty- 
four round keys, eight square ke>s and several levers. By 
use of shift levers each of the round keys represents several 
alternative symbols. Most prominent on the machine, how- 
ever, is a viewing device that protrudes from the hood just 
above the keyboard. As we shall see, this device, the "magic 
eye," performs a vital function. 

As devised by Lin the interior of the machine has some 
8,000 type figures mounted on octagonal bars rotating 
around the axes of six cylinders. The Mingkwai is said to 
be capable of typing 7,000 whole characters and, by com- 
bination of component elements, a theoretical total of 90,000 
"manufactured" symbols. 

Operational Features 
As will be recalled, the Commercial Press typewriter 
utilized two principles in selecting one of the 2,546 avail- 
able pieces of tyf)e, one, frequency of use and, two, the tra- 
ditional radical system of organization. The IBM model 
also utilized frequency of use, but dispensed with the radical 
system and, instead, relied upon memorization of four-digit 
numbers assigned to each of the 5,400 symbols on the surface 
of the revolving drum. The Mingkwai machine operates on 
an entirely different scheme, that of breaking up the char- 
acters into component parts. The principle thus is similar 
to that which underlies the traditional method of dividing 
characters into phonetic and radical or meaningful elements. 
Instead of classifying the characters by their 214 radicals, 
however, the inventor groups them by their top and bottom 
parts. According to Lin, who refined his system of classifi- 
cation over a 30-year period, 36 tops and 28 bottoms ex- 
haust the possibilities of top and bottom components to be 
found in the corpus of Mingkwai characters. To operate 
the machine one therefore only has to be able to recognize 
in any character the presence of one of the tops and one of 
the bottoms, an easy matter even for those only slightly 
versed in Chinese. Once these 64 components are part of 
one's experience, the actual typing procedure is admirably 
simple, for it consists only of depressing three keys for each 
character typed. 



Page 14 OCTOBER 



First, from among the 36 keys composing the top three 
rows of the keyboard, the operator selects and depresses the 
key that represents the top (or top left) component of the 
character to be typed. Thus, for the character fS {mate, 
companion) the typist depresses the f key, and for the char- 
acter ^ (blue), the ^^ key. This step isolates out all of 
those characters having those particular tops. 

Second, from among the 28 keys composing the bottom 
two rows of the keyboard, the operator depresses the key 
that represents the bottom (or bottom right) component of 
the character. Thus, for the character "fg , the typist 
would select the- 12 key, and for the character £ , the — 
key. This step acts further to isolate out from those char- 
acters having the same top element all those characters 
having the bottom element represented by this second key 
that was depressed. 

With the depression of two keys, one from the upper 
rows and one from the lower, a gi-oup of characters has been 
isolated, all of which have similar tops and bottoms. Lin 
Yutang has calculated that out of his selection of 7,000 char- 
acters, there will never be more than eight with common 
tops and bottoms. After this electronic process of elimina- 
tion has taken place, this group of not more than eight char- 
acters with common tops and bottoms appear on the "magic 
eye" viewer located on the front of the hood. 

By a process of visual selection, then, the typist has only 
to pick out of the group of characters, numbered from one 
up to eight, the specific character that he wishes to type. 
The most frequently used 900 characters are in position one, 
making for greater typing efficiency. The operator then 
merely depresses the corresponding square numeral key on 
the keyboard, in this instance key number four, and auto- 
matically the character 'fS is printed. Lin's novel system 
of character division allows for greater typing efficiency, for 
only three keys are needed to type a character, and the 
jjeriod required for training is much shorter and simpler. 

The Mingkwai, as with the Electro-Automatic, is said 
to be capable of producing 50 symbols per minute when 
operated by a skilled typist. That number, though low by 
Western typing standards, is superior to that generally ob- 
tainable with a writing-brush, and there are the further 
advantages of greater legibility and the availability of car- 
bons. This last, it may be noted in passing, also is a factor 
in the great popularity of the ballpoint pen in Eastern Asia. 
Summary 

The three Chinese typewriters described above consti- 
tute excellent examples of reinvention as a result of stimulus 
diffusion. These character typewriters represent a situation 
in which a basic invention, the Western typewriter, was 
modified in both principle and structure to meet the de- 
mands of a radically different system of writing. 

Because of historical and cultural factors these reinven- 
tions have been but partially accepted into Chinese culture, 
for the Chinese still depend almost totally on copyist and the 
traditional writing-brush. There are several reasons for this 
lack of general acceptance. One, China still predomi- 
nantly is an agricultural country and not yet sufficiently 



needful of the typewriter as an element of common usage. 
Two, the large population insures an abundant supply of 
scribes, as all who have frequented government and business 
offices in China will attest. Three, the narrow selection of 
characters is a drawback, particularly in the case of the 
Commercial Press model. Four, in the case of automated 
models, maintenance and operation are factors, as well as 
cost, for such models would require a corps of trained main- 
tenance people and an even supply of electricity, still an ex- 
ception rather than a rule in many parts of China. Finally, 
there still is some conservatism as regards the mechanical 
reproduction of characters. Just as the English courts for 
many years refused to allow their records to be typed, so 
also there has been some reluctance among the Chinese to 
discard the brush and inkstone. 

Given the present state of China's culture and economy, 
one can say with fair certainty that in the foreseeable future 
the Commercial Press style of typewriter, in the form of one 
of the new Japanese models, will satisfy such need as exists. 
Should Chinese economic progress allow for some other 
form of automated typewriter, such use would be very lim- 
ited. Either way, the situation would be an example of 
stimulus diffusion, through modification of the Western 
typewriter to meet the demands of a character language. 

One other possibility should be considered. The com- 
ments made here concerning the acceptance of the type- 
writer have been predicated on the assumption that the 
Chinese wovild continue in their traditional system of writ- 
ing. It is within the realm of possibility that in response to 
pressure from the non-character world, the Chinese ulti- 
mately might adopt a system of phonetic or syllabic writing, 
although such change does not seem likely, given the re- 
markable tenacity of Chinese cultural tradition. Such a 
shift thus would obviate the need for a character typewriter, 
and the Western-style machine, already refined to a high 
degree, then could fill the cultural need. In such a case the 
result then would be a rejection of the reinvention in favor 
of the original invention, the Western typewriter. Should 
this alternative occur, the situation then in part would be 
a case of the Chinese modifying their traditional native sys- 
tem of writing to conform with one or another of those used 
in the non-character world and to fit within the limitations 
of the original foreign invention. Such a situation indeed 
would constitute an interesting turn in the endless flow of 
cultural change. 

• Kroeber, A. L. Anthropology (New York, 1948: pp. 368-69). 

• The Japanese, with whom the idea of the character-typewriter 
seems to have originated, still actively produce and market such 
typewriters which, although highly refined and, in some cases, 
automated, are based on the same structural and operational prin- 
ciples as the Commercial Press model here described. The Japa- 
nese also manufacture a syllabary-typewriter, similar to a Western 
typewriter, but with the keyboard modified to accommodate their 
more numerous syllabary of kana symbols. 

' The 2,546 symbols include but a small portion of the total 
corpus of Chinese characters. The selection is based on common 
business usage, but even so is not always adequate. 

* "Two new Chinese typewriters," The China Magazine, vol. 17, 
no. 8 (August, 1947), pp. 48-55. 



OCTOBER Page 15 



CALEN DAR F EVENTS October hours.- 9 a.m. la 5 p.m., daily. 

October 5 "Our Western Parks," narrated by Arthur Dewey, opens the Ed- 
ward E. Aver Fall Lecture Series for 1968. Dewey's film explores the animals 
and flora of several national parks, and sports available to people visiting these 
areas. The free film-lecture series will begin at 2 :30 p.m. in the James Simpson 
Theatre and will continue on successive Saturdays through November. 

October 6 .American Indians Today Festival Lecture Series "The Indians 
Stand Together," by Dr. Nancy O. Lurie, Department of Anthropology, 
University of Wisconsin. James Simpson Theatre, 3 p.m. 

October 12 Fall Lecture Series "Florence and the Heart of Italy," by Eric 
Pa\cl, will be shown at 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. 

October 13 American Indians Today Festival Lecture Series "The Indians 
Are Here to Stay," by Dr. Sol Tax, Chairman, Department of Anthropology, 
L^niversity of Chicago. James Simpson Theatre, 3 p.m. 

October 13 American Indian Festival A Pow Wow, arranged by the Indian 
community of Chicago, will close the special Anniversary Year event, which 
includes demonstrations of Indian arts and crafts by Indian artists, exhibits of 
contemporary and traditional Indian art and a photographic essay of Indians 
presently living in Chicago. Three special exhibits will continue to Novem- 
ber 15: "New Directions in American Indian Art," a display of modern items 
influenced by traditional designs; "Contemporary Traditional American In- 
dian Art," an exhibit showing traditional arts and crafts made by present-day 
artists, and "Indians of Chicago, 1968," a photographic essay by Orlando 
Cabanban. Financial assistance for the American Indian Festival was given 
by: the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; the Ernest G. Shinner Foundation 
and the Wieboldt Foundation. 1 to 9 p.m. 

October 19 Fall Lecture Series "Nature's Plans and Puzzles," C. P. Lyons' 
film study of interesting adaptations of living things to their particular environ- 
ments. 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. 

October 26 Fall Lecture Series "Skis Over McKinley," by Hans Gmoser, 
includes the first ski traverse of Mount McKinley in Alaska and exciting scenes 
of skiing in other North American mountain areas. 2:30 p.m., James Simpson 
Theatre. 

October 27 Audubon Wildlife Film Series "Land of the Cactus," narrated 
by Allan D. Cruickshank, is the first in a program sponsored by the Illinois 
.\udubon Society. Admission is free. 2 :30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. 

Through October Fall Journey "Hunt With the Cavemen" The Museum's 
Fall Journey for Children introduces youngsters to the exhibit area dealing 
with prehistoric man. Any child who can read or write may participate in the 
Journey Program. Free instruction sheets are available at Museum entrances. 

October 27 "Earth, Life and Man" Lecture Series First in the Anniversary 
Year series of lectures by Museum Curators is "Museum Science and Expedi- 
tions," by Dr. Robert Inger, Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles. Free to 
Museum Members and interested adults. 1 p.m.. Lecture Hall. 

Half a Billion Years of Illinois History Do-it-yourself tour takes visitors on 
a capsule journey through the worlds of anthropology, botany, geology and 
zoology, concentrating on the prehistory and early residents of Illinois. A free 
brochure provides a guide to pertinent exhibits and is available in Stanley 
Field Hall. 

Nature Camera Club of Chicago, October 8, 7:45 p.m. 

Chicago Mountaineering Club, October 10, 8 p.m. 
MEETINGS: Chicago Shell Club, October 13, 2 p.m. 

Sierra Club, Great Lakes Chapter, October 15, 7:30 p.m. 

Illinois Orchid Society, .October 20, 2 p.m. 



FESTIVAL FEATURE: 

LECTURES ON 
TODAY'S INDIANS 

A series of four timely lectures, "Amer- 
ican Indians Today," will be featured 
during Field Museum's American In- 
dian Festival, September 23 through 
October 13. 

The speakers, well-known anthropol- 
ogists from Midwest colleges and univer- 
sities, are specialists in aspects of Amer- 
ican Indian life. 

The two lecturers for October are Dr. 
Nancy O. Lvirie and Dr. Sol Tax. 
Dr. Lurie is chairman of the Depart- 
ment of Anthropology at the University 
of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Her primary 
field work has been among the Winne- 
bago of Nebraska and Wisconsin and the 
Dogrib Indians of the Sub-Arctic. In 
1961, she was Assistant Coordinator to 
Dr. Tax in the .'\merican Indian Chi- 
cago Conference. 

Dr. Sol Tax, chairman of the Depart- 
inent of Anthropology at the University 
of Chicago, is special advisor to the sec- 
retary of the Smithsonian Institution and 
editor of the journal Current Anthropology. 
A former president of the American An- 
thropological Association, he also organ- 
ized the American Indian Chicago Con- 
ference in 1961. He is president of the 
International Union of Anthropological 
and Ethnological Sciences. He has done 
extensive work with the Fox Indians of 
Iowa and the Maya Indians of Guate- 
mala. 

The speakers for the two lectures held 
in September were Dr. Merwyn S. Gar- 
barino of the Anthropology Department 
of the University of Illinois Circle 
Campus and Prof. John Hobgood of 
Chicago State College. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLfNOlS 60605 A.C. 312. 922-9410 
FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIEII-D. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



Pase 76 OCTOBER 



PRINTED BV FIELD MUSEUM PRESS 



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Meta Howell 1899-1968 



Meta Pauline Howell (Mrs. Frederick S. Howell), the 
Museum's Head Librarian, died suddenly on Saturday, 
August 31, 1968, one day before her 20th anniversary in 
that position. Though in ill health she was thought to be 
recovering and was to retire toward the close of this year. 

Mrs. Howell (nee Armbruester) was born in Dusseldorf, 
Germany, on November 7, 1899. She came to the United 
States in 1902 and was naturalized in 1916. She studied at 
the University of Buffalo and received her library degree in 
1924. Before coming to Chicago she worked at the Public 
and Grosvenor Libraries in Buffalo. In 1926 she accepted 
a job as a Branch Librarian for the Chicago Public Library, 
and from 1927 until 1947 she worked at the Museum of Sci- 
ence and Industry, first as Assistant Librarian and, after 
1941, as Head Librarian. She joined the staff of Field 
Museum in 1947. She was married to Mr. Frederick S. 
Howell in 1934. 

Mrs. Howell loved librarianship and was devoted to im- 
proving and enlarging the Museum's Library. One of her 
first concerns as Head Librarian was a complete overhaul of 
the acquisition and exchange program, particularly as it re- 
lated to serial publications. She has written that "Research 
centers, such as those served by museum libraries, are be- 
yond the general book stage. Their primary need is for 
literature of an intensive nature, written at the specialist's 
level. This material is to be found only in the journals, the 
bulletins, the revistas of the learned societies and research 
institutions. As one of our paleontologists put it, 95 per 
cent of all written material he consults is in these publica- 
tions. This is particularly true in the case of the [Field] 
Museum. . . ." Because of this she was very conscious of 
the serious gaps the Depression and World War had caused 
in our serial holdings and proceeded, with characteristic 
energy and thoroughness, to fill them. In cooperation with 
the Museum's Publications Division the exchange program 
was completely revised. The system she devised can be 
found in her article "Exchange of Serial Publications and 
Its Place in Museum Libraries" {The Museum News, v. 29 
(1952), no. 14, pp. 6-8); the results can be seen in the Li- 
brary's catalogue and on its shelves. 

As an adjunct to this program Mrs. Howell was instru- 
mental in working out an agreement between the John 
Crerar and the Museum Libraries whereby hundreds of nat- 
ural history serials and numerous books on entomology and 
malacology were deposited with us on "permanent loan." 
These have been a welcome and valuable addition to our 
collections. 

Mrs. Howell's emphasis on this aspect of library work 
continued until her death and resulted in greatly strength- 
ening our position as one of the nation's foremost sources of 
specialized information in the natural sciences. In 1963 she 
realized a long-time ambition when, through the kind offices 
of former Senator Paul H. Douglas, the Library was named 




Mrs. Howell assisting Dr. Louis O. Williams, Chief Curator, Botany, 
in the Library. 

a depository for selected government publications under the 
Depository Library Program. Our Library, at that time, 
was the only museum library so designated. 

The Library's growth was such that Mrs. Howell be- 
came seriously concerned about overcrowding in the stacks 
and increasingly cramped working quarters. At the Direc- 
tor's request she submitted, in 1963, a report on current 
needs and a projection of those of the next 20 years. This 
in time resulted, by means of a grant from the National Sci- 
ence Foundation, in a greatly expanded stack area, new 
facilities, and money to complete the reclassification pro- 
gram. A complete discussion of this can be found in her 
article "The Museum Library in Transition" {Chicago 
Natural History Museum Bulletin, v. 36 (1965), no. 5, pp. 
2-3, 7-8). 

Mrs. Howell possessed a driving and dynamic personal- 
ity that strongh- affected all who worked with or for her. 
She was prepared to defend her positions on important 
matters with great vigor, and sometimes heat. But she was 
fortunate in possessing another attribute of a commanding 
personality : fairness. She had the ability to see other points 
of view and was willing to modify her stand or change her 
mind. She was a bit of a feminist and felt very strongly that 
in the world of affairs men and women should be accorded 
equal treatment. She was not above using "feminine wiles" 
in an argument; but, as she proudly told me once, she 
"never resorted to tears to win one." 

Mrs. Howell was not an easy person to know well. 
There was an air of formality about her that she strove to 
maintain. On the job she presented the sternly professional 
facade of a dedicated career woman; in private, she was 
gregarious, had a lively sense of humor, and was full of 
kindness and concern for others. As one who worked for 
her for 10 years I came to know both sides of her personality 
and respected the one and very much liked the other. She 
shall be missed in the Library and in the Museum; but her 
work remains and will be of continuing value to the staff 
and to the public as long as the Museum endures. 

— W. Peyton Fawcelt, Associate Librarian 



Page 2 NOVEMBER 



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by edward j. olsen 
curator, mineralogy 



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The Barranger Crater, near Winslow, Arizona, is nearly a mile across. U.S. Route 66 is the faint line visible beyond the crater. 



'"Make a wish on a falling star." At one time or another 
most children have given this fanciful method a try to ob- 
tain some much desired toy or treat. As yet there have been 
no reports of successful attempts to get, say, a bicycle this 
way, however, falling stars have, over the centuries, pro- 
vided men with answers and clues to much more sophisti- 
cated wishes. Ever since man became aware of the universe 
around him he has had a burning desire to know what's 
"ovit there." One of the earliest sciences to be born was 
astronomy, which literally means "to order the stars." As- 
tronomy grew partly out of necessity, to construct a calendar 
which would permit the prediction of seasons for the pur- 
pose of planting crops. 1 1 grew also out of an overwhelming 
curiosity. Already in the Stone Age the basic ideas of the 
calendar were created; recent findings have shown that 
England's famous Stonchenge was an actual working cal- 
endar. By Egyptian and Greek times calendars had grown 
to be quite accurate. This left curiosity. 

In olden times any curious object or phenomenon thai 
took place in the "air" was called a "meteor." Thus people 
lumped together such unrelated things as comets, tornados, 
aurora, fog, rainbows, water spouts, sun dogs, moon halos, 
rain, meteorites, lightning, thunder, clouds, snow, and swamp 
fires. Because of this, much later in the 19th and 20th cen- 



turies, the study of weather came to be called meteorology, or 
the study of phenomena that take place in the air. With 
time it became obvious that some of these phenomena, such 
as comets and meteorites had nothing to do with the weather 
as such. The objects which retained the basic name, mete- 
orites, meaning meteor rocks or rocks that come through the 
air, were thus rightly excluded from meteorology. 

Meteorites have had a long, but spotty, history. The 
chance of a person actually witnessing a meteorite fall is ex- 
tremely small. On the other hand, the chance of seeing 
burning meteor streaks, what children call "falling stars," 
in the night sky is fairly good. Thus in prehistoric times 
when the population of ancient men was quite small the 
absolute number of witnessed falls would necessarily be 
small. As the population increased and spread over wider 
areas the absolute number of direct observations must have 
increased also. When the first witnessed fall took place is, 
of course, buried in prehistory. The first recorded case we 
have is that of an iron meteorite which fell in the ancient 
country of Phrygia, in Asia Minor, around 2000 B.C. It was 
put into a temple as an object of worship and later, in Ro- 
man times, was transported to Rome where it remained for 
500 years before being lost. In the New World the Mound 
Builders of the Ohio valley, around 400 B.C., had a small 



NOVEMBER Page 3 



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Woodcut of the Ensisheim Meteorite which fell in 

iron meteorite to which they appeared to attach religious 
significance. No one knows how old it is. However, it was 
unearthed during an archaeological dig in the early 1900"s 
and presently resides here in Field Museum. 

In most cases meteorites which were seen to fall ended 
up in religious temples of one sort or another. For over 
2,000 years, in the ancient countries surrounding the Medi- 
terranean Sea, meteorite worship was widely practiced. 
Even today meteorites are kept in some of the older temples 
of the middle east and the orient, especially Japan. Through- 
out ancient times more and more meteorites were observed 
and collected. They were generally considered to have 
mystical significance and even today, principally in the east, 
but also in such western countries as the United States, 
ground-up meteorite powder, taken orally, is considered by 
some people to have the power to cure a wide variety of dis- 
eases. Man, nevertheless, has always been a practical fel- 
low, and the possible mystical or supernatural value of a 
meteorite, especially an iron one, was often overbalanced 
by this practicality. Very probably the first iron metal uti- 
lized by man consisted of objects pounded out of bits of 
meteorite iron. A necklace of meteoritic iron beads was 
found in a tomb dating from the First Dynasty of Egypt, 
5,000 to 6,000 years ago. Moimd-building jieople in the 
New World similarly used this kind of iron. Those of the 
Ohio valley made meteorite iron beads, and farther west, 
near the town of Havana, Illinois, several meteoritic iron 
beads were found. These objects date from about 400 B.C. 
Later, the North American Indian, who, before contact with 
Europeans, had not yet developed the technique of smelting 
iron out of its ores, used bits of meteorite iron for weapons 
and tools. In the meteorite exhibit here at Field Museum 
a large iron meteorite, called Navajo, shows gouges and 
scars where Indians attempted to cut out metal for use. 



Alsace, France {now Germany) on November 16, H92. 

Thus, throughout ancient times, and in all lands, meteo- 
rites were known, used, and often revered because they fell 
from the heavens. The Greek, Diogenes, suggested they 
were related to the stars, although Aristode did not think so. 
Later, in the Middle Ages, the German philosopher, Para- 
celsus, pronounced they did indeed fall from the sky. Thus 
it stood for some time until 1 772 when the Paris Academy of 
Sciences, then the center of western scientific scholarship, 
solemnly pronounced that "the falling of stones from the sky 
is physically impossible" and that meteorites, as such, did 
not exist but were simply terrestrial rocks that had been 
"struck by lightning." This pronouncement was signed, 
among others, by the very brilliant AntoLne Lavoisier, who 
is considered today to be the father of the science of modern 
chemistry. The sad result of this was that some institutions 
and individuals became embarrassed by their meteorite col- 
lections and gave or threw them away. 

Meanwhile, meteorites continued to fall and be found. 
Unfortunately, none ever fell through the roof of the Paris 
Academy of Sciences, nor was any major scientist ever a wit- 
ness to a fall. The reports of farmers and herders, even the 
mayor of one city, were written off as nonsense. And so it 
continued for years. In 1807 when a meteorite crashed into 
the ground near Weston, Connecticut and two Yale College 
professors went to collect it, no less a scholar than Thomas 
Jefferson said it was easier for him to think that two Yankee 
professors would lie than to believe stones would fall from 
heaven. 

As time went on, however, the evidence became over- 
whelming and in the very vigorous scientific atmosphere of 
the late 19th century meteorites finally came into their own, 
as the only real physical objects man has from interplane- 
tary space. Their study has grown since that time, as meteo- 
ritics, a word coined by the late Dr. Oliver C. Farrington, 



Page 4 .\0V EMBER 



/"*▼»»»% ' 



fable 1. — Minerals Which Occur in Meteorites 
Chemical elements which form theni 



Name of 
mineral 




Stone-iron meteorites, such as the one illustrated above, have a distinc- 
tive appearance unlike any naturally-occurring terrestrial rock. 



who was a leading meteorite worker and was a curator at 
Field Museum from 1894 to 1933. 

At the present time meteoritics has become quite cosmo- 
politan. People who work in it include physicists, chemists, 
geologists, astronomers, metallurgists, organic chemists, en- 
gineers, and statisticians. In general, this study can be di- 
vided up into four main categories: (1) mineralogy and 
chemical composition of meteorites; (2) ballistics of meteo- 
rites — the study of meteorite orbits, fall phenomena, and 
impacts; (3) physics of meteorites — age determinations, 
magnetic features, radioactivities, cosmic ray effects; (4) 
organic chemistry- — study of organic compounds in some 
meteorites. 

Although it is convenient to divide up these areas of 
study it must be understood that each one interacts with the 
other so it is hard to talk about any one category exclusively. 
Nevertheless, for the remainder of this article I will deal 
mostly with category (1). 

Because of the ancient practice of worshipping meteo- 
rites, it has come down to us today that they are something 
unique and special. In reality, most of them are very much 
like some terrestrial rocks, and some few of them are quite 
difficult to distinguish visually from certain kinds of com- 
mon earth rocks. Of the seven common minerals which 
make up most meteorites (see Table 1) only one of them, 
schreibersite, is not known to occur in terrestrial rocks, but 
it is found in some man-made steel mill products, and could 
occvir naturally at depth within the earth. 



1. Olivine Magnesium, iron, silicon, oxygen 

2. Pyroxene Magnesium, iron, calcium, silicon, oxygen 

3. Feldspar Sodium, calcium, potassium, aluminum, 

silicon, oxygen 

4. Metal Iron, nickel, cobalt 

5. Troilitc Iron, sulfur 

6. Graphite Carbon 

7. Schreibersite Iron, nickel, phosphorus 

Table 2. — Meteorite Groups 
Group Subgroups Principal minerals making up each group 

STONE Chondrites Olivine, pyroxene, metal, troilite, feldspar 

.^chondrites Feldspar, pyroxene 
STONE-IRON Pallasites Metal, olivine 

Mesosiderites Pyroxene, metal 
IRON Octahedrites Metal, troilitc, graphite, schreibersite 

(has Widmanstatten pattern) 
Ataxites Metal, schreibersite, troilite, graphite 

(has no Widmanstatten pattern) 

Meteorites fall fairly neatly into three groups depending 
on which combinations of these minerals make them up 
(see Table 2). Because they are generally composed of the 
same minerals as some terrestrial rocks, the question always 
arises, how are they to be identified? For iron meteorites this 
problem is not so difficult as for a stone meteorite. Although 
iron and iron-nickel metal does occur in terrestrial rocks, it 
is extremely rare, being limited to a few occurrences in Ore- 
gon, New Zealand, Germany, and Greenland. So, except 
for the added complication of man-made steel mill scrap and 
slag, which can be found almost anywhere in industrialized 
nations like the United States, pieces of metal which are 
found stand a good chance that they are not natural terres- 
trial irons. In addition, the Austrian scientist, A. von VV^id- 
manstatten, in 1808 discovered that the metal in most iron 
meteorites forms in two diflferent kinds of structures in a 
regular geometrical arrangement. The reasons for this are 
now very well understood but are beyond the scope of this 
particular article. What is important here is that by cutting 
flat, polishing, and slowly etching with acid, this geometrical 
pattern of iron-nickel can be brought out, much like chem- 
ical treatment brings out the image on an exposed piece of 
film. This kind of structure is unique and is not found in 
any terrestrial iron, or man-made metal product. These 
iron meteorites are called octahedrites and the geometrical 
pattern is called a Widmanstatten pattern in honor of the 
discoverer. Among the iron meteorites only 14% of them 
have compositions which do not consist of two kinds of 
metal structure, but only one. For these no geometrical 
etch pattern exists and other tests must be used. 

Stone meteorites are not quite so easy. Fortunately, 
however, most stone meteorites fall into a major subgroup 
called chondrites [con'-drites], because they contain small 
spherical clusters of grains of the minerals olivine, pyroxene, 
and feldspar, called chondrules [con'-drools]. The chon- 
drules are held together by a matrix of fine grains of the 
same minerals plus some metal and troilite. These little 
spheres range from less than a tenth of an inch to occasional 



NOVEMBER Page 5 



large ones which are over one-half inch. In a microscope 
section it is quite easy to see chondrules and occasionally a 
meteorite is found where they are so abundant they crumble 
away into one's hand. Chondrules are unique to stone me- 
teorites. They are not found in any terrestrial rock. Fortu- 
nately, the great majority of stone meteorites, 94% of them, 
are chondrites. The other 6% are achondrites, which means 
"without chondrules." It is difficult to distinguish achon- 
drites from some kinds of terrestrial rocks, especially the 
common rock basalt, and sf>ecial, often elaborate, testing is 
required in some cases. 

Stone-iron meteorites consist either of irregular lumps 
(not chondrules) of olivine contained in a network of metal 



to tell what chemical elements arc present in the star, and 
from the relative intensities of the colors characterizing them 
it is possible to determine the relative quantities of these 
elements. 

Now, as it turns out, most stars consist dominantly of the 
element hydrogen along with small quantities of other chem- 
ical elements. Indeed, the entire universe consists mostly 
of hydrogen (over 93%). When the spectroscope was first 
turned on the nearest star to the earth, namely, the Sun, 
hydrogen was found along with a small, but significant per- 
centage of other elements: calcium, oxygen, silicon, magne- 
sium, aluminum, iron, sulfur, phosphorus, sodium, potas- 
sium, carbon, nickel, cobalt, etc. When the relative amounts 





Chondrules shown against a one-inch scale illus- 
trate the range of sizes among individual chon- 
drules. They are unique to stone meteorites. 



Cross-section of chondrule (light, round area) in the Ensis)ieim 
chondrite meteor depicted in the wood cut. (Magnified IfO times.) 



(these are called the pallasites) or a filigree of metal con- 
tained in a mass of mostly pyroxene (these are called the 
mesosiderites) . In either case no stone-iron could be mistaken 
for any terrestrial rock. They have a unique appearance. 
Knowing the chemical composition of meteorites, espe- 
cially the largest group of them, the stone meteorites, per- 
mits us to make a series of deductions that would delight 
Sherlock Holmes. In the last century a device called a spec- 
troscope was invented. It permits one to take the light of a 
star, concentrate it by a lens system, and break it up into its 
spectrum of colors. In such hot objects as stars the chem- 
ical elements that compose them are constantly emitting 
light, and each element has a characteristic group of colors 
it emits. When all the colors from all elements in a given 
star are blended together, as they are when they are emitted 
from the star, the star generally appears white. The spec- 
troscofje is designed to imblend them back to the individual 
colors of the elements that emitted them. Thus it is possible 



of these were compared with stone meteorites it turned out 
that, element for element, they were almost identical, but 
different from other observed stars. Furthermore, when 
compared with the surface rocks of the earth's crust, the 
compositions are quite different. From this we can deduce 
that these elements, which form the solid minerals of meteo- 
rites, in the same relative proportions, were derived from 
matter being boiled off the Sun and condensing into solids. 
[The large amount of hydrogen, which is a gaseous element, 
does not condense into these solids and thus does not enter 
into the formation of solid objects in the solar system. It 
exists mostly as a thin, interplanetary gas, and partially as 
gas trapped between the mineral grains of solid objects.] 
The condensation process would involve cooling and the 
combination of elements together into minerals and the so- 
lidification of these molten droplets of minerals into solids. 
These droplets would be the chondrules observed in the ma- 
jority of meteorites. Thus meteorites are, with a high prob- 



Page6 .\0V EMBER 



^aT»»»\' ' • ' ^.•.< 



ability, objects of our own solar system and do not come 
from beyond that. Now, since we know by radioactive dat- 
ing methods, that meteorites were formed generally around 
A]/2 billion years ago, we may also tentatively deduce that 
the composition of the Sun itself had remained fairly con- 
stant for that period of time otherwise the Sun's composition 
today would be difTerent from meteorites. This can only 
be a tentative deduction at this point because the argument 
is, as you will notice, quite circular. 

Finally, since the earth's crust is so difTerent from meteo- 
rites and the Sun's atmosphere we conckide that some proc- 
ess must have taken place on the earth that did not take 
place in meteorites. From a large amount of geophysical 



back to a little over 3 billion years are known. Thus, we 
conclude that it took about 1 — billion years for the crust to 
form. From the differences in chemical composition of the 
crust relative to meteorites we can tell what chemical ele- 
ments had to have been separated out of the original matter 
to form the crust, and also make some deductions about the 
elements that separated out in the downward direction to 
form the core of the earth. What arises from all this is the 
view of the earth as a layered planet with an iron-nickel 
core, surrounded by a thick mantle with the composition of 
a rock called peridotite (consisting of olivine and pyroxene 
with some feldspar, and very much like stone meteorites in 
composition except for the elements extracted to make the 





The Navajo iron meteorite (Hall 35) is about three feet long and contains a pre-ierrestrial crack. 
Gouge marks were made by Indians attempting to break off pieces for use in tool-making. 



Widmanstalten pattern is illustrated 

in this iron meteorite from LaPorte, 

Indiana. 



evidence we know that the earth consists of various layers 
going downward : the crust, the mantle, and the core, and 
that these layers represent difTerent rock types with difTer- 
ent chemical compositions and minerals. We also know that 
the mantle makes up about 88% of the volume of the earth, 
with the core making up over 10% and the crust, on which we 
live, making up less than 2%. We may assume that the 
earth was once a homogeneous object with no original layers 
and with the same composition as meteorites and the solar 
atmosphere, that is, formed from elements boiled off the 
Sun also. Since astronomers believe that all the objects in 
the solar system, planets and meteorites, were formed at 
approximately the same time, then the earth must also be 
4}/^ billion years old. This is, in fact, the basic method for 
determining the age of the earth — from meteorites. Thus, 
we may conclude that the layers formed during this 41/^-bil- 
lion-year period. Now, by measuring the age of the oldest 
crustal rock which can be found we can obtain a measure of 
how long it took for the crust to form. Crustal rocks dating 



core and crust). Over this is a thin crust consisting of a 
basaltic base (basalt consists of mostly feldspar and pyrox- 
ene) with a granitic outer portion (feldspar and quartz). 
During this large scale chemical reconstitution of the earth 
obviously any original structures from the earth's early days, 
namely, chond rules, would be destroyed. 

Thus, a study of the minerals and chemical compositions 
of meteorites has permitted us to make some deductions re- 
garding their origin, the origin of the earth, the chemical 
history of the Sun, and a view of the interior of the earth. 
Each of these considerations is, however, constantly being 
reviewed by research workers in meteoritics as new data 
come to light. At the present time some alternative views 
are showing promise and may alter these deductions over 
the coming years; however, the basic arguments will not 
change. Even after the moon and other planets are visited 
and sampled by men the key to the origin and early develop- 
ment of the solar system will come from the study of me- 
teorites. 



NOVEMBER Page 7 




Wearing dramatic and colorful costumes, Chicagoland Indian residents representing 
many tribes gathered for the Pow Wow. (Photo by Orlando Cabanban.) 





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Above left, Indian women in colorful tri- 
bal dress joined the men in the dancing. 
Above A/fl'/Jt Youngest Pow Wow partici- 
pants await their turn to perform in the 
dancing. Right. Tony Hunt, a KwakiutI In- 
dian, carved and painted a 10-foot totem 
pole. (Photos by Ferdinand Huysmans.) 




'^'Ak<-^~ ' 





The goal of Field Musi 
only to provide a shovi 
creations but to give ni 
to meet members of 1 1 
city. With the cooper i 




Exciting Indidi. ^d 
of the Festiv 

(Photo by Ferdi 




A rapt audience 



Pages NOVEMBER 



lerican Indian Festival in Pictures 



I's American Indian Festival was not 
ie for Indian artisans and their 
' Chicagoans their first opportunity 
jmall, but vital Indian community in the 
n of the American Indian Center 



in Chicago, the Festival and the closing Pow Wow proved to be 
a success as evidenced by the attendance of 1 1 5,336 for those 
three weeks, compared to 67,552 for the same period last 
year. Visitors came away with a sense of the vigor and variety 
of the Indian contribution to American culture. 




Photographer Orlando Cabanban captures the climax of the 
three-week American Indian Festival in this month's 
cover photo. Indian residents of Chicago were joined by 
Museum visitors for an exciting Pow Wow, which featured Indian 
dancing and singing in the building and outdoors on the south 
lawn. 




were a highlight 
ow Wow. 

i Huysmans.) 



These visitors, who wore colorful headgear for the occasion, learned 
how Hopi Kachina dolls are made by Ernest Naquayouma. 

(Photo by Ferdinand Huysmans.) 



Navajo weaver Irene Tsosie makes 

an Indian rug following a process 

that is centuries old. 

(Photo by Ferdinand Huysmans.) 





^ns as Mrs. Ann Lim, a Winnebago, explains the intricacies 
adwork. (Photo by Orlando Cabanban.) 



Winnebago Indian Rob Johnson demon- 
strates hand games for a school group at 
the Festival. 

(Photo by Ferdinand Huysmans.) 



NOVEMBER Page 9 




Turning Over An Old Leaf 



by Patricia M. Williams 
Field Museum Press 



The Stanley Field Plant Reproduction Laboratory 
oj Field Museum has produced the most extensive 
series of plant reproductions in the world. Here 
Mrs. Williams tells the story of plant modeling. 
Shown above is a model of the peanut plant, Arachis 
hypogaea. 



Today, with department stores, drug stores and discount 
stores all selling fairly lifelike artificial flowers and plants, 
the marvelous Museum plant reproductions may too easily 
be taken for granted. Although understandable, this is un- 
fortunate because these plant reproductions represent a con- 
tinuing program of experimentation and artistry spanning 
many years. 

Before the turn of the century, "taxidermists had been 
purchasing heavy leaves from manufacturers of millinery 
supplies and wiring them to any sort of branch in order to 
provide 'atmosphere' for their groups of mounted animals."' 
Probably the color of the leaves was determined more by 
the current styles than by the reality of nature and "... the 
effect produced was so completely lacking in scientific ac- 
curacy that the use of such crude-looking accessories may 
have served to prejudice curators against the habitat group 
as a museum exhibit." - 

The first real improvement in plant reproduction was 
made by the Mintorn brothers and their sister, Mrs. Mo- 
gridge, for the British Museum (Natural History). "They 
had invented a process of manufacturing flowers and leaves 
which were so perfectly modeled and natural in appearance 
that they became one of the wonders of London."^ Midst 
great fanfare the Mintorns were brought to the American 
Museum of Natural History to create the accessory foliage 
for Jenness Richardson's groups of North American birds. 



Page 10 .\0V EMBER 



k&'^ * AT^ * 



"The results obtained by the Mintorns were very beautiful 
but, as time showed, they would not stand the test of our 
varying museum atmosphere, with its summer's moisture 
and winter's dryness, but curled up"^ and had to be re- 
placed. The Mintorn's process was also so slow and com- 
plicated that it was too expensive to use for any large groups 
needing hundreds or thousands of leaves. 

Following the Mintorn failure, interest in producing 
durable and realistic foliage grew. Carl Akeley, the famous 
taxidermist, was among those vitally interested in this prob- 
lem and it was he who finally provided the solution. 

While Akeley was employed by the Milwaukee Public 
Museum he began to plan an ambitious series of four habi- 
tat groups showing the Virginia deer amid their appropriate 
surroundings in spring, summer, autumn and winter. In 
1896, when Akeley came to the Field Museum, he was still 
planning and devising methods to create these groups. 
Working in his own studio after his Museum day was over, 
he used his now-famous manniken method to mount the 
necessary deer for the exhibits. Next, he began the repro- 
duction of the deer's habitat. Akeley "believed it as im- 
portant that the natural abode of the deer should be cor- 
rectly portrayed as that the deer should look like deer."^ 
It was, then, necessary to "reproduce the budding trees and 
the earliest flowers of spring; a thickly shaded lily pond deep 
in summer woods; the brilliant foliage of autumn; and, 
finally, the leafless trees and the mossy ground, covered with 



winter's snow. The production of such elaborate exhibits 
required exhaustive research, a large expenditure of time 
and a great deal of money."* 

He succeeded in finding a simple method of creating 
lasting, scientifically-accurate foliage which became known 
as the wax-leaf method. He made plaster molds of fresh 
leaves and used these molds to cast wax leaves which he col- 
ored and trimmed. Using this method Akeley proceeded 
to make the 1 7,000 leaves needed for the four deer groups. 
However, the manufacture of so many leaves was more than 
he could accomplish alone so he employed "several men 
and women helpers to work by the hour in his shop, imder 
his direction, but all of the delicate and difficult work he 
did himself."' Akeley patented his process, but apparently 
never asked for any royalty for its use. 

As Akeley continvied to work at night, his payroll con- 
tinued to mount. Finally, "he reached a point where he 
had to know whether or not the Field Museum would pur- 
case "The Four Seasons" once they were completed. The 
curator of zoology finally agreed to recommend the pur- 
chase of one of the four groups. Then Carl conferred with 
President Harlow N. Higinbotham who asked whether the 
Museum could not obtain alt four groups. Carl assured him 
that it could."* 

Evidently Akeley was a far greater craftsman than busi- 
nessman for when the four years' work was done and the 
Museum purchased the groups at the agreed price Akeley 

i 




Accurate representation of a Michigan summer habitat of White-Tailed Deer was painstakingly devised by Carl Akeley. His four 
exhibits showing these animals in all seasons were the first "trtie habitat" displays. 



.NOVEMBER Page 11 







Above, Models of Psilocybe Caerulescens were part of a past 
special exhibit on "Mexican Sacred Mushrooms." Right, A 
portion of the "Illinois Woodland" diorama in Hall 29 includes 
trees and many types of plants made under the supervision of 
Emil Sella. 




found that while "he had come out even on expenditures for 
labor and material, for his own time and for profit there was 
nothing.'"-' His wife was to later state that "Constituted as 
he was and striving always for perfection in his work rather 
than for this world's goods, the knowledge that he had in- 
vented excellent methods and the acceptance by the Field 
Museum and by the scientific world at large of his long- 
cherished dream of the habitat group amply repaid him. 
He often remarked that he felt this was 'a pretty good four 
years' work."'" 

"Pretty good" it was! — in those four years he invented 
an original type of manniken for taxidermy and an effective 
process of manufacturing plant accessories and he intro- 
duced the concept of painted backgrounds for mammal 
habitat grovips. The blending of these three achievements 
in the "Four Seasons" resulted in "the first true habitat 
groups of mammals. To be sure, accessories and back- 
grounds had occasionally been used for other taxidermic 
groups of mammals, especially in ornamental wall cases, 
but any accessories and background that were available or 
that suited the taste of the artist had usually been employed. 
To portray a true habitat group, in other words a Jaunal 
habitat group, the accessories must have been secured from 
and the background must show the actual place in which the 
specimens were obtained."" 

The "Four Seasons" were installed in the Field Museum 
inl902 and today, 66 years later, are still on exhibit (Halll 6). 



In these 66 years the Museum has added to its halls 
many famous habitat groups and botanical exhibits featur- 
ing plant reproductions. The quality of "The Four Sea- 
sons" plant reproductions has not only been equaled but 
has been surpassed by the efforts of the technicians of the 
Museum's Stanley Field Plant Reproduction Laboratory. 
"Alpine Vegetation" and "Seashore Vegetation" (Hall 25) 
are excellent examples of the achievements of this depart- 
ment and were created by Emil Sella with the assistance of 
Frank Boryca. 

Although Sella retired in 1961, Boryca is still busy out- 
fitting the Museum's exhibits with greenery. Twenty-nine 
years ago he left a job in a foundry to become a mold -maker 
in the plant reproduction lab. As the years passed and staff 
members retired or left, he moved forward to fill their jobs 
and is now expert in all aspects of the lab's work. Over the 
years technicians have made many modifications in Ake- 
ley's original method and now have a great array of mate- 
rials with which to work, but many of the essentials remain 
the same. For large leaves — such as a cabbage leaf — Boryca 
still employs a plaster mold to create a wax replica. To 
cast smaller leaves Boryca uses a pale green plastic in metal 
dies. The green color is easier on the eyes than white and 
it affords a base for additional coloring. Boryca adds to 
this color with dye, striving for the gradations of color found 
in nature rather than accepting the easily-achieved, uni- 
form hues of mass-produced leaves. 



Page 12 NOVEMBER 




Frank Boryca works diligently on the preparation of a 
portion of a plant model. 




Meticulous attention to detail is apparent in this model of 
a Bell Pepper, Capsicum frutescens var. Grossum. 

Akeley probably used scissors to cut the serrations into 
leaf edges. Because tools for this task are not commercially 
available, Boryca has devised and made his own. He has 
welded bits of fine-toothed hacksaw blades to ordinary pajjer 
punches which enable him to bite very uniform and delicate 
serrations into leaf edges. 

Boryca's technical skill and expertise have not, however, 
reduced his job to a rote repetition of daily tasks. Each 
plant reproduction presents new problems to be solved. Be- 



fore beginning to make a reproduction, Boryca studies the 
plant in life whenever possible; he studies botanical draw- 
ings and photographs; he examines the actual plant micro- 
scopically and makes careful notes regarding the color and 
structure. The importance of this preliminary study is em- 
phasized by George E. Peterson, Technical Supervisor, Ex- 
hibition Department, American Museum of Natural History, 
when he says, "No techniques or methods, no matter how 
highly developed or skillfully carried out, can succeed in 
giving life to artificial plants unless the preparator is him- 
self completely familiar with all aspects of the plant in its 
growing state. He must have observed nature itself with 
such care that he will recognize not only by his artistic in- 
stinct, but also by his highly trained eye, any fold or permu- 
tation of an artificial plant that is not consistent with its 
appearance in nature." '- 

Right now Boryca is working on a reproduction of 
Thumbergia, a plant replete with engineering difficulties. 
He had to experiment to find a way to join the blossom's 
six petals to the stem because there is no petiole to cover the 
point of fusion. Therefore, the six supporting petal wires 
must narrow to one slender stem wire. Precise and delicate 
soldering was the solution. 

Obviously, such care and attention to detail is time-con- 
suming and, as is so often heard, "Time is money." There- 
fore, Lothar Witteborg, Chief, Exhibition Department, is 
planning to begin use of the method of vacuum forming. 
"This process of shaping thermoplastic sheets by means of 
air pressure or negative pressure is used on multiple or gang 
molds" '^ when a vast number of leaves is required to fill out 
the background of a case. Coloring may be done with an 
air brush, further saving time while achieving an even, 
transluscent finish. Using this method, the 17,000 leaves 
made over a period of years by Akeley and his staff could 
easily be done in three months by two or three people, ac- 
cording to Witteborg. 

From milliners' supplies to Akeley's "Four Seasons" dis- 
coveries and on through the years to plastic, progress con- 
tinues to be made in plant reproduction. The plants are 
increasingly efficient to produce and are ever more lifelike 
and lovely. The poet, Alexander Pope, once said, "All 
nature is but art," and here at Field Museum the imitation 
of nature has become an art as well. 

' Mary L. Jobe Akeley, The Wilderness Lives Again. Dodd, 
Mead & Co., New York, 1940, p. 68. 
' Akeley, p. 69. 
' Akeley, p. 69. 

* Frederick A. Lucas, "Akeley as a Taxidermist." Natural 
History, Vol. XXVII, no. 2, p. 151. 

' Akeley, p. 68. 

• Akeley, p. 68. 
' Akeley, p. 71. 
» Akeley, p. 72. 
'Lucas, p. 151. 

•» Akeley, p. 75. 
" Akeley, pp. 73-74. 

"George E. Petersen, "Artificial Plants." Curator, Vol. 1, 
no. 3, Summer 1958, p. 34. 
" Petersen, p. 26. 



NOVEMBER Page 13 







m 

^^/ ' ^^-^ 1 ft K 

^B ^ T MK M.m m\ 





C y 

:r^0_ r^ \^ ROUTE OF FRANCIS BRENTON 

"=\!a« ^"X, O^'E""* SEGRADA - JUNE 6. 1967 - OCTOBER 14. 1968 

"* " PREPARED B* JOMHION SlA.MOKSt MOTORS 





BRENTON 
IS BACK 




Francis Brenton prepares the Sierra Sagrada 
for display at the Museum 

A few jjeople manage to "do their thing" in a fashion 
that pleases everyone and Francis Brenton, British sailor- 
explorer-writer-photographer, is one of these. 

Brenton arrived there on October 14, completing the 
final phase of a 15,000 mile solo round trip voyage between 
Chicago and West Africa which began on June 6, 1967. 

Aboard his singular craft, the Sierra Sagrada, (or Holy 
Mackerel), were artifacts acquired in West Africa for Field 
Museum. To many, this is delivering the goods the hard 
way, but not to Brenton, who taught himself to sail on his 
first solo trip across the Atlantic in 1961. Greeted by Mu- 
seum officials and the press at Burnham Harbor, he de- 
scribed his most recent voyage as "uneventful." The only 
snag occurred almost within sight of his destination when, 
after 1 5,000 miles of smooth p)erformance, his outboard mo- 
tor failed. He was towed into port by a Chicago police- 
boat, the Louis A. Abbott, sister launch of the Morris Friedman, 
which escorted Brenton on his last arrival two years ago. 

Bren ton's association with the Museum began in 1966 
when he was commissioned by Dr. Donald Collier, Chief 
Curator of Anthropology, to buy a sea-going canoe from 
Colombian Indians in South America. He ultimately 
bought two, a 22-foot canoe made by the Cuna Indians of 
Panama and the Sierra Sagrada. He lashed the canoes to- 
gether, rigged a sail, and guided the craft from Cartagena, 
Colombia, across the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, 
skirting Hurricane Alma on the way, and up the Mississippi 
River to Chicago. The 3,190 mile journey took 81 days. 

On the first leg of the Chicago-Senegal trip, Brenton 
navigated the St. Lawrence Seaway and a North Atlantic 
route to test two theories he developed on his 1961 solo 
crossing of the South Atlantic. He had found that the high 
humidity in southern waters eliminated the need for carry- 
ing fresh water, something he wanted to test under northern 
aunospheric conditions. He also navigates without a sex- 
tant or radio transmitter, relying on a solar navigation 
system of his own. 

The west-east leg of the trip included several severe 




storms and a misadventure with a Russian ship which ap- 
parently thought he was in trouble about 30 miles off the 
West African coast. The Kostroma hauled Brenton's craft 
aboard and took him to a Moroccan port. From there he 
traveled to Dakar, Senegal, aboard a Danish ship and began 
collecting for the Museum in December, 1967. 

He returned to Chicago by air in April, bringing some 
artifacts, then went to the Canary Islands to initiate still 
another adventurous project, a solo low-altitude balloon 
crossing of the -Atlantic, which he was ultimately forced to 
cancel. 

The long voyage from Dakar to Chicago was begun 
May 31, 1968, a trip he completed in 117 days. His 
course took hiin to the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, towards 
Florida along the Inter-Coastal Waterway to the St. Law- 
rence Seaway and into the Great Lakes. 

Brenton has an almost offhand attitude toward the haz- 
ards of his ventures, remaining affable and unassuming 
despite his accomplishments. Meanwhile, some landlub- 
bers are truly puzzled by his actions, as happened in Lee- 
lanau County, Michigan, early in October. County Sher- 
ifTs deputies there were somewhat alarmed to see an odd- 
looking craft bobbing near shore during a Lake Michigan 
storm. According to an article in the Leelanau Enterprise 
and Tribune of October 10, an undersheriff and a deputy 
reported meeting a "bewhiskered man (who had a British 
accent)" who told them "he had sailed all the way from 
.Africa and was headed toward Chicago." The undersheriff 
said he "had never seen a boat like that . . . about 25 feet 
long, bright red, had two masts, an outrigger and an out- 
board motor." They planned a further investigation of 
the "mysterious seafarer" but the weather cleared and he 
was gone the next day. They have probably learned by 
now it was Brenton. 

A native of Liverpool, 41 -year-old Brenton lives in Chi- 
cago between trips and worked at LaSalle Photo Lab before 
his African voyage. Plans for future projects are indefinite. 
— Elizabeth Alanne, Field Museum Press 



Page U NOVEMBER 



CALENDAR OF EVENTS 



November hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday 
through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekends. 
On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, and 
November 29, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

November 2 Fall Lecture Series "Ireland," by Nicol Smith focuses on the peo- 
ple of this "land of castles and cottages." 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson 
Theatre. Admission is free. 

November 3 "Earth, Life and Man," Lecture Series The 75th Anniversary 
Lecture Series by Museum Curators continues with "Meteorites, A Poor Man's 
Space Probe," by Dr. Edward J. Olsen, Curator, Mineralogy. 1 p.m. in the 
Lecture Hall. Admission is free to Museum Members and interested adults. 

November 9 Fall Lecture Series "Japanese Summer," by Phillip Walker contrasts 
ancient and modern Japan. 2 :30 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. 

November 10 "Earth, Life and Man" Lecture Series. "Central American 
Mountains and Forests" will be discussed by Dr. Louis O. Williams, Chief 
Curator, Botany. 1 p.m. in the Lecture Hall. 

November 1 6 Fall Lecture Series "Sweden," by Ralph Gerstle, a film study of this 
country's traditional and modern aspects. 2:30 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. 

November 17 "Earth, Life and Man" Lecture Series "Eskimos and Russians 
in Southwestern Alaska," by Dr. James VanStone, Associate Curator, North 
American Archaeology and Ethnology, explores the relations between these 
two cultures in the 19th century. 1 p.m.. Lecture Hall. 

November 23 Fall Lecture Series "Wild Rivers of North America," by John 
Bulger shows wilderness waterways and life near these rivers froin mid-America 
to the Arctic. 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. 

November 24 "Earth, Life and Man" Lecture Series "Hunting Monkeys in 
Thailand," by Dr. Jack Fooden, Associate, Mammals, includes reasons for this 
field study, expedition experiences and results. 1 p.m., Lecture Hall. 

November 30 Fall Lecture Series "Four Worlds of Switzerland," by Alfred 
Wolff. Aspects of French, German, Italian and Austrian influence in Switzer- 
land are shown in this film. 2 :30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. 

Through November 1 5 American Indian Exhibits "New Directions in Amer- 
ican Indian Art," "Contemporary American Indian Art," and "Indians of 
Chicago — 1968" (a photo essay by Orlando Cabanban). Hall 9 Gallery. 

Through November Fall Journey: "Hunt With the Cavemen" Do-it-yourself 
tour for youngsters introduces youngsters to the Museum's exhibit area dealing 
with Stone Age man. Any child who can read and write may participate in 
the Museum Journey program sponsored by the Raymond Foundation. Free 
Journey sheets are available at Museum entrances. 

December 1 "Earth, Life and Man" Lecture Series • "The .'\mazon \'alley 
Forest," by Donald R. Simpson, Assistant Curator, Peruvian Botany. 1 p.m. 
in the Lecture Hall. 

Half A Billion Years of Illinois History Do-it-yourself tour in observance of 
the State's Sesquicentennial celebration takes visitors on a capsule journey 
I through the worlds of anthropology, botany, geolog>- and zoology. A free 

f brochure guides visitors to pertinent exhibits. 



MEETINGS: 



Chic.jigo Shell Club, November 10, 2 p.m. 

Nature Camera Club of Chicago, November 12, 7:45 p.m. 

Chicago Mountaineering Club, November 14, 8 p.m. 

Great Lakes Chapter of Sierra Club, November 19, 7:30 p.m. 



NEW MEMBERS JOIN 
BOARD OFTRUSTEES 

Two prominent Chicago businessmen 
were named to the Board of Trustees 
of Field Museum of Natural History at 
a recent meeting held 75 years to the 
day from the founding date of the Mu- 
seum in 1893. 

The Board elected Thomas E. Don- 
nelley II and John S. Rininells as its 
new members. 



Thomas E. Donnelley II 
(left), (photo by Fabian 
Bachrach) 





John S. Runnells 
(right), (photo by- 
Homer Holdren) 



Mr. Donnelly is a manufacturing group 
superintendent with R. R. Donnelley 
and Sons Company of Chicago. He 
also serves on the board of directors of 
the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Lake 
Forest-Lake Bluff Community Fund 
Board and the Chicago Youth Centers. 

Mr. Runnells is a registered repre- 
sentative with William Blair and Com- 
pany, investment bankers in Chicago. 
He is a board member of the Chicago 
Boys Club and the American Brahman 
Breeders Association. 

Both of the new Trustees reside in 
Lake Forest. 

Although Field Museum enters its 
75th year with the Board of Trustees 
meeting, oflficial celebration of the ani- 
versary began with the American indian 
Festival, the first of several special events 
planned for the coming year. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS tOSOS A.C. 312, 922-9410 
FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 

BULLETIN 

Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



PRINTED BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS 

NOVEMBER Page 15 



Give a Gift of Lasting Pleasure 



You will be remembered . . . and 
appreciated ... for your 
thoughtfulness in giving a 
Membership in Field Museum of 
Natural History. Many Members 
do this annually for friends and 
relatives at Christmas time. This 
is a gift that spreads a triple 
measure of holiday cheer . . . 

to the recipient— enjoyment and 
opportunities for increased 
knowledge during the entire year. 



to yourself— a gift of four 
beautiful color reproductions of 



bird paintings by the famous artist 
Louis Agassiz Fuertes, done on a 
Field Museum expedition to 
eastern Africa. 

to the Museum — needed support 
to help in carrying out research 
and educational programs, as well 
as exhibit renewals and additions. 

Be an armchair shopper and 
increase your holiday pleasure! 
Use the special gift-order envelope 
enclosed. The announcement of 
your thoughtful gift will arrive 
just before Christmas with a 
beautiful card in your name. 



'*%•♦>'_•• '/*♦.•.»>••"#.•...* v«'«v. *_..%»»•.♦*.- -.^♦^•.•, r - '.»♦.» *.•••-.«.-.'♦'«*' ',*''«'4'\'_''. .' /i»*'»v^ ••' 



BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

\'olume 39, Number 12 December 1968 



firu6 fuperba^pue Katherina, 
The Kathcrine Peare tree. 




Englands chiefeft Herbarift, Mafter 

fobn Tar^n/m. 







.\ THIS AGE of specialization, when more 
and more seems to be written about less 
and less and libraries are bursting with 
the accumulated fruits of inan's scolar- 
ship, it is sometimes pleasing to be re- 
minded of a simpler and less cluttered 
^a<4C3Bp%m^ era. I had this experience recently 
when, among books to be catalogued with titles such as 
A Stereotaxic Atlas of the Brain of This and A Re- 
vision OF THE Genus That, I came upon the Theatrum 
BoTAMCXJM of John Parkinson, "Englands chiefest herbarist." 
Here, in a thick, closely printed folio volume, was a com- 
pendium of everything known on the subject to that time, 
written clearly and tersely in English for both the profes- 
sional and the non-professional alike. Here was the doctor's 
"current therapy" and the layman's "home medical com- 
panion," a flora, a materia medica, almost a phannaco- 
poeia, leavened moreover with a vast range of classical 
learning and considerable folk-lore. It was the author's 
second book, published in his 73rd year, and has an inter- 
esting history. 

\'ery little is known about Parkinson's life except that 
he was born in 1567, that sometime before 1616 he was prac- 
ticing as an apothecary, and that he cultivated a famous 
garden, "well stored with rarities," in what is now the heart 
of London. Such was his skill in his chosen profession that 
he was appointed Apothecary to King James I. and re- 
ceived, from his successor King Charles I., the title Botani- 
cus Regius Primarius. He died in 1650. 

His first, and most popular, work was published in 1629 
and bears the punning title Paradisi in Sole Paradisus 
Terrestris (Park-in-sun's Earthly Paradise). It was more 
of a horticultural work than an herbal, as its subtitle indi- 
cates: "A Garden of all sorts of pleasant flowers which our 
English ayre will permitt to be noursed up : with A Kitchen 
earden of all manner of herbes, rootes, & fruites, for meate 
or saiise used with us, and An Orchard of all sorte of fruit- 



bearing Trees and Shrubbes fit for our Land together with 
the right orderinge planting & preserving of them, and their 
uses & vertues." This was the first work of its kind of any 
consequence to be published in England and provides a 
complete picture of the English garden at the beginning of 
the seventeenth century. Nearly 1 ,000 plants are described, 
most of them exotics, and 780 illustrated. About 120 vari- 
eties of tulip are mentioned, 50 hyacinths, 50 carnations, 
and more than 40 "Flower de luces," or irises. There are 
60 kinds of plums, as many apples and jaears, thirty cherries, 
and more than 20 peaches. But despite its wide range the 
work was incomplete in its three parts: the "Garden of 
Pleasure," or flower garden, the vegetable garden, and the 
orchard. A fourth part, a "Garden of Simples" (medicinal 
plants), was lacking and the author promises in his preface 
that it would be shordy forthcoming. 

Eleven years later, in 1 640, this part finally apf>eared as 
Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants, or. An 
Herball of a Large Extent. The delay in apjjearance 
is attributed to "the disastrous times" and other hindrances 
— possibly the cutting of the 2,600 wood-blocks. During 
this time Parkinson's original intention, to supplement the 
Par.'^disus with a treatise on medicinal herbs, grew into one 
of a broader nature, to present in its totality the botanical 
science of his day. 

The Theatrum Botanicum, according to one authority, 
is the largest herbal in the English langviage and contains 
descriptions of approximately 3,800 plants, 1,000 more than 
are contained in one published seven years earlier. Its ar- 
rangement is somewhat confused and is based primarily on 
the real or supposed medicinal qualities of the plants de- 
scribed. Parkinson divides his plants into 17 "Classes or 
Tribes": 1. Sweete smelling Plants. 2. Purging Plants. 
3. \'enemous. Sleepy, and Hurtfull Plants, and their Coun- 
terpoysons. 4. Saxifrages, or Breakestone Plants. 5. Vul- 
nerary or Wound Herbes. 6. Cooling and Succory-like 
Herbes. 7. Hot and sharps biting Plants. 8. Umbellifer- 



Pagt2 DECEMBER 



'*'.v \» • ' /^t.»»*v»'»" #.•.,.»%'♦%▼/,. ... %»»».#A- - - %».•.♦, r ' v»*.» ».'* • •••• . *.'*'*%'.. . _ «;*'*»*\ \'. / y:»v»v^ 



The ornamental title-page of the Theatrum Botanicum. The two main figures, Adam and Solomon, represent toil and tvisdom, re- 
spectively. On the four corners are female figures representing the known continents, each surrounded by specimens of its vegetation. 
Clockwise from the upper left these are: Asia, Europe, America, and Africa. At the bottom is a portrait of Parkinson. This 
month's cover is taken from John Gerard's Herball, from ivhich many of the illustrations for the Theatrum Botanicum were derived. 




ous Herbes. 9. Thistles and Thorny Plants. 10. Fearnes 
and Capillary Herbes. 11. Pulses. 12. Cornes. 13. Grasses, 
Rushes and Reedes. 14. Marsh, Water and Sea Plants, 
and Mosses, and Mushromes. 15. The Unordered Tribe. 
16. Trees and Shrubbes. 17. Strange and Outlandish Plants. 
This classification bears little relationship to modern ones 
and its value can be judged by Parkinson's naive comment 
on class 15: "In this Tribe as in a gathering Campe I mvist 
take up all those straglers, that have either lost their rankes, 
or were not placed in some of the foregoing orders, that so I 
may preserve them from loose, and apply them to some con- 
venient service for the worke." 

The scope of the work has been admirably summed up 
by J. Reynolds Green in his A History of Botany in the 
United Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the End 
OF the 19th Century (London, 1914): "The descriptions 
in many instances were new, and great care was exercised 
to secure accuracy in indicating localities. In the enumera- 
tion of the synonyms the author incorporated the valuable 
work of K. Bauhin's Pinax, and in many cases verified them 
by reference to the original authors. In dealing with the 
medicinal peculiarities of the plants he quoted largely from 
the more exclusively galenical works of the time, the writ- 
ings of De L'Ecluse, Orta, a Costa, Monardes, and others. 
He discussed also the opinions of Greek, Roman, and Ara- 
bian physicians, and took the greatest care to render his 
account as complete as the general state of knowledge would 
permit." 

Nevertheless the emphasis of the work remained med- 
ical, as it had to, for the herbal served a definite and very 
useful function. It was not primarily concerned with plants 
as such, but with their use in curing man's illnesses. To 
understand its use we must know something of its under- 
lying medical philosophy. 

The pathogenic theories of that time were derived from 
the well-known doctrine of humors. It was asserted that 
the four elements, water, air, earth, and fire, or their asso- 
ciated qualities, wetness, dryness, cold, and heat, corre- 
sponded in the human body to the four humors, phlegm. 



g 
s 




Perhaps the most curious "botanical" listed in the Theatrum is 
mummy, being, as Parkinson tells us, "of much and excellent use 
in all Countries of Europe." Among other things it is prescribed as 
a "cordiall for the heart and preventeth the danger of poyson." 



bile, atrabile, and blood, and hence to the four tempera- 
ments, phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic, and sanguine. 
Subscribers to this belief held that good health depended 
on the harmony of these humors and that disease resulted 
from a dishannony. As a result the remedies were largely 
allopathic and designed to dispel humoral disturbances. 
George H. M. Lawrence, in his excellent essay Herbals: 
Their History and Significance, tells us how this was 
accomplished : "The treatment to restore harmony when 
disease was present followed in general one or more of three 
steps or stages: the early stage, before diagnosis could ap- 
proach certainty, when it was the practice to prescribe herbs 
and other medications that would be bland body builders, 
tonics, and stimulants; the critical and debilitating stage, 
when one would prescribe herbs for specific ills but that 
would not be unduly drastic on ingestion (using such prepa- 
rations as distillates and decoctions in all manner of com- 
bination with nonpurgative ingredients) ; and finally, at the 
crisis, to induce the discharge of disharmonious humors 
through every available orifice and pore, doing so by the 
administration — often in rapid succession — of puratives, 
diuretics, cathartics, and emetics, and often accompanied 
by such more rigorous practices as bloodletting, enemas, or 
cupping." We may shudder at this treatment, secure in 
the knowledge that the efTects of most of the herbs were at 
best negligible; but we should remember that this was part 
of the medical "science" of Parkinson's time and of earlier 
centuries. Still, as one writer observed, "How fortunate 
that, by the side of scammony, rhubarb, cassia and senna, 
the poppy was also cultivated!" 

Herbals serve a somewhat different function today. They 
are the source materials for the study of the history of bot- 
any, medicine, and pharmacology, and of the history, con- 
ditions, and customs of the period in which they were 
written. The latter is particularly true of the Theatrum 
Botanicum. It is the curious out-of-the-way pieces of in- 
formation that interest us most, and which, together with 
the "quaintness" of his English, help to give us something 
of the flavor of Parkinson's time. 

It is surprising how much legend and folklore survive in 
Parkinson's work. He extols the virtues of the unicorn's 
horn and describes the animal as living "farre remote from 
these parts, and in huge vast Wildernesses among other 
most fierce and wilde beasts." He discusses the "vegetable 
lamb," one of the most curious myths of the Middle Ages, 
and one gathers that he believed the travellers' tales about 
it: "This strange living plant as it is reported by divers good 
authors . . . groweth among the Tartares about Samarcanda 
and the parts thereabouts, rising from a seede somewhat 
bigger and rounder than a Melon seede, with a stalke about 
five palmes high, without any leafe thereon, but onely bear- 
ing a certaine fruit on the toppe, in forme resembling a small 
lambe, whose coate or rinde is woolly like unto a Lambes 
skinne, the pulpe or meate underneath which is like the 
flesh of a Crevise or Lobster, having as it is sayd blood also 
in it; it hath the forme of an head, hanging downe, and feed- 
ing on the grasse round about it, untill it hath consumed it 



Page 4 DECEMBER 



Pd/M vet Nux ladita c$tosfaeu. 
The Indian Cekar Nut tree. 




Parkinson is very fulsome in the praise of the coconut tree: "There 
cannot be found in the world, a tree that hath so many necessary com- 
modities for mens uses . . ." In addition to increasing potency it is 
listed as valuable in easing sore throat and hoarseness. 

and then dyeth, or else will perish if the grasse round about 
it bee cut away of purpose : it hath foure legges also hanging 
downe; the Wolves much affect to feede on them." It is 
assumed that this myth grew out of descriptions of the cotton 
plant by Herodotus, Pliny, and other ancient authors. 

Parkinson pours scorn on a good many contemporary 
beliefs, but accepts others unquestioningly, especially those 
concerning amulets. He tells us that the custom of placing 
a piece of mistletoe around the necks of children "against 
W'itchcraft and the illusion of Sathan" is worthless but that 
a wreath of periwinkle "worne about the legs defendeth 
them [that wear it] from the crampe." Despite his belief 
that the use of herbs against witchcraft was foolish, he is, as 
Eleanour Sinclair Rohde points out in her book The Old 
English Herbals (London, 1922), "the only herbalist who 
gives us a potion which 'resisteth such charmes or the like 
witchery that is used in such drinkes that are given to pro- 
duce love.' " 



The Theatrum Botanicum also has a large number of 
beauty hints. The golden flowers of mullein "boyled in lye, 
dyeth the haires of the head yellow, and maketh them faire 
and smooth"; a decoction of bramble leaves, on the other 
hand, will darken hair. French women, he tells us, account 
the distilled water of pimpernell "mervailous good to dense 
the skinne from any roughnesses, deformity or discoloring 
thereof, and to make it smooth neate and cleere." The 
ashes of southernwood, mixed with old salad oil, "helpeth 
those that have their haire fallen, or their heads bald, to 
cause the haires to grow againe, either upon the head or 
beard." The powder of the seede of elder, "first prepared 
in vinegar, and then taken in wine, halfe a dramme at a 
time, for certaine dayes together, is a meanes to abate and 
consume the fat flesh of a corpulent body, andkeepeitleane." 

Among many other useful things Parkinson tells us that 
the female fern was used by the women of Warwickshire "in 
steed of Sope" and that it was always gathered about Mid- 
summer "into good big balls, which when they will use them 
they burne them in the fire, until it becomes blewish, which 
being then layd by, will dissolve into powder, of it selfe, like 
imto Lime: foure of these balles being dissolved in warme 
water is sufficient to wash a whole bucke full of cloathes." 
Purslane is given as a remedy for "blastings by lightening, 
or planets, and for burnings by Gunpowder." Willow- 
herb, being burned, "driveth away flies and gnats, and other 
such like small creatures, which use in diverse places, that 
are neere to Fennes, Marshes, or water sides, to infest them 
that dwell there, in the night season to sting and bite them." 
The bruised root of crowfoote "applied to the finger, by 
causing more paine therein, than is felt by the touthach 
[toothache], it taketh away the paine!" 

In a more pungent vein he notes that the fruit of the 
bead tree "being drilled . . . and drawne on stringes, serve 
people beyond Sea to number their prayers on, least they 
forget themselves and give God too many." He gives us a 
"good jest for a bold unwelcome guest," a "smellfeast" : 
nightshade should be infused in a little wine for six or seven 
hours and served to the guest, who then "shall not be able 
to eate any meate for that mcale, nor untill they drinke 
some vinegar, which will presently dispell that quality, and 
cause them fall to their viands, with as good a stomacke, 
as they had before." 

These are but a few selections culled from this "stately 
Fabrique, collected and coniposed with excessive paines . . . 
[this] curious pourtrait, and description of th'Earths flowred 
mantle, the Botanique Pandects, and the Herbarists Oracle, 
a rich Magazin of soveraigne Medicines, physicall experi- 
ments, and other rarities," as John Bainbridge writes in a 
commendatory letter. There are so many interesting and 
curious things that it is difficult to choose. 

Parkinson concluded his preface to the Theatrum Bo- 
tanicum with these words: "Goe forth now therefore thou 
issue artificial! of mine, and supply the defect of a Naturall, 
to beare up thy Fathers name and memory to succeeding 
ages . . ." Three hundred years later we can still say, in 
the words of one of the sets of verses prefixed to the volume, 
"No night of Age shall cloude bright Park-in-sunne." 



DECEMBER Page 5 



Winter Journey: 



Ancient Sea Monsters 



From the movies and the late late TV shows we all know 
what a monster is. It is a hideous creature, often in human- 
oid form, whose primary occupation seems to be scaring 
pretty girls. But if we look up the word "monster" in a 
dictionary, we find that it merely refers to any organism, 
plant or animal, which is very different in size or other 
structural feature from the typical members of its kind. The 
Museum's Winter Journey examines some ancient sea mon- 
sters in the dictionary sense. 

From our displays of prehistoric marine animals we find 
many which were of monstrous proportions for their kind. 
Among the Protozoa, which are generally microscopic, a 
sfjecies measuring a few inches long would be a giant. So 
would a two-foot sponge, or a 15-inch brachiopod, or a 
70-foot crinoid. Many of these monsters were attractive, 
even beautiful, in shape. And they lived long before there 
were any pretty girls to frighten anyway. 

Persons expecting something along the lines of the tradi- 
tional monster will not be entirely disappointed. A skin 
diver coming face to face with a 15-foot-long Dunkleosteus 
might well jump right out of his gear. Sea-serpents con- 
tinue to be reported from time to time. Have the Plesio- 
saurs, with their long, snake-like necks, survived from the 
age of dinosaurs to haunt us? Are they the basis for such 
reports as the Loch Ness monster? Although properly skep- 
tical, the finding of living coelacanths in 1938 has made 
scientists cautious about completely dismissing such reports. 

Both scientists and science-fiction writers (the two are 
often combined in one person) have long explored the pos- 
sibilities of the dimensional extremes of life. Most people 
tend to forget that man is close to the extreme in size of most 
kinds of animals. The names of all larger animals could be 
written on a single sheet of paper. The names of the smaller 
forms would occvipy several volumes. There are mechan- 
ical limits to how large an animal can get. I am six feet 
tall. A doubling of my height does not stretch the bounds of 
credibility at first glance. But merely doubling my height 
would increase my weight eight times. My normal 135 
pounds would jump to 1,080 pounds, while the area of my 
bones, which support my body, would be increased only 
four times. I would be in no condition to do any running 
or jumping. Even ordinary walking would place me in con- 
stant jeopardy of breaking my legs. 




Dunkleosteus terrelli was a "sea monster" by any defini- 
tion of the term. A Placoderm (armored fish), this predator 
grew to 15 feet and lived in the Devonian Period, about 
365 million years ago. 



For organisms living under a reduced gravitational force, 
some of these limitations are removed. It is no accident 
that the largest creatures that have ever lived are aquatic. 
The blue whale, which may attain a weight of 120 tons or 
more, is the largest animal that has ever lived on earth, but 
is strictly confined to water. The bulkiest dinosaur, Brachi- 
osaurus, tipped the scales at only some 60 tons, and it prob- 
ably spent most of its time in fresh-water lakes. For those 
who delight in speculative reflection, ponder the question 
of the significance of the fact that man spends the first nine 
months of his life in an aquatic environment. 

"Ancient Sea Monsters" is Journey number 56 in a 
series begun in 1955. With the successful completion of 
each series of four Journeys, boys and girls are awarded a 
certificate and title: Museum Traveller (four journeys); 
Museum Adventurer (eight journeys); Museum Explorer 
(12 journeys). After 16 journeys have been completed the 
Explorer becomes a Beagler, ready to undertake a special 
journey which carries him throughout the Museum to study 
some of the natural history materials observed by Charles 
Darwin on his famous "Voyage of the Beagle." Successful 
Beaglers are awarded a certificate making them members of 
the elite Discoverers Club. 

There is no charge for taking any of the Museum Jour- 
neys. Copies of the Journey question sheet and further in- 
formation on the program may be obtained at the Museum 
entrances. The Winter Journey runs from December 1 to 
February 28. 

— Ernest Roscoe, Raymond Foundation 



Page 6 DECEMBER 



Holiday Science Lectures in 7th Year 



"How We Inherit" will be discussed by James F. Crow, 
Professor of Genetics and Chairman of the Department of 
Genetics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, at the 
seventh consecutive Holiday Science Lectures program held 
at the Museum. 

Sponsored by Field Museum and the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science and financed by the 
National Science Foundation, the program provides oppor- 
tunities for outstanding high school science students to hear 
lectures in depth by eminent scientists. Modeled after the 
renowned Christmas Lectures of the Royal Institution of 
Great Britain, the AAAS Holiday Science Lectures are de- 
signed to give students an informative, authoritative and 
stimulating account of the progress, problems and methods 
in an active area of research. 

Dr. Crow will present four lectures: "How Chromosomes 
Behave" and "How the Gene Is Made" on December 26 
and "How the Gene Works" and "How Evolution Occurs" 
on December 27. Each lecture will be followed by a ques- 
tion and answer period. 

Prior to his association with the University of Wisconsin, 
where he joined the faculty in 1948, Dr. Crow was an in- 




Students attending a previous Holiday Lecture at the Museum 

structor in Zoology and later Assistant Professor of Zoology 
and Preventive Medicine at Dartmouth College. He was 
elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 
1961 and is a past president of the Genetics Society of Amer- 
ica and the American Society for Human Generics. 

Holiday Science Lectures are held in six major U. S. 
cities during the Christmas holiday period. 



Scientific Prize Honors Former Curator 




D. Dwight Davis 

A late Field Museum Curator has been honored by the 
American Society of Zoologists through its establishment of 
an annual prize in his name. The D. Dwight Davis Prize 
in Vertebrate Morphology will be given for the outstanding 



paper presented by a graduate student at the annual meet- 
ing of the Society. 

Field Museum's curator of anatomy for 35 years until his 
death in 1965, Davis "re-established comparative anatomy," 
says Dr. Karel F. Liem, Associate Curator of Vertebrate 
Anatomy at the Museum. "His approach to vertebrate 
morphology stimulated the thinking of probably all Amer- 
ican morphologists. This prize has been extablished to 
stimulate graduate students, by recognizing their original 
work and contribution to the field of vertebrate morphology." 

Davis, who ranks among the foremost comparative ana- 
tomists of the 20th century, is best known for his monu- 
mental work entitled, "The Giant Panda," published by 
Field Museum Press in 1964. Su Lin, the giant panda, 
was acquired by Chicago's Brookfield Zoo in 1937. When 
Su Lin died a year later, his body was given to Field Mu- 
seum where it was prepared for exhibition and has been a 
popular exhibit ever since. Davis' study on the structure, 
relationships, and evolution of the giant panda was a mile- 
stone in providing a new direction to the investigation of 
vertebrate animals. 

Any graduate student who has not been awarded his 
doctorate degree will be eligible for the Davis Prize, which 
will be approximately equal to the interest collected by 
the award fund during a calendar year. Dr. Carl Cans, 
Professor of Biology at the State University of New York 
at Buffalo, fund chairman, is receiving contributions from 
those who wish to honor Davis' memory in this way. 



DECEMBER Page 7 



A "clown," belonging to the servant 

class of characters in the drama. 

The servants provide support, cheer 

and good advice to the heroes. 




^ 



i 






i speciaL zmm 



Gods, demi-gods, heroes, giants and demons, characters 
drawn from the long and complicated Hindu epics, the 
Kamayana and the Mahabharata, were the earliest representations 
in the Javanese puppet theatre. Contents of these early 
dramas were drawn entirely from these epics and remain popular 
today. The puppet theatre in Java dates back to the eighth 
century at least and the art form itself is a very ancient tradition 
in the Far East. 

Two types of Javanese puppets are represented in the special 
temporary exhibit on display in Hall 9 Gallery through 
January 27. The Wayang purwa, the earliest type, are flat 
shadow puppets carved from leather, with varying degrees of 
openwork which permits the passage of light. They are 
controlled by means of wooden sticks attached to the arms and 
held above the head of the operator, called Dalang, who sat 
between a lamp and a screen. The audience itself was 
divided by the screen. The men, sitting on the side with the 
Dalang could enjoy the full beauty of the puppets along with the 
delicate and elaborate openwork emphasized by the shadows 
while the women, on the other side of the screen, had to 
be content with the shadow alone. 

The shadow puppets evolved into the three-dimensional 
wooden puppets called Wayang golek. These were manipulated 
by means of a rod passed through the center of the body 
and into the head, and by sticks fastened to the hands. 
In contrast to the sharp exaggerated profiles of the Wayang 
purwa, these puppets demonstrated a tendency toward normal 
human appearance, a development which coincided 
chronologically with the departure from the representation of 
ancestor worship to the performance of more secularized plays. 

The puppet faces in both the shadow and three-dimensional 
types were traditionally painted with masks to represent 
specific characters and were dressed in traditional headgear 
and costumes, clothing styles which were later copied by 
live actors in the Javanese theatre. 

The Javanese puppets shown here were among the first 
artifacts acquired by the Museum, in the fall of 1893. 




Japanese 





Live Javanese theatre was 
closely modeled on the 
puppet theatre. At left, a 
prince's hat, similar to the 
head of the prince puppet 
below. 



Above, a king and at right, a prince and 
princess. The puppets on exhibit were used 
in a play derived from the Hindu epic, "Ma- 
habharata," in which two rival groups of 
cousins fight for the control of the Elephant 
kingdom. The good guys, the sons of 
Pandoe, defeat the bad guys, the sons of 
Dhretarashtra. Puppet shows often lasted 
all night. 




fPzippeTs 





fr 1 
fe Tanning Villas 

of Field Museum 





For the last 38 years the Museum has always had at 
least one tanning Villa. A solarium for the staff? A health 
club for members? Not at all. The Museum's tanning 
Villas have been Dominick and Mario, a father-son team 
who, together and separately, have tanned thousands of 
hides from all over the world. 

Dominick Villa received his early training as a tanner 
in a commercial shop in New York where he was given 
skunks on which to learn. He later worked on a piece- 
work basis, rapidly shaving piles of beaver skins a day. 
Villa came to the Museum in 1930 and prepared many of 
the hides used in the Museum's famous habitat groups. 
Of all the unusual skins the senior Villa prepared, one 
particularly stands out in his memory — the harpoon-punc- 
tured skin of a whale-shark. The pungent aroma of the 
whale-shark moved Stanley Field to request personally that 
Villa move the huge skin from the fourth floor taxidermy 
shop down to the basement until his work on it was com- 
pleted. This skin is mounted and on exhibit in Hall O. 

In 1956 Mario Villa joined the Museum staff as his 
father's assistant and they worked together until Dominick's 
retirement in 1961. 

Although most of the skins Mario prepares are dried and 
shipped into the Museum from field associates, occasion- 
ally the entire carcass of a zoo animal may be delivered to 
the shop. After the dead animal in skinned, Mario puts 
the skin into a crock of brine where it remains for two or 
three days to remove the "slime." Those skins that arrive 
dried are put into soak water, a mixture of carbolic acid and 
water, for a few hours or a few days, depending upon the 
size of the skin. This soaking renders the skin limp and 
pliable. From this point on, both the dried and fresh skins 
follow the same procedure. 

The tanner, Mario, sits before a large blade with a 
sharply-honed edge and passes the skin over it to remove 
the membrane. This process is known as "fleshing." The 
larger hides are laid across a shaving beam and shaved with 
a large two-handled knife called a currier's shaving knife. 
Both the shaving and fleshing require a "touch" or "feel" 
that comes only with experience. Too much pressure can 
tear the skin or release the hairs on the opposite side, re- 
sulting in a bald spot. Too little pressure, of course, will 
fail to get the job done. Each different kind of animal 
skin — fox, cheetah, or rhino — requires a different amount 
of pressure that the tanner must determine by "feel." 

If the skin is greasy after it is fleshed, it is washed in 
soap flakes and rinsed thoroughly. Next, the skin is pickled 
for at least three days to make it more receptive to the 
tanning solution. When the three days have passed the 



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skin is shifted from the pickling crock to the tanning crock 
where it remains for at least a week. While in the tanning 
solution, the skin must be stirred several times a day to 
insure that the solution reaches all parts of the hide properly. 

When the skin is removed from the tanning solution it 
is no longer a raw skin. It is then drained and oiled with 
neat's foot oil on the flesh side and a few days are allowed 
to let the oil "dry in." In the past tanners coated the hide 
with butter, lard or vegetable oil and the Handbook of Mu- 
seum Technique states that the "Red Indians used the 
brain of the killed animal"' to lubricate the skin. 

At this point in the procedure approximately eight days 
have passed, depending upon the skin, and the end is not 
yet in sight. The skin is now dampened on the flesh side 
with a sponge soaked in carbolic water, which prevents 
mold, and placed in a sweat box to permit the dampness 
to penetrate it thoroughly. 

On removal from the sweat box, the skin is staked, a 
process that opens the pores by stretching and pulling. 
Small skins may be pulled back and forth over the fleshing 
knife, but big skins are tied to a board with a small loop 
and vigorously pulled and stretched by hand. 

The Handbook of Museum Technique instructs that at this 
point the tanner should "Place the hide in a barrel or basin 
and tread for two hours or more with bare feet, turning the 
hide over and over. This works the vegetable oil or butter 
into the hide and softens it with the warmth of the feet. 
Kick it around and tread it thoroughly to work the oil 
well into the hide."^ Years ago, Dominick V'illa did stomp 
the skins with his feet, but the ubiquitous machine has 
made this unnecessary. If it is necessary to further soften 
the skins, Mario places them in the kicker, a strange looking 
wooden machine that literally kicks the skins until they 
reach the desired softness. 




Mario Villa inspects a hide stretched out to dry after completion of 

the tanning process. Crock in foreground is type used for several 

soaking processes that skins undergo. 




This weird-looking device has wooden "feet" that literally kick soft- 
ness into skins. 




Unusual and impressive challenge for tanner Dominick Villa was this skin of a ivhale-shark, now part of a Museum exhibit. 

Dominick retired in 1961, after 30 years at the Museum. 



DECEMBER Page 11 




Mario puts the finishing touch on a skin, wetting and sharing it a 
second time to increase the softness and pliability of the hide. 




A cheetah skin is pulled from the cage, where it was tumbled with 
sawdiist to completely dry and clean it after the tanning process. 

While the skins are shghtly damp, they are put into the 
sawdust drum, located right next to the kicker, and tumbled 
about for a couple of hours. Finally, they move to the 
•cage — an eight-foot high, screen-enclosed wheel in which 
the sawdust is "caged out" or the fur. These three ma- 
•chines, the kicker, the drum and the cage, are all housed 
in a rather small, dimly lit room that looks like the local 
branch office of the Inquisition, replete with the latest thing 
in torture racks. 

Fine-haired skins must be combed out and brushed when 
they come out of the cage. The original identification tag 
is attached to the skin and it is now ready to join thousands 
•of others in the Museum's enormous study collection. 

If a skin is to be mounted by the taxidermist, it undergoes 
an abbreviated procedure known as "dressing." 

Although Mario is quite modest about it, there is con- 
siderable difference between his tasks as a tanner at the 
Museum and those of a tanner in a furrier's shop. A fur- 
rier's tanner usually does no work on the head and legs of 
.an animal skin, whereas Mario must carefully remove the 




Hides are classified and stored on racks in one of the Museum's two 

"skin rooms," each about UO feet long and containing thousands of 

of skins. Tiger and leopard skins are included in this mew of one 

part of a skin room. 

the cartilage from the ears, slit the eyelids and include the 
head and leg skin in the tanning process. If he should 
shave the skin too closely, the animal's whiskers will drop 
off. If he mutilates the head in any way, the scientific 
value of the skin declines. Mario must also remove the 
leg bones, keeping intact the claws or hoofs of the animal. 
Also, a furrier's tanner may only work with a few different 
kinds of pelts, for example, fox or beaver. This tanner 
then follows very nearly the same procedure daily — the 
shaving technique is the same, the amount of time the skin 
is in the crocks is the same, etc. Mario works on every- 
thing from a squirrel to a rhino and must be familiar with 
the tanning requirements of each. 

The Museum's zoological study collection is known and 
respected around the world, as are the habitat groups on 
exhibit. The skill of the Villas, father and son, has con- 
tributed significantly to the value of both. 

' Aiyappan, A. and Satyamurti, S. T., eds. Handbook of Mu- 
seum Technique. 1960. Gov't, of Madras, p. 56. 

' Idem. 



Page 12 DECEMBER 



Next Stop: 



BRAZIL 



A special advantage for participants in Field Museum's 
Natural History Tours is the program of background lec- 
tures in the natural history of the tour area. The two Brazil- 
bound groups, leaving in January and February, will meet 
for a series of four evening meetings in January. 

Only seven places remain open in 25-member Tour B, 
January 22 - February 16, and Tour A, February 14- 
March 11, a 35-member group, has been completely booked 
up for several months. 

Field Museum Chief Curator of Zoology, Dr. Austin L. 
Rand, who will accompany Group A as Tour Zoologist, and 
Loren P. Woods, Curator of Fishes, will discuss Brazil's ex- 
citingly varied birds, mammals and fishes on January 10. 

The gems of Brazil will be shown and described by Dr. 
Edward J. Olsen, Curator of Mineralogy, on January 17. 




Above: Countryside around Pelropolis, where the lour mil visit 
private garden-estates, is characterized by sugarloaf-form mountains 
and a year-round spring climate. Right: Roadside stop near Santa 
Teresa in the state of Espirito Santo features Cecropia tree and wax 
begonias growing mild along the bank of a waterfall. Tour members 
ujiU stop here on the way to a personally conducted tour of the estate 
of famed zoologist Augusta Ruschi. (Photos by Phil Clark.) 




Carnival gaily will close the Brazilian travels of Tour B and open 
those of Tour A in Bahia the weekend of February 1J^~16. The 
two groups will meet together for a Carnival ball on February 15. 



On the same evening Dr. Rupert L. W'enzel, Curator of 
Insects, will show specimens of some of that country's color- 
ful insects. 

A tour member, Robert C. Victor, Staff Astronomer of 
Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University, will 
familiarize tour members with the skies of the southern 
hemisphere, speaking on "Under the Southern Cross," on 
January 20. 

Also on January 20, Phil Clark, Public Relations Coun- 
sel of Field Museum and Brazil Tour Leader and plant spe- 
cialist for both groups, will show slides of Brazil and its plants 
and discuss the country's contemporary political situation. 

Tour zoologist for Group B will be a Brazilian, Dr. Helio 
Ferraz de Almeida Camargo, a bird specialist from the Sao 
Paulo Departmento de Zoologia. 




DECEMBER Page 13 



The Museum Hall 



©tj^n ... 



The evolution in the appearance of museum 
halls seems unutterably slow, yet when changes 
are made they are frequently quite dramatic. 

In its infancy. Field Museum (then Field Co- 
lumbian Museum) had to rely on some artifical 
animal displays which lacked realism both in them- 
selves and their exhibition. This was true of most 
museums before the development of modern tech- 
niques made possible the life-like exhibits now 
available. 

By the time the Museum moved to its present 
location in 1 921 , it had the superb animal displays 
by Carl Akeley and an impressive classic main 
hall in which to display a variety of its most pop- 
ular and importa^nt exhibits. 

Since 1 921 , some additions and changes have 
been made in the hall, such as the addition of the 
rampant dinosaur in the 1950's, but the general 
layout of Stanley Field Hall remained unchanged. 




Field Columbian Museum hall in Jackson Park in 189U featured reproduction 
of a mammoth, cross-section of a redwood tree and a mastodon skeleton. By 
today's standards the arrangement of exhibits was stilted and unimaginative 
but it was typical for its time. 




Above: This mammoth was one of several animal "mock-ups" 
on display when the Museum first opened. Notice affixed to the 
creature's trunk warns visitors to keep "Hands Off." Right: 
Stanley Field Hall appeared like this prior to recent renovation. 
The rampant dinosaur was added in the early 1950's but there 
have been few changes in the hall since the present building was 
opened in 1 921 . 




Page 14 DECEMBER 



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Now 



Visitors to the Museum in the late summer and 
early fall of 1968 found a seeming state of chaos 
with well-established exhibits being uprooted and 
new construction underway. The result of all 
this activity is apparent in the new look of Stanley 
Field Hall today. Favorite "trademaric exhibits" 
remain and an added vitality has been given with 
the addition of two fountains and clusters of live 
trees. Small exhibit cases and temporary displays 
have been moved elsewhere in the Museum. 

The final impression? A more spacious, more 
restful and more interesting gateway to the Mu- 
seum. 



Above, left: Fountains and trees provide a hack- 
drop for a favorite Museum exhibit, the rampant 
dinosaur. It has been relocated and has a new 
base. Left: In operation only a few weeks the 
new fountains have already become favorite Mu- 
seum resting and meeting places. 



Lively fountains greet visitors at both Museum 
entrances since the completion of Stanley Field 
Hall's makeover. Modern seating along walls 
has replaced the dark wooden benches and all 
small display cases and temporary exhibits 
have been removed. Purpose of the new ar- 
rangement was to eliminate a cluttered impres- 
sion and add vitality to the hall's classic archi- 
tecture. 




DECEMBER Page 15 



Museum Membership Shows Steady Growth 



Field Museum nieinbcrship has more 
than doubled in the 1960's and passed 
the 15,000 mark in November. 

Steady growth in membership has 
been the trend since 1954, when the 
Museum had 5,280 members. With an 
annual average increase of about 200 
members, membership was 6,555 by 1 959. 

During the 1960's, the number of new 
memberships each year increased to a 
net average of about 500 with a sharp 



increase of 2,000 in each of the last 
three years. 

With the increase in membership has 
come an accelerated program of special 
exhibits, lectures and other events in 
which members have participated. Mem- 
bers are the life blood of Field Museum 
and no aspect of the 1960's is more im- 
portant to the Museum's future than 
the increased interest and number of 
its Members. 



15,000 



12,500 



10,000 



7.500 



5,000 



10 



til 




», w, .-»!,« ,. . , ,-.,x»j.„, ■^ »« December hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS ''7f ^f^y'f^'"- [' 'p-^-:^ ^'^'-'^^ 

ana inunday and Uecember 26-januaryi .x 

The Museum will be closed on Christmas Day. 

December 1 "Earth, Life and Man" Lecture Series "The Amazon Valley 

Forest," by Donald R. Simpson, Assistant Curator, Peruvian Botany, will 

close the fall group of 75th Anniversary Lecture Series by Museum Curators. 

1 p.m.. Lecture Hall. Admission is free. 

December 1 Audubon Society Series "Four Seasons" This film journey into 
British Columbia will be narrated by Wilfred E. Gray. 2:30 p.m., James 
Simpson Theatre. 

December 26 and 27 Holiday Science Lectures See Page 7. 

Through December Winter Journey: "Ancient Sea Monsters" Newest in 
the Raymond Foimdation's Journey Program series for children introduces 
boys and girls to the prehistoric giants of the ancient seas. Any child who can 
read and write may participate in the free do-it-yourself Journey Program. 
Journey sheets are available at Museum entrances. 

Through January 27 Javanese Puppets Hall 9 Gallery. See pages 8 and 9. 

Half a Billion Years of Illinois History Do-it-yourself tour in observance of 
the State's Sesquicentennial celebration ends on December 3. Capsule journey 
through times takes visitors through the worlds of anthropology, botany, 
geology and zoology. A free brochure guides visitors to pertinent exhibits. 

Chicago Shell Club, December 8, 2 p.m. 
Nature Camera Club of Chicago, December 10, 7:45 p.m. 
MEETINGS: Chicago Mountaineering Club, December 12, 8 p.m. 
Illinois Orchid Society, December 15, 2 p.m. 
Great Lakes Chapter of Sierra Club, December 17, 7:30 p.m. 



FIELD MUSEUM 
OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. 
Chicago, Illinois 60605 

Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

Lester Armour 
Harry O. Bercher 
Bowen Blair 

William McCormick Blair 
William R. Dickinson, Jr. 
Thomas E. Donnelley II 
Marshall Field 
Nicholas Galitzine 
Paul W. Goodrich 
Clifford C. Gregg 
Samuel Insull, Jr. 
Henry P. Isham 
Hughston M. McBain 
Remick McDowell 
J. Roscoe Miller 
William H. Mitchell 
James L. Palmer 
John T. Pirie, Jr. 
John Shedd Reed 
John S. Runnells 
John G. Searle 
John M. Simpson 
Gerald A. Sivage 
Edward Byron Smith 
William G. Swartchild, Jr. 
Louis Ware 
E. Leland Webber 
J. Howard Wood 

HONORARY TRUSTEES 

Joseph N. Field 
William V. Kahler 

OFFICERS 

James L. Palmer, President 
Harry O. Bercher, Vice-President 
Bowen Blair, Vice-President 
John M. Simpson, Vice-President 
Edward Byron Smith, 

Treasurer and Assistant Secretary 
E. Leland Webber, Secretary 

DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM 

E. Leland Webber 

CHIEF CURATORS 

Donald Collier, 

Department oj Anthropology 
Louis 0. Williams, 

Department of Botany 
Rainer ^angerl. 

Department oJ Geology 
Austin L. Rand, 

Department oJ Zoology 

BULLETIN 



Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



DECEMBER Page 16 



PRINTED BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS