Andean Past

Volume 8 Article 5

2007

Edwin Nelson Ferdon, Jr. ( June 14, 1913 -November 13, 2002)Earl H. Lubenskydeceased

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Recommended CitationLubensky, Earl H. (2007) "Edwin Nelson Ferdon, Jr. ( June 14, 1913 - November 13, 2002)," Andean Past: Vol. 8 , Article 5.Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past/vol8/iss1/5

ANDEAN PAST 8 (2007): 9-32.

EDWIN NELSON FERDON, JR. (JUNE 14, 1913 - NOVEMBER 13, 2002)

Earl H. LubenskyUniversity of Missouri-Columbia

Photo courtesy of Vearl Ferdon

Edwin Nelson Ferdon, Jr. was born in St.Paul, Minnesota and grew up in Aurora, Illinois.When he was sixteen years old his father, EdwinNelson Ferdon, Sr., took a job with the Ameri-can Art Works and the family moved toCoshocton, Ohio.1 His mother, Julie OmeyerFerdon was proud of her Norwegian heritage.Her cousin, Thor Odegard, maintained Ed’s

interest in Scandinavia by sending him booksfrom that part of the world. Ed cherished his tiesto the Norse countries throughout his life, buthe considered himself first and foremost anarchaeologist, as he indeed was, although healso made significant contributions to the re-lated disciplines of geography and ethnography.Through his research he greatly increased ourunderstanding of ancient Ecuador, Peru, Mex-ico, the American Southwest, and the SouthPacific.

Ed’s life may be divided into three periods:his early years (1913-1939); his Ecuadorianyears (1939-1945); and his Southwestern years

1 From the 1880s to the 1950s, Coshocton was an impor-tant production center for advertising art. Lithographs ontin and paper, signs, calendars, celluloid novelty objects,and trays were made for breweries, soft drink manufactur-ers, and ice cream factories, among other clients. TheAmerican Art Works made the now-famous Coca Colatrays, as well as glass objects, and calendars.

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when he was resident in Santa Fe, New Mexico(1945-1961) and Tucson, Arizona (1961-2002).During his early years he became an archaeolo-gist. He participated in archaeological projectsin the United States Southwest and in LatinAmerica. In his Ecuadorian years he conductedextensive survey and limited excavations. Whileliving in New Mexico he continued to writeabout Ecuador and renewed his early fascinationwith the American Southwest and Mexico. Healso became interested in the South Pacific andremained so for the rest of his life. By the timehe moved to Arizona he had developed anexpertise in folk museums. They became thesubject of much of his work at the Arizona StateMuseum.

Several important scholars had a profoundinfluence on Ed Ferdon. While still in his teenshe moved into the circle of Edgar Lee Hewett,who founded the Museum of New Mexico anddirected it until his death in 1946. This influ-ence is reflected in Ferdon’s biography ofHewett (Ferdon 1993a). The United Statesambassador to Ecuador, Boaz Long, was anotherimportant figure in Ferdon’s life. Long helped Edin every possible way during his time in Ecuador.Long succeeded to the directorship of the Mu-seum of New Mexico after Hewett’s death, sotheir collegial relationship continued. Ed Ferdonalso published a biography of Long (Ferdon1956). Thor Heyerdahl interested Ferdon in thepossible connections between pre-historicmainland South America and the South Pacific(Ferdon 1963, 1978). Heyerdahl was Norwe-gian, and no doubt their shared ethnicity helpedbond Ed and Thor. Ferdon participated inHeyerdahl’s Easter Island excavations andserved as Heyerdahl’s co-editor (Heyerdahl andFerdon 1961, 1965).

This obituary concentrates on Ferdon’sEcuadorian years and the writing he did after heleft that country, but it does not exclude theother phases of his life.

THE EARLY YEARS

Ed Ferdon’s first experience in archaeologyoccurred about 1931 when he, accompanied byhis younger brother and some friends, initiatedan Eagle Scout excavation of a threatenedHopewell mound near his home (Ferdon 1998:11; Thompson 2003a, 2003b).2 Later that year,while a student at Marietta College (ibid:20), heattended the annual meeting of the Archaeolog-ical Institute of America. There he met EdgarLee Hewett (ibid:23-24; Thompson 2003a).Hewett encouraged Ferdon to go to archaeologi-cal field school in New Mexico. In 1932 heparticipated in the University of New Mexico’sJemez Field School (Ferdon 1998:22-29; Giffordand Morris 1985:406 citing a personal commu-nication from Ferdon), traveling there on hisHarley Davidson. In 1933 he was once againworking at the Jemez site (Ferdon 1998:29-33)and in 1934 was on the Chaco Canyon team(ibid:32-40). Under the direction of Reginald G.Fisher, Ferdon undertook a small stratigraphicexcavation at the Jacal Site, five miles north ofChaco Canyon (Ferdon 1954a).

Ferdon traveled with Hewett to Peru andBolivia in 1935, hiking over 200 miles (Ferdon1998:40-53; Thompson 2003a, 2003b), toCentral America in 1936, and to Guatemala andsouthern Mexico in 1937 (Ferdon 1998:55-57).During this latter expedition Ferdon tookcharge of a reconnaissance plane table survey ofthe ruins at Tonalá, Chiapas (Ferdon 1949,1951a, 1953a). In 1948 he returned to Tonalá,staying until the next year. With aid from theViking Fund he completed the survey (Ferdon1998:106-108). In 1938 he returned to New

2 Ferdon himself inspired an archaeologist-to-be throughthe Boy Scouts. As a scoutmaster, he led a group of NewMexican boys on a tour of Southwestern ruins. Ferdoninfluenced Tom Weaver, one of the participants and nowan emeritus professor at the University of Arizona, tobecome an archaeologist and cultural anthropologist(Anonymous 2003; Thompson 2003b).

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Mexican fieldwork, excavating at Hermit’s Cavein the Guadalupe Mountains, under the overalldirection of C.B. Schulz of the Nebraska StateMuseum (Ferdon 1946a; 1998:65-67). Theproject later formed the basis of his master’sthesis (ibid:66). In the meantime, Ed had trans-ferred to the University of New Mexico, earninga B.A. in anthropology and geology in 1937. Hesupported himself by serving as Hewett’s chauf-feur, traveling with him for more than 100,000miles (Thompson 2003b).

Ferdon published an account of his 1935experience with Hewett in Peru (Ferdon 1938).In this article he demonstrated his acute obser-vational ability, accurately recording details ofplace names, road and bridge construction,differences in routes, and the rerouting of roads,as well as the historic connections betweenroads extant in the 1930s and ancient Inca ones,especially the road from Cusco to Ayacucho.Ferdon postulated the “existence of an earlyintercourse between the people of the Peruviancoast and those of the highlands well before theadvent of the great Inca confederacy of Tawant-i-suyo [sic]” (ibid:111) based on the influencespresent in the designs of coastal pottery fromthe two early highland cultures, Tiwanaku(Tiahuanaco) and Chavín. Ferdon concludedthat “it may be possible that many of the laterso-called ‘Inca roads’ are, in truth, early pre-Incatrade routes merely built and placed in a moreserviceable form by the later Inca confederacy”(ibid:111-112), but this could not then be pro-ven.

Ed Ferdon was a gifted storyteller. Hisaccount of the Peruvian highland trail precededa number of other tales he delighted in telling,especially about times when he encounteredalmost unsurmountable difficulties. His storytell-ing related not only his early Peruvian experi-ences, but also his later adventures in Ecuador,in the American Southwest, in Mexico, and inthe South Pacific Islands.

In 1939 Ferdon entered graduate school atthe University of Southern California or USC(Ferdon 1998:65). However, before he couldearn a degree the School of American Researchposted him to Ecuador, where he completed hismaster’s degree. This seems to have required thesubmission of a thesis and two or three researchpapers. His thesis is a report on the excavationof Hermit’s Cave which was subsequently pub-lished (Ferdon 1946a).

The research papers submitted drew uponhis Ecuadorian experience. One, preliminary innature, was presented to the Geography Depart-ment of USC under the title “Notes to Accom-pany a Climatic Map of Ecuador”. The second,presented to the Anthropology Department, is“Certain Functional Figurines from the Coast ofEcuador”, a partial study of the Konanz collec-tion. The third is “Prehistoric Burial Customsand their Distribution in Ecuador”. This lastpaper was a preliminary plan that Ferdon hopedto develop with expanded distributional studies(Ferdon 1942c:3). He later plotted the distribu-tion of Indian tribal units and Negro peoples inEcuador (ibid, Ferdon 1947c; Ferdon 1950a:1-7). Ferdon received his M.A. degree in absentiain 1942.

Although Ferdon began work towards aPh.D., he never attained it. In May 1942, pre-sumably after all his Master’s degree require-ments were complete, Ferdon debated whetherhe should go to Lima to take the exams requiredfor a doctorate, or whether he could have theexams administrated in Ecuador by Jacinto Jijóny Caamaño, a well-respected scholar (Ferdon1942c:1). In June 1942 he wrote that “Ambas-sador Long is very much interested in the ar-rangements made by [Hewett] at U.S.C. for theworking out of certain of my Doctor’s creditsdown here. . . He has been interested in workingout some arrangement with Universities for thegiving of credits to graduate students working inthe Latin American field. . . Any arrangement

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made by U.S.C. for my work would serve as astepping stone for him” (Ferdon1939-43, Report31). Whether this proposed arrangement cameto fruition is unclear. In 1953-54, after returningfrom South America, Ferdon undertook furthergraduate studies at the University of Michigan(Ferdon 1998:114-118). His “Studies in Ecua-dorian Geography” (Ferdon 1950a) was proba-bly a preliminary and partial draft of his pro-posed dissertation. According to James Griffin,who served as a member of Ferdon’s Michigancommittee, he would have been approved forthe Ph.D. degree if he had been able to adhereto the timing requirements for examination(personal communication c. 1985).

In 1939 Ed married Constance Etz whom hemet at Marietta College (Ferdon 1998:21, 65,67-70 ). The couple went to Ecuador in Decem-ber of that year. They worked together in SouthAmerica, and together had three children:Richard Etz, born April 30, 1946, Derre, bornApril 21,1949, and Julie, born December 25,1950. Constance Etz Ferdon died in 1969. In1972 Ferdon married Lola Vearl Galbraith, whosurvives him.

THE ECUADOR EXPERIENCE

Ferdon and Constance arrived in Ecuador inDecember 1939. His assignment was for fiveyears. World War II intervened, however, andfrom 1943 to 1945 he was part of the MisiónCinchona, Quinine Mission, or Cinchona Mis-sion (Ferdon 1998:88-93, 96-97).

In various articles, published mainly in ElPalacio, the Museum of New Mexico’s journal,Ferdon related details of his assignment toEcuador by the School of American Research inconjunction with Ecuador’s Academia Nacionalde Historia and USC (Anon. 1939, 1940, 1945;Ferdon 1939-43, Report 31, 1940a, 1940b,1940c, 1941a, 1941b, 1941c, 1942c, 1998). Inthe absence of clear instructions from Hewett,

Ferdon’s research design evolved over time. Hisinitial mission was “an archaeological survey ofthe old northern Inca province with an excava-tion of a selected site” (Anon. 1945:127). In hisarticle,“The Ecuadorian Research Project,” hestated the project had as its primary goal “anarchaeological reconnaissance of the Ecuadorianhighlands and coast” (Ferdon 1945a:12) with a“secondary objective the compiling of an ethno-logical map of the same area” (ibid). A thirdproject was the stratigraphical excavation of anancient fishing village near La Libertad. Hecharacterized the purpose of the survey as “tolocate and record as many of the principalhistoric sites in the prescribed area as was feasi-ble” (ibid:13).

Ferdon’s activities in Ecuador were followedclosely by the School of American Research inthe reports of its annual meetings. In the 1943report Ferdon’s “stimulation of museum devel-opment in the principal cities” (School of Amer-ican Research 1943:33) was mentioned, as wasthe suspension of his archaeological work “tomake his services available to our governmentfor an important piece of research in connectionwith war activities” (ibid:33-34). Ferdon’s workwith the Cinchona Mission was not to be madepublic at that time. The 1944 report mentionedthat “Mr. Ferdon has been engaged in specialwar work for the government and has beengranted an additional six months’ leave tocontinue in that service” (School of AmericanResearch 1944:6).

Through his surveys of the published litera-ture Ferdon identified the areas of Ecuador notyet covered by archaeological investigation,principally the coastal area with a “large part ofEcuador . . . only lightly glossed over” (Ferdon1940a:141). These gaps inspired Ferdon’s workof surface collection mainly throughout thecoast, but also in the sierra. He recognized thepotential value of potsherds in determining “theidentification of ancient culture areas within

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[Ecuador’s] bounds, the historical developmentof each, and the relationship of these culturesone with the other and to neighboring culturesbeyond the Ecuadorian boundaries” (ibid). Hedescribed his methodology in detail and statedhis hope to “publish the results in some practicalform” (ibid:144). He was not able to fulfill hishope, but added that “we must depend on futureEcuadorian archaeologists to carry the workforward, adding to whatever start we may make”(ibid).

La Tolita

In 1940 Ed Ferdon, his colleague John M.Corbett, and their wives, journeyed to thenorthern and central coast of Esmeraldas Prov-ince with financing from the Ecuadorian De-partment of Mines, a part of the Ministry ofAgriculture (Ferdon and Corbett 1941). Theyconcentrated their efforts on the site of LaTolita or Pampa de Oro, even then famous, orinfamous, as a large, ancient Indian ruin, or afunctioning gold mine, depending on who mightbe thinking or talking about it. The Ferdons andCorbetts had the primary purpose “of securing areport on certain gold mining operations beingcarried on at the site” (Ferdon 1940c:257). Itwas owned by Donato Yannuzzelli, describedunflatteringly to Dr. Hewett as a “squat, slightlybald, mustached little Italian” (School of Ameri-can Research 1941:3), whereas the publishedreport “Reconnaissance in Esmeraldas” (in everyother respect identical to the monthly reports)simply says he “proved to be a hospitableItalian”(Ferdon 1940c:260). Ferdon describedthe culture of the people of the area. Recount-ing the journey to La Tolita by boat, horse, andfoot, the report is an entertaining travelogue aswell as skilled ethnographic reporting. It in-cludes descriptions of about 25 sites that Ferdonsurveyed and recorded during the trip.

What is clear from this report, as well asfrom a report in Spanish on the mission to La

Tolita submitted to the Ecuadorian Departmentof Mines, was that Yannuzzelli was indeedmining gold from the site, mainly in the form ofancient gold artifacts and gold extracted by awashing process from crushed ceramic artifacts,especially figurines. These objects were certainlyarchaeological, and as such valuable, but goldnuggets or drops, according to the report, mayhave been either the result of pulverization ofartifacts or may have been natural gold.

Ferdon and Corbett reported that Yan-nuzzelli employed 24 men who hauled 960 cartsof artifacts and dirt a week to the machine towash and extract gold. Although Ferdon be-lieved that the report to the Department ofMines resulted in “the government stopping[Yannuzzelli’s] destruction of the site,” (per-sonal communication) nothing was ever done.The pillage of La Tolita is one of the mostegregious cases of archaeological destruction inmodern history. Even today inhabitants of thenearby village of La Tolita consider the site tobe their special reserve for the exploitation ofancient pottery and other artifacts, includinggold. Recently village people received visitorswith the curse “down with the Banco Central!”(vidi), which was trying to declare La Tolita tobe a national historic site and park and to relo-cate the local inhabitants.

Archaeological survey

In his report on “The Work in South Amer-ica” (Ferdon 1942a) Ferdon told of his odysseywith David Basile from Quito to Ibarra, thenwestward on a circuitous and torturous route tothe land of the Cayapas, along the coast byburro, by sail canoe, by truck, and by foot,through Jama and Coaque, surveying archaeo-logical sites when they could. It is truly a storyto read for excitement and vicarious pleasure.

During his archaeological work in Ecuador,Ferdon drafted reports with detailed maps of the

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118 sites he surveyed in all, 99 in the coastalarea and 19 in the sierra. Ferdon collectedartifacts from the surface, or from man-made orerosion cuts, at 62 sites, both on the coast andin the mountain provinces (Lubensky2000/2001:376-377). Ferdon’s reports, copies ofwhich are in my possession, show the meticulousand clear notes that he made on forms he specif-ically devised. Guayas Province was most heavi-ly covered, but not to the extent that Ferdonwished (Ferdon1941e:38). There, 41 sites weresurveyed and collections were made from 27.Ferdon developed a site identification systemwith “E” for Ecuador, followed by the site num-ber, and finally a lower case initial representingthe province. For instance, La Libertad wasdesignated E-1-g or site number 1 in Guayasprovince. He also received donated collectionsfrom four additional sites in the coastal area andthe eastern jungle or Oriente.

Geographical schema

Among Ferdon’s contributions to the geog-raphy of Ecuador is a systematic division of themajor geographical regions of that country’scoastal areas (Ferdon 1950a:9-34). Shell OilCompany and Standard Oil Company wereexploring and systematizing the geography ofEcuador’s oriente or eastern selva regions and itseemed best to concentrate in areas not coveredby those corporations. In “Notes on the CulturalGeography of Coastal Ecuador”, Ferdon dividedthe coast from the Colombian border to themouth of the Guayas River into eight discretesections, each differing from the others in cli-mate, topography, and agro-economic potential.These are I. the Río Santiago Basin, II. TheDelta Region of Northern Esmeraldas, III. TheEsmeraldas Coastal Fringe, IV. The DevelopingCoast of Northern Manabí, V. The ManabíSavanna, VI. The Hills of Colonche and Paján,VII. The Santa Elena Peninsula, and VIII. TheGuayas Savanna and the Monsoon Crescent.

The third section of Ferdon’s “Studies inEcuadorian Geography”, written with the col-laboration of Malcolm H. Bissell, covers “TheClimates of Ecuador”, and contains detailedcharts of rainfall, temperature, and wind pat-terns, with monthly wind roses, for severalregions of the country. The data were takenfrom the Boletín Meteorológico of the NationalObservatory in Quito for the years 1930-34 and1936-37.

Figurines

Ed Ferdon became a close friend of MaxKonanz of Guayaquil. According to Ferdon,Konanz was the owner of the finest collection ofEsmeraldas archaeological material in Ecuador.Konanz generously placed his entire collectionat Ferdon’s disposal, allowing a rather thoroughstudy to be made (Ferdon 1945b:221).

Ferdon developed a figurine typology basedbroadly on four groups: (1) human, (2) anthro-pomorphic, (3) animal, and (4) bird. Undereach group he discerned a number of types,totaling 17 for the entire collection, each withdescriptions of attributes so detailed that ordi-nary observers could not be expected to appre-hend them. Ferdon carefully cross-checked hisanalysis of figurines with Max Uhle’s descrip-tions, mainly of those from La Tolita (Uhle1927:22-30) and from examples in the collec-tions of the School of American Research.Ferdon described the method of figurine manu-facture, noting if they were mold-made or hand-modeled, or both (Ferdon 1945a:223-242).

Ferdon seems to have been influenced byMax Uhle’s theory that important aspects ofancient Ecuadorian culture had diffused fromthe Maya area (1927:34-39). Ferdon concludedthat mold-made figurines first appeared in theValley of Mexico at Teotihuacan and in thePetén Maya region about A.D. 900. Assumingthat the use of the mold for figurine manufac-

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ture spread southward from the Maya regionFerdon believed that its arrival on the Ecua-dorian coast must have been after A.D. 900,and possibly as late as A.D. 1100. (Ferdon1945a:223). On the basis of information en-coded in figurines, Ferdon produced a highlydetailed description of clothing and other cul-tural practices that should provide a basis forfurther analysis of these figurines. Ferdon laterbecame aware that Uhle’s Mesoamerican diffu-sion model had not stood the test of time. In anote to me sent with a copy of one of the re-ports, Ferdon wrote, “if I recall correctly, it wasGordon Willey, who rather chastised me forsuggesting that [the] mould diffused from Meso-America.” Although Uhle’s Maya diffusionmodel has been out of favor for decades, paral-lels between Ecuadorian and Mexican traits arenow well established (Cubillos 1955; Ferdon1945b:223; Hosler 1994:15-17, 86-124; Lu-bensky 1991:293; Meggers and Evans 1966 andreferences therein; Paulsen 1977).

La Carolina and La Libertad site

Ferdon’s assignment to excavate a selectedsite was carried out at the western edge of thetown of La Libertad on the Santa Elena Penin-sula, at a site called La Carolina (E-2-g; Ferdon1939-43, Reports 12, 14, 16-20, 1940a, 1940b,1940c). A report on the excavation was madeby Michael Patrick Simmons in the form of aPh.D. dissertation submitted to the Universityof Arizona (Simmons 1970). Simmons’ exami-nation of the collections from this site showedoccupation by only the earliest Ecuadorianceramic cultures, that is, by Formative and earlyRegional Development Period occupationsincluding Valdivia, Machalilla, Chorerra orEngoroy, and Guangala. Simmons extendedextraordinary praise to Ferdon, a member of hisFinal Examination Committee, for his assis-tance. Ferdon emphasized to me that Simmons’work encompassed, however, only ceramicvessel sherds, and that all the other materials

recovered from that excavation, including,metal, shell, botanical remains, and bone haveyet to be analyzed. La Carolina contrasts withthe nearby site of La Libertad itself (E-1-g)within the town of La Libertad. This site wasmainly occupied in the much later ManteñoPhase (Ferdon 1941d:35-38, 1942b:77; Wagnerand Hale 1994).

Ferdon published a series of accounts of theLa Libertad excavation (Ferdon 1941d:35-38,1941g:204-210, 1942b:75-81), briefly describingobjects of flaked and smoothed stone, clayartifacts such as figurines, spindle whorls, beads,and worked sherds, shell objects such as fishhooks, earrings, nose rings, lip plugs, beads, andbuttons, as well as bone, wood, and metal ob-jects.

Ethnographic research

Both Ferdon and his wife were intenselyinterested in the living cultures of the indige-nous peoples of Ecuador. While he pursued hisarchaeological assignment and his quininemission, they visited the places where thesepeople lived, they made notes of their observa-tions, and they reported information about thepeople and their environment. Constance EtzFerdon published an article entitled “MarketDay at Otavalo, Ecuador” (Ferdon 1940) basedon a visit there in 1940. She described in color-ful detail what many tourists saw then and untilrecently when the Otavalo market became moreof a tourist attraction than a place where Indi-ans traded for everyday necessities.

Ferdon arranged for a collection ofethnographic artifacts to be donated by Karl T.Goldschmid to the Museum of New Mexico.These arrived in Santa Fe after the SecondWorld War, and were described by Ferdon,along with notes about the Jívaros or Shuar asthey are now called (Ferdon 1947b). Gold-schmid had previously worked for the Shell Oil

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Company of Ecuador, which was helpful to Edon his several trips to the eastern jungle region.

Ferdon collated information which Shell andthe Standard Oil Company had accumulated onEcuadorian ethnic groups, Shell in the Orienteand Standard Oil in the coastal region. Ferdonused these data to produce an ethnic map ofEcuador, and published “Notes to Accompanya Present Day Ethnic Map of Ecuador” (Ferdon1947c). These notes then formed the firstsection of Ferdon’s “Studies in EcuadorianGeography” (Ferdon 1950a:35-76).

Soon after his return to the United States,Ferdon (1945c) put together, from his notes ofa field trip in 1942, the story of a “MountainColony in Ecuador” named Buenos Aires, onthe western slopes of the Andes in ImbaburaProvince. This was a newly formed Negro com-munity that had desperate needs requiringimmediate attention. Ferdon’s story is about aminga formed to help settle those problems. Thepeople of the entire province were called uponto participate in this native Ecuadorian custom,a communal work project to aid and improvethe economic and social position of a localgroup. Ferdon left no one who read his story indoubt about the details of an Ecuadorian minga,which he compared to a North American barn-raising.

Cinchona Mission

After the Second World War had ended,Ferdon was able to publish an account of hisfirst trip to the eastern slope of the Andes fromRiobamba to the town of Macas for the Cin-chona Mission (Ferdon 1952a). He traveledthrough an almost impenetrable part of Jívarocountry in tropical eastern Ecuador. The Jívaroswere then thought to be headhunters andmakers of tzantzas, but Ferdon found them quiteamiable. The trip was grueling and requiredovercoming what appeared to be impossible

hazards and hurdles. His mission was to find thetype of Cinchona tree with the best bark forproduction of quinine, a quest that had beengoing on since the mid-eighteenth century(http://diderot.alembert.free.fr/Q.html ; con-sulted 7 December 2006). With the help of anative of the area, and after several failures,appropriate trees were discovered in an almostinaccessible spot. Only a certain type of speciallytrained horse, it was said, would allow its ownereven to mention the Río Upano. Ferdon wasaccompanied by his friend, Danish businessmanOlaf Holm,3 who later developed a career inEcuadorian archaeology. On such trips Ferdonnever failed to keep his eyes and ears open forinformation about possible archaeological sites.At least five were found and recorded on thistrip, several reached only by sliding down asteep wet slope with arms thrashing the air untilthey could find a root or vine to hold onto(Ferdon 1952a:241).

In a letters to me dated April 4, 1988,Ferdon summarized the physical difficulties inEcuador during the early 1940s “never have Iworked under such frustrating conditions.” Thefrustrations were caused by “money, time, biasesabout . . . work, and limitation on transportcapabilities . . . with no burros available.”

Nevertheless, Ferdon surmounted theseproblems to a considerable extent and estab-lished good relationships with his Ecuadoriancolleagues. The head of the Quinine Mission,

3 Olaf Holm (1915-1996) was born in Denmark and firstcame to Ecuador in 1940 to manage a cacao plantation.He resided in Ecuador from then until his death. For manyyears he directed the Museo Antropológico del BancoCentral in Guayaquil. He was the polymath author of over100 scholarly publications and the editor (1951-74) ofCuadernos de Arqueología e Historia published by theGuayas Casa de la Cultura. Olaf Holm is remembered forthe international support he attracted for Ecuadorianarchaeology and for his personal kindness to many (Astu-dillo 1992; Guemaraes 1997; Stothert 2001).

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Froelich Rainey,4 told in National Geographicmagazine of his recruitment of Ferdon andseveral others, characterizing them as men who“were willing to quit their own work to help inthe war emergency” (Rainey 1946:342). Raineydescribed the farewell dinner given when thetime came for the North Americans to return tothe United States as a “spontaneous expressionof the mutual consideration developed betweenmen of two nations who had learned to under-stand one another” (ibid:363).

Book reviews and engagement with issues in Ecua-dorian archaeology

After leaving Ecuador, Ferdon always kepthis interest in work being done there. His ideascan be followed in a series of book reviews hepublished. John Collier and Anibal Buitrón’sThe Awakening Valley, a photographic story ofthe Otavalo Indians, brought Ferdon’s highestpraise (Ferdon 1950b). Ferdon summarized in avery useful manner much of the artifact descrip-tion in Geoffrey H. S. Bushnell’s monumentalwork The Archaeology of the Santa Elena Penin-sula in Southwest Ecuador. He seemed to agreewith Bushnell about parallels with Costa Ricanmaterials (Ferdon 1953b), but missed Bushnell’smistake in attributing a Valdivia site to the post-conquest period.

In 1958 Ferdon reviewed Tumaco (Notasarqueológicas) by Julio César Cubillos (Ferdon1958a). The book covers an area in Colombia,just across the border from, and closely relatedto northwest Ecuador. Its precolumbian cultureis variously called the Atacames, Tumaco, LaTolita, or Esmeraldas. Ferdon took careful noteof Cubillos’ contentions about relations withMesoamerica. He brought up a number ofconsiderations relevant to Ecuador and theAmazon, and reached the conclusion, as heusually did when thinking about alternatives toany thesis presented, that solutions may befound with further careful excavations.

Ferdon carefully reviewed the thesis pre-sented by Betty J. Meggers et al. (1965:158-171)about a possible correlation between Valdiviaceramics and Japan’s Jomon pottery. Ferdonexpressed the hope that more field work inColombia and Ecuador “will also lead to morethorough distributional studies and to attemptsto clarify the nature and potential results ofrandom transoceanic contacts by peoples withdifferent cultural traditions” (Ferdon 1966b:1732). He questioned the hypothesis that storm-swept Jomon fishermen landed and settled in analready existing nonceramic Ecuadorian Indianfishing culture, by pointing out that there was“not one fragment of evidence in any of theValdivia Phase sites excavated indicates thatpottery was superimposed on an underlying non-ceramic culture” (ibid).

This was not the only time Ferdon criticizedBetty J. Meggers’ theoretical positions. In herinfluential article “Environmental Limitation onthe Development of Culture” she stated that“the level to which a culture can develop isdependent upon the agricultural potentiality ofthe environment it occupies” (Meggers 1954:815). Ferdon pointed out that Meggers did notdifferentiate between natural agricultural poten-tial and the potential that a culture could createthrough its knowledge, agricultural techniques,

4 Froelich Rainey (1907-1992) conducted archaeologicalresearch in Haiti and in Eskimo territory. He was the firstanthropology professor at the University of Alaska,Fairbanks (1935-1942). During the Second World War hewas a member of the U.S. Board of Economic Warfare.After the war he became director of the UniversityMuseum of the University of Pennsylvania. While at Pennhe initiated or led approximately 230 archaeologicalexpeditions intended to support the model of people firstentering the New World via the Bering Strait. He estab-lished Expedition magazine and, during the 1950s, was apopular quiz show host (www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/rainey_froelich.html ; con-sulted 11 December 2006; Chávez 2005:281).

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and tools. Ferdon believed that the impact ofcultural factors on an environment could allowfor sufficient productivity to support high cul-ture (Ferdon 1959). Thus Ferdon anticipatedthe more detailed observations, excavations,and reconstructions of Robert Carneiro (1960,1961, 1979, 1987), William Denevan (1966),Clark Erickson (Balée and Erickson 2006),Michael J. Heckenberger et al. (2003), DonaldLathrap (1970), Anna Roosevelt et al. (1991),and William I. Woods and colleagues (Glaserand Woods 2004; Lehmann et al. 2003) amongothers.

Ferdon developed his own system of ratingagricultural potential. He concluded that “thereis very little, if any, correlation between poten-tial ratings and cultural achievement, certainlynone in the Americas if we concern ourselveswith prehistoric peoples” (1959:12). “Highcultural development has come about in areasconsiderably less than perfect for agricultureunder natural conditions, the most startling inthis respect are the region around Cuzco, thewest coast of Peru, and the Middle Gila valley ofArizona” (ibid). As Ferdon saw it “it is not somuch the natural environment as related toagriculture that controls the limits to which aculture might achieve, but rather the culturalenvironment” (ibid:14).

In a further extension of his Ecuadorianinterest, Ferdon (1981a) published a critique ofa study by malacologist and physician AkkarajuSarma (1974). Sarma contended that increasedpresence in Santa Elena Peninsula excavationsof a hydrophytic mangrove-specific mollusc,Anadara tuberculosa, which is dependent on theflow of brackish water from interior sources thatnourishes the mangroves, indicated periods ofwetter climate. Such times, according to Sarma,were more propitious for human settlement thanintervening periods of exceptionally dry climate,which resulted in abandonment of the area.Ferdon concluded that such factors as the

independently fluctuating El Niño current,uncertainties about the nature of mangrovepropagation, coastal uplift from tectonic forces,a misunderstanding of the displacement of theIntertropical Front, and purely cultural forcessuch as independent over-exploitation, mayhave been factors in the ebb and flow of occupa-tion of the Santa Elena Peninsula. Ferdonconsidered his idea probabilistic, capable ofbeing confirmed or negated by “nothing greaterthan a localized geological, soil, and paly-nological study of the Peninsula with emphasison Holocene sediments” (Ferdon 1981a:625).

My encounters with Ed Ferdon and work on hiscollections

Many of Ed Ferdon’s fellow archaeologists,who had worked with him during his stay inEcuador, still remembered him when I wasUnited States Consul General in Guayaquil in1971. They told me about his site surveythroughout Ecuador and the collections heamassed. Principal among these colleagues wereOlaf Holm, Miguel Wagner,5 and Carlos Ze-vallos Menéndez.6 Others, including Ernesto

5 Miguel Wagner Velasco was a Guayaquil florist, artcollector, amateur archaeologist, and naturalist who hada serious interest in orchid research. He also studied cloudforest bats and their place in native coastal mythologies.As a young man he accompanied Ed Ferdon on many ofhis coastal surveys. Ferdon stayed at his family’s haciendaon the Río Taura and Wagner joined Ferdon’s expeditionsto Babahoyo and Colimes (Ferdon 1941c:3). Wagner wasa friend of Emilio Estrada, Olaf Holm, Carlos Zevallos,and Presley Norton. Wagner participated in the excava-tion of several sites, including El Cangrejito on thesouthwest coast of Guayas province.

6 Archaeologist and historian Carlos Zevallos Menéndez(1909-1981) is principally known for his work on theEcuadorian Formative, and on ancient Ecuadorian art andmetalwork in general. His excavations revealed thatValdivians at the San Pablo site were maize farmers(Raymond and Burger 2003:2). In 1945 he founded theCasa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana “Benjamín Carrión”,Núcleo del Guayas and became its first president, a post

19 - Lubensky: Edward Nelson Ferdon Jr.

Luis Piana,7 Jorge Marcos Pino,8 Julio EnriqueEstrada Ycaza,9 and Presley Norton10 still talkedabout him. I became interested in Ferdon’s workand set about to discover where he and hiscollections had gone. One of the sites Ferdonsurveyed was on the Hacienda Ayalan, where I

excavated on weekends in 1972-73 (Lubensky1974, 2000/2001:374-375).

Most of Ferdon’s Ecuadorian collectionswere in the Museum of New Mexico in SantaFe, but he was living in Tucson, Arizona. WhenI attended the 1978 meeting of the Society forAmerican Archaeology there I visited him atthe Arizona State Museum where he worked.We had already been in correspondence since1973. Through our mutual friend Miguel Wag-ner I had learned about Ferdon’s excavationnear La Libertad on the Santa Elena Peninsula.

From 1973 until shortly before his death,Ferdon and I communicated frequently byphone and by letter. I sent 33 letters to Ed andhe wrote 29 to me. Ferdon’s letters were fre-quently extensive and discussed many aspects ofEcuadorian and South Pacific archaeology.

In 1983 I spent a week in the Museum ofNew Mexico studying the Ferdon collections. Ihad already received copies of all of Ferdon’snotes on his surface collections. I made copies ofthe museum inventory cards related to Ferdon’smaterial. I also photographed the entire collec-tion of whole vessels that Ferdon had acquiredin Ecuador as gifts (mainly from the owner ofthe Hacienda La Tolita) and as purchasesauthorized by the School of American Research.I arranged for a loan from the Museum of NewMexico to the Anthropology Museum of theUniversity of Missouri-Columbia of the Ferdonsurface collections stored in the Museum ofNew Mexico. Later, additional collections werediscovered in the Museum’s cellar and sent toColumbia to augment the loan. As work pro-gressed my late wife Anita and I traveled toTucson and Ed and his wife Vearl visited Co-lumbia, Missouri twice to discuss his collectionsand my work on them face-to-face. Recently,the Ferdon collections have been transferred tothe Maxwell Museum at the University of NewMexico in Albuquerque for permanent curation.

he retained until 1962. Its museum is named for him.

7 Chemical engineer Luis Piana Bruno (b. 1939) is the sonof Italian immigrants. He ran the family business whiledeveloping his interests as an avocational archaeologist.Between 1966-1968 he worked with Carlos Zevallos. Heexcavated on Puná Island and maintained a privatearchaeology lab. From 1970 he supported the archeologi-cal fieldwork of Hans Marotzke, forming a museumcollection that was totally destroyed by fire in 1991. Afterthis disaster, Piana discontinued his archaeologicalinvolvement.

8 Jorge Marcos Pino (b. 1932) was a student of CarlosZevallos Menéndez and Donald Lathrap. Since the late1960s he has made important contributions to the archae-ology of Guayas province and has helped to elucidate therole of Ecuador in the larger context of the prehistory ofthe Americas. He is the discoverer of the importantValdivia site of Real Alto and has written about therelationship between the Huancavilcas ethnic group andthe Incas, and most recently, about the water reservoirs(albarradas) of the Guayas coast.

9 Julio Enrique Estrada Ycaza (1917-1993) was an econo-mist, historian, civic activist, and journalist who focusedhis attention on his native city of Guayaquil and itssurrounding region. He was president of Guayaquil’s JuntaCívica (Municipal Council) and Director of the ArchivoHistórico del Guayas (now part of the Banco Central delEcuador). Through his study of primary sources hecorrected many popular misunderstandings related to thehistory of Ecuador.

10 Anglo-Ecuadorian archaeologist Presley Norton (1932-1993) was the discoverer and excavator of the Valdiviansite of Loma Alta (Raymond and Burger 2003:3-4) andthe co-excavator of the Salango site. He also worked onthe Isla de la Plata. Norton amassed a large collection ofEcuadorian artifacts which formed the basis of a pioneer-ing traveling exhibition (Lathrap et al. 1975). Norton’sartifacts eventually became part of the collections of theBanco Pacífico and later of the new Banco Centralmuseum in Guayaquil.

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I developed a computerized attributes ap-proach for analysis and classification of thesherds (see Chávez 1977 for an earlier ap-proach). In frequent consultation with Ferdon,who responded with sincere interest and help, Iwrote my doctoral dissertation for the Universityof Missouri on 35 sites in Esmeraldas Provincethat Ferdon surveyed, and from collections hemade at six of those sites (Lubensky 1991). Fer-don said, “Heaven forbid that I should everhave to work with the complicated sherd classi-fication that you have developed–it scares mejust to look at all those sheets you sent me”(personal communication, 29 February 1990).

Since 1983 I have further analyzed Ferdon’sentire Ecuadorian surface collection, presentinga series of conference papers(Lubensky 1992a,1992b, 1993, 1994). After completing my doc-torate, I was appointed Adjunct ResearchAssociate in Anthropology at the University ofMissouri. In that capacity I utilized Ferdon’scollections to instruct students in archaeologicalresearch, providing them at the same time aninteresting introduction to ancient Ecuadorianceramics.

Two students, Julie Wagner and PamelaHale, presented a paper based on their analysisof Ferdon’s La Libertad collection at the 1994Midwest Conference on Andean and Amazo-nian Archaeology and Ethnohistory and pub-lished it (Wagner and Hale 1995). Other stu-dents, including Steve Velasquez and JessicaCoats, prepared unpublished papers on aspectsof Ferdon’s work and collections. In my opinionsuch student papers may be suitable for publica-tion.

In late 1993 Ed wrote me that one of the“most difficult decisions I must make withadvancing age is what to do with all of thosewonderful books I picked up over the years inmy effort of developing a worthwhile researchlibrary”. He stated that his Ecuador collection

was not great, “only about three feet of shelfspace, and consists of material published prior to1945”. It included such difficult-to-find andvaluable items as the major works by Jijón yCaamaño and Verneau and Rivet plus earlyissues of the Boletín de la Academia Nacional deHistoria de Quito and Max Uhle’s work Tome-bamba. The Ellis Library at the University ofMissouri, Colombia accepted about half of EdFerdon’s Ecuadorian library. I have the remain-der in my personal possession, mainly prints,papers, and miscellaneous documents. I wouldlike to find an institution that would acceptthem. On February 21, 1997, Ed sent me “just anote to let you know that I like the arrangementyou have made regarding my Ecuadorian library‘loan’. I am happy that the volumes are beingused and are available to students.”

THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST AND MEXICO

Upon his return from Ecuador in May 1945Ferdon resumed the position of Research Asso-ciate in Charge, Hispanic Studies, at the Mu-seum of New Mexico and was also associatedwith the School of American Research in SantaFe. In 1957 he became Acting Associate Direc-tor of the Museum of International Folk Art, aunit of the Museum of New Mexico. In thiscapacity he visited Scandinavian museums(Ferdon 1998:136-140).The following year hewas promoted to Associate Director in Charge(ibid:136; Thompson 2006a). He held thisposition until 1960 when he became Coordina-tor of Interpretation for the Division of Anthro-pology at the Museum of New Mexico.

During his New Mexico years Ferdon turnedhis interests back to the American Southwestand Mexico, taking up a strand that beganduring his pre-Second World War years withHewett. In 1961 he moved to Tucson, Arizona,becoming the Associate Director of the ArizonaState Museum. Ferdon’s success in pulling theMuseum of International Folk Art out of a

21 - Lubensky: Edward Nelson Ferdon Jr.

slump had influenced Emil Haury to invite Ed totake up that position. Ed Ferdon devoted muchof his time at Arizona to educational and publicactivities (Raymond H. Thompson, personalcommunication 23 October 2006). In 1978,when the State of Arizona ruled that no onecould hold an administrative post beyond age65, he became an ethnologist at the Museum, aposition he held until his retirement in 1983(Thompson, personal communication, June 24,2003).

Excavations in New Mexico and Reconnaissancein Chihuahua and Durango

During his years at Santa Fe Ferdon did fieldwork at several sites. One is a pit-house nearBelén, New Mexico called the Olguin site(Ferdon and Reed 1950). Two others are theQuarai and the Abo State Monuments nearMountainair, New Mexico (Ferdon 1952b). Atthe Olguin site, Ferdon and his team recoveredonly surface sherds. They assigned the site tothe Cañada Cruz phase of the Río AbajoBranch, equivalent roughly to Pueblo III of c.A.D. 1200.

Ferdon worked on a site near Apache Creek,New Mexico, which was under threat of de-struction by highway construction (Peckham etal. 1956). There he discovered a pit house of theThree Circle Phase, estimated to date betweenA.D. 900 and A.D. 1000. Ferdon recorded over300 sherds, the bulk of them of the Alma type,as well as manos and metates. Ferdon watchedthe heavy earth moving equipment come in,strip the surface of the site, and begin removalof the hill which was, presumably, obliterated.His work is a prime example of the mitigation ofthe destruction of a cultural resource. Ferdon’sexperience at the Apache Creek site initiatedhis interest in salvage archaeology.

In 1955, Ferdon conducted archaeologicalreconnaissance of the Sierra Madre Occidental

in Mexico’s Chihuahua and Durango statesunder the sponsorship of the School of Ameri-can Research.

Comparative and critical studies

Ferdon made two major contributions tocomparative studies of ancient Southwesternand Mexican cultures. Somewhat ahead of histime, in 1955 Ferdon published a study of themany architectural parallels between prehistoricMexico and the American Southwest (Ferdon1955). He compared rectilinear, contiguous-roomed buildings constructed on the groundsurface with subterranean houses, and con-trasted the Mexican tendency to orient build-ings in the cardinal directions with the Puebloanpractice of haphazard layout and room size. Hediscussed presumed religious structures, espe-cially kivas, ball courts, and large platformmounds. He pointed out that in the U.S. South-west cremation had been the most commonmeans of disposal of the dead, but inhumationappeared acceptable as an alternate method. Hemade pottery comparisons, noting the introduc-tion of Gila Polychrome.

Points of similarity also existed with agricul-tural practices, especially irrigation. Hohokamwater management systems reached dramaticproportions both in the size of main canals andthe extent of land under irrigation. Ferdonconcluded that “all factors point to the invasion,not necessarily by force of arms, of the Hoho-kam by a people of alien culture” during theClassic Period (ibid:27). Ferdon believed thatPuebloan peoples from Mexico were likelyinvaders, but they lived side-by-side with theHohokam for around one hundred and fiftyyears, keeping their identity separate. This is anexceedingly rare phenomenon in the history ofcultural contacts. Ferdon noted also that therewas little evidence of linguistic differences, or ofthe production by the Hohokam of Mexi-can-like arts and crafts. Ferdon speculated on

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the several ways that foreign traits could havecome to the American Southwest. For instance,trading groups could have invaded from Mexico.Alternately, after the fall of Tula II in A.D. 68according to Eric Thompson’s Scheme B (EricThompson 1941:103 cited by Ferdon 1955:23)the exodus of “various governmental and mili-tary leaders from their homeland” (ibid:30)could have accounted for the proposed invasion.Ferdon concluded that it seemed reasonablycertain that “Mexican architectural influencesare present in the prehistoric cultures of theSouthwest” (ibid:31). Ferdon pointed out thatthere had been little in the way of up-to-datearchaeological explorations upon which to basecomparisons, and that the source, time, andmethod of intrusion from Mexico into theSouthwest could be better determined only aftera sustained study of the area between the Valleyof Mexico and the Southwest had been under-taken.

Twelve years later Ferdon continued toquestion conventional wisdom and search foralternative answers to cultural questions. In“The Hohokam ‘Ball Court’: An Alternate Viewof its Function” he showed that Pimian speakingpeoples, the apparent descendants of the Hoho-kam, utilized structures similar to the supposedHohokam ball courts as ceremonial dancecourts. This might reflect similar use of analo-gous structures for dance ceremonies by theHohokam, an alternative interpretation to theball game introduced from Mexico (Ferdon1967:9-11).

In Southwestern and Mexican archaeology,ethnography, and geology, as in the field ofEcuadorian studies, Ferdon used the bookreview format to express his critical opinions.He appears to have agreed with Alberto RuzLhuillier and Jorge Acosta that the site of Tulade Hidalgo was the real Toltec center, not Teo-tihuacan (Ferdon 1945d). Mazapán pottery,typical of the earliest levels of Tula, also appears

in late Teotihuacan contexts and links the twosites. In the 1970s Tula was excavated by a teamfrom the University of Missouri who demon-strated that the site was indeed the ancientToltec center (Diehl 1974; Healan 1988).

In his review of Design Motifs of AncientMexico by Jorge Enciso (Ferdon 1954b), Ferdonpoints out that only a few paragraphs are de-voted to the subject of designs on stamps. Theseare sufficient for the person primarily interestedin design as such and only casually interested inthe history of motifs, or the functions of theobjects that carried them. Because most of thestamps known up to this point were in privatecollections, they lacked detailed proveniences.Ferdon discerned that a serpent design illus-trated in Enciso’s book is almost identical to onefrom Esmeraldas Province Ecuador that was inthe Konanz collection (ibid:277).

Even at 82 Ferdon could not refrain fromquestioning “long held and tacitly unprovenconcepts” (Ferdon 1995:11). As part of anintroduction to a volume on the GrandChichimeca he reviewed the history of hisinvolvement in Southwestern archaeology. Hestated that his 1955 paper on Mexican-South-western architectural parallels “seemed to haveserved as an opening to legitimize . . . the intro-duction of much needed research to ascertainthe nature and degree of possible influence ofprehistoric Mexican cultures upon the ancientpeoples of the American Southwest” (ibid:8). Hereiterated his belief that “some form of directperson-to-person contact between prehistoricMexican peoples to the south and those ofsouthwestern cultures to the north had takenplace” (ibid:9) a position that ran "into a nearsolid wall of stolidly accepted traditional theory"(ibid:10) that southwestern cultures had devel-oped independent of influential contact fromMexico (ibid), “a dictum that had been ex-pressed back in 1945 by Emil Haury and wasstill alive and well” (ibid:11). He praised one of

23 - Lubensky: Edward Nelson Ferdon Jr.

his colleagues, Charles Di Peso, who, afterexcavating the great prehistoric site of CasasGrandes, Chihuahua, Mexico on the rim of thearea of potential contact between Mexico andthe American Southwest, published a report (DiPeso 1974) which revived interest in the Mex-ico-Southwest contact issue, making it “unques-tionably clear that a strong Mexican influencehad prevailed during the Casas Grandes prehis-toric past” (Ferdon 1995:11). Charles Di Peso,Ferdon asserted, was one of those “few creativesouls who are so strongly dedicated to advancingthe boundaries of knowledge that they arewilling to accept the professional risks involved”(ibid:12).

Ferdon could have been talking abouthimself. Only people with his courage andimagination combined with extensive practicalexperience in the survey and excavation ofSouthwestern, Mexican, Central American, andAndean sites, and a broad and deep knowledgeof archaeological literature were equipped to seethe similarities and differences in the archaeo-logical record of those regions. In the daysbefore jet travel and the internet distribution ofbooks, there were few such people.

SOUTH PACIFIC

The South Pacific phase of Ferdon’s lifebegan when he met Thor Heyerdahl in 1949(Ferdon 1998:110-112). Ferdon and Heyerdahlforged a close and life-long friendship. In 1953Heyerdahl invited Ed to take part in the 1953Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to theGalapagos, led by Heyerdahl with participationby Arne Skjölsvold, William Mulloy, CarlyleSmith, and Eric Reed, the latter of the U.S.National Park Service. Ed was taking graduatecourses at the University of Michigan at thetime, and so was unable to accept (ibid:115).This expedition led to confirmation that Ecua-dorian Indians reached the Galapagos in pre-columbian times although they did not establish

permanent settlements (Heyerdahl and Skjöls-vold 1956). The concept of transpacific contactswas a driving force for all of Heyerdahl’s SouthPacific expeditions. When Heyerdahl invitedFerdon to participate in the 1955-56 EasterIsland expedition Ed accepted, in spite of therequired absence from his family for manymonths (Ferdon 1998:118-121, 130). It was thegreat adventure of his life, cementing his inter-est in the South Pacific, the peopling of its manyislands, and the cultures of their inhabitants,past and present.

Ferdon thought long and hard about hiswork on the South Pacific. He was aware of thegreat value of ethnography to the study ofSouthwestern archaeology. However, duringEd’s lifetime Southwestern specialists recognizedthat there have been four hundred years ofchange from the Spanish contact to the present.It became clear that it was an error to combineall the facts from that four hundred year periodto create a generic picture of Southwesternpeople for use as an ethnographic analogy.However, this was exactly what Pacific scholarswere still doing. Ed recognized that this ap-proach was just as much a problem for Oceaniaas it had been for the Southwest. He addressedthe issue by producing four books on contactperiod ethnography of the four major Polynesiancenters. Realizing that acculturation had pro-ceeded very rapidly once Western ships began tovisit the islands, Ed drew his ethnographicsyntheses only on the basis of the earliest Euro-pean accounts. His visits to the Pacific islandsfamiliarized him with the current situationthere, as well as with the details of their geogra-phy, but did not include any new ethnographicresearch.

Ferdon’s Easter Island archaeological reportsare cited frequently. His most extensive excava-tions were at the ceremonial site of Orongo. Atall the sites he excavated his concentrationseems to have been on their structures (Ferdon

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1961a, 1961b, 1961c, 1961d, 1961e, 1961f,1961g, 1965a 1965b, 1965c). He analyzed theirarchitecture in detail and described associatedsculpture, pictographs, painting, and motifs. Henoted bird motifs, the use of dance paddlesdecorated with a stylized face with the weepingeye motif, and depiction of several styles ofboats. Ferdon spoke of the worship of two gods,Makemake and Haua, depicted in architecturaldesigns, and their roles in the bird cults of EasterIsland.

Ferdon’s excavation at Orongo caused himto ponder the massive fires that once burned atthe pan-island ceremonial center. It seemedclear that fire was closely associated with ritualon this eastern outpost of Polynesia. The nativecustom of welcoming approaching visitors withbonfires was observed by various Europeanexplorers to New Zealand, the Chatham Islands,the Cook Islands, and other places in the Pa-cific. It had been thought to be a warning toother islanders of the arrival of foreigners.However, Ferdon concluded, after careful studyof the accounts, that the fires must have been“designed to abrogate what appeared to bepotential danger,” being “some form of ritualisticprotection” (Ferdon 1986:472); in other words,a way of putting aside their fear about the ap-proach of foreigners. Ferdon lamented that theuse of such ceremonial fires declined in lateryears and disappeared by 1830, “well before thefull significance of their various manifestationscould be studied at first hand” (ibid).

In his summary of Easter Island house types,Ferdon described in detail the structure anddesign of the boat-shaped thatch houses whichhe likened to overturned canoes (Ferdon1961e:333). He speculated on the origin andrationale of this unique design. Later Ferdonformulated the idea that the design may havebeen inspired by the unique superstructure, sails,and rigging on ancient double canoes from theTuamotu Islands, which Ferdon believed to

have been the original home of at least onegroup of Polynesians to settle on Easter Islandsometime in the distant past (Ferdon 1981c:3).

Significant, especially for Andeanists, isFerdon's comparison of Easter Island culturetraits, as determined from excavations, with thepossible origin, or origins, of those traits (Ferdon1961b:255). “We can no longer limit ourselvesto a search of other Polynesian islands for thedirection, or directions, from which culturalstimuli and trait migration came. . . The voyageof the Kon-Tiki raft and finding of Peruvian[and Ecuadorian] sherds on the GalapagosIslands have clearly opened up the westernregions of the New World as a possible source ofPolynesian objects, ideas, and people” (Ferdon1961g:533). Ferdon admitted that there is asubstantial group of traits and complexes in theEaster Island culture which have wide distribu-tion in Polynesia, but “archaeological excava-tions in Polynesia have not advanced efficientlyas yet to determine when and from which islandthese traits came” (ibid). There are some traits,however, that are not characteristic of Polyne-sia, or are completely absent there but appear onEaster Island. On the other hand, there areapparent counterparts to some Easter Islandtraits on the western mainland of South Amer-ica. Though not many, they are “sufficient innumber to make it difficult to reason that theyare all the result of separate, independent inven-tions” (Ferdon 1961g:533) and the “apparentAmerican parallels should be noted and theirpossible evidence of diffusion to Easter Islandseriously considered” (ibid). These include theprepared plaza with ceremonial structures ontwo or more sides, precisely fitted stone struc-tures, the corbel-vaulted roof, solar observationdevices, the bird-man cult, cremations, reedwater-crafts, the weeping eye motif, ear spools,and the sweet potato.

Ferdon argued that taro, a common Polyne-sian root crop, was the dominant precolumbian

25 - Lubensky: Edward Nelson Ferdon Jr.

domesticate of northern New Zealand. Somescholars believed that there had been aprecolumbian introduction of the sweet potatofrom South America into that area (Ferdon1988a; O’Brien 1972). Ferdon analyzed thehistory, biology, and cultural usages of both thetaro and the sweet potato, concluding that,without doubt, the sweet potato was apostcolumbian introduction to New Zealand“but then adapted to the New Zealand environ-ment by applying the field and storage tech-niques already developed by the Maori for taro”(Ferdon 1988a:1).

In addition to his article on Easter Islandhouse types (Ferdon 1961a, 1961e), Ferdonpublished “Notes on Present-Day Easter Island-ers” (1957), then a report on Easter Islandexchange systems (1958b), one on Orongo “SunStones” (1988b), and another on stone chickencoops (2000). These articles recorded his ethno-logical observations.

After finishing their work on Easter lsland,Heyerdahl and his team went west to PitcairnIsland, to Rapa Iti in the Morotiri Group, toTahiti in the Society lslands, to Raiatea, andthen to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas (Heyerdahl1958:360). These visits provided Ferdon withinspiration for other studies about the settle-ment, migrations, and the peoples of the Pacific.

Ferdon wrote an article on the status of thedescendants of the Bounty mutineers whohelped settle Pitcairn Island (1958c). Of greatinterest to Ferdon was the biological mixing ofthe original Pitcairn settlers, nine British sailorswho had left their fellow seamen in Tahiti, sixTahitian men, and eleven Tahitian women.

Ferdon published a paper on PolynesianOrigins (Ferdon 1963), subsequently reprinted.In 1949 Ferdon had attended the XXIX Interna-tional Congress of Americanists in New YorkCity. Two presentations made there had a kind

of shock value for him. The first was W.F.Libby’s exposition of the radiocarbon datingmethod (Stubbs and Ferdon 1949:293). Thesecond was Gordon Ekholm’s exhibit emphasiz-ing similarities in objects and art forms fromAmerican Indian, Pacific Island, and southeastAsian cultures. Ferdon thought this formidablearray of material substantiated “the thesis ofpsychic unity of mankind” (ibid:294). OnceFerdon became involved in South Pacific ar-chaeology he was able to apply his extensiveknowledge of ancient New World cultures tothe problem of transpacific migrations andcontacts. In all his work in the South Pacific hesearched for evidence related to Heyerdahl’sbelief that Indians traveled from South Americain their own vessels and settled in the islands ofthe Pacific. A cautious diffusionist, Ferdonconcluded that he saw no solid evidence thatAmerican Indians first settled Polynesia. How-ever, he accepted the possibility that AmericanIndians may have made exploratory contacts inthe Pacific. He demonstrated through an analy-sis of wind, wave, and current patterns that thesettlement and cultural development of theislands of the Pacific most likely involved amelange of successive influences with settle-ments succeeding or dying out, and with peopleconstantly and repeatedly moving from and toall parts of the Pacific, including the west coastof South America. He argued that Polynesiansdid not have a single origin point.

Ferdon’s general synthetic books on SouthPacific islands and island groups include EarlyTahiti as the Explorers Saw It, 1767-1797, (Fer-don 1981b) and Early Tonga as the Explorers SawIt, 1615-1810 (Ferdon 1987). Ferdon alsoprepared an article on Tahiti for the Encyclope-dia of World Cultures (Ferdon 1991).

Ferdon had the opportunity in 1990 torevisit the Marquesas as guest lecturer on theWind Star cruise ship. These visits plus therecorded observations of two men, William

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Pascoe Crook11 and Edward Robarts12 providedFerdon with the basis for his book on EarlyObservations of Marquesan Culture, 1595-1813,(Ferdon 1993b). At the time of his death,Ferdon was at work on a book about earlyHawaii.

CONCLUSION

Ed Ferdon was able to see a broad picture,while still controlling small details. In his article“Why Archaeology?” he wrote that it shouldmake us humble to realize “that we alone havenot built the world around us” (Ferdon1947a:18). He strove to show that archaeologybrings “knowledge and ways of life of thosepeople in the dim past who had much to offer,but never quite got around to learning how toput it down in writing” (ibid). It’s no smallaccomplishment to do this for one part of theworld, or one period of time. However, Ferdon,during the course of his long life, acquiredexpertise in the geography and ancient andcontemporary cultures of several major regions.He expanded our archaeological knowledge ofEcuador, Mexico, the U.S. Southwest and theSouth Pacific. He was an astute, even a pre-scient critic, and an accomplished synthesizer.He was also a very engaging man who is missedby many friends, colleagues, and family mem-bers, including Amanda Ferdon, James Warren,and David Warren, his three grandchildren andhis great grandchild Lily Petterson, who hon-

ored him by establishing the Edwin N. FerdonScholarship Fund at the University of Arizona.He is buried in the East Lawn Palms Cemetery,Tucson (Anonymous 2002).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful for the assistance of Raymond H. Thompson,Emeritus Director of the Arizona State Museum who wasEd Ferdon’s colleague during his Arizona years andinfluenced him greatly. I also appreciate the help of Vearland Julie Ferdon and Henning Bischof. Johanna Eubankof the Arizona Daily Star helped to track down a reference.

References Cited

Note: This bibliography includes as many publications byEdwin Nelson Ferdon, Jr. as the author was able toidentify. It also includes obituaries of Ferdon. Works notcited in this paper are indicated by an asterisk (*).

Printed sources

Anonymous1939 School to Inaugurate Ecuador Work. El Palacio

46(9):219.1940 Ferdon Arrives in Ecuador. El Palacio 47(1):17.1945 Ferdon’s Work in Ecuador. El Palacio 52(6):127-

128.2002 Edwin Nelson Ferdon, 89. Honolulu Daily Adver-

tiser, 26 November 2002.http://w2.byuh.edu/library/Obituaries/2002/F.htm (consulted 22 August 2006).

2003 Funeral Notices. Arizona Daily Star, November16, 2003, Final Edition, Tucson/ Region Section,p. B4.

Astudillo de Parra, Lucia1992 A “Museum Viking” in Ecuador. Museum 173,

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Its Implications for Settlement Patterns. In Menand Cultures, edited by Anthony F. C. Wallace,pp. 229-234. Philadelphia: University of Penn-sylvania Press.

1961 Slash-and-Burn Cultivation among the Kuikuruand Its Implications for Cultural Development inthe Amazon Basin. In The Evolution of Horti-cultural Systems in Native South America: Causes

11 William Pascoe Crook (1775-1846) was a Congrega-tional missionary and schoolmaster. He took up residencein the Marquesas in June 1797 and remained there until1799. He and the Reverend Samuel Greatheed compileda dictionary of a Polynesian language and an account ofthe Marquesas. In 1803 he rejoined the South Seasmission, working in Australia, where he established aschool, and in Tahiti.

12 Englishman Edward Robarts deserted his post as cookon a whaling ship and lived in the Marquesas. He pub-lished an account of his time there (1798-1806) (Robarts1974).

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and Consequences; a Symposium, edited by Jo-hannes Wilbert, pp. 47-67. Antropológica, Supple-mento Publicación 2, Sociedad de Ciencias Na-turales La Salle (Caracas, Venezuela).

1979 Factors Favoring the Development of PoliticalLeadership in Amazonia. El Dorado 4:86-94(Greeley, Colorado).

1987 Further Reflections on Resource Concentrationand its Role in the Rise of the State. In Studies inthe Neolithic and Urban Revolutions: The V. Gor-don Childe Colloquium, edited by Linda Man-zanilla, pp. 245-260. Oxford: BAR InternationalSeries 349.

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Site in the Valley of Cusco, Peru, and Implicationsfor South Highland Socioeconomic Interaction.Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania,Philadelphia.

2005 Alfred Kidder II in the Development of Ameri-can Archaeology: A Biographical and Contex-tual View. Andean Past 7:251-309.

Cubillos, Julio César1955 Tumaco: Notas arqueológicas. Bogotá: Editorial

Minerva.Dart, Allen2002* Ed Ferdon. Glyphs: The Monthly Newsletter of the

Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society. AnAffiliate of the Arizona State Museum, University ofArizona 53(6):7.

Denevan, William1966 The Aboriginal Cultural Geography of the Llanos de

Mojos of Bolivia. Berkeley: University of Califor-nia Press.

Diehl, Richard A., editor 1974 Studies of Ancient Tollan: A Report of the Univer-

sity of Missouri Tula Archaeological Project. Co-lumbia: University of Missouri-Columbia, De-partment of Anthropology.

Di Peso, Charles1974 Casas Grandes: A Fallen Trading Center of the

Grand Chichimeca, Volume 1. Flagstaff, Arizona:Northland Press.

Ferdon, Constance1940 Market Day at Otavalo, Ecuador. El Palacio

47(8):165-171.Ferdon, Edwin Nelson, Jr.1938 A Peruvian Highland Trail. El Palacio 44(16-

18):111-130.1939-43 Monthly Reports of the School of American

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1940a The Archaeological Survey of Ecuador. El Pala-cio 47(6):137-144.

1940b Investigación arqueológica en el Ecuador. Boletínde la Academia Nacional de Historia 19(55):103-108 (a translation of Ferdon 1940a).

1940c Reconnaissance in Esmeraldas (Part 1). El Pala-cio 47(12):257-272. (Reprinted, with minorrevisions, as Exploration in Esmeraldas Basin,Taken from an Extract from Ferdon’s MonthlyReports of the School of American Research,Archaeological Survey of Ecuador, Numbers 8,9, 10, & 11, July, August, September, October1940, pages 1-9. Appendix 1(1). Thirty-fourthAnnual Report of the Schools of American Researchof the Archaeological Institute of America 33-34(1941). (Santa Fe, New Mexico).

1941a Reconnaissance in Esmeraldas Concluded fromthe December Number. El Palacio 48(1):7-15.(Taken from an extract from Ferdon’s MonthlyReports Numbers 8, 9, 10, & 11, July, August,September, October 1940, of the School ofAmerican Research, Archaeological Survey ofEcuador, pp. 9-15. (Santa Fe, New Mexico).

1941b Exploration in Esmeraldas Basin. Thirty-fourthAnnual Report of The School of American Researchof the Archaeological Institute of America, pp. 33-35. (Santa Fe, New Mexico).

1941c Exploration in the Guayas Basin. (Taken from anextract from Ferdon’s Monthly Report of theSchool of American Research, ArchaeologicalSurvey of Ecuador, Number 22, September1941.) Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the Schoolof American Research of the Archaeological Instituteof America, pp. 38-41 (Santa Fe, New Mexico).

1941d The Excavation at La Libertad. El Palacio48(2):38-42. (Reprinted in Thirty-fourth AnnualReport of the Schools of American Research of theArchaeological Institute of America, Minutes of theAnnual Meeting 1941, Appendix 1(2):35-38, 40-42. (Santa Fe, New Mexico).

1941e Exploration in the Guayas Basin. (Taken from anextract from Ferdon’s Monthly Report of theSchool of American Research, AnthropologicalSurvey of Ecuador. Number 22, September,1941. Appendix 1, III. Thirty-fourth AnnualReport of the School of American Research of theArchaeological Institute of America: Minutes of theAnnual Meeting, pp. 38-41. (Santa Fe: NewMexico).

1941g Preliminary Notes on Artifacts from La Libertad,Ecuador. El Palacio 48(9):204-210.

1942a The Work in South America. Thirty-fifth AnnualReport of the School of American Research of theArchaeological Institute of America: Minutes of theAnnual Meeting, pp. 20-25. (Santa Fe, NewMexico).

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1942b Excavaciones arqueológicas cerca de La Liber-tad, Provincia del Guayas. Boletín de la AcademiaNacional de Historia 22(59):77-81 (A translationof Ferdon 1941d).

1942c Year 1942 Summary Report of the School ofAmerican Research Archaeological Survey ofEcuador. On file in the archives of Andean Past.

1945a The Ecuadorian Research Project. Thirty-eighthAnnual Report of the School of American Researchof the Archaeological Institute of America: Minutesof the Annual Meeting, pp. 12-17. ( Santa Fe, NewMexico).

1945b Characteristic Figurines from Esmeraldas. ElPalacio 52(11):221-245. (Reprinted in Papers ofthe School of American Research 40:1-25 (1945).(Santa Fe, New Mexico).

1945c A Mountain Colony in Ecuador. El Palacio52(7):129-137.

1945d Review of The Excavation of Ancient Tula inGuía Arqueológica de Tula by Alberto RuzLhuiller. El Palacio 52(7):145-147.

1946a An Excavation of Hermit’s Cave, New Mexico.Monographs of the School of American Re-search 10. (Santa Fe, New Mexico).

1946b* Millionth Map of Hispanic America Completed.El Palacio 53(4):90-92.

1947a Why Archaeology? El Palacio 54(1):16-18.1947b Jívaro Collection Arrives. El Palacio 54(1):22-

24.1947c Notes to Accompany a Present Day Ethnic Map

of Ecuador. El Palacio 54(7):155-169.1949 Survey of the Ruin of Tonalá, Chiapas, Mexico.

El Palacio 56(8):227-229.1950a Studies in Ecuadorian Geography. Monographs of

the School of American Research 15 ( Santa Fe,New Mexico).

1950b Review of The Awakening Valley by John Collier,Jr. and Anibal Buitrón. El Palacio 57(4):121-123.

1951a The Granite Ruin of Tonalá. Archaeology4(2):83-88.

1951b* Article on Photographic Methods Recom-mended for Archaeologists. El Palacio 58(3):96.

1952a Exploring Ecuador’s Rio Upano, El Palacio59(8):223-250.

1952b Treasure Hunt at Abo and Quarai. El Palacio59(9):288-290.

1952c* Review of Landscape: Human Geography of theSouthwest, edited by J[ohn] B[rinkerhoff] Jack-son, 1(1-2; 1951). El Palacio 59(2):64-67.

1953a Tonalá, Mexico: An Archaeological Study. Mono-graph of the School of American Research 16.(Santa Fe, New Mexico).

1953b Review of The Archaeology of the Santa ElenaPeninsula in South-West Ecuador by GeoffreyH.S. Bushnell. American Antiquity 19(1):98-99.

1954a A Surface Jacal Site in the Chaco Basin. ElPalacio 61(2):35-42.

1954b Review of Design Motifs in Ancient Mexico byJorge Enciso. El Palacio 61(8):276-278.

1955 A Trial Survey of Mexican-Southwestern Architec-tural Parallels. Monograph of the School ofAmerican Research 21. (Santa Fe, New Mex-ico).

1956 Long–Long Ago and Today. El Palacio 63(11-12):324-331.

1957 Notes on Present-day Easter Islanders. SouthwestJournal of Anthropology 13(3):223-238.

1958a Review of Tumaco (Notas arqueológicas) by JulioCésar Cubillos. American Antiquity 23(3):327-328.

1958b Easter Island Exchange Systems. SouthwesternJournal of Anthropology 14(2):136-151.

1958c Pitcairn Island, 1956. Geographic Review 48(1):69-85.

1959 Agricultural Potential and the Development ofCultures. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology15(1):1-19. Reprinted in the Bobbs-MerrillReprint Series in the Social Sciences A-64(1960). Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.

1961a Easter Island House Types. El Palacio 68(1):28-46. Also in Heyerdahl and Ferdon 1961, Report13, pp. 329-336.

1961b The Ceremonial site of Orongo. In Heyerdahland Ferdon 1961, Report 3, pp. 221-255.

1961c Sites E-4 and E-5. In Heyerdahl and. Ferdon1961, Report 10, pp. 305-311.

1961d Stone Houses in the Terraces of Site E-21. InHeyerdahl and Ferdon 1961, Report 11, pp.313-321.

1961e Easter Island House Types. In Heyerdahl andFerdon 1961, Report 13, pp. 329-336.

1961f Site E-6, and Easter Island Hare Moa. In Heyer-dahl Ferdon 1961 Report 15, pp. 381-383. (San-ta Fe, New Mexico).

1961g A Summary of the Excavated Record of EasterIsland Prehistory. In Heyerdahl and Ferdon1961, pp. 527-535.

1963 Polynesian Origins. Science 141:499-505. Re-printed in New Roads to Yesterday: Essays inArchaeology; Articles from Science, edited byJoseph R. Caldwell, pp. 231-246 (1966). NewYork: Basic Books. Also reprinted in Peoples andCultures of the Pacific: An Anthropological Reader,edited by Andrew P. Vayda, pp. 95-111 (1968).Garden City, New Jersey: Natural History Press.

1965a A Reconnaissance Survey of Three FortifiedHilltop Sites. In Thor Heyerdahl and Ferdon1965, Report 2, pp. 9-21.

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1965b A Summary of Rapa Iti Fortified Villages. InHeyerdahl and Ferdon 1965, Report 4, pp. 69-75.

1965c Surface Architecture of the Site of Paeke, TaipiValley, Nukuhiva. In Heyerdahl and. Ferdon1965, Report 9, pp. 117-122.

1966a* One Man’s Log. London: Allen and Unwin.1966b The Prehistoric Culture of Ecuador, a review of

Early Formative Period of Coastal Ecuador: TheValdivia and Machalilla Phases by Betty J. Meg-gers, Clifford Evans, and Emilio Estrada. Science152:1731-1732.

1966c* Our Cultural Heritage and Arizona Highways.Tucson: Arizona State Museum.

1967 The Hohokam “Ball Court”: An AlternativeView of Its Function. Kiva 33(1):1-14.

1978 Thor Heyerdahl and the Polynesian Question.Research in Norway 1978:59-64. (Oslo: Forsk-ningsnytt).

1981a Holocene Mangrove Formations on the SantaElena Peninsula, Ecuador: Pluvial Indicators orEcological Response to Physiographic Changes?American Antiquity 46(3):619-626.

1981b Early Tahiti as the Explorers Saw It, 1767-1797.Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

1981c A Possible Origin of the Easter Island Boat-shaped House. Asian Perspectives 22(1):1-8.

1984* In the Shelter of Caves: Caves as Human Habita-tions: Their Nature and Importance to Archaeolo-gists. Tucson: Arizona State Museum.

1986 Ethnohistoric Evidence for the Use of Ritual Fireas a Protective Mechanism in Polynesia. Journalof the Polynesian Society 95(4):468-474.

1987 Early Tonga as the Explorers Saw it, 1615-1810.Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

1988a A Case for Taro Preceding Kumara as the Domi-nant Domesticate in Ancient New Zealand.Journal of Ethnobiology 8(1):1-5.

1988b In Defense of Orongo “Sun Stones”. Journal ofthe Polynesian Society 97(1):73-77.

1991 Tahiti. In Encyclopedia of World Cultures, volume2, Oceania, edited by Terence E. Hays, pp. 305-307. Boston: G.K. Hall.

1993a Introduction: Edgar L. Hewett: The Nature ofthe Man. In Ancient Communities in the AmericanDesert by Edgar L. Hewett, edited by Albert H.Schroeder, pp. 11-19. Monograph Series 1.Albuquerque: Archaeological Society of NewMexico.

1993b Early Observations of Marquesan Culture, 1595-1813. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

1995 The Early Setting. In The Grand Chichimeca:Essays on the Archaeology and Ethnohistory ofNorthern Mesoamerica, edited by Jonathan E.Reyman, pp. 8-12. Worldwide ArchaeologySeries 12. Aldershot, England: Avebury Press.

2000 Stone Chicken Coops on Easter Island. In Essaysin Honor of Arne Skjölsvold: Seventy-five Years,edited by Paul Wallin and Helene Martinsson-Wallin, pp. 37-43. The Kon-Tiki Museum Occa-sional Papers 5. Oslo: Kon-Tiki Museum Insti-tute for Pacific Archaeology and Culture His-tory.

Ferdon, Edwin Nelson, Jr. and John M. Corbett1941 Depósitos arqueológicos de la Tolita. Boletín de la

Academia Nacional de Historia 21(57):5-15.(Translation from English of report to the Ecua-dorian Department of Mines entitled Archaeo-logical Investigation of La Tolita [1941]).

Ferdon, Edwin Nelson, Jr. and Emma M. Cappeluzzo1966* A Double Duty Docent Program. Museum News

33(1):1-14.Ferdon, Edwin Nelson, Jr. and Erik K. Reed1950 A Pit-House Site near Belén, New Mexico. El

Palacio 57(2):40-41.Ferdon, Julie1998 Oral History Interview: Edwin Nelson Ferdon,

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Gifford, Clark A. and Elizabeth A. Morris1985 Digging for Credit: Early Archaeological Field

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1965 Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expeditionto Easter Island and the East Pacific, 1955-1956,volume 2, Miscellaneous Papers. Monographs ofthe School of American Research and the Kon-tiki Museum 24(2) (Santa Fe).

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Heyerdahl, Thor and Arne Skjölsvold1956 Archaeological Evidence of Pre-Spanish Visits to the

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1991 The Ferdon Collections of Prehistoric CeramicVessels and Sherds from Esmeraldas Province,Ecuador. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Mis-souri, Columbia.

1992a Update on Analysis of the Ferdon CeramicCollections from Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador.Paper presented at the Midwest Conference onAndean and Amazonian Archaeology andEthnohistory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, March 1, 1992. On file in thearchives of Andean Past.

1992b The Ferdon Prehistoric Ceramic Collectionsfrom Ecuador: An Exercise in Ceramic Classifi-cation and Analysis. Paper presented at theNortheast Conference on Andean and Amazo-nian Archaeology and Ethnohistory, ColgateUniversity, Hamilton, New York, November 11,1992. On file in the archives of Andean Past.

1993 The Ferdon Archaeological Site Survey inEcuador: An Exercise in Ceramic Classificationand Analysis. Paper presented at the 33rd AnnualMeeting of the Institute of Andean Studies,Berkeley, California, January 8, 1993. On file inthe archives of Andean Past.

1994 Color Classification System for Use with PARA-DOX and Designed for Ecuadorian Ceramics.Paper presented at the Twenty-Second AnnualMidwest Conference on Andean and Amazo-nian Archaeology and Ethnohistory, University

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Peckham, Stewart, Fred Wendorf, and Edwin N. Ferdon,Jr. 1956 Excavations Near Apache Creek, New Mexico.

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Edwin Nelson Ferdon (viewer’s left) and Al Ely (viewer’s right) on the trail from Cusco toAyacucho, 1935 (photograph courtesy of the School of American Research).