Spring 2017

Vol. 18 No. 1

Spring 2017

On the Cover

Museum-sponsored digs unearthed some of the early treasures of George Gustav Heyes’s Museum of the American Indian (MAI), the predecessor of our collection. This seat from the Manteno culture of Ecuador, circa A.D. 500 to 1500, was excavated by Marshall H. Saville between 1906 and 1908, with the support of the Heye Foundation. Although no one is certain, it might have been used by spiritual leaders for astronomy, weather predictions or public ceremonies for agriculture. Other highlights from these excavations are now on display at the National Museum of the American Indian – New York in the exhibition Ceramica de los Ancestros: Central America’s Past Revealed, through December. This tradition continues in the centenary year of the MAI with the work of L. Antonio Curet, the Museum’s Curator of Archaeology, at the Tibes ceremonial site in Puerto Rico.

Manteno seat, A.D. 500–1500. Cerro Jaboncillo, on the coast of Mantas, Ecuador. Stone; 15.7" x 26.8" x 29.5". Collected by George H. Pepper. 1/6380.

Articles

Ellison Brown (Narragansett) winning the 1939 Boston Marathon

History

The Boston Marathon: An Indian Tradition

Heriberto Dixon, Laurence M. Hauptman

The Boston Marathon has historic meaning for Northeastern Indian runners, some of whom came to national prominence in this storied race and left an indelible mark on its route.

Pomo baskets stored on open shelving in the Research Branch of the NMAI

History

100 Years and Counting: The Vision and the Dream

Patricia Zell

A symposium marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Museum of the American Indian brings reflections on the achievements of the predecessor of our Museum and its founder George Gustav Heye, as well as recollections of the transition to a Smithsonian institution.

Current Affairs

100 Years and Counting: Much to Celebrate and Much to Do In the Years to Come

John Haworth

The National Museum of the American Indian is wrapping up its celebration of the 100th anniversary year of the establishment of our predecessor institution, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (MAI). MAI’s founding on May 10, 1916, paved the way for the opening of the museum in upper Manhattan in 1922 and eventually the establishment of the NMAI as part of the Smithsonian…

Aerial photograph of the Indigenous Ceremonial Center of Tibes

History

Unearthing the Story of Tibes: New Looks at an Ancient Society

L. Antonio Curet

Hurricane Eloise may have been a disaster for many in Puerto Rico, but it was a boon for the understanding of the island’s indigenous heritage. When it brushed the southern coast of Puerto Rico in 1975, it brought floods and mudslides, but it also uncovered an ancient site buried for more than seven centuries.

Cotococho is a Kichwa community at the eastern foot of the Andes mountains in Ecuador’s Amazon Basin. Photo by Justin Mugits.

Travel

Confessions of an Eco-Tourist

Justin Mugits

I arrived on a tight schedule in Banos, a town on the eastern side of the Ecuadorean Andes where the mountains descend into the Amazon basin. Banos is one of the gateways to the Amazon and a popular departure point for tourists heading into the jungle. My goal of an in-depth excursion into the Amazon, which required three or four days, would elude me because my flight departing Quito didn’t leave…

Mba’e Marangatu. Pai Tavytera wooden altar

Art & Culture

The Guarani Altar: A Donation Tells a Deep Story

Frank Weaver, L. Antonio Curet

The altar looks simple. A wooden “box” is surmounted by a “rack,” from which hang several ceremonial objects. But the sacred installation, constructed specially as a donation to the National Museum of the American Indian, comes with multiple dimensions of meaning, involving many actors.