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No quarter of special status was given to any earthwork, no fertile, worthy, intellectual territory. Hungerford died in 1835. matter how sacred or strategic to tribal lands. It was a holocaust Although there was some controversy in the interim, the finding of an unprecedented nature, for it undermined the very morale of of the Smithsonian, based upon the more than half-a-million-dol- the native people who understood the peace of their ancestors to lar gift, took place officially in 1846. His legacy to the American be ruined. people was, in his own words, "for the increase and diffusion of Differing only in the professionalism somewhat absent from the knowledge". previous 70 years of ghoulish quests, Henry's mandate dictated Since that time, the museum's collections have increased con- emphasis on the creation of an inclusive system of excavation, siderably, with problems in the cataloguing and location of stored recording and description. Any analysis that followed had to be finds developing due to changing standards of administrations based upon this criterion. But competent analysis of anomalies over the last 150 years. By analogy, the Vatican's antique cache rarely (if ever) came from the Smithsonian and other institutions of confiscated, problematic treasures may pale in comparison to formally engaged in the practice of exhumation. Given this the Smithsonian's boatload of diffuse evidence. The pity of it is understanding, it is no wonder that the Smithsonian is believed by that Smithson's request has taken on a different mode of interpre- knowledgeable people to ; tation. Instead of diffus- be actively stymieing = ing knowledge, it has research that would pro- unwittingly become con- duce a more enlightened fused with the problem view of American pre- ~ of sprawling storage. history. “ There is, however, | Powell and Thomas some compensation for vi "Grave a, a stone this oversight in that the < sepulcher, 2% feet Smithsonian—like the f wide, 8 feet long, Peabody, and_ the Ps and 2 feet deep, was Carnegie shortly there- after—faithfully upheld Henry's mandate to detail, as was feasible, their mound "explo- rations". However, the present-day inaccessibil- ity of the bones and objects these people removed for future study is a reflection and symp- tom of the proposed "oversight". One thing that pleased us in this research effort was the fact that there were many skeletons of gigantic frame discov- ered and reported by the Smithsonian, boosting Sa the validity and value of P“——™ the old township diaries as well as the native leg- formed by placing steatite slabs on edge at the sides and ends, and others across the top. The bottom consisted simply of earth hardened by fire. It contained the remains of a single skeleton, lying on its back, with the head east. The frame was heavy and about seven feet long. The head rested on a thin cop- per plate ornament- ed with impressed figures..." 12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the ends. Some of these are er pe Eppa Pe Smithsonian Institution, presented below. ———S=aae 1890-1891 (published in Plat of the Etowah Group, Bartow County, Georgia. Grave A (found in the 1894) (Cyrus Thomas's A Brief History of largest mound of the group) contained a seven-foot skeleton of a heavy frame. investigations of the Museum Etowah) Tha Gate rtha we ta Ves & ~*~ 4 uh o Plat of the Etowah Group, Bartow County, Georgia. Grave A (found in the largest mound of the group) contained a seven-foot skeleton of a heavy frame. A Brief History of largest mound of the group) contained the Museum The Smithsonian Institution, easily the world's largest museum complex, began from the generous gift of James Smithson, an English scientist, in 1829. Believed born illegitimate (especially in the eyes of his later detractors), Smithson was a "diligent young student", receiving a Master of Arts from Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1786. He became a distinguished scientist. The gentle man passed away in 1829, bequeathing his fortune to nephew James Henry Hungerford with the stipulation that if this man died without an heir, the remainder of the fortune would go to the United States. It seems he felt that the United States was the future of Britain. Perhaps Smithson saw the "New World" as In 1882, after some 36 years of growth and sound management, Smithsonian executive John Wesley Powell (of Grand Canyon exploration fame, 1869-1872), hired Cyrus Thomas. Powell wanted this man to head up the fieldwork for the Smithsonian's newly created Bureau of Ethnology, specifically the Eastern Mound Division. Thomas was a minister and an entomologist, whose broadened interests included archaeology. He was, in other words, a bible- advocating, insect-adept archaeologist who believed in the mys- tery of a lost race at the time of his being recruited. 52 = NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2003 www.nexusmagazi ne.com