Nexus - 0505 - New Times Magazine-pages

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domestic and foreign, fell to near zero. My government job dis- | A NEW START, BUT THE SAGA CONTINUES appeared. My contract as an adjunct professor at one of the state Then things began to turn around. universities was subsequently dropped. And were my geological In 1993, Cremo and Thompson's book, Forbidden Archeology, colleagues avoiding me? was published. Eight years in the writing, it has a nice section on You couldn't blame them, really. In 1973 we geologists made a Hueyatlaco and my problems with it. startling announcement: we had found evidence for mammoth In 1994 I did a short segment for the Sightings TV program, hunters in Mexico 250,000 years ago. Seven years later, no sup- and in 1996 did a larger segment for the network special, The porting data were forth- Mysterious Origins of Man. coming. Where were the Va In 1997 I gave my first facts? Were the dates BI lecture on Hueyatlaco in wrong? Were we wrong? a over 20 years, did a bit of Why no information? My { fieldwork in Mexico and future as a professional sci- i examined the late Irwin- Williams' files. (Her critical Valsequillo materials have disappeared, as has most of my correspondence with her.) A wealthy philan- thropist became interested entist looked grim. I then submitted the manuscript to an acquain- tance of mine: geologist ae Steve Porter, editor of the “4 high-powered scientific od Scribed fragment of mastodon ‘pelvis, showing a four-tusked mastodon and other journal Quaternary animals. The bone was worked while it was still fresh. It was found in the 1950s, in the project and we sent Research. Steve was a weathering from Valsequillo sediments 50 metres north of what later would be the away material for more gem. He wrote that he did main excavation trenches at Hueyatlaco. radiometric dates. not care how controversial (Photo by D. Hiser; sketch by Armenta: Armenta estate collection) In July 1997, I "just hap- our findings were as long as we had the scientific data to back pened" to learn that primitive human skull fragments are coming them up. He sent the article out to other scientists for review. It to light in Valsequillo-like sediments west of Mexico City. was approved, accepted for publication and finally saw print in According to entrenched theory, those fragments can't be there. 1981.'° Establishment scientists are involved. They are trying to date the But it was too late. That 22,000-year date for all the fragments using the “C method. I told them to try the uranium- Valsequillo sites, including Hueyatlaco, had flooded the literature series method instead, and not to forget all the work we've already and was now set in concrete." done at Hueyatlaco. So there I was in 1981: stonewalled, jobless, no career, dam- In March 1998, in response to news about the well-documented aged reputation, mightily depressed. For 13 years I dropped out = Monte Verde site in Chile,'* establishment archaeologists at the of science completely. During that time, Armenta, Irwin- 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archeology Williams, Wormington and the jealous archaeologist died; Malde —_ admitted that humans just may have entered the New World earli- and Szabo retired; and I cared for elderly relatives and became a er than they thought—perhaps as long ago as...15,000 years! professional flower gardener. Things are getting interesting. Stay tuned in! oo Endnotes 7b. Irwin-Williams, C. (1969), "Comments on 16. Steen-Mclintyre, V. et al. (1981), op cit. 1. Szabo, B. J., H. E. Malde and C. Irwin- the associations of archaeological materials 17a. Lorenzo, J. L. (1978), "Early Man Williams (1969), "Dilemma posed by and extinct fauna in the Valsequillo region, Research in the American Hemisphere: uranium-series dates on archaeologically Puebla, Mexico", American Antiquity appraisal and perspectives", in Bryan, A. L. significant bones from Valsequillo, Puebla, 34(1):82-83. (ed.), Early Man in America from a Circum- Mexico", Earth and Planetary Science Letters 8. Szabo, B. J. et al. (1969), op. cit., p. 241. Pacific Perspective, Occasional Papers No. 1, 6(4):237-244. 9. Ibid. Department of Anthropology, University of 2. Steen-McIntyre, V., R. Fryxell and H. E. 10. Irwin-Williams, C. (1978), "Summary of Alberta, Arch. Res. Inst., Edmonton, Alberta, Malde (1981), "Geologic evidence for age of archaeological evidence from the Valsequillo — Canada, pp. 1-9 (fig. 1, p. 4). deposits at Hueyatlaco archeological site, region, Puebla, Mexico", in Browman, D. L. 17b. Canby, T. Y. (1979), "The Search for the Valsequillo, Mexico", Quaternary Research (ed.), Cultural Continuity in Mesoamerica, First Americans", National Geographic 16:1-17. _ Mouton, The Hague, Paris, pp. 7-22. 156(3):330-363, September 1979 (pp. 350, 3. Armenta Camacho, J. (1978), "Vestigiosde 11a. Steen-Mclntyre, V., R. Fryxell and H.E. 352, 354), labor humana en huesos de animales extintos Malde (1981), op. cit. 17c. Bryant Jr, V. M. (1992), "In Search of the de Valsequillo, Puebla, Mexico", Consejo 11b. Cornwall, |. W. (1971), "Geology and First Americans", 1993 Yearbook Gh Silane Editorial del Gobierno del Estado de Puebla, Early Man in Central Mexico", Proc. and the Future Encyclopaedia Brianne Puebla, Mexico, p. 11 (128 pp; published Geologists Assoc., Vol. 82, part 3, pp. 379- Inc., Chicago pp. 8-27 (pp. 19, 24) , privately). 392 (p. 388 and fig. 3), and cited references. 18 ” Meltzer. D J. (1997) "Monte Verde and 4. Lorenzo, J. L. (1967), "Sobre Métodos 12. Steen-Mclntyre et al. (1981), op. cit., the Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas" Arqueolégicos", Boletin del Instituto Nacional _ table 2. , ‘ [Allis CUTS AtMelite 9 ear : y . Science 276:754-755, and references. de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico City, 13. Szabo, B. J. et al. (1969), op. cit., p. 241. , Junio 1967, pp. 48-51. 14. Cremo, M. A. and R. L. Thompson, 5. Irwin-Williams, C. (1967), "Comments on _ Forbidden Archeology, Bhaktivedanta About the Author Allegations by J. L. Lorenzo Concerning Institute, Govardhan Hill Publishing (PO Box _—_ Dr Virginia Steen-McIntyre is a geologist who Archaeological Research at Valsequillo, 52-211, Badger, CA 93603 USA), 1993, p. specialises in the study of volcanic ash layers, Puebla", Miscellaneous Publications, 366 (914 pp); condensed edition: The especially those used to date ancient Paleoindian Institute, Eastern New Mexico Hidden History of the Human Race, 1994 archaeologic sites. At present she is not University, Portales, NM, USA, p. 2 (7 pp.). (322 pp.). gainfully employed. She and her husband 6. Armenta Camacho (1978), op. cit.,p.120. 15. Irwin-Williams, C. (1978), ibid., pp. 18- live in a small mountain community west of 7a. Irwin-Williams, C. (1967), op. cit. 20. Denver, Colorado. NEXUS - 59 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1998