**ROMANCING THE PUBLIC**

Jean M. Auel ©

*Editor\'s Note: This article was presented at the 1990 Society for
American Archaeology Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada as part of the
Special Plenary Session on archaeological looting. It is presented in
the style it was given at the conference.*

In looking over the schedule, this meeting of the Society for American
Archaeology promises to be informative, exciting, provocative, perhaps
controversial, and stimulating.

All the elements, in fact, for a good work of fiction, except the
stories that will be told here are true \-- or at least as close to
truth as anyone can come when dealing with information derived from
artifacts and sites of ancient times.

I am the writer of fiction here, though some of the newest information
emerging from the study of prehistory truly verifies the old saying that
\"truth can be stranger than fiction.\" The current work being done by
researchers working in the field and in laboratories is truly amazing!
New revelations are following so closely on the heels of new
discoveries, it\'s hard to keep up.

One of the important issues to be raised during this conference is the
question of preserving the archaeological record. Talking to this group
about the importance of preserving archaeological sites is indeed a case
of preaching to the converted. Archaeologist know the fascinating and
important knowledge to be gained from a site that is undisturbed. The
question is, why aren\'t people interested in preserving archaeological
sites and artifacts? How do you overcome public apathy toward learning
about prehistory?

Part of the problem is that many people don\'t identify the sites or
artifacts with anything important to themselves. In this country, some
think, it\'s just a bunch of old Indian stuff; who cares about Indian
history? For others, the problem is just the opposite.

Many people like to collect fossils and artifacts, not only because of
the lure of selling them for easy profits, but to put on their own
shelves, if only to collect dust. After all, someone is buying the
illegally sold artifacts. The interest is there, many people simply
don\'t know the importance of undisturbed sites, or even of archaeology
itself.

There is still a tendency for people to look upon hunting and gathering
peoples, whether modern or prehistoric, as savages. A view expounded,
often very colorfully and imaginatively, in earlier days by Victorian
Antiquarians, though modern anthropologists have been trying to overcome
it for many years. In a recent issue of [Current
Anthropology,]{.underline} in an article entitled \"Hunter-Gatherers and
Their Neighbors from Prehistory to the Present,\" Thomas Headland and
Lawrence Reid point out that \"Ethnocentric and racist
statements\...still appear in print, and the prejudice they reflect
continued to be widely held.\"

They maintain that while few anthropologists today would accept any part
of the 19th century evolutionary theories, many lay people continue to
believe in the fiction that human peoples evolve culturally from
savagery to barbarism to civilized status. \"Implausible as this
viewpoint is in the light of new archaeological, linguistic, archival,
and ethnographic data, it continues to overshadow recent scientifically
sound analyses\...\" But the authors also criticize some anthropologists
for reinforcing the view by presenting them as \"primitive,\" \"the
Savage Other,\" rather than as fully modern human beings, and for
failing to recognize the extent of their associations and
accomplishments.

No one has more respect and admiration for scientists and researchers
than I do. It is their dedication that enables all of us to know about
our ancestors \-- and therefore ourselves. In fact, I\'m sort of an
\"archaeology groupie.\" I enjoy talking to the professionals, but more
than that, I have a vested interest in archaeologist \-- and
archaeology.

You, as archaeologist, make your living by \"mining\" the sites for
information, then adding your own skills, knowledge, insights and
interpretations. The result is increased information, knowledge, and
insights about who we are, where we came from, and where we may be going
\-- and on the practical side, you get to keep on doing what you are
doing: earning a living at something you enjoy.

I earn my living by \"mining\" your results \-- your reports and papers,
and conversations \-- then adding my interpretations, insights,
imagination and skills. The result is increased knowledge and insights,
and stories grounded in a solid core of scientific information that,
among other things, helps people understand more about prehistory and
the people we were and are, in a human and entertaining way. On the
practical side, I get to keep on doing, earning a living at something I
enjoy.

I also must \"dig\" for my information, though not in the dirt. Let me
give you an example of the kind of digging I do. I read a small item
about musical instruments made out of mammoth bones found in Eastern
Europe and dating to the Upper Paleolithic, but I could not find any
in-depth information about them. Finally, I made a research trip to
Europe which included the Soviet Union, the Ukraine, and managed to find
a copy of Bibikov\'s book describing his research that led to the
discovery that the decorated mammoth bones were musical instruments.
Unfortunately, the book was written in Russian.

I bought it, along with a record of a jam session by Russian musicians
played on those old mammoth bones. When I returned, I paid for a
complete translation of the book. It was a fascinating piece of
archaeological detective work, and I included much of that information
in the third book, [The Mammoth Hunters.]{.underline}

[(The Mammoth Hunters]{.underline} was published five years ago, and I
have been trying ever since to give that translation away to some
university or academic press to publish so the information would be
available to researchers here. It would require obtaining permissions, I
believe, and copies of the many photographs, but I am still willing to
donate the translation.)

In a recently released publication, [Save the Past for the Future:
Actions for the \'90s,]{.underline} which is the Final Report from the
Taos Working Conference on Preventing Archaeological Looting and
Vandalism, published by the Society for American Archaeology (1990), in
the Summary of Major Findings, it was stated:

\"American need \-- indeed, deserve \-- to know about their heritage and
the history and prehistory of the nation. Professional archaeologists in
government, private practice and academia must be more accessible and
forthcoming to the public (see Lerner, Milanich, and Bense this volume
for discussions of archaeology and public education). Archaeologists
must explain clearly and concisely (1) why archaeology is important, (2)
what public benefit is derived from archaeological activities and (3)
how looting and vandalism damage that public benefit. These messages
must be expressed with a unified voice and articulated in a compelling
manner to all Americans.\"

It is a vested interest of the archeologist to have the cooperation of
the public \-- your jobs may depend on it \-- and at least for as long
as I choose to write fiction about prehistory, so does mine. Therefore,
I\'d like to tell you a little about some of the difficulties I had
finding archaeological information \-- besides having to go to
Russia\....before glasnost! \-- to give you some insight into what it is
like to come to this subject cold, without the usual university
background.

Some archaeologist/scientific specialists make information very
difficult for the ordinary intelligent person to understand. If the
scientist wants the cooperation of the public, it is the responsibility
of the scientist to communicate, in ways that are understandable.

They must not only express their wishes and needs clearly to obtain
funding, but to gain enthusiastic support they need to convey the
fascination, the excitement, the pure fun of discovery. They need to
involve adult members of the general public in putting together the
pieces of the puzzle of who our ancestors were and how they lived, and
they need to encourage children so they will grow up wanting to know
more.

Archaeologist and anthropologists who work in this country need to make
it clear that it is not just Indian history. It is all of humanity\'s
history (see Knudson this volume for a discussion of archaeology and the
public trust). People of European heritage, for example, tend to forget
that their ancestors didn\'t spring full blown from agricultural or
urban cultures, complete with writing and monumental architecture. Their
ancestors also spent their first several million years as foragers,
gatherers and hunters. Studying about the lives of any ancient people
gives insight into understanding ourselves better.

But that requires helping people to understand that ancient people who
lived in what is today Russia, or France, or Israel, or Africa, or Asia,
or America were the same as we are. They had hopes and dreams, they
loved and hated, knew compassion and jealousy, bravery and fear,
ambition and loss of hope. They were brave and daring and very human.

I\'ve tried to do it by telling stories, the way people have been doing
since the beginning of time to remember and understand the legends, oral
histories, and necessary lessons of survival. Though that isn\'t quite
how I started. I began with an idea for a short story about a young
woman living in prehistoric times, but when I tried to write it, I
discovered I didn\'t know what I was writing about.

I thought I would do a little research, and discovered an exciting world
full of real people that I hadn\'t known existed, and that no one else
seemed to know about either. It made me a little angry. Why didn\'t I
know it? Why don\'t most people know it? It was all there, in the
non-fiction scientific material. Then I realized why. It was not written
in a way that was accessible to people, and that was when I decided I
was going to tell it in a way that was. In a story, but for all my
enthusiasm, it was not easy to research.

I started with Encyclopedia Britannica, and went from there to the
library. What I found was scientific jargon: Pebble culture Mousterian,
Aurignacian, Clovis, microblade, burin, in situ, [Rangifer
tarandus]{.underline}, [Chenopodium albus,]{.underline} [Betula
nana]{.underline}, [Salix]{.underline}, [Picea]{.underline},
[Pinus]{.underline}, Pleistocene, Paleolithic. I know what those mean
now because I was determined to learn, but when I started, I didn\'t
understand a word. I still don\'t know if I pronounce them correctly,
because in many cases, I have not heard the words spoken, I have only
read them. I had to expand my vocabulary a great deal,

in effect, learn a whole new language, your language, before I could
make sense out of the information in libraries and journals so I could
write my stories.

Should that be necessary to find out something about prehistory?
Probably yes, in my case, because I needed to know as much as possible
in order to create an entire prehistoric world for my fictional
characters to inhabit. But I don\'t think it should be true for most
people if all they want is a little more understanding.

How many textbooks giving an overview of history begin by condensing
\"prehistory,\" \-- the five billion years from the Big Bang to the
discovery of writing \-- into the first one or two chapters, with a page
or two on the Ice Age, and the remainder of the book devoted to the five
thousand years since then? No wonder the Creationist\'s claims about six
thousand years being the total length of time from the beginning, when
God created everything, until now are believed by so many people. We
have learned that fully modern humans have been around for at least a
hundred thousand years, but the last five thousand are given the most
attention.

Part of the problem is the result of the very dedication and years of
study that are necessary to become a trained archeologist. In the closed
environment of speaking about archaeology only to teachers, colleagues,
and students, it becomes easy to forget that not every one understands
the specialized language that invariably becomes a part of any field of
study. It is true that scientific words may be more precise, but only
when talking with a peer; only if the meaning is clearly understood by
both the one who is speaking, and the ones being addressed.

In science, there is a tendency for many to speak in long-winded
specialized words when addressing the public. And in the written
material, it is almost as though there is a competition to see who can
write the longest sentences and use the longest words. I recall hearing
a young man speaking about \"mastication of deciduous dentition.\" It
took me a few moments before I realized that what he meant was \"chewing
with baby teeth.\" I sometimes think scientists are required to take a
class entitled \"Obfuscating English.\"

Unfortunately, the media doesn\'t help the situation. Few reporters take
the time to decipher the language of science, and many are
scientifically illiterate. And with electronic media, they want \"news
bites\" of exciting events. For example, they prefer to publicize
something like the macho \"first of the big game hunters\" theory to
account for the extinction of Ice Age animals because it sounds more
exciting, more bloody and terrible, more newsy, and it\'s a simplistic
definition. It conveys another message. It says, in effect, not only
\"we\'re so bad,\" but it implies, \"we\'re so powerful.\" It\'s easier
than explaining alternative theories that are more complex but more
logical.

The question is, how do you make the more interesting complex
information more clear? An how do you communicate the excitement of
science and the scientific process? In addition, for some scientists the
idea of communicating to the public carries with it a stigma. They are
afraid of incurring the dreaded \"carlsaganism\", a disease to be
avoided like the plague. Unfortunately, as long as that view prevails,
scientists may well defeat themselves. Yes, he may have been a little
overly dramatic on occasion, but he communicated, and performed a
worthwhile service.

In researching for my stories, I have been most excited and moved to
learn about the humanity of ancient peoples, and to understand that
savagery and violence are not what define us, or what make us human. A
careful study of the archaeological record shows that humanity is
defined by compassion, curiosity and by art and invention. It wasn\'t
just being able to survive, because our early ancestors did more than
that. They flourished. They obtained knowledge from their environment,
and had the intelligence to apply it.

Since my stories were set in the Ice Age, I had to ask what that
environment was like? Was it harsh and miserable, forcing a bare
hand-to-mouth, hard scrabble existence as so many believe? But then why
did people come north in the first place? Humans are tropical animals,
not naturally adapted to living in a cold land; why didn\'t they stay
south where it was warm? Were they driven out by competition of fellow
human beings? Or were they intelligent and adaptive, curious explorers
by nature? I think they were curious. Curiosity is a strong survival
trait that makes intelligent humans want to learn about their
environment, and the world around them. We still are.

That leads me to the thought I\'d like to leave with you: Romance the
public. Let them know that what you are doing is not only important, but
fun, exciting, fascinating. Get them involved. Show them how sharp a
stone tool is \-- nothing turned my thinking around so dramatically as
the first time I made a blade out of obsidian and cut a piece of leather
with it.

Write at least some of your reports in clear, understandable language.
It doesn\'t have to be fancy, but don\'t leave it to the media to
misinterpret your findings. Get down to the level of a kid \-- which may
be higher than some adults \-- and get them involved early. Imagine a
Saturday morning cartoon with accurate information! Yes, it will take
your time, but it\'s essential that people get their information from
the best source.

Romance the public. They\'ll love you for it.