In this issue, we explore the Americas with features that reflect the changes in archaeology and anthropology from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Christine Ward discusses Chacoan-era archaeology in southeastern Utah and how it benefits from an expand‑ ed perspective of Ancestral Puebloans through regional focus, landscape archaeology, and comparative sites. William Wierzbowski brings to the fore the life of a young Cheyenne man, Carl Matches, who in the 1870s recorded his experiences in a sketchbook that is held in our archives. Matches’s sketchbook documents the vulnerable point in native North America when indigenous peoples had to “embody the dual worlds that Native Americans would be required to live in from this time forward.” Robert W. Prequel, Lucy F. Williams, Stacey O. Espenlaub, and Janet Monge bring us up to date on UPI’s recent work with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). And Julia A. Hendon investigates figurine-whistles from Maya Honduras, giving us new insight into the deeper symbolic and social underpinning of a cultural art form.
We also have a special feature on Iraq: Brian Peasnall and Mitchell Rothman excavate our archives for the invaluable notes and records from the Museum’s past expedition to ancient Mesopotamia’s Tepe Gawra. Looking at old records, with new eyes and more sophisticated theory and method decades later, they offer us more information about one of Iraq’s earliest towns.
In these pages, Expedition also continues to reflect the diversity of our Museum’s rich voices. Enjoy exploring with our experts such themes as ancient warfare through experimental archaeology; meet Donald White, our chief curator of the Mediterranean section; view museum happenings; enjoy reviews of archaeological and anthropological books and him; and learn about the recently acquired, beautiful beaded bags from Choctaw artist Jerry Ingram.
Wishing you all joyous winter holidays!
Beebe Babrami, Ph.D.
Editor