2000 - 2300 words. Due Thursday December 15 by 3 pm. Worth 25% of final grade.

Hand in to me in Vari 2029, or to the Anthropology Department at Vari Hall 2054.

Questions may be addressed to me by email at arch@yorku.ca

Submission: The exam is due Thursday December 15 before 3 pm. Either hand it to me directly at Vari 2029 (I’ll be there from 1 pm to 3 pm), or to the Anthro Dept., Vari Hall 2054. • Email attachments will not be accepted. • Do not slide your assignment under a door. If the office is closed, use my secure drop box to the right of the Anthro Dept door at Vari 2054. • Late exams will be penalized 15% per day or part thereof, including weekends, unless a medical or counsellor’s note is provided. There can be no lenience with the late penalty.

General marking criteria include the clarity, thoughtfulness, and accuracy of your writing, the quality of your consultation of THIS course’s material, and your demonstrated comprehension of that material. You are expected to show understanding of the themes of the course, reasonable mastery of the content, and critical thinking.

Matters of form – such as correct answer format, spelling, clear and technically correct writing, proper referencing, and adherence to the length limit – will also be evaluated. Therefore, proofread your work carefully to ensure that there are no errors in spelling or grammar, and that your discussion unfolds logically and clearly. Check that you represented your sources accurately, and that you referenced fully. Give yourself adequate time to check and revise your work before submission… and to get it printed out in time. 

Consult the course readings and your notes. You are not being marked for general opinions, but for your understanding of the material covered in this course, and your ability to use it in answering these questions. You must refer to material covered in this course, and do so specifically and meaningfully.  Be specific in your allusions to course content (texts, lectures, tutorials), and fully reference your answer. You may examine some additional sources if you wish, but it is not necessary, and you are advised to keep further research minimal.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. You may of course speak to each other about the questions, but actual collaboration on your written answers will be noted as plagiarism and will not be tolerated. Obviously, the work submitted must be your own. Plagiarism will not be tolerated, whether intentional or unintentional. It is your responsibility to cite correctly. Citation and Bibliography. You must cite the sources of your information, and enclose words in quotation marks if they are taken from another author. For all information cited or quoted, you must include a full reference in the bibliography. You must follow the procedures for correct citations and bibliography which you learned in Writing Assignment #1. Review the course handout “Using Sources Correctly in Your Paper” and follow the instructions there. (You may also consult this site for information: http://www.yorku.ca/kdenning/+AllCourses/anthroref.htm )  For website citation, follow this format:      • Author's name if available – look for it!   •   Date of publication or update • Title or description of document  • Title of complete work in italics  •   Other relevant information (volume number, page numbers, etc.) •  ‘Retrieved on Nov xx, 2005’ •  Complete and correct URL for the web PAGE used, not just for the entire website.   To cite 3510 lecture notes, give the author (Denning), URL and the date.

Required Formatting.  Double space between lines. Use 11 pt or 12 pt font. Leave margins of at least 1 inch. Number your pages. (Handwritten numbers are fine.)  Staple your paper through one corner.

Your Exam Must Include

è Title page, with your name, student number, Prof's name, course number, word count (should be 2000 - 2300 words, not including bibliography), the date, and the number of pages.

è Question 1. Formal essay. Target length 1000 - 1150 words. Worth 50% of exam.

è Question 2. Case study analysis. Target length 1000 - 1150 words. Worth 50% of exam. Do ONE OF 2(a) or 2(b).  .

EXAM QUESTIONS

1. General Discussion of Indigenous Peoples and Archaeology

Required form: Formal essay – clear academic writing. Cite literature we have covered in the course. Target length: 1000 - 1150 words. Structure your essay clearly, with a thesis and conclusion.  Worth 50% of final exam mark.

QUESTION:  The Hughes and King books outlined how the processes of colonization have affected Indigenous peoples, and how Indigenous peoples are fighting back, i.e. counteracting those processes, through their own initiatives and through negotiations with governments and changes in law. Bearing that in mind, now consider the special case of archaeology. Archaeology had its roots in colonialism, and many of its practices have adversely affected Indigenous peoples, but now, archaeological principles and practices are changing. The processes of colonization are not being reversed — we cannot change the past — but their results are being counteracted through initiatives in the present. Your task: Briefly summarize archaeology’s colonialist past and the problems which resulted from it, and then discuss the efforts of Indigenous peoples and archaeologists to decolonize the discipline. Also consider this question: do you think archaeology can ever completely overcome its colonialist roots? Why or why not? In your answer, be concrete, citing specific examples wherever possible.

n.b. You may consider ‘archaeology’ in its broad form, including museums and physical anthropology.

2. Comments for a general audience about a case study

Required form: Informal essay – very clear prose for a general audience. You may write it as a dialogue if you wish. Cite literature we have covered in the course (include references for me, but do not assume that your audience will have read them). Target length: 1000 - 1150 words. Worth 50% of final exam mark.

Do only one of the following two options, (a) or (b).

a)  You are reading the news with a friend or family member. S/he draws an item to your attention:

“EBay skull confirmed as area American Indian remains” (Article #1 below). S/he is curious about the case, and since s/he knows that you have just been taking a course on Indigenous Peoples and Archaeology, s/he has many questions for you: What has happened, i.e. how did a Native skull end up on Ebay? Was it dug up from somewhere? Is this unusual?  Why couldn’t the doctor sell it on Ebay? How did they know who to send it to for reburial? Are they sure they sent it to the right people? Why is it being reburied?  Why are they making a fuss over it?  Why was it apparently okay to sell the skull on Ebay if it wasn’t Native, but illegal if it was Native? Answer these questions in an informal essay. For some of these answers, you will need to speculate a little (e.g. about how the skull ended up in the doctor’s hands in the first place); ensure that your speculations are grounded in cases that you already know from the course readings and discussions.

b) You are reading the news with a friend or family member. S/he draws an item to your attention:

“Peru prepares to sue Yale to get back Machu Picchu relics” (Article #2 below). S/he is curious about the case, and since s/he knows that you have just been taking a course on Indigenous Peoples and Archaeology, s/he has many questions for you: How did the artifacts from an Indigenous site in Peru end up at Yale in the first place? Why did Yale want them anyway? Why is Peru being so grumpy about getting them back? Why doesn’t Yale just give them back? Since Yale has been taking good care of them, wouldn’t it be best for them to keep them? Hasn’t it been good for Peru that these objects have been on display at Yale? Is this an isolated case or are there others like it?  Answer these questions in an informal essay.

BONUS (up to 5%): Write an original poem or create an original artwork about Indigenous peoples and archaeology.

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1) EBay skull confirmed as area American Indian remains

By Dan Reany

Lynchburg News & Advance

Thursday, December 1, 2005

After as many as 300 years on the road, it appears a local American Indian has finally come home.

Tests have confirmed that a skull for sale on eBay was that of an American Indian; the remains will now find a permanent resting place in Amherst County.

A New York doctor had listed the skull on eBay in February, noting in the description that it had two stickers on it - one listing the years 1671-1701, and another that said, “Roanoke, Va.” and included an undisclosed family name.

The doctor, who wishes to remain anonymous, didn’t realize the name on the skull, Suponi (or Saponi), wasn’t a family name, but the name of a local tribe. Owning or selling the remains of American Indians is a federal crime, so the doctor quickly sent the skull to Kenneth Branham, chief of the Monacan Indian tribe, which has an office in Monroe.

Branham immediately started making plans for the skull to be reburied at a secret site in Amherst County, but the first step after getting the skull in the mail was finding out whether or not it was really that of an American Indian.

Tests were recently conducted by Joanna Wilson, an archaeologist with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Richmond. They confirmed that the skull was American Indian.

Though the person’s identity will never be known, Wilson’s report on the skull does offer some insights.

She says the heavy brow ridge shows the skull came from a man.

The plates of the skull are well fused, so it was an old man who appears to have lost almost all of his teeth years before he died.

Bony growths in his ear canals indicate he may have been hard of hearing as well.

The old man would have spent most of his life in a village like the one that was recreated at Natural Bridge, never guessing that three centuries after he died, his skull would show up for sale on the World Wide Web.

“It’s kind of a two-edged sword there,” Branham says. “I’m glad we got it back, but it shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

The doctor who owned the skull says he had no idea it belonged to an American Indian, and that he simply got it from another doctor, a former mentor.

“I’m just glad it’s going to be where it belongs,” the doctor said in a telephone interview from his office. “That makes me feel much better than to find out later it was sold off and disappeared, and that someone was missing it. People donating a body is one thing; people stealing it is something else.”

Soon, the story of that American Indian’s life and death will have a peaceful ending. Branham says a traditional burial ceremony should take place by summer.

This story can be found at: http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA/MGArticle/LNA_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128768457658&path=

CITE THIS STORY IN YOUR ANSWER AS:

Reany, Dan. 2005. “EBay skull confirmed as area American Indian remains”.  Lynchburg News and Advance, 1 Dec 2005.

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2) Peru prepares to sue Yale to get back Machu Picchu relics

By Rick Vecchio, Associated Press Writer  |  November 30, 2005. Associated Press Writer Matt Apuzzo in New Haven, Conn., contributed to this report.

LIMA, Peru --Peru is preparing a lawsuit against Yale University to retrieve artifacts taken nearly a century ago from the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, a Peruvian cultural official said Wednesday.

Peru in recent years has held discussions with Yale seeking the return of nearly 5,000 artifacts, including ceramics and human bones that explorer Hiram Bingham dug up during three expeditions to Machu Picchu in 1911, 1912 and 1914.

"Yale considers the collection university property, given the amount of time it has been there," said Luis Guillermo Lumbreras, chief of Peru's National Institute of Culture, in an interview with The Associated Press.

"This is something we do not recognize because the pieces were legally granted in a temporary loan," he said. "That is the reason it will be necessary to air this in the courts and no longer simply on the level of diplomatic conversations."

Peru's Foreign Ministry was preparing the legal case and would likely present it in Connecticut state court, Lumbreras said, adding that it was not clear when the lawsuit would be filed.

Richard Burger, chairman and director of graduate studies at Yale's Council on Archaeological Studies, did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.

Tom Conroy, a spokesman for the university, said he was looking into Peru's assertion that the artifacts were only on loan but did not immediately have an answer.

Bingham's grandson, David Bingham of Salem, Conn., said he never heard of any promise to return the artifacts and said Yale has been a good caretaker.

"Yale has taken very good care of the stuff and it probably brought more visitors to Peru than almost any other thing because the exhibits at Yale are so famous," he said.

But Bingham said there's no reason Yale and Peru shouldn't be able compromise, assuming the country can guarantee the preservation of the artifacts. He said there are enough items to create displays in both places.

"There's enough interest where you could have a permanent exhibit in Peru, on loan from Yale, but there would be somebody who would be responsible for it," he said. "It seems to me there's certainly a place for that to happen. But it would be a disaster if a lot of stuff got shipped down there and wasn't properly cared for."

Lumbreras said former President Augusto B. Leguia gave Bingham "permission to temporarily export the objects for scientific ends," with the agreement that the artifacts would be returned after one year, and that the timeframe was later extended by 18 months.

"Theoretically, they should have been returned after Jan. 27, 1916," Lumbreras said. "The fact is, they weren't returned."

For decades, Peru did not pursue the matter, he said.

"It stayed that way for nearly 100 years," Lumbreras said. "The 100th anniversary of the scientific anniversary of Machu Picchu is coming. We believe it is time to return the collection."

The Incas ruled Peru from the 1430s until the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532, constructing incredible stone-block cities and roads and developing a highly organized society that extended from modern-day Colombia to Chile.

The reconstructed ruins at Machu Picchu, located on a craggy mountaintop above a lush valley about 310 miles southeast of Lima, are Peru's top tourist attraction.

Bingham, the first foreigner to reach Machu Picchu, had multiple theories about it: that it was perhaps a religious estate, inhabited mostly by women, or maybe a last Inca stronghold that was abandoned as the Spanish invaded. Or perhaps the Inca's city of origin.

Experts now say that Bingham was wrong on all counts. Machu Picchu was, in fact, a summer estate for royalty, a sort of Camp David for the Inca ruler Pachacuti, Yale's Burger told AP in 2003. About 600 people, mostly royalty and their servants, are believed to have lived there during the summer.

After his explorations, Bingham turned to politics. He served one day as Connecticut governor in 1925 before resigning to take a seat in Congress.

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CITE THIS STORY IN YOUR ANSWER AS:  Vecchio, Rick and Matt Apuzzo. 2005. “Peru prepares to sue Yale to get back Machu Picchu relics”. Associated Press story, 30 Nov 2005.