lunthro q notes
National Museum of Natural History Newsletter for Teachers
vol. 8 no. 1 winter 1986
"VINLAND" REVISITED: 986-1986
In 1987 , Americans will celebrate
the bicentennial of the U.S.
Constitution; in 1992 they will
celebrate the quincentennial of
Columbus' discovery of the New World.
But an important and far older event
will go almost unnoticed: the 1986
millenial of the first recorded
European discovery of North America.
Who were these first recorded
European colonists and is there any
evidence that confirms their tale? The
Greenlander saga, written in the 13th
century, describes the somewhat
complicated story of exploration and
discovery, which culminated in the
sighting and colonizing of new lands
west of Greenland, presumably in North
America. The story begins 1000 years
ago this summer , in the year 986 when
Eirik the Red, accompanied by Herjulf,
father of Bjarni, and a small group of
colonists left the Norse settlement in
Iceland to found a new colony in
Greenland . Later that summer, Bjarni
sailed from Norway to Iceland to spend
the winter with his father. When he
discovered that his father had already
left with Eirik, Bjarni departed for
Greenland on the same course they had
taken. Unfortunately, as soon as
Bjarni' s ship was out of sight of land,
the east wind failed and the ship
wandered for many days in the fog. When
the fog cleared, the wind had shifted
to the south, and Bjarni sailed on a
(continued on next page)
westward course for a day until he
sighted land.
The land Ejarni saw was not the
mountainous Greenland coast with its
many glaciers but a low wooded country
without mountains. (This description
fits several locations in New England
as well as in southwest Nova Scotia.)
Consistently refusing his men's
entreaties to go ashore for water and
fuel, Bjarni sailed northeast along the
coast for two days, out of sight of
land, until he made a second landfall
on a heavily forested coast (Nova
Scotia ?). A third land, seen after
three further days voyage, was high and
mountainous. Sailing north along the
coast, Bjarni perceived that this was
an island (Newfoundland?). Four days
sail to the northeast across the open
sea brought him to Greenland and
Herjulf's farm, where Bjarni remained.
The Greenlanders, pre-occupied with
establishing their settlement, appear
to have ignored Bjarni' s tales of
another land to the west. But sixteen
years later on another voyage to
Norway, Bjarni and his tale caught the
interest of Norway's ruler, and
Norwegian excitement over possible new
lands and sources of ivory spread back
to Greenland when Bjarni returned in
about A.D. 1002. In the following year,
Eirik's son Leif purchased Bjarni'
s
ship and set sail for the west with 35
men. Leif first landed on a barren and
rocky coast with distant ice mountains.
He named the area "Helluland",
identified today as probably a location
in the Canadian high arctic, possibly
the east coast of Baffin Island or the
north coast of Labrador. The next
landfall southward he called
"Markland", a heavily forested coast
with low sandy stretches that may have
been in central or southern Labrador.
Finally two days later, he sighted a
wooded land, and, in late August,
landed there, on the west side of a
long, northward pointing cape. He then
sailed up a short river and built a
large sod house by a lake to shelter
his men through the winter. The land
was distinguished by its long winter
days, "sweet dew," and abundant
supplies of salmon. The discovery of
"wine berries" led to its naming as
"V Inland". The following spring, Leif
and his men returned to Greenland,
following Bjarni 's route.
According to the saga, ensuing
years witnessed several voyages to and
short settlements in "Vinland" , the
first captained by Leif's brother
Thorvald. Thorvald's murder of eight
Skraelings (war-whoopers) as they slept
under their "skin" (or possibly
birchbark) canoes, and the Skraelings'
murder of Thorvald constitute the first
recorded meeting of Native Americans
and Europeans. This meeting also marked
the first time humans encircling the
globe from west and east had met.
Following this unhappy meeting and
the return of Thorvald's men to
Greenland, another Norseman, Thorfinn
Karlsefni, sailed to Vinland and
founded a colony. The colony prospered
on whale meat, game and fish, and
traded the milk of their cattle to the
Skraelings for skins. Thorfinn' s wife
Gudrid gave birth to a son, Snorri, the
first European child born in North
America. But relations with the
Skraelings soon deteriorated, and
Thorfinn was forced to return to his
home in Iceland, where his descendants
wrote down the tale of these voyages
sometime in the thirteenth century. A
second saga (Eirik's saga) concurs with
many of the above details but describes
Leif Eiriksson as the discoverer of
Vinland during a voyage from Norway,
not from Greenland. Most authorities
lean toward the Greenlander saga as the
more accurate account.
Are these sagas entirely mythical,
or are the voyages to Vinland based on
reality? What evidence do archeologists
cite for contact between the Vikings
and some Native Americans or for Norse
settlements in the New World?
To be accepted as proof of
Norse-Native American contacts
,
archaeological evidence must conform to
several standards. First, the evidence
must consist of material objects that
are indisputably linked to one culture
but found in the territory of the
other. The linkage between object and
people can be through style in form or
decoration? a curvilinear Norse pin, or
an Indian arrowhead
? ,
^f_ the style is
specific enough to identify the maker.
Linkage can also be through a manufac-
turing technology known to one group
but not to the other, or through raw
material, such as a special stone type,
limited to one group's territory.
Additionally, the object must be found
in a well-dated context of the
appropriate age, so that it is clearly
not a later introduction or even a
forgery.
Several archaeological examples
substantiate Norse and Native American
contacts. Some of the most exciting are
from the Canadian high arctic. The east
coast of Ellesmere Island is only 25
miles from the northwest coast of
Greenland. There, on a prehistoric
Inuit (or Eskimo) house floor, less
than 800 miles from the North Pole, a
fragment of European chain mail was
excavated in 1978. Other finds
including bottoms of wooden barrels,
iron boat rivets, knife blades and a
piece of woolen cloth were all dated to
between 1190 and 1390 A.D. Since Inuit
neither raised sheep , spun or wove
clothing, stored food in barrels, or
wore chain mail, these objects clearly
represent Norse finds in a native
American context. Although Inuit
hammered tools out of meteoric iron,
the low nickel content of the pieces
shows that they were smelted from other
ores by techniques known only to
Europeans and other Old World peoples.
From the Norse perspective, the
impetus for these early contacts and
for Norse penetration deep within the
Arctic Circle was clearly economic:
Greenlanders and Icelanders alike
needed new sources of valuable
commodities to support their precarious
existence in the world's northernmost
settlements. In exchange for metal,
cloth, and other items of European
manufacture, the Norse brought home
skins , narwhal tusks , and walrus ivory
to Greenland to trade for food and
metal items which Greenland could not
produce. The Greenland Norse even paid
taxes to Norway and tithes to Rome in
walrus ivory; in 1327 Greenland's
bishop sent a tithe of 400 tusks. On
the west coast of Ellesmere Island, a
folding bronze balance from a 14th
century Inuit site suggests the visit
of a Norse trader. Further to the west,
fragments of smelted copper, iron, and
bronze from Eathurst Island, Cornwallis
Island, and the east side of Hudson Eay
testify to the penetration of Norse
goods well into central Canada.
Inuit style ivory and wooden
carvings, perhaps representing Norse-
men, are among the most intriguing bits
of evidence for Norse-Native American
contacts. Two possible examples come
from Ellesmere Island and another from
the southern coast of Baffin Island, in
a house floor dated to the 13th
century. This particular carving is
typically Inuit in its stumpy arms and
lack of facial features, but the figure
is dressed in a long European-style
surcoat , embellished with a cross on
the breast. Since the Greenland Norse
had accepted Christianity around the
time of Leif Eiriksson's voyage, this
carving probably represents a
contemporary Inuit view of a Norseman,
possibly carved locally given its
general style.
Even this find, however, does not
prove that Norsemen settled in North
America, since objects can travel from
hand to hand across long distances
without any direct contact between the
maker of an object and its final owner.
There are two such examples relating to
Norse-Indian contacts (as opposed to
Norse-Inuit contacts): a chert
arrowhead in the southern Labrador/
Newfoundland Indian style, recovered
near an eroding Norse graveyard in
Sandnes, Greenland; and the Maine
penny, minted in Norway between A.D.
1065 and 1080 and found at the Goddard
prehistoric Indian site near the mouth
of Penobscot Bay. These objects do not
necessarily demonstrate Norse settle-
ment in New England or even contact
between Norse and Indians, since they
were probably traded through Inuit
intermediaries
.
Colonization can only be demonstra-
ted by architecture in a foreign style,
or by overwhelming evidence of techno-
logical or economic activities not
practised by the original inhabitants
nor likely to have been invented by
them. For years, archaeologists
searched for the original location of
the Vinland settlement from Nantucket
to Labrador. Finally in 1963, at L'Anse
aux Meadows on the northern tip of
Newfoundland, a Norwegian archaeolo-
gist, Helge Ingstad, discovered remains
of three long sod houses by a sheltered
harbor, on land visited both by ances-
tral Eskimos before the Norse era, and
by Indians. Greenland Norse houses had
stone foundations. But these New World
houses lacked such foundations and so
could be explained as temporary
dwellings. Furthermore, one of five
small outbuildings contained a
substantial amount of slag from an iron
smithing operation. Radiocarbon
determinations of charcoal associated
with the slag suggest an age of around
A.D. 1000. Over 100 objects of European
manufacture were unearthed at L'Anse
aux Meadows. A spindle whorl attests to
the weaving of wool and to the presence
of women. A cloak pin of bronze, a
material unknown to Native Americans,
was similar in style to those found in
Viking settlements of the British
Isles. Finally, some wooden floorboards
from a boat indicate directly the
presence of Norse ships. The authenti-
city of the L'Anse aux Meadows site as
a Norse settlement of brief duration
has been widely accepted by archaeolo-
gists. Whether or not this site was
Vinland cannot be determined. Grapes
never grew at L'Anse aux Meadows, but
wine can be made from other berries. On
the latter point, however, one of
Thorfinn Karlsefni's own men appears to
have dismissed the grapes as a piece of
11th century false advertising.
To date , no other Norse colonies in
the New World have been discovered, nor
is there any accepted evidence of Norse
visits to areas outside the north-
eastern corner of the continent.
Enigmatic stone cairns, thought to be
Norse navigational aids or megalithic
monuments, were probably constructed by
Native Americans, whereas other finds,
such as the well-known Kensington rune-
stone from Minnesota represent archaeo-
logical hoaxes. Since Norse exploration
in the North Atlantic was directed
towards new sources of portable wealth
in general and walrus ivory in particu-
lar, it is unlikely that they would
have explored the interior or southern
coasts of the North American continent.
Were there any European colonies or
visits to the New World prior to the
Norsemen? It is impossible to argue
that no Irish fisherman was ever blown
across the north Atlantic in a storm.
But deliberate trade and colonization
efforts were unlikely prior to 986,
since the Norse were the first to
develop the sailing technology
necessary to exploit the distant
islands of northwest Europe and eastern
Canada and to tie the newly founded
colonies back to a central power.
Why did the Norse settlement or
settlements in the New World fail, when
the Vikings were such feared conquerors
and successful colonizers throughout
Europe? European weapons of the 10th to
the 14th centuries were not markedly
superior to those possessed by the
Skraelings, and the latter s' boats
would have been more maneuverable in
inland waters. Supply lines between the
mainland of North America and the Norse
(continued on p. 14)
TEACHER'S CORNER:
TEACHING ANTHROPOLOGY
THROUGH FOLKLORE
[Editor's Note: The following article
is reprinted (though not in its
entirety) from the Anthropology And
Education Quarterly , vol. 16, 1985,
with permission from the American
Anthropological Association.]
Although storytelling as a teaching
method seems to he restricted to the
elementary grades in the American
school system, I suggest that
storytelling can be used successfully
to teach basic anthropological concepts
and methods as well as cultural values
and traits to older students including
high school and college level classes.
For the past ten years, I have been
using folklore as a teaching aid in
both introductory and advanced
anthropology classes. In this article,
I describe three somewhat separate uses
of folklore: analyzing themes in
folklore, teaching folklore through
puppetry and plays, and collecting
folklore through field interviews.
FOLKLORE ANALYSIS
tales, rather than such American
legends as Paul Bunyan, Pecos EL11, and
John Henry. Fairy tales such as
"Hansel and Gretel" and "Little Red
Riding Hood" not only share the same
basic themes of Western culture, they
are more universal in their
distribution than tales about regional
heroes. The latter are useful in
courses on American culture, American
ethnic groups , and culture and
personality.
Folklore analysis is assigned in
conjunction with the study of art,
where folklore is discussed as part of
art traditions and where the function
of art in projecting and reflecting
basic values and cultural traits of a
society is demonstrated. Students are
given their choice of "Hansel and
Gretel" or "Little Red Riding Hood" for
analysis, both still popular in
American culture despite Medieval
European origins and cultural change.
Since the two stories are culturally
relevant, students analyze the story
looking for contemporary values
Just as anthropologists may utilize
folktales for sources of information
and insights on child-rearing and
educational practices of other cultures
and on values, morals, and cultural
themes, anthropology teachers can make
effective use of folktales as a
teaching method by having students
analyze folklore materials. Since few
students have much familiarity with any
culture other than their own in such
areas as values, kinship and marriage,
and culture and personality, I find it
more effective to use folktales from
American or European cultures. It is
easier for students to isolate and to
identify values and precepts with which
they are already familiar than those
from an unfamiliar culture.
For introductory students, I use
folklore drawn from the European
tradition, specifically Grimm's fairy
preserved and transmitted to our
children.
Students must reread the story
before writing their analysis. The
paper is not a retelling of the story
but an analytical discussion of the
values and cultural content implicit in
the story and reflected in its
symbolism. These two tales were
selected because of basic themes of
Western civilization and the
Judeo-Christian tradition that can be
found in them: good overcomes evil;
virtue, good, or innocence will be
rewarded and greed and evil will be
punished; the importance and role of
the family and family members; altruism
and human! tar ianism in the care of the
elderly or sick (Little Red Riding
Hood's grandmother) or the weak
(Hansel's care of Gretal); obedience;
appropriate sex roles; distrust of
strangers; and "appearances can be
deceiving" (gingerbread houses and
wolves). It should be noted that some
versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" do
not have the almost universal happy
ending: there is no woodsman who, at
the last minute, saves Little Red
Riding Hood and her grandmother by
killing the wicked wolf. In newer
editions of the stories published in
the United States, the wolf is killed
and the two innocent and helpless
(female) victims are rescued by the
big, brave, and strong (male) woodsman,
leading to some interesting
observations about sex roles, as does
the fact that Gretel saves Hansel from
the wicked witch, but only because
Hansel's intelligence earlier had
outwitted the female witch.
DRAMATIZATION OF FOLKLORE
Although not all anthropology
teachers are raconteurs, stories can be
presented dramatically as plays or
puppet shows, using student actors or
puppeteers. This will involve more
effort by the teacher in researching
and preparing materials from folktale
analysis or oral history collection,
but it is worth the effort. This
method of folklore study can be used
for all levels, kindergarten through
senior citizen. For those asked to
give speeches or programs about other
cultures to public school groups and
civic organizations, puppet shows and
plays can be especially effective ways
of teaching anthropology to other than
college audiences.
This method has been used in both
introductory and advanced anthropology
classes. For introductory classes, I
have students read roles from a script
I prepared, dramatizing a Cherokee
legend. The script was written to
incorporate cultural data into dialogue
and narration, and the story was
modified to fit the cultural traditions
of storytelling (the story is narrated
by a grandfather telling his grand-
children stories explaining origins of
cultural practices in events that took
place long ago). Class time involves
one class period for the presentation
of the drama and a discussion that
deals with the cultural content and
values transmitted through the
dramatized legend.
For advanced classes such as
primitive art, culture and personality,
or special classes such as one I offer
for school teachers on development of
Indian Studies curriculum units,
students select a myth or legend from
the tribe or culture they are studying
and dramatize it to communicate
cultural content and values. This
necessitates additional ethnographic
research by the student to incorporate
cultural data into the script; thus,
such projects are assigned as special
projects, term papers, or take-home
exams. Usually these legends are
dramatized as puppet plays, and
students must make puppets, clothed
appropriately for the tribe or culture
area. Puppets range from stick puppets
to imaginative and well-executed
soft-sculpture or papier-mache puppets.
To facilitate presentation of puppet
shows, students are encouraged to
record the dialogue on tape, allowing
for additional sound effects and music,
enhancing the dramatic presentation.
Through background research for script
writing, students learn about another
culture in some depth and also see a
demonstration of the efficacy of
folktales as educational devices.
When it was impossible personally
to meet all the requests received for
American Indian programs, I developed a
special program to train college
students in techniques of using
puppetry and plays about American
Indians. These students presented
programs throughout the state
?
puppet
shows to small audiences and dramas in
which the students acted the roles in
the play to larger audiences. Students
received academic credit for participa-
tion. (Scripts for these plays about
Cherokee and Catawba cultures may be
obtained by writing the author.)
COLLECTING FOLKLORE
In addition to collecting valuable
historical and ethnohistorical data,
collecting folklore or oral histories
also introduces students to basic
methods of fieldwork, interviewing,
data collection, and analysis, and it
increases their awareness and under-
standing of their own culture and
social system.
Oral history collection is a
required part of my introductory
anthropology course. For example,
relative to the topic of cultural
change, students are assigned to the
task of interviewing senior citizens
about social change (as opposed to
technological change) during the past
fifty years. Written instructions
include a list of suggested or
appropriate topics, e.g., courtship and
marriage, family forms and functions,
the role of the church and religion,
holiday traditions and practices,
medical practices (folk or home
remedies and practices), entertainment,
and work.
To begin, students read Rhoda
Levin's article from MINNESOTA HISTORY
(1979:70-74) that covers the ethics of
interviewing and data collection, the
importance of getting written permis-
sion for use of oral history materials,
the protection of informants'
anonymity, and "how-to" information,
such as the use of tape recorders and
transcribing and organizing data.
Students also receive written and oral
instructions from the teacher on
interviewing techniques, data analysis,
and organization of data into a paper.
Students spend several hours inter-
viewing their subjects who are senior
citizens. Some students let the inform-
ant select the subject matter,but many
prefer to select the topic themselves
and to prepare questions in advance.
Although most students record their
interviews and transcribe the tapes
,
the final product is not a verbatim
transcription of their interviews but a
written analysis of social change in
one particular area of life as related
by one informant. Final papers include
an introduction, an identification of
the subject, the data, and conclusion.
The conclusions are the student's
perceptions of the changes that have
taken place and explanations for such
changes, based on an understanding of
anthropological concepts of culture and
cultural change.
Rachel A. Bonney
Department of Anthropology
The University of North
Carolina at Charlotte
[Volume 16 of the Anthropology and
Education Quarterly is devoted to
articles on teaching anthropology.
This volume may be ordered by writing:
"Teaching Anthropology" , American
Anthropological Association, 1703 New
Hampshire Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.
20009. Cost for members is $5.00;
nonmembers $7.50.]
SOMETHING FOR THE PALATE
I thought collecting exotic recipes
from members of the Smithsonian's
Department of Anthropology would be a
rather simple task. Rat I was
mistaken. Doing ethnographic or
archeological fieldwork does not
necessarily mean that researchers share
in the "fruits" of the land with the
people among whom they are working. Dr.
William Merrill has studied the
Tarahumara Indians of Mexico for many
years, but has not acquired a taste for
their food, which he will flavor with
his own condiments. And, the Tarahumara
have not acquired a taste for the
canned food he often brings. A typical
Tarahumaran meal might include boiled
greens and fresh corn tortillas. For
major feasts, sheep, goats, or cattle
are butchered and the cut up meat
boiled for hours. The animal's blood is
also boiled, resulting in a kind of
pudding.
Over the 22 years Dr. William
Crocker has conducted ethnographic
research among the Canela Indians of
northeastern Brazil, he has acquired a
taste for their foods, though they were
totally lacking in condiments except
for the occasional use of black pepper.
The Canela' s main staples are manioc,
which has an acidic taste and is used
in making pancakes, mush, and flour,
and boiled rice. Meat, hunted or
bought, is rarely part of the diet. The
head of a cow and its internal organs
are a special delicacy eaten only by
the young or old, since the Canela
believe such foods cause infertility.
Unfortunately, it is often diffi-
cult to reproduce the unique flavors
obtained by the traditional methods,
such as those produced by cooking in a
well-seasoned clay pot over an open
fire or by using manually ground corn.
In addition, we usually cannot obtain
essential ingredients that give
regional food its unique flavor, in
spite of the proliferation of gourmet
and other specialty food shops. Take,
for instance, seal oil and whale
blubber, or boiled monkey.
Fortunately, the Smithsonian's
large anthropology staff has, in fact,
managed to compile recipes, using
widely available ingredients, from
cultures in Africa, Asia, Polynesia,
and the Southwestern United States for
an adventure in eating.
SENEGAL : Mafe ("peanut butter stew")
Mary Jo Arnold! , Curator, West
African Ethnology
Saute 2 chopped onions and chunks of
fish, meat, or chicken in peanut oil.
Add water to cover. Stir in until
dissolved approximately 1/4 to 1/2 cup
of peanut butter and 2 tbsp. of tomato
paste. Add salt and red and black
pepper to taste. Cook until tender.
(Optional: soy sauce, bouillon cube or
meat paste.) Add large, bite-sized
pieces of vegetables (i.e. eggplant,
carrots, white or sweet potatoes).
Add more tomato paste or peanut butter
if necessary to obtain the consistency
of a thick cream sauce. Separately cook
long grain white rice.
The Senegalese eat out of a
communal bowl. To serve, layer the
cooked rice at the bottom of a large,
wide and shallow bowl. Ladle the sauce
over the rice, being careful not to
make the rice soggy; the stew will be
eaten with the fingers. Drain the meat
and place it in the center of the rice
and surround the meat with vegetables.
An alternative would be to serve this
dish in individual bowls. This meal is
prepared mid-day when the Senegalese
eat their major meal; any left-overs
might be eaten in the morning. In this
society, there is a tendency for the
men and women to eat separately, the
men, of course, being served first.
Today, however, there is more variation
in eating behavior to accommodate the
changing times and the need for
practicality.
Strict etiquette is observed during
mealtime. After washing their hands,
family members sit around the bowl of
food tucking their legs underneath them
to take up the least amount of space.
The host or hostess makes sure each
person receives an equal share of the
portion; guests may receive a special
vegetable. The proper manner of eating
is to take some rice and roll it into a
small ball. Following the rice, the
vegetables and meat are eaten, though
separately. Four important rules to
follow are: 1) food should only be
eaten with the right hand, 2) eat only
the food directly in front of you, 3)
do not lean over the bowl, and 4)
always leave some food in the bowl to
demonstrate that more than enough food
was offered.
During the meal there is little
conversation. After the meal, soap and
water are brought in to cleanse the
hands and young girls or the junior
wife remove the food and sweep the area
clean. Drinking water is then passed
around and people relax and converse.
The Senegalese generally enjoy hot,
spicey food and have borrowed flavors
from Portuguese and French cooking,
since much trade takes place between
the countries. Cheb-u- jin (rice and
fish) is their national dish.
KOREA : Bul-kogi ("fire meat")
Chang-su Houchins, Museum Specialist,
East Asia
Slice 2 pounds of tender beef (i.e.
sirloin tip or delmonico) into thin
pieces of approximately 3" or 4" in
length. Marinate for 30 minutes to one
hour in: 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. black
pepper, 1 tbsp. sesame seed oil, 1/4
cup Japanese soy sauce, 1/4 cup chopped
scallions, 1 tsp. minced fresh garlic,
and 1 tsp. sugar. For best results,
broil over a grill. If broiling
indoors, leave broiler drawer partially
open to allow air to circulate to
obtain the desired crispness and
juiciness. Cook 5-10 minutes.
This dish may be served as an hors
d'oeuvre or as an entree with rice,
dipping each slice of meat in a sauce
consisting of Japanese soy sauce with
vinegar or lemon to taste and served in
a shallow dish. Another alternative is
to wrap a small amount of rice with a
slice of meat in a lettuce leaf,
preferably romaine. Traditionally,
approximately 12 dishes were served at
once among the leisure class
,
consisting of a pickled vegetable;
soup, consisting of chicken or beef
broth with a few vegetables usually
including mushrooms; fish, meat, or
poultry; a salty dish such as preserved
fish; and a bowl of rice. Since soup
provided the liquid during the meal,
tea and fresh fruit followed. The
peasant class ate little meat, relying
primarily on tofu and miso soup for
protein along with vegetables and the
staple, rice.
10
Adult male and elderly female
members of the family would kneel at an
individual serving table, while the
mother and the children would sit
together. Now families usually kneel or
sit around one large table. The eating
utensils consist of chopsticks and
spoons. Silver spoons and chopsticks
were prevalent among the upper class
and brass was used by the peasants;
today, wooden, plastic, and stainless
steel utensils are common. At the
commencement of the meal, some Korean
families say what would be translated
as "I shall eat" or "I shall take" to
express gratitude for the food they are
receiving.
Traditionally, children were
supposed to remain silent at mealtime,
during which there was minimal
conversation. However, to show
appreciation for the appetizing food,
slurping and chewing noises would be
emitted and to top the meal off ?
a
burp. Such a show by young women was
considered ill-mannered. Western
influence has since made these gestures
inappropriate for all.
HALMAHARA ISLAND
,
INDONESIA : Hiode (in
Tobelo "meat accompanying a starch
stable")
Paul Taylor, Curator, Asian Ethnology
Cut up chicken into bite-sized pieces
(pork or other meat can be substitu-
ted). Mix with ginger, chili peppers,
and tumeric to taste. Stir fry ingredi-
ents in coconut oil in a wok until
cooked.
This dish, which constitutes the
usual method of preparing birds and
mammals, may be served with fried or
boiled plantains, boiled manioc, yams,
sweet potatoes, or cooked rice. Any of
these starch staples may be served with
a pickled vegetable sauce consisting of
palm wine vinegar (any vinegar might
do) with minced shallots and chili
peppers.
A popular meat used to prepare this
native hiode dish of the Tobelo people
of Halmahara Island, Indonesia is dog
?
the household variety. Dog meat,
though really very tasty, is bland and
requires a heavy hand with the chili
peppers. Also the longer an animal has
been dead, the more spices are added,
since there is no refrigeration.
Civets, flying foxes (large bats), and
deer are also common foods prepared in
this manner.
The meal is served in individual
plates and eaten with the hands. Gather
a small amount of rice between your
first and third finger of your right
hand only (never touch food with your
left hand), and flick the food into
your mouth with your thumb nail. You
may find that the Tobelorese method of
eating will take some practice. Palm
wine or boiled water, from the local
stream, are commonly drunk with the
meal.
The main meals in this agricultural
and fishing society are eaten
mid-morning and evening with much
snacking in between. If guests are
invited to dinner, the men eat first,
served by the women. Each Tobelo likes
to leave the table as soon as he or she
feels full. As each person finishes his
meal, he leaves to go to another room
where after dinner conversation takes
place. Eating itself is not generally a
social event? men eat quietly, leave
one by one , then the women do the same
.
The Tobelo have some strict rules
of etiquette that express not only
their generous hospitality but also
their distrust of one another. For
instance, houses consist of split
bamboo or split palm trunk walls and
are easily seen through. If someone
should walk by the house, the family is
obliged to call that person in to eat,
even if that person did not observe the
activity going on inside. Fear of
murder is pervasive and thus it is bad
etiquette to use or sharpen a knife
during a meal. If a guest brings a
11
beverage such as palm wine, he or she
must be the first to take a drink to
show that it is not poison. The guest
must also drink the last drop to show
that there is no poison at the bottom
of the container. And if a gecko
should happen to squeal while a
beverage is being poured, it is an omen
of poisoning.
The Tobelo also adhere to
individual food avoidances, depending
on the magic learned or one's ancestry.
For example, a person who knows the
magic to prevent bullets from piercing
his skin will not eat watermelon,
because watermelon are hollow and can
be easily pierced. People temporarily
avoid some foods during illnesses. For
example, people with fungal skin
infections do not eat dried anchovies
during treatment, for fear that the
"itchiness" of the rough, dry food will
make their skin itch more.
When the dough is stretched to 6" to 8"
in diameter, cut a small slit in the
middle. This allows air to escape so
the heat is more evenly distributed,
producing even browning. Lay the rolled
dough in a frying pan with about an
1/2" of hot Crisco oil. The dough will
bubble. Turn it over once with a fork
to brown the top side. Drain the bread
on a paper towel and serve hot. Salt
can be sprinkled on the bread or the
less traditional seasonings, honey or
cinnamon sugar.
Fry bread is a traditional Navajo
food usually accompanied by mutton stew
and coffee, served as the two main
meals of the day. It is also made in
enormous quantities by the women at
Navajo ceremonials as well as at tribal
fairs where it has become quite
popular. In this matrilineal and
matrifocal society, men are not
embarrassed to cook a family meal when
the need arises.
NAVAJO : Na f neskhadi' (Navajo fry bread
.
Literal meaning - "slapped again and
again")
Erenda Manuelito, Fellow
SI Native American Program
Mix together 4 cups of Gold Medal*
white flour, 2 tbsp. Calumet baking
powder, and one tsp. of salt in a large
bowl. (* The commercial brands
mentioned in this recipe have given the
best results.) Add up to 1 1/2 cups of
warm water. Knead the dough. When it
starts pulling away from the bowl, it
is ready to roll. Take a portion of the
dough, about the size of a small peach,
and flatten it with the palms of your
hands. Then roll it out into a circle
with approximately 1/4" in thickness.
(The traditional method of flattening
the dough is done by making a fist with
each hand and slapping the dough back
and forth, turning the fist over and
against the other with the dough in
between. At the same time, gently pull
down the edges of the dough.)
Traditionally, the Navajo ate out
of a common bowl while sitting on the
floor of the hogan. There were no
strict rules concerning eating
behavior, though traditionally the
women sat at the north end of the
hogan, the men at the south end, and
guests at the west end. The door always
opened east. During the meal,
conversation might center on local
gossip. When the Navajo depended on
crops for their sustenance, they would
often pray for an abundance of food by
holding stirring sticks (sticks bundled
together and used for stirring food in
large cooking pots) straight upwards
and calling on the Holy People.
KENYA : Akapulu (Iteso for "bush
vegetable")
Ivan Karp, Curator, West African
Ethnology, and Patricia Karp
Wash one pound of spinach,and remove
the stems , and cook until tender in the
water that clings to its leaves
(approximately 5 minutes). Drain and
12
set aside. Cook 1 chopped medium- si zed
onion and 2 minced cloves of garlic in
3 tbsp. of ghee or butter until lightly
browned. Add 1 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. curry
powder and 1 chopped tomato and cook
for about a minute. Add the onion
mixture to the spinach and heat
through. This "relish" dish is served
as an accompaniment to a tap , the basic
food starch in the form of maize or
cassava and millet bread eaten by the
Iteso of Kenya.
No meal can be eaten without a
starch, which is a bread made by
pouring a flour of cassava and finger
millet or sorghum into boiling water
and cooking until it is too thick to
stir. Sometimes the bread is made of
cornmeal or plantains. Accompanying the
starch is a relish made of boiled
vegetables or meat served in a sauce
consisting of the broth in which they
were cooked. Curry powder is a common
flavoring.
Only women can cook a starch, and
it must be cooked inside the cooking-
house on the women's fireplace
constructed of three stones. Men, on
the other hand, can cook meat, but only
outside and only by roasting. Men
cooked for such occasions as funeral
sacrifices and, during precolonial
times, for age-set ceremonies when
cattle were sacrificed.
The Iteso start their day with a
small meal, usually a thin porridge of
cassava or millet flour and water or a
piece of boiled cassava. The beverage
is made of a strong, smoky-flavored tea
boiled with large amounts of milk and
sugar. Children are considered as
needing a greater variety of foods than
adults and some foods such as certain
fruits were considered "children's
food." The second and last meal of the
day is eaten in late afternoon or early
evening. It consists of atap and an
accompaniment, referred to as a
"relish" or "vegetable." The meat is
usually beef or, for special occasions,
chicken, and the vegetable is often
found growing wild. A favorite is
ekwala
,
which is similar in taste to
spinach. The meat is boiled for hours
with a little curry powder. The
vegetable may also be cooked for a long
time, usually with spices or sour milk.
In this polygamous society, most
meals are taken inside the sleeping
house of the wife who has done the
cooking. If there are guests, the meal
is served in the husband's guest house.
Each wife occupies a separate house
where she feeds herself and her
children. Children especially eat
wherever they happen to be when food is
served. Most people sit on the floor to
eat, though some sit at tables and
chairs made by local carpenters. Atap
is eaten from a communal plate, but
each person has his or her own bowl of
relish. A small amount of atap is
taken with the fingers of the right
hand and formed into a ball. Then a
depression is made in the center of the
ball with the thumb. It is then dipped
into the relish and eaten.
The sharing of food and drink is
particularly important in Iteso
society. After the initial greeting and
exchange of news and inquiries about
each other's health, two questions are
asked by the Iteso. The first question
asks at whose home beer is to be had
that day, and the second question asks
about the kind of food in your home
that day.
TONGA , POLYNESIA : Lupulu ("lu" - made
with taro leaves, "pulu" - corned beef)
Adrienne Kaeppler, Curator
Pacific Ethnology
Have ready 16 taro leaves, 4 medium
onions, 1 tin of corned beef, and a can
of frozen coconut cream, defrosted. To
prepare the leaves for stuffing, wash
them thoroughly and remove the large
stems. Take 4 of the heart-shaped taro
leaves and arrange them in the shape of
a cross with the narrower ends
overlapping in the center. Slice the
13
corned beef into quarters, placing one
slice in the middle of the leaves. Top
with one chopped onion and a quarter of
a can of coconut cream. Fold up the
leaves and wrap in aluminum foil.
Repeat this procedure three more times,
using the remaining 12 taro leaves.
Bake the stuffed leaves for 1 1/2 hours
at 350 degrees until the leaves are
well cooked. If undercooked, a chemical
substance in the taro leaves can cause
an itchy throat.
Lupulu is usually prepared for a
special occasion or for Sunday dinner.
Vegetarians can prepare the Samoan
version called palusami by omitting the
corned beef. If taro leaves are
unavailable, spinach leaves may be
substituted to make many smaller
stuffed leaves. Aluminum foil replaces
the traditional use of banana leaves,
which are discarded after the leaves
are baked in an earth oven.
The Tongans eat their main meal in
the afternoon. This meal usually
consists of starchy tubers such as
yams, taro, sweet potatoes or
breadfruit. Most of the meat and fish
is imported in tins. Coconut milk or
water with freshly squeezed lemon or
lime juice accompany the meal.
Leftovers are often eaten the following
morning for breakfast.
The Polynesians are a hierarchical
society with a very complicated ranking
system. Within the nuclear family
expressions of rank may be relaxed,
though the father as head of the
household always sits at a particular
section of the grass or wooden house.
Women are considered to have prestige
while men possess power. For example,
a sister outranks her brother and at
feasts brother-sister avoidance is
strictly observed, by sitting
separately, as are other observances of
societal and social rank.
At large public feasts the highest
ranking men and women sit at the head
of the "table" (at such occasions
people traditionally sit on the floor)
.
These individuals also eat at the first
of several sittings. Men carry large
quantities of cooked food
?
young pigs,
chicken, fish, large tubers ? on long
stretchers called polas made of coconut
leaves. The polas are placed on the
floor and the highest ranking men and
women cut portions of the meat and
vegetables and place them on a banana
leaf. After they have eaten their fill
and discarded the banana leaf and their
uneaten portion, the next in rank sit
down to partake in the feast. This
procedure is followed until all have
shared in the feast
.
Not only are people ranked but so
is food, pork being the most presti-
gious and eaten only at large feasts,
with chicken coming in second. Even the
parts of the animal hold prestige, the
highest ranking individuals enjoying
the highest ranking cuts such as the
meat on the pig's back.
For further reading:
Farb, Peter and George Armelagos.
Consuming Passions: The Anthropology of
Eating . Washington Square Press/Pocket
Books, 1980.
DeVore, Sally and Thelma White. The
Appetites of Man; An Invitation to
Better Nutrition From Nine Healthier
Societies. Anchor Books, 1978.
Kuper
,
Jessica, editor. The
Anthropologists ' Cookbook . New York:
Universe Books, 1977.
Harris, Marvin. Good to Eat: Riddles of
Food and Culture . Simon and Schuster,
1985.
Ann Kaupp
14
(continued from p. 4)
settlement In Greenland were impractic-
ably long and dangerous , even during
the relatively mild climates of the
11th to the 13th centuries. When the
climate deteriorated after about 1300,
the life of the Greenland Norse became
increasingly precarious. Around the
time of Columbus' "discovery" of the
New World, the Greenland colony was
abandoned.
Norse contact with Native Americans
appears to have ceased around the time
of the first Spanish colonies in the
16th century. Were the Spanish aware of
the Norse voyages across the North
Atlantic and of a colonization effort
some 500 years older than their own? An
old controversy persists whether or not
Columbus made a secret voyage to
Iceland for directions across the
Atlantic. We may never learn the
answers to these questions, but
archeological evidence certainly
suggests what some in the United States
still deny, or, at least, overlook? the
Norse discovery of America one thousand
years ago.
Suggested Readings:
Gordon, Kate. The Vikings and Their
Predecessors
,
with a contribution by
Robert McGhee. Ottawa, Canada: National
Museum of Man, 1981.
Jones, Gwyn. The Norse Atlantic Saga .
Oxford University Press, 1964.
McGhee, Robert. "Contact Between Native
North Americans and the Medieval Norse:
A Review of the Evidence," American
Antiquity 49(l):4-26, 1984.
Schledermann, Peter. "Eskimo and Viking
Finds in the High Arctic," National
Geographic (May 1981) :575-600.
SMITHSONIAN HIGH SCHOOL
INTERNSHIP
The Smithsonian Institution is offering
two five-week internships to 40
students who will graduate from high
school this year. The first session is
from June 8 - July 11; the second
session from July 13 - August 15.
Seniors may apply for positions in
various areas including archeology,
biology, public affairs, photography,
history, veterinary science, art,
carpentry, library science,
computer science.
and
Students chosen for the program
will each receive a living allowance of
$500. Interns who come from outside
the Washington area will receive
housing in a nearby dormitory and their
transportation to and from Washington.
Acceptance is based not as much on
academic achievement as on a
demonstrated interest in a particular
subject area or career; the program has
been designed to enable students to
pursue their special interests while
working with museum professionals.
For applications and complete
information, high school seniors should
telephone (202) 357-3049 (voice) or
357-1696 (Telecommunications Device for
the Deaf) or should write to INTERN
'86, Office of Elementary and Secondary
Education, Arts and Industries Bldg.,
Room 1153, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C. 20560. APPLICATIONS
MUST BE REQUESTED BY MARCH 17 and
COMPLETED APPLICATIONS MUST EE
POSTMARKED BY MARCH 21.
Alison S. Brooks
15
SNEAK PREVIEW: CLAN OF THE
CAVE BEAR
On January 6 , about a dozen staff
members from tbe Smithsonian depart-
ments of anthropology, paleobiology,
and education attended a film preview
of Jean Auel's first bestseller about
the Paleolithic, The Clan of the Cave
Bear . The distributor had invited us to
make comments for the film's editors.
Overall, the movie is a close
adaptation of the book. Principal
changes occur at the beginning of the
movie. Ayla's mother falls into a
crevice during an earthquake rather
than dying in a rock slide within the
family cave. At the end the shaman Kreb
has not yet died but holds onto Ayla's
son as she departs into exile. On the
whole, though, the movie sticks to
Auel's story and translates well the
emotional impact of some scenes. This
is especially evident in the hunt of
the musk-ox, in the birth scene, and in
Ayla learning how to throw stones with
a sling. However, the film lacks
continuing dramatic tension and comes
across more as an ethnographic
documentary than a piece of theatre.
The interpretation of Neandertal is
especially skillful and is what makes
this film worth seeing. The
Neandertals in the clan communicate
with both spoken words (not sentences)
and hand gestures. (Sub-titles are
provided for the film viewers.) They
look much like modern man; the heavy
browridges and larger but lower cranial
vault are the main differences, whether
or not the Neandertals could count
further than five, or treated their
women so badly (death for touching a
hunting tool or a weapon) , or performed
sex only in the manner described in the
book cannot be proven. Eut Broud is a
fine villain and Ayla is well portrayed
by Darryl Hannah, the mermaid from
"Splash," a 1984 movie hit. She plays
Ayla with a winning combination of
innocence and sincerity.
Some errors did creep in: the first
sentence of the introduction states
that Neandertal was present at the
"Dawn of Mankind," and the fishing
scene shows the Neandertal using
leister spears, a technology too
advanced for their time. A little more
smoke and dirt would have increased the
sense of realism.
The introductory close-ups of the
upper-Paleolithic cave paintings, the
beautiful mountain backgrounds of
British Columbia and Vancouver, and the
pleasant musical score make "The Clan
of the Cave Bear" worth seeing,
especially if you are a fan of Auel's
books and are interested in Neandertal
man and woman .
Jennifer Olsen Kelley
Department of Anthropology
Smithsonian Institution
ANTHRO. NOTES, a National Museum of Natural History
Newsletter for Teachers, is published free-of-charge
three times a year ? fall, winter, and spring.
Anthro. Notes was originally part of the George
Washington University/Smithsonian Institution
Anthropology for Teachers Program funded by the
National Science Foundation. To be added to the
mailing list, write: Ann Kaupp, Department of
Anthropology, Stop 112, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C. 20560.
This newsletter may be reproduced and distributed
free of charge by classroom teachers for educational
purposes.
ANTHRO. NOTES STAFF: P. Ann Kaupp, Ruth 0. Selig,
Alison S. Brooks, JoAnne Lanouette,
editors; Robert L. Humphrey, artist.
Illustrations c Robert L. Humphrey 1985-86.
Kaupp NHB 363
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