Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition
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The Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition occurred between 1886 and 1894 in the
American Southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...
. Sponsored by
Mary Tileston Hemenway Mary Porter Tileston Hemenway (1820 – 6 March 1894) was an American philanthropist. She sponsored the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition (1886-1894), the first of its kind to the American Southwest. She also initiated a variety of ...
, a wealthy widow and philanthropist, the expedition was initially led by Frank Hamilton Cushing, who was replaced in 1889 by Jesse Walter Fewkes. It was considered to be a major scientific archaeological expedition, notable for the discovery of the prehistoric
Hohokam Hohokam () was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 AD, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BC. Archaeologists disagree about ...
culture. The expeditionary records held by Cushing were in storage until 1930.
Emil Haury Emil Walter "Doc" Haury (May 2, 1904 in Newton, Kansas – December 5, 1992 in Tucson, Arizona) was an influential archaeologist who specialized in the archaeology of the American Southwest. He is most famous for his work at Snaketown, a Hohokam ...
, a
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
student, was the first to study these, and he published a
monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monogra ...
on
Pueblo de Los Muertos Pueblo de Los Muertos ("City of the Dead") is a historical ruin in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is located approximately west of Chandler. The large Hohokam settlement was situated within the southern Salado valley. Geography Los Muertos is s ...
in 1945. The site had been investigated in detail by the Hemenway Expedition and dated to the
Hohokam culture Hohokam () was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 AD, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BC. Archaeologists disagree about ...
.


Background

Mary Tileston Hemenway Mary Porter Tileston Hemenway (1820 – 6 March 1894) was an American philanthropist. She sponsored the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition (1886-1894), the first of its kind to the American Southwest. She also initiated a variety of ...
was a wealthy widow and philanthropist in New England who was impressed with Frank Hamilton Cushing's anthropological work studying the Zuni Indians in northwestern New Mexico and his enthusiasm for further investigations. Her ambition was to establish a private museum in
Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the ...
based on archaeological finds, to be known as the Pueblo Museum, for the study of American Indians. For this purpose she collaborated with Cushing to establish an expedition team with a board of directors to manage the operations. Cushing said that his ambition for the expedition was: “a rock of ages ... the foundation of something good and great for archeology and the sciences of humanity”. The expedition's agenda was to conduct archaeological and anthropological investigations in Fort Wingate,
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...
and the Salt River Valley, near
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
.


Personnel

* Cushing, the expedition's director, brought along his wife, Emily, and her sister, Margaret Magill, as artist. * Frederick Webb Hodge was working as an executive assistant at the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...
. Magill and Hodge fell in love and married in 1891. * Sylvester Baxter, journalist and editor of the ''
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'', served as the expedition's secretary-treasurer. *
Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier (August 6, 1840March 18, 1914) was a Swiss-born American archaeologist who particularly explored the indigenous cultures of the American Southwest, Mexico, and South America. He immigrated to the United States wit ...
was a historian. * Herman Frederik Carel ten Kate served as the physical anthropologist. * Jesse Walter Fewkes, ethnologist who was chosen in 1889 to succeed Cushing as expedition leader. * Charles A. Garlick, a former topographer with the
U.S. Geographical Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
, served as the field manager. * Dr. Jacob Lawson Wortman, of the Army Medical Museum, was to preserve any finds of skeletal remains. * Army surgeon Washington Matthews took care of the medical needs of the team.


Expedition

The expedition began in December 1886, departing from
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,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. It was the first of its kind undertaken in the American Southwest. The expedition's main base, Camp Hemenway, was located in
Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...
. It established at least two other bases: Camp Baxter, Arizona and Camp Cibola, New Mexico. In the summer of 1888, the expedition moved northeast to Zuni, where Camp Cibola served as base camp. Hemenway's son,
Augustus Hemenway Augustus Hemenway (1853–1931) was a philanthropist and public servant in Boston, Massachusetts, in the latter part of the 19th century. He was educated at Harvard University, the son of Edward Augustus Holyoke Hemenway and Mary Tileston Hemen ...
Jr., and the board of directors terminated Cushing's services in 1889. He had fallen ill but they also believed that his exploration methods were not systematic. Jesse Walter Fewkes, an ethnologist and
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
classmate of August Hemenway Jr., was appointed as the new leader, though he lacked archeological experience. When Mary Hemenway died in 1894, the board of directors terminated the expedition. It was then investigating the ethnological culture of the
Hopi The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the United ...
.


Archaeological finds

The expedition excavated hundreds of skulls, mostly brachycephalic, from the ruins at Las Acequias, Los Guanacos, Los Muertos, and Halonawan, near Zuni.


Aftermath


19th century

Suffering from illness and depression after losing his leadership position, Cushing published a few partial papers before his sudden death in 1900. His report manuscripts were unpublished. After Cushing's death, the Hodges retained his manuscripts. Several members of the expedition team contributed to ''Hemenway Expedition Records, 1886–1914'', which was published in 1886. Bandelier published ''Copies Made Under A.F. Bandelier, a Member of the Hemenway Expedition, of Ancient Documents Existing in Mexico, Santa Fè, New Mexico, and Other Places in the Southwestern U.S.'', and ''Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition: Contributions to the History of the Southwestern Portion of the United States'' (1890). Baxter's work, ''The Old New world: An account of the explorations of the Hemenway southwestern archæological expedition in 1887–88, under the direction of Frank Hamilton Cushing'', was published in 1883. while Fewkess ''Note Book on Hemenway Expedition'' was published in 1891. In 1893, Matthews, Wortman, and
John Shaw Billings John Shaw Billings (April 12, 1838 – March 11, 1913) was an American librarian, building designer, and surgeon. However, he is best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army. His work with Andrew Carn ...
published ''The Human Bones of the Hemenway Collection in the United States Army Medical Museum at Washington (1893)''. In 1895, the Hemenway family donated a box containing records and the expedition's artifacts to Harvard’s
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, wi ...
.


20th century

The artifacts box remained unopened at the Peabody until the 1930s, when
Alfred Tozzer Alfred Marston Tozzer (July 4, 1877 – October 5, 1954) was an American anthropologist, archaeologist, linguist, and educator. His principal area of interest was Mesoamerican, especially Maya, studies. He was the husband of Margaret Castle Toz ...
asked a student,
Emil Haury Emil Walter "Doc" Haury (May 2, 1904 in Newton, Kansas – December 5, 1992 in Tucson, Arizona) was an influential archaeologist who specialized in the archaeology of the American Southwest. He is most famous for his work at Snaketown, a Hohokam ...
, to do his dissertation on the contents. Haury’s report, published in 1945, was a
monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monogra ...
on ''La Pueblo de Los Muertos.'' It provided insight into the ancestral history of the Zuni and the development of the prehistoric
Hohokam culture Hohokam () was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 AD, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BC. Archaeologists disagree about ...
. Haury did not have access to the expedition's reports and manuscripts housed at the
Southwest Museum The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) canyon and stream. The muse ...
in
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, and the Huntington Free Library in
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. Haury's monograph included a Foreword by Hodge. He surprisingly belittled the work of the expedition and demonstrated a lack of gratitude to his brother-in-law's memory. By taking Hodge on the expedition, Cushing had enabled him to gain field experience that later helped Hodge obtain a key position in 1905 at the Bureau of American Ethnology (now part of the Smithsonian Institution). The full expedition report was not published for more than 100 years. Cushing's archival records, in the form of partial reports, diaries and field notes, had to be transcribed, researched, and annotated. Between 1991 and 2001, Hinsley, a cultural historian, and Wilcox, an archaeologist, examined the Hemenway records. They published their reports of the expedition in three volumes.


References


Bibliography

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External links

{{Authority control Archaeological expeditions Expeditions from the United States History of the Southwestern United States Native American history of Arizona Native American history of New Mexico Hohokam