AnthroMAgIs there really archaeology

in Iowa?Read this article and find

out!

-How Bigfoot may be rooted in scientific evidence

PLUS:

-Exploring the Fossil Record: Australopithecus Garhi

AND

Letter from the Editor: Allison Pattison

have always been interested in differ-ent peoples and their cultures. Hence, when I went to college I decided on anthropology as my major. I also had the opportunity to travel to both South Korea and Europe, and learned truly how valuable it is to experience other peoples cultures. It is aslo important to learn about where eveyone has come from, which is learned from studying the archaeological record both close to home and throuought the globe. A rough map of major historical hom-inid finds has also been included in the magazine, since it is a large part of the archaeological record. Also throuought my studies I learned that I was truly interested in pre-historic ar-chaeology and bio-archaeology, which lead me to an emphasis in archaeol-ogy. I took an archaeological field school through the University of Iowa in which we excavated a 3,000 year old Indian site. We found many arti-facts, ranging from pottery to bones, including two human bones! I knew that I had found my passion. What I have learned throughout my time in college is reflected in the different ar-ticles in this magazine. Also, the cover story Archaeology in Iowa is dedicated to show that somewhere seemingly as bland as the middle of the Mid-West has a lot of archaeological significance as well as places like Egypt and Rome. I hope eveyone enjoys reading my maga-zine as much as I have enjoyed creating it, as it is my first ever publication!

~Allison Pattison

I

Allison overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Italy

2 3

Table of contents...

Are You Dying to get in?

theBody Farm

For more information visit: http://fac.utk.edu/donation.html

IN THIS ISSUE:

20 Rough Historical Major Hominid Fossil Finds

17 A Day in the Life of an Anthropology 3 Letter From the Editor

6 Ten Tips for What to Bring on an Ar-

19 Exploring the Archaeological Record

chaeological Excavation

Professor

10 Archaeology in Iowa

Featured:

24 Bigfoot, Fact or Fiction?

4

10 tips for What to Bring on an Archaeological Excavation

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1. Hat. Many times excavations takes place in the sun or under trees. Wearing a hot is a good way to keep the sun off your face and keeping ticks from falling in your hair.

2. Wet wipes. Digging in the dirt can be a bit uh... dirty. To clean up a little, bring wet wipes in case anyone important stops by.

3. Yoga Pants. You don’t want to wear nice clothes out in the field, but to keep cute these pants are wonderful, and they protect your legs from poison ivy.

4. The book A Game of Thrones in case there is any down time. It is quickly becoming a popular TV series on HBO, and you want to keep up with cur-rent trends.

5. Hair Ties. It is often very warm during an excavation, keeping your hair pulled back will help keep it off your neck and stay cool.

6. Sunglasses. Bright sun, it’s best to protect your eyes and be able to see what you are digging up.

7. Cut-off sleeves. This is a good way to stay cool and work on your tan. Working in the archaeology field is often like a work out, and fits the theme with yoga pants as well.

8. Lunch and a Snack. A lot of physical labor is involved in an excava-tion, staying energized will help keep you happy through-out the day.

9. Closed Toed Shoes. You need to protect your feet, from poison ivy to falling rocks.

10. A smile on your face! It’s not every day you get to dig up artifacts that are thousands of years old, enjoy it!

6 7

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Archaeologists DIG It!

Even though the anthropology program at UNI is growinig, it offers hands on teaching with class sizes small enough to offer a great student to teacher ratio.

Study Anthropology at the University of

Northern Iowa!

9

P

8. Start of your cover story (a full-length piece with text of about 3,000 words, 8 to 10 pictures. Pay special attention to typography. Have to have a pullout quote, as well as a sidebar. Drop cap a must, You can choose to display your work, or use placeholder text)

Students at the University of Iowa excavate a 3,000 year old Indian site

Archaeology

Iowa

Student Lee Betker sharing an inside anthropolgy joke before he maps a ty-po-logical land survey with a theodolite at a 3,000 year old Indian site just North of Iowa City, Iowa

rofessor Donald Gaff, of the University of North-ern Iowa, usually spends the first couple weeks of his summers excavating a pre-historic Indian site at the Heartman Nature Re-serve in Cedar Falls, Iowa. It is strange to think that in the middle of an urban area, let alone in the middle of the Mid-West such as Iowa, there is anything of archae-ological significance. How-ever, there are many reasons that land excavations need to be done in Iowa, among other states in the region. Students about to grad-uate who are looking for full-time employment may be well surprised. Dr. Ty-ler O’Brien says that “I am

quite happy with the success rate of students who are able to find jobs in anthropology when they graduate. Many people believe that there is not a lot of work in the field, but the students who are motivated enough are able to prove those people wrong.” There are sever-al archaeological firms in Iowa. Many projects that are completed take place in the spring, in Iowa and other surrounding states such as Wisconsin and Illi-nois. The archaeology firms are hired by other compa-nies and firms to examine the land for archaeologi-cal significance (i.e. Indian mounds) before they may build where intended. If

any archaeological signifi-cance is found, then a more in-depth excavation takes place. Archaeologists in the field are expected to identi-fy human remains, be will-ing to work in any weather condition, have good phys-ical stamina (as the work is often hard and in warm weather), and pay attention to detail. These qualities in archaeologists allow them to give an accurate report of what they found (or did not find) while on an archaeo-logical project. However, the slow time of the year is in the winter when the ground is frozen and it is impos-sible to excavate the land. During this time, archae-

in

11

ologists study the artifacts found from the digs, and write reports on the sites that were excavated. If there was enough work during the prime-digging times, then full-time employment is not an issue for the stu-dents who are able to find work. Most summers Gaff heads an archaeology field school, which gives college students hands on experience of excavating the land and locating ar-tifact remains from the Northern Woodland Indian tribes that dwelt in the area thousands of years ago. Gaff says "we have found a fair number of artifacts, mostly just arrow points and ceramics." Through this, he explains that "we have been able to reconstruct part of the pre-history for Black-Hawk County." However, there has not been a lot of emphasis to bring the story to-gether and tell what happened, as is supported by a lack of interest in the archaeology field school, which did not take place in the summer of 2012. Gaff is still in-volved with the Reserve however, and will occasional-ly give talks or help out on projects at the center such as replacing a staircases or a deck because he states,

that "it is a really cool place, and is unique to have in an urban area." It is too bad that many people do not know that this area exists, and other areas like it in Iowa. When talking to Erin Blind, a University of Northern Iowan student, she said "I had no idea that a place untouched like this one was in Iowa, especially so close to where I've been living the past four years." After learning a

little about Hartman Reserve, she said "I think it's awesome, because there is a place for wildlife to be, opposed to in the big cities where it could get hit [by a car]. The archaeology part is pretty cool too; it's a good way to find out more about what was here before all of the buildings." Hopefully Hart-man Reserve will outreach more to the community, and other people will think to look into what the reserve is all about also. Iowa has many other places of

archaeological significance as well. In the summer of 2012 students at the University of Iowa re-excavated a 3,000 year old Indian rock-shelter dwelling in Cor-allville, Iowa. The site had been initially excavated by

a team of archaeologists in 1956. However, the ar-chaeologists then used shovels and looked for only large artifacts. They found tools made out of bone and antlers, along with almost 500 pieces of ceramic that they believe made up about 55 pots. The artifacts are currently at the Smithsonian. The class in 2012 was taught by Dr. James

Common tools used to excavate a site

Above and right: During an excavation, a wire screen is used to separate dirt from smaller artifacts that

may be missed while digging through soil

Above: Artifacts found during the screening process drying on news-

paper after being wached

Enloe, head of the anthropology department at the University of Iowa. Student Lee Betker said that "the fact that there were only 14 people in the class made the Professor and Teachers Assistant more accessible. They were more able to concentrate their guidance where it was needed rather than having a huge class to divide their attention." The field school gave all the basic essentials one would need to pursue archaeolog-ical field work. The dates chosen were from May 14 to June 1. About the weather, Betker reflects "the dates chosen for the dig were perfect based on the weather. Days never got overly hot like they would later in June or July, but rather remained in a nice temperature the whole time." This worked out perfectly, because the students worked outside Monday through Friday from approximately 8:30 am to 4:30p.m. The days began by setting up a theodolite, a de-vice used to map the area and pin-point where objects were found and map the positions they were found in. When this was accomplished, the students would be-gin to dig in the dirt using a trowel and bucket. They

excavated the land in one foot by one foot squares, digging down ten centimeters at a time. When an object was found, it was put in a bag and document-ed by which square it was found in and who found it. The dirt in the bucket was then sorted through to look for smaller pieces that had been over looked. Many objects were found, including fragmented an-imal bones, ceramics, fire-cracked rock, and char-coal. The findings were similar to those found at the Hartman reserve by Dr. Gaff and his team of student archaeologists. Some of the ceramics found had pat-terns marked on them, and one even had a rough spot where the handle had broken off. The charcoal that was found was handled very delicately, and was not touched by anyone but rather wrapped in tin foil. This is because without contamination the University can send the charcoal to a lab in Kansas for carbon dating to more accurately date the site. Dr. Enloe is currently planning on continu-ation of the excavation for the next three summers. The field school will operate the same way; it will be

“We have been able to recon-struct part of

the pre-history for Black-Hawk

County”

1ft by 1ft holes that students excavated12 13

three weeks long and be a class for stu-dents interested in archaeology. For stu-dents who have a degree in anthropol-ogy, this class is priceless. Betker says that "three weeks was a solid amount of time to learn the practice and techniques provided to us. On top of all this, there have been work opportunities provided to the students based on pro-cessing the data uncovered in this field school." If you or other people want to be involved the field school, Dr. Enloe also accepts vol-unteers to help with the excavation. Or if you're in the area, you can take a hike through the Sugar Bottom Park and visit the students excavating the site during the scheduled class period. Other opportunities in archaeology that are not associated with a Universi-ty field school are in Iowa as well. Larry VanGorden is one such example. He received his degree in anthro-pology from Iowa State University in 2007, and is cur-rently 66 years old. He chose the field of anthropology

because he has an interest in collecting artifacts. He has helped on several odd jobs throughout the state.

One of the more interest-ing jobs he has undertaken was to excavate land at Iowa State University for the ex-pansion of the ISU Memo-rial Union. It was a rush job that they were to com-plete in nine days. On the site they found bone beds of horses from the late 1800's. There were four horses that they dissected that were concentrated on studying the skulls and long-bones of the horses. Along the bones they also found silverware

and other household tools from the same time period. He also had the pleasure of excavating Living History Farms. While there, he and his colleagues found the original farm stead. There was an outhouse privy, but many people have told him that it was gross to be dig-

Above and right: Students cover up the excavation with a plastic tarp, dirt, and rocks to preserve it through the winter for excavation in summer 2013

“Bone beds of hors-es...silverwear and other household

tools from the same time period.”

ging through people's feces, but he said "it was the finest soil to be working in." At Living History Farms, he also found approximately 300-400 bird bones that people had used and Indian head penny's dating to the late 1800's. Although jobs like these ones seem exciting, not all archaeology jobs are an adventure such as what people think of in relation to Indiana Jones. VanGorden details a job that he took in Spirit Lake to look at the land of a corn field there on which the airport wished to expand. He and a young girl went out in the middle of summer to dig holes and look at the soil in 100 degree weather, so it was about 120 degrees in between the corn stalks. He said that it was "butt kicking" work, and was the hardest part of any job that he has taken in anthropology. Being an older man, he says, he was "not necessarily cut out for the work, and now I leave jobs like that to younger people."

Students relax and wash artifacts found after a hard day’s work

Students setting up for camping on the excavation site Wash bucket and brusshes for cleaning artifacts

15

Full page add A DAy in the Life of An AnthropoLogy

professor

Speaking with a student after a morning lecture at UNI

Skulls used by Dr. O’Brien to illustrate points in class

Putting away the skulls used in classLinging up the hominid skulls from onldest to youngest

Preparing a display about anthropology in the ITTC building, where anthropology

classes take place

“Checking the insides of his eyelids for holes” mid morning

The Day in the Life of an Anthropology Proffesor follows Dr. Tyler O’Brien through the activities of a typical day on the campus of

the University of Northern Iowa.

17

History/Background: First dis-covered in 1990 by Berhane Asfaw and Tim White, Australopithecus garhi is estimated to have existed in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia around 2.5 million years ago, and is the last Pliocene hominid discovered to date. A. garhi has not been found in any other region other than Ethiopia. Garhi can be translated from the Afar language as “surprise.” What is sur-prising about the find of A. garhi is that its re-mains were found alongside bones of antelope, horse, and other animals that had clear cut marks from where stone tools had been used to cut flesh from the bone. The tools that had been used to make these cuts were also found at some of the sites. These findings indicate that A. garhi was the first tool user. However, this argument is problematic as early represen-tatives of Homo are also found in this region and date to the same time period, if not a little later.

It is still debated whether or not A. garhi may actually be included in the Homo genus rather than the Australopithecus genus, as it bears some similarities to the early Homo line. Some of these characteristics include their powerful molars in size and relation to their canines, as well as the length of their thighbone in relation to that of their upper arm. Despite this, A. garhi still retains an overall anatomical similarity of Australopithecus afarensis. These features include a cranial capacity at about 450cc, its projecting facial profile, and long underarms. A. garhi also has features that can only be classified in its own category, includ-ing the forward positioning of its cheekbone, a more oval premolar shape, and very powerful molars (Cameron 2004). Still yet, some scien-tists believe that it represents either a species of Praeanthropus or even a new genus. Only the bones of a total nine in-dividuals have been found. These findings

include 1 fossil cranium, fragments of skull, and other skeletal fragments that indicate a long femur. The above information is based on these findings, and therefore is considered incomplete and is still being disputed. It can only be hoped for that one day more fossils of A. garhi will be discovered and help to uncover the mystery of this species.

To the right is the reconstruc-tion of A. garhi. The lighter broken parts of the skull show the fossils that were found, and the dark smooth parts of the skull are the reconstruction of what a complete adult A. garhi skull would have looked liked. It was not until April 1999 when Berhane Asfaw and Tim White officially identified A. garhi as its own species.

Saying goodbye to friends after a long day’s work to go home and spend quality

time with his family

Taking a break in the day to create him-self as a zombie from the Walking Dead

Meeting with a student after lunch and giving her a book to help her on an as-

signment

Eating lunch in the Union

Listening to phone messages in his office when he gets the chance

Keeping up on his own research for the University

The second half of Dr. Tyler O’Brien’s Day...

18 19

ROUGH HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF

MAJOR HOMINID FOSSIL FINDS

1857Neanderthals

Germany

1891Java Man

PithecanthropusIndonesia

1907Mauer Mandible

Homo erectusGermany

1921Archaic Homo Sapiens

Zambia1925Taung Child

Australopithecus africanusSouth Africa

1926Peking Man

Homo erectusChina

1930’sArchaic Homo sapiensEurope and Indonesia

1936Paranthopus Robustus

South Africa

Africa

Asia

Europe

20 21

1939Homo erectus

Indonesia

1947“Mrs. Ples”

Australopithecus africanusSouth Africa

1959Paranthopus boisei

Kenya

1964Homo habilis

East and South Africa

1974“Lucy”

Austalopithecus afarensisEthiopia

1978Laetoli Footprints

Australopithecus afarensisEthiopia

Africa

Europe

AsiaMajor

hominid finds from 1939 to

the present

22 23

anging from Australia, to Asia, to the Amer-ica's, everyone has heard the legend of a gi-ant, hairy, bipedal ape that inhabits forest regions. This ape goes by many names, in-cluding: Yowie (Australia), Yeren (China), and Sasquatch or Bigfoot (North America). It is much debated over whether or not this animal actually exists. However, the fossil

record shows evidence that approximately 300,000 - 6mya this ape actually existed. Fossils were found in 1935 that were to be a new species called Gigantopithecus. Therefore, the myth of such an animal may actually be rooted in scientific evidence. In 1935, a German Paleontologist by the name of G.H.R Von Koenigswald discovered what appeared to be a giant primate tooth in a traditional Chinese market. He and other scientists debated over whether it

was from an ape or a human, as it was over twice the size of any nor-mal human tooth. Upon the dis-covery of this tooth, they founded a new species called Gigantopithecus. "Giganto" means giant and "pithe-cus" means ape, therefore the name

means "giant ape." From the tooth size, scientists have concluded that Gigantopithecus was probably ten feet tall when standing bipedally, over 1,200 pounds, and had a skull that was 18in wide. Twenty years after the original discovery, a team of Chinese scientists excavated multiple sites in China. Many of these sites were caves, in which they found many animal fauna including mammals, rodents, reptiles, and fish. Of the mammalian fauna, they discovered multiple Gigantopithecus teeth. One particular cave in Bubing Basin of south China held 9% of all the mammalian founa found, and other sites were similar to this finding. The mammalian fauna that were found in the same sediment of the caves helped to date Gigantopithe-cus. However, the sediment in different caves ranged in time, dating Gigantopithecus as living approximately 300,00- 6.3mya. Furthmore, the other mammalian fauna found were also large beasts, suggesting that the size of Gigantopithecus is not so far-fetched for this time period. Findings of Gigantopithecus fossils up to 1985 are scanty, and include only several hundred teeth and a few jaw fragments. Even since then, there have been few excavations conducted. However, the teeth that have been found still offer enough evidence to speculate on how this animal lived. The tooth structure of Gigantopithecus is similar to a couple different mammals, including other primates. Some similarities resem-ble those of the Giant Panda, suggesting that Gigantopithecus ate a substantial amount of bamboo. In other respects, the teeth of Gigantopithecus resemble those of the Mountain Gorilla, meaning that they also ate an abundant amount of vegetation such as fruits and tough fibrous foods. Another way that scientists are able to determine what Gigantopithecus ate is through the analysis of stable carbon isotopes, meaning that different

“Bigfoot”Fact

or

Fiction?R

plants carry different carbons that reside on the tooth and in the enamel even millions of years after the an-imal is dead. Findings of this research surmise that Gigantopithecus' diet was consistent with a closed forest habitat. Because of the diet of these animals, it may be speculated that Gigantopithecus led a fairly peaceful lifestyle, similar to that of Gorillas. However, sexual dimorphism between the canine teeth of male and female suggests that there was fierce competition between the males for a mate. Study of Gigantopithecus teeth can also deep-en our knowledge of how this creature evolved. Several dif-ferent sites were exca-vated, ranging from Southeast Asia and In-dia and as far west as Pakistan. The different sites found some minor differences in their re-sults. At a site in Chi-na that is approximately 6.3mya, the fossils that were found of Gigantopithecus were relatively smaller than those found at a site that was approximately 1mya. After this finding, Gigantopithecus was split in to two different species, called Gigantopithecus giganteus and Gigantopithecus blacki. Another site was found in India, which resulted in distinct mandib-ular and dental morphologies from those in China, and people argued that a third spe-cies should be recognized as Indopithecus. The fossils found in Indo-Pakistan follow a different pattern of evolution from those in China. These fossils show a pattern of start-ing out relatively small and primitive, grow-ing larger, and then growing smaller again. No matter how Gigantopithecus is split up, one thing is certain: Gigantopithe-cus survived for millions of years. So why then, did Gigantopithecus go extinct? Many researchers believe that the demise of this animal is in a large part is due to competi-tion with Homo erectus. This information is supported by evidence of Homo erectus teeth being discovered in the same sediment as that of Gigantopithecus. Other theories suggest that Gigantopithecus went extinct because of dramatic climate change during the Pleistocene. Or perhaps this animal never actual-ly existed. Why are not there more remains to be found other than some teeth and a few

fragments of mandibles? A couple of theories for this event have been proposed. One theory alleges that porcupines gnawed at the bones for calcium, but could not gnaw through the thick enamel of the teeth. An-other theory attributes this phenomenon to ancient hyenas, which eat everything including bone, except those of the teeth and jawbone which are too tough to chew up. But why then would the hyenas leave the bones of the other animals found alongside of Gigan-topithecus untouched? Perhaps it is because Giganto-pithecus was the animal that was hunted at that time

and therefore they ate all of the bones at the time of the hunting, and the oth-er animal remains were left there later. However, this does not support the porcupine theory. Porcu-pines are herbivores, and they certainly do not hunt prey. Therefore, other an-imal bones should have

been eaten too, not just those of Gigantopithecus, un-less for some reason Gigantopithecus had an abnor-mal amount of calcium that attracted the porcupines. So is there some modern day Gigantopithe-cus still roaming the land undetected? It is possible, but not probable. Evidence suggesting that it is a real

One thing is certain: Gigantopithecus

survived for millions of years.

It was over twice the size of any normal human tooth.

Fossilized Gigantopithecus jaw 25

animal includes sightings of footprints. In 1953 a footprint was sighted by Eric Shipton at the bottom of Mt. Everest, and since then expeditions have set out to find this mythical creature. Other evidence has been sightings, many of them being in Canada, and even hair of the beast has been found. Howev-er, the myth was busted by David Colt-man, who was able to match the hair found to a bison with 100% accuracy. There was another sighting in China in 2007. However, four days later when an investigation was conducted, the an-imal could not be found. If there are sightings leading to investigations all over the world, how has this animal not been discovered? I have heard theories such as they have adapted to the envi-ronment so well that they are able to keep themselves hidden from people, or that they have made their home un-derground. I find this a very unlikely possibility however, as with all of the technology that we have and satellite tracking; humans should have found these beasts by now. The legend of this beast is so world-wide, that there must be some truth to these rumors. If the evi-dence is right that Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus came into contact, then perhaps Homo erectus told the legend of the giant apes through their generations, and it evolved into the story that we know today. Whether or not Homo erectus used language is speculation, but if they did, it could change everything we know of them and make us re-evaluate our own history. We may never truly know what happened to the giant ape called Gigantopithecus or whether or not it even existed, but people will always enjoy hearing its legend and that it may actually be based on scientific evidence. Although there are such few remains of Gigantopithecus, I believe that scientists have done and are doing everything possible to unveil the truth behind this mystery.

Gigantopithecus reflected in different cultures

AustraliaChina Japan

26 27

ANTHROPOLOGY

28