Here at the Querencia Blog we are as horrified as the rest of the world at the death and destruction brought to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. This post is to let you know that we three contributors have a special interest in those events. Matt is the one up to …
The Newest Indians, DNA, the Black Cherokee, and the Trail of Tears
It’s becoming popular to be an Indian. There are substantial numbers of people in our country who have at least partial Native American ancestry who have never acknowledged this part of their heritage as it was of no benefit to them. The historical record shows how badly this country has treated Indians, so for many …
Captain Sir Richard F. Burton
I discovered Steve and I share a fascination with Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890) when he put Burton on a list of “Good Things from Britain #5” in solidarity with the UK after the 7/7 terror bombings. Those of you who are not familiar with the life of this explorer, linguist, soldier, diplomat, travel writer, anthropologist, …
Apologies
Sorry for nonexistent blogging! Two reasons: (1) Libby has broken four ribs, tripping on a dog- rucked rug and falling onto the corner of a brass- bound chest at the foot of the bed. Years of guiding in places like the Himalayas, climbing in the Tetons, kayaking around Baja, and her only injuries have been …
Cannibalism in the Prehistoric Southwest
Steve’s post below on PC Reburial alludes to a controversial subject – evidence of prehistoric cannibalism in Anasazi (Ancestral Pueblo) sites of the Southwest. I thought I’d say more about it as it’s a subject I have followed since graduate school, when two colleagues of mine, Larry Nordby and Paul Nickens, excavated (Larry) and analyzed …
Pleistocene Sloth Poop
I just looked at the link to the Arizona Daily Star that Steve had in his last post that had this great picture of Dr. Paul Martin holding a Pleistocene Ground Sloth – “coprolite” is the proper term – and thought it deserved a post of its own. Such a priceless picture! This is real …
Fear vs. “Re- Wilding”
Curious how the memes of “Re-wilding” and that of animal fear (scroll down and see Reid on sharks; I hope soon to post on Timothy Treadwell) seem to be multiplying on the news pages. For Re-wilding see this good commentary in Slate, and this article on Paul Martin from the Arizona Daily Star, showing him …
PC Reburial?
i need to blur this story a bit to protect…. well, the guilty, but someone who told me this tale in confidence. A few years a young woman, relative of someone we know, told us the following. She had worked at [fill in the blank with any famous Southwestern site] and other places, and proudly …
Good News from Iraq
The Marshes are coming back.
Bernd Heinrich on Penguins
Vermont naturalist and prolific writer Bernd Heinrich, who knows a thing or two about birds and cold weather among other things, loved “March of the Penguins”. “As the movie continues, everything about these animals seems on the surface utterly different from human existence; and yet at the same time the closer one looks the more …