April Meeting at Ceviche Restaurant, 2554 W Diversey.

Date: Sunday, April 30, 2017.
Place: Please Note Meeting change: The Ceviche Restaurant, 2554 W Diversey.
Time: 3:00 p.m. Social Hour: Refreshments and Fellowship .
Program: 3:30 p.m.

Presentation by our guest speaker: Ms. Margery al Chalabi, Comparing Gobekli Tepe with The Cliff Dwellers.

Gobekli-Tepe Exposed

...An architect’s Exploration of the archaeological site described by National Geographic as the “World’s First Temple”

Göbekli Tepe, near Sanliurfa, in South-central Turkey, is a 12,000 year old monument, which has changed the way historians, archaeologists and architects – have viewed the transformation to civilization from hunter/gatherer. The premise was, “we used to think it was agriculture which gave rise to cities and, later, to writing, art and religion. Now, Göbekli Tepe, the world’s oldest temple** (at 12,000 years) suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization—that, to an urban plan-ner, made the archaeology of Göbekli Tepe an irresistible study.

Margery al-Chalabi is an architect, urban planner/regional economist. After graduating from Carnegie Institute of Technology (Now Carnegie Mellon University), with a B. Arch, she traveled to Athens, Greece, on a Ford Foundation grant, and received an MSc in regional planning/economics from Athens Technological Institute. She has been involved in urban development projects, both public and private, for over fifty years.

After graduation the al-Chalabis came to Chicago, where Ms. Chalabi settled into Real Estate Research Corporation and there directed projects on neighborhood preservation for HUD, adaptive reuse projects for DOD and Interior, and downtown development studies/forecasts for the International Down-town Executives Association (IDEA) and the Cities of Cincinnati, Charlotte and South Haven. The al-Chalabi’s were both were invited to join the Mayor’s Office under Mayor Jane M. Byrne.

With Mayor Byrne’s loss, in 1983, they started the al Chalabi Group, Ltd.
(ACG). Their blend of public and pri-vate experience made for a practice together that endured for 32 years. Their most important projects includ-ed: saving and renovating the Chicago Theater; planning for the Third Chica-go Airport; providing forecasts and impacts for major transportation pro-jects; and developing landmark models and methodologies.

As a member of a large Iraqi family, and an officer and past President, of the international society, the World Society for Ekistics* (WSE,), Ms. Al Chalabi has returned to Greece, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey on many occasions. Since 2011, when she first learned of Göbekli Tepe from archaeo-logical magazines, Ms. al Chalabi has studied this site from afar and up close.

In April, 2016, she made a presen-tation of her 2013 exploration of the site to The Cliff Dwellers Club in Chi-cago. That presentation – with some updates – is the subject of the presenta-tion to the Chicago Archaeological Society on April 30, this year.

*The science of human settlement.

** “The World’s First Temple”, National Geographic, June 2011.

3,000-year-old city wrecked by ISIS is left for looters

The militants’ fanaticism devastated one of the most important archaeological sites in the Middle East. But more than a month after the militants were driven out, Nimrud is still being ravaged, its treasures disappearing, piece by piece, imperiling any chance of eventually rebuilding it, an Associated Press team found after multiple visits last month.

Bison and the Oneota II

The CAS and Codex are indebted to Dr. Robert Sasso its March Guest speaker and his topic, The Importance of the Bison in the Late Prehistoric Oneota Culture in the Upper Midwest. Our general knowledge of the Oneota is sketchy and deeper understanding of Oneonta life is wanting. An after-noon with Bob Sasso was an excellent way of filling-in some of the blanks.

We understand that whereas bison were a significant menu item for many settle-ments significant bison evidence is pri-marily found in at La Crosse, as well as in Lake Winnebago-Middle Fox and Lake Koshkonong Areas. At one time or another the vast bison range extended south from NW Canada beyond the Rio Grande and eastward across the Great Plains to Appalachia.

Bison Scapula Hoe

How have archaeologists determined bison consumption? A careful tabulation of bison bones and others can provide a workable ratio that offers insight but one that is general. Summer hunting safaris provided the hunters with surplus meat that was dried and collected as jerky, lean meat that has been trimmed of fat, cut into strips, and then dried to prevent spoilage. Jerky served to balance the diet and could have been trade item.

Where bison remains occur often found are modified scapula hoes—the scapula (shoulder blade) after some finessing and hafting served admirably as a hoe. The extensive span within which scapular hoes have been found attest to their popularity and utility.

CAS/Bison Ties: The Anker Site

Picture below are two bison, the one on the left is the CAS logo. The one on the right is taken from the Chicago area Archaeology Bulletin No. 3. the Bulletin cover was designed by Ms. Nancy Engle .

The Chicago Area Archaeology Bulletin No. 3 was published by the Illinois Archaeology Survey and edited by Elaine Bluhm whose contribution papers were The Anker Site co-authored by Allen Liss and The Oak Forest Site co-authored by Gloria J. Fenner.

Excavated in 1957 The salvage dig brought to view information of an unu-sual nature of individual wealth, organi-zation and evidence of considerable trade by its occupants over a probable period 1400—1500.

Among its finds was a stone pipes deco-rated with graven bison as illustrated below.

The Palimpsest Deb Stelton

We hear from you.

Our U.S. mail that we pick up from our mailbox on the road gets heavier and heavier.
Half of it, mostly catalogs, gets dumped into the recycle bin near the kitchen door. But some of it is from you. You send us folded up coffee-stained articles: "Newgrange, a Neolithic tomb site, older than Stonehenge" or "Statue Unearthed in Cairo May Be Ramses Likeness".

Some of the articles may contain general-ly known archaeologically known facts or theories. But an accompanying photo or some detail might be enlightening. The photo of the high long wall at the bottom of the hill at Newgrange with a fringe of ant-like waiting tourists is awesome and brings to mind the significance it once held for the locals.
Children playing around a piece of a stone head that might be Ramses II and crowds of Cairo citizens watching seg-ments being machine lifted from a hole in the ground, makes you wonder. Will the pieces be put together and will it help bring the tourists back to Egypt?

"Parched and Sinking Mexico City in Crisis" reveals parenthetically that the conquistadors "replaced the dikes and canals with streets and squares. They drained the lakes and cleared forests..." Today in Certain areas, women stand in line to purchase water.

"We couldn't Believe Our Eyes': Explor-ers find a Long Lost World of Ship-wrecks". The Black Sea turns out to be the best environment for preserving wooden vessels from medieval times and even earlier. One explorer, Robert D. Ballard found a "2,400 year old wreck laden with clay storage jars.... One held remnants of a large fish that had been dried and cut into steaks, a popular food in ancient Greece."

Did the Greek philosophers follow the _Mediterranean diet?

Articles came from Gloria Williams and Phyllis Adams